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Fourth grade students have finished up their study of force, work and energy. The unit also includes some simple machines. However, the focus of the unit understands how and why objects move. The students conducted experiments with friction, changing mass of the moving object, calculating work, and developing a graph that tracks motion (time verses distance graph). As you are driving talk with your kids about speed, acceleration, force, mass, weight, work, and energy! These are abstract concepts that are difficult for many adults. The kids are now learning about plant parts, life cycles, and needs. The students are growing fast plants as well as pea plants and conducting experiments to determine the effect of light on the height of plants in addition to many other experiments. Next time to get fresh cut flowers - check out the stamen and pistil. See if you and your child can identify the parts of the flower! We are also continuing to learn how to design and implement good experiments. See if your kids can identify the iv and dv in their experiment. http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA08/bee896.html - an interesting article about the honey bee shortage and it’s impact on pollination. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/gpe/ - Great Plant Escape - A journey into the world of plants with Detective LaPlant http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Science/celery.html - a simple celery experiment to try at home. |