SCIENCE
Understanding the
World Around Us
Polar Bear, Polar Bear
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Clap your hands and stomp your feet
after each of the Polar Bear’s tricks.
Preparation: Bear shaped bottle;
yellow, blue, red, food coloring; magic
cleaner; water.
Children have a natural interest about the
world around them.
Children act as scientists as they question
their surroundings.
The SCIENCE AREA
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Place it near a window and away from active play
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The focus is to allow the child to explore the world
around them through hands on, activities, displays,
and simple science experiments.
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Have a table set up where materials are available for
the child to examine with his/her senses.
– Include items like: microscopes, magnifying glasses, globe,
pictures, plants, leaves, nuts and seeds, rocks, real and
plastic animals, insects, seashells, building materials,
experiments….
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Introduce New Vocabulary and Skills: Problem Solve,
Transformation, Reversal, Classification, Explore,
CHEMISTRY
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1.
Suspension
– Fireworks in a Glass
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2.
Chemical reaction
3.
Chemical change
– Volcano
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– Shiny Penny – 1/4c white vinegar 1
tsp salt in one glass. Add a dull or
darkened penny and let sit. Check
periodically.
– Pour bowl ¼ full of vinegar, place
chicken bone in vinegar, cover bowl
with lid.
– Make Butter
CREATIONS of MATTER:
GAK
Silly Putty
½ C Elmers Glue
1 C water
Food Coloring
1 Tbsp Borax
Pour glue and ½ c water in bowl
and mix with a spoon. Add food
coloring. In another bowl, put ½ c
water and all of borax. Mix. Pour
both bowls together and mix.
When it becomes thick, mix with
hands. Store in ziploc bag.
In a zip loc bag, place 1
tablespoon Elmer's glue, 1
tablespoon water and 2 drops of
food coloring Mix well. In a
container mix 1/2 cup water and
1 tablespoon Borax. After the
glue, water, and food coloring
have been mixed, add 1
tablespoon of the borax mixture.
Close Ziploc and mix well. The
result is a very, very close
resemblance to the silly putty.
PHYSICAL
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Balance
– Does air have weight? 2 balloons and a ruler.
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Weight and Size
– Lift a bottle with a stick
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Gravity
– Drop various objects to see how they fall
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Water: Test Sink or Float
– Scuba Diver
– Dancing raisins
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Magnets
– Dancing Socks
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Machines: wheels, gears, lever (nutcracker)
Conductor/Insulator
– ice cubes on a metal baking sheet, ice cubes
on a piece of cardboard, which melts faster?
Pour salt on ice cube and a string.
– Electricity Static on hair with balloons.
– Crayon Melt on a hot plate
BOTANY
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Plants and trees
– Do leaves breath? Place a leaf in a glass
of water and watch as bubbles form on
the leaf.
– matching leaves with the tree.
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Germination
– sprout seed in plastic bag
– Grass Head Guys. Grow grass in a
stocking and potting soil.
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Photosynthesis
– one plant in sun, one plant in dark.
BIOLOGY
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Living and non-living things
Animals
– Care of pets
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Habitats and Diets
– Make a home for a bird, study what a bird eats.
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Living and non-living things
– seashells, pet fish, watch tad poles develop,
hatch chickens.
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Our 5 senses
– smelling jars, tasting table, sound cans, touch
gel bags.
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Your Human Body
ASTROLOGYMETEOROGY
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Sun
– make a sundial, sun prints on paper.
Light and Dark
– Shadow tracing
– outdoors with the sun, indoors with the
flashlight.
Moon and Stars
– shapes, chart phases of the moon
The water cycle
– Make a cloud in a jar.
Weather
– tornado in a bottle.
– Thunder in a brown bag
Season changes
ECOLOGY
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Conservation
Recycling
Erosion
Care of the
Environment
– Worms in soil
BEST LEARNED THROUGH:
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Experiences of the senses:
– eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and touch
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First hand experiences
Simple experiments
Unplanned discoveries
Exciting discussion
Observation
Predictions
They are eager to learn about their world
Remember the SCIENTIFIC
PROCESS?
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Observe: notice, wonder explore.
Ask questions
Create a hypothesis
Predict outcome
Perform experiment
Analyze results
Evaluate hypothesis
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SCIENCE
TEACHER:
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Facilitator, observer
Expands vocabulary
Makes connections
– (books, exploration)
Acknowledges ideas
Follow up
Questions
– To encourage children to discover scientific principles,
the teacher should use effective questioning. These
questions will help the child discover concepts for
him/herself.
Effective Questioning
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OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:
– Promotes discussion - requires decision-making skills
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** What are you observing?
How could you group these?
What happens when you ….?
** What do you think will happen if….
What can you do to make that happen?
How does it look the same or different than it did yesterday?
** How did you do that?
I wonder how _______ works?
What can you change to make ______ work/happen out?
When did this happen? What happened afterward?
** I don’t know either. Let’s see if we can find out
CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS:
– Single answer or Yes/No answers
• What color is it?
• What shape is it?
• Do you like to look at the fish?
BOOKS AND SONGS
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Always include Books and Songs