Ms. Cardona’s Science Lab
January Units
Kindergarten Unit: Wood and Paper
Students are learning to:
•Develop a curiosity and interest in the physical world around them.
•Observe and describe properties of different kinds of wood and paper.
•Compare different kinds of wood and paper to discover how they are alike and how they are different.
•Observe interactions of wood and paper with water and other substances.
•Become aware of natural resources in our world.
•Communicate observations.
•Acquire the vocabulary associated with the properties of materials.
Second Grade Unit: Pebbles, Sand and Silt
Students are learning to:
· Develop a curiosity and interest in the physical world around them.
· Observe, describe, and sort earth materials based on properties.
· Separate earth materials by size, using different techniques.
· Observe the similarities and differences in the materials in a river rock mixture: silt, sand, gravel, and small and large pebbles.
· Explore places where earth materials are found and ways that earth materials are used.
· Compare the ingredients in different soils.
· Organize and communicate observations through drawing and writing.
· Acquire the vocabulary associated with earth materials
Third Grade Unit: Energy
Students are learning to:
•Observe and compare sounds to develop discrimination ability.
•Communicate with others using a drop code.
•Learn that sound originates from a source that is vibrating and is detected at a receiver such as the human ear.
•Understand the relationship between the pitch of a sound and the physical properties of the sound source (i.e. length of vibrating object, frequency of vibrations, and tension of vibrating string).
•Compare methods to amplify sound at the source and at the receiver.
•Observe and compare how sound travels through solids, liquids, and air.
•Use knowledge of the physics of sound to solve simple sound challenges.
•Acquire vocabulary associated with the physics of sound.
•Exercise language, social studies, and math skills in the context of the physics of sound.
•Develop and refine the manipulative skills required for investigating sound.
•Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, and organizing.
Fourth Grade Unit: Electricity and Magnetism
Students are learning to:
· Understand and construct simple open, closed, parallel, and series circuits.
· Learn how to make an electromagnet.
· Acquire vocabulary associated with magnetism and electricity.
· Observe the interaction of permanent magnets with a variety of common materials.
· Discover that magnets display forces of attraction and repulsion.
· Measure the change in force between two magnets as the distance between them changes.
· Identify materials that are conductors and insulators.
· Exercise language, math, and social studies skills in the context of magnetism and electricity investigations.
· Develop and refine the manipulative skills required for making investigations in magnetism and electricity.
· Use scientific thinking processes to conduct investigations and build explanations: observing, communicating, comparing, and organizing.