Science

Science Summary

In Science this year we will be using our newly adopted Foss series. This year students will be exploring Water, Magnetism & Electricity, and Life Structures.

To supplement our Science curriculum, students will use Newspapers in Education (sponsored by the Seattle Times) to learn more about forests.

Most of our 'forest' activities will be conducted in class including research and classroom discussion. Students will be asked to create a 3D rainforest bird or animal. Please click on the Home Project link below for more information regarding this project.

(Check back in January for current due dates and information on our forest project.)

What Students Want to Know About Forests (O5/06)

Four Types of Forests

Forest Home Project

We will be making a class ABC book about the rainforest. Each child will be responsible for creating one page of this book. One more rainforest activity will be where students conduct research on a particular rainforest animal and then use facts from this research as well as their own imagination to create a fictionalized story about this creature.

We will also be using National Geographic for Kids to learn more about science around the world.

Science Links

The Great Plant Escape
Be a detective and use your fact-finding skills to search for clues about plant life mysteries.

Virtual Field Trips
Learn more about a variety of topics. Once you link to this site, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the topic you are interested in to begin your field trip (you may have to click on "Start Field Trip" in upper right corner once you have chosen your topic.)

American Museum of Natural History (OLogy)
This site covers archaeology, astronomy, genetics, and more. It features some hands-on activities for each of these areas under "Stuff To Do." Check this site out for some fun.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium
This site is full of great things to do, see, and learn. Start your visit by looking under "Teachers & Kids" for some online games. You can also view some online 'cams' to see what is happening in the otter and penguin exhibits.

San Francisco Exploratorium
Here you will find online versions of museum exhibits, science news, and experiments. Check under "Explore" for "Online Activities" about the origins of language facts about mold, and the science behind skateboarding.

Dupage Children's Museum
Under "Online Play," look for "Kids Design Network (KDN)." This page lets you choose an engineering challenge to solve. You can design and build your own solution. Have fun!

EIA Kids Page
Learn more about solid waste, energy, the history of garbage, how landfills work, and other related topics.

Museum of Unnatural Mystery
Explore the halls of this museum to discovery more about some mysterious questions on time and space.

Kids Health
Learn more about staying healthy.

Explore Science
This site includes some interactive games as well as articles about optics, wave motion, astronomy, and more.

Earth From Space
Click on the world map to view photos that show what astronauts see while in outer space.

Jefferson Lab
Learn more about atoms and the elements through online science, math, and word games.

Mini-Themes

Check out the following links if you are interested in exploring these themes.

Earth Day

Learn more about animal habitats and biodiversity at the following sites.

Teaching Youth About Trees
Learn more about trees and forests. Play "Who Want to Be a TREEllionare" to answer questions about trees.

Gould League - FoodWeb
Here you can create your own food webs for three different habitats: Australian Grasslands, African Grasslands, and the Antarctic.

EarthPulse - National Geographic
Here you will find a variety of themes (oceans, climate, weather, energy, habitats, ecosystems, etc.) with videos, online adventures, and webquests to help you interact with the topic.

Butterfly Gardens
Butterfly gardens are created to attract butterflies through all of their life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

The Butterfly Site
Check out this link for butterfly attractions, research sites, activities, and butterfly gardening.

All About Butterflies
This is a great resource if you are looking for pictures, charts, diagrams, and crafts about butterflies.

Backyard Science
Visit these sites to explore more science concepts and to conduct experiments of your own with objects you can find at home.

The Science Explorer
Find out more about bubbles, light, mirrors....and much more! Dozens of experiments can be found by clicking on the Exploratorium link at the bottom of the page.

Mars
Because of the variation in sunlight on Mars, changes in temperature occur and dust storms are created. Learn more about Mars by exploring the following links.

Planet Mars
Links to photos, facts, and other information about Mars.

2001 Mars Odyssey
Home page of NASA's Odyssey mission to Mars, which is taking place right now.