Skip to main content

Science Fun!

SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS AT HOME 

During our WKCE testing week we were not on a regular academic schedule meaning that the students did not have math, reading, etc. throughout the day. But, due to the fact that we had the afternoons off of testing it gave us time to do a little experimenting with some science that the students have yet to be exposed to. Since out Unit #2 in ELA is all about weather we had a discussion about different types of weather predicting instruments including weather/wind vanes, anemometers, barometers and a rain gages.

I have included below some directions on how to make these fun instruments at home. We did not have time to make each out ourselves in school, but we did have time to use instruments that were already made. I thought it would be fun to give you and your students the directions to maybe keep for a rainy or snowy day activity. ENJOY! :) 

WEATHER/WIND VANE 
1. Draw a large cross through a hole in the center of a wooden board. Mark the end of each line of the cross with one of the letters N, S, E  and W.

2. Drill a hole in the center of the cross on the wooden board. Insert the straighten end of a wire hanger into the hole. 

3. Tape the middle section of a plastic bottle to the middle part of the wire hanger. 

4. Cut out an arrowhead and arrow tail from cardboard. Attach these to the hanger as shown. You have made a wind vane.

5.  Place the wooden board in an open area outdoors. Use a compass to find north. Then turn the wooden board so that N faces north. 

6. A wind vane is a device that shows the direction form which the wind is blowing. On your wind vane, the arrow will point in the direction the wind is blowing from. 

ANEMOMETER
1. Staple one end of a plastic straw to the outside of a paper cut new the rim. Do the same thing with three other straws and paper cups. Each straw should be sticking out to the right of its cup.

2. Place two cups on their sides with the straws pointed toward each other. The open ends of the cups should be facing in opposite directions. Overlap the tips of the straws about 1cm and take them together.

3. Repeat Step 2 with the other two cups. Then crisscross the two pairs of straws. Tape the two pairs of straws together at their midpoints. Mark the bottom of one cup with an X. 

4. Insert a straight pin through the center of the cross and into the top of a pencil eraser. Don't push the pin in all the way. Your anemometer is complete.

5. Test your anemometer by holding the pencil and blowing in the cups. The cups should spin freely. Each time you see the cup Marked X on the bottom,the anemometer has made one complete spin. 
6. This device is used to measure wind speed (Spins/1 min.). 

RAIN GAGE
 1. Place a flat wooden stick on your desk. Use a metric ruler and marker to draw a line 3 cm fron the lower end. Label this line 1 cm.

2. Draw another line on the stick, 3 cm above the 1 cm line. Label this line 2 cm. Then draw another line, 3 cm above the 2 cm line. Label this third line 3 cm. 

3. Divide the space between the lower end of the stick and the 1 cm line into ten equal parts. Repeat this step for each space. 

4. Place an aluminum can with the top removed, inside the bottom half

of a cut plastic soda bottle. 

5. Turn the top half of the soda bottle upside down. Insert the neck of the bottle into the can. The top half of the bottle will serve as a funnel. You've made your rain gage. 

6. A rain gage measures how much rain has fallen at a given time.     
  
BAROMETER
1. Cut a large balloon lengthwise. Stretch it over the open top of a coffee can. Secure it with a rubber band. Tape the edge of the balloon to tightly sea the air inside the can.

 2. Cut one end of a plastic straw to form a point. Tape the uncut end to the center of the stretched balloon. You have now made a barometer. 

3. Tape a cardboard strip on a wall so the bottom of the strip is level with a table. Place your barometer next to the strip so that the straw pointer just touches it. 

4. A barometer is a way to measure air pressure. 


Popular posts from this blog

Week in Review

Hello! Wow! What a week it has been. We have learned a lot and also perfected a lot of our routines! The kiddos have done a great job! We have learned all kinds of letters in our phonics lessons including n, o and t! We have learned about reading to someone and reading to self for our Daily 5 and also have learned about our expectations for 1st grade writing and 1st grade pictures for Writer's Workshop. In math we have learned about 5 groups and how to make numbers greater than 5 by making a 5 group and some more ones! We have also read lots of books about the alphabet and are becoming rock stars with our letters! I am so proud! We are doing FABULOUS in first grade! BUT... there are a few minor things we need to work on... 1. bathroom--our behavior in the bathroom hasn't been the  greatest! We need to remember to use 1 pump of soap, 1 paper towel and that we go in, go to the bathroom and get out! 2. We also need to work on blurting out. We have RULE #2: Raise your h...
Read more

Halloween Party Letter/Google Doc

Our Halloween party will be on Friday, October 30th from 12:30-2:15.   We have volunteers coming down from the high school to help facilitate all of the fun.  Mrs. Marienfeld's class will be joining our class for the fun.   As a part of the fun and and in hopes of keeping the massive amount of sugar down a little bit, we are making a classroom trail mix.   I am sending home a letter tomorrow about it. If you did not get the letter from your student you may click here to view it.   For the first time ever (thank you Mrs. Marienfeld for the idea), I am attempting to use Google Drive to help the sign up process. I have shared this sign up through Google Drive with parents who's emails I already have. If you did not get the email, please click here and you can also view it and sign up if you wish. Thank you so much!  Let me know what you think of using email/Google Drive to communicate and sign up for these types of things.
Read more

Sorry! :(

HELLO! I am so sorry that I have kind of forgotten about updating my blog because of Christmas Break and all of the snow days/cold days we have had! END OF 2ND QUARTER/1ST SEMESTER We are coming to the close of the 2nd Quarter which also marks the end of the 1st Semester of 4th grade. I cannot believe it at all!!! MATH We have started our new math unit. Unit #4 is going to be a combination of comparison word problems, algebra and a few other new ideas dealing with mathematics. It is still VERY IMPORTANT that your student be practicing their flash cards for both division and multiplication. I have to be honest when I say they will not do well in this unit if they do not know their facts. So keep up the good work with practicing!!! ENGLISH AND LANGUAGE ARTS (ELA) We have also started a new novel, Mouse and the Motorcycle. This new novel marks the beginning of our 3rd ELA Unit titled "Animals are Characters, Too!" We will be exploring animal characteristics, perso...
Read more