Students are asked to write about their observations and conclusions in Science. They are encouraged to use a lot of detail, colour, and labels in their diagram drawings. They should include detailed observations and conclusions with scientific language. They should describe the experiment in a way that another scientist could do the same experiment to see if they can get the same results. Here is an example of experiment writing by a student about our light and prism experiment today.
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Students were working on an experiment with light and a glass prism today. Ask your child to explain to you what his/her observations and conclusions were of today's experiment. Ask your child what makes up white light!
Students are learning that everything that we see either gives off its own light or reflects (bounces) light from a light source. Ask you child to tell you some light sources that produce its own light and some light sources that reflect light. Here, students are working with mirrors to reflect light to shine on a specific target. What adjustments did they have to make to get this experiment to work? Ask your child to tell you his/her observations (what he/she did and what happened) and conclusions (what he/she learned) of this experiment. Encourage your child to use a lot of detail and scientific language in his/her explanations. Students are working on the Science unit "Light and Sound". So far we have discussed natural vs artificial light, radiant energy, infrared light, how light travels, and shadows! Ask your child to tell you about the experiments we have been doing and to define these science terms! Shadows!!Students are playing with shadows. We have learned that shadows can be long or short, depending on the placement of the light source. Shadows always move in the opposite direction of the light source. Ask your child to tell you why a shadow forms! Students are working to create a working pulley system. Some are creating pulleys systems that raise or lower objects, some are creating pulley systems that move objects across. Students will be presenting their pulley systems to the class this week. They will explain how they created their pulley systems and how they work. They will be sharing the purpose of their pulley system. Ask your child what pulley system they created and what is it's purpose. Encourage your child to use scientific language in their explanations such as pulley and belt. We are looking forward to seeing their creations!Students are investigating gear trains in Science! Ask your child:
If you turn a gear clockwise, which direction will the next gear turn? How can you get a gear to turn in the same direction as another gear? What does gearing up mean? What does gearing down mean? What is a rack and pinion? How does it work? Where would you see one? Students work from their Science textbooks at school. Unfortunately, there is not enough textbooks to send each one home with a student for review or study. I will be adding the relevant pages of information from the texts here throughout the unit. Today, we read this page together and discussed what we learned. Students then answered questions about what they learned. Please see the previous post for some relevant questions to ask. Look through the attached textbook page to find and discuss the answers!
We have begun our new unit in Science on Pulleys and Gears! Ask your child: What do each of these pictures represent? What is a pulley? What is a belt drive? What is a gear? What is a gear train? Is a bicycle chain a pulley system or a gear system? How do you know? Our unit Science test is on Monday, Jan 13. Students will be studying the information we have discovered during our unit on Rocks and Minerals. How do we study? In class, we have specifically discussed ways to study effectively. The link below gives some suggestions. Feel free to add some ideas by adding a comment! Students will have an opportunity to pratise study skills in class as well. Thank you for making sure your children take the time to regularly review and study to be successful!
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