Static Electricity Experiment

For our energy science unit we got a Tubberware full of various items. The only thing is there is no instructions to go with the items, so we are left to make sense of all the items ourselves. Two items made sense to me: balloons and a glove. Static Electricity!!! In October, I had done a fun science experiment with my five year old that made ghostly coffee filters dance with a charged balloon. I had to make a manipulated variable to make it a true experiment so I had students try to charge the balloon with three different things: their hair, a glove, and a paper towel. Then I had students measure the distance from the balloon to the coffee filters from when the filters started to float up.

The experiment write-up in their science journals

You can't do static electricity without the classic hair pics ;o)

Weathering

We have been plugging away with our large landform unit. As we wait for the Foss Kits to show up I have been busy teaching weathering. As we move away from weathering onto erosion I wanted to show what we have done so far. Here is what we have done in science in the past two weeks (not including the GLAD component which I will make a separate post on later):


Weathering Experiment: I took some different rocks from my yard (pebbles and decorative rocks bought at Home Depot) and placed them in a glass baby food jar. Then I had the students fill the jars with water and shake at 15 second intervals. Over time the decorative rock broke away and what looked like sand sediment appeared. We were able to weather our own rocks!

The murky water is actually weathered sediment

A student's experiment write up

Sand Observation: My son has a sand collection from different beaches around the world. We have sand from Japan, Thailand, Honduras, Mexico, Caribbean, and local beaches as well. You would be amazed how all sand looks different! In pairs students got two samples to compare. Then I had students infer why the two samples would look so differently. They had more difficulty with this than I expected. However, after some discussion we realized that different rocks could be one reason for the difference in appearance, and also the how long they had been weathered may also be a factor.

Looking at differences

Sand Samples

Students comparison notes and inferences

Chemical/Physical Weathering Picture Sort: After watching my PowerPoint on the different types of both physical and chemical weathering, that highlight some characteristics to watch for, we inferred from pictures what type of weathering each image was.  For example, honeycomb appearance tells us salt-wedging has occurred. It was fun to guess which type of weathering each image was. To take it a step further, if a student could tell me the EXACT name of weathering that was happening they got a Super Scientist award (more on that in another post).

Digging through Dirt

As we began our landform science unit we took a closer look at soil. Soil can be surprisingly fascinating! We spent some time discussing everything that is soil with the help of my super-duper soil anchor chart.

Key points I wanted students to focus on ( soil layers and types of weathered rocks by particle sizes)

Last Thursday I brought in soil samples from my yard and some awesome 5th grade scientist did the same. I had the students look at the soil up close and personal with magnifying glasses and microscopes. They recorded the smell, feel, images, and organic materials. I had them also pull out rocks (anything over 2mm-which they measured). I so wish I had pictures of them  playing the dirt! They really got into it. When they found worms and dead bugs (humus) things got very exciting.

 An excellent read aloud is Jump Into Science:Dirt. By first glance you may think it would be too babyish for 5th graders, but the content is fabulous! I swear it is written to teach all the state science standards. The children were engaged and it was very relevant to what we are learning. It is a must own if you have to teach soil to your students.

We then took our soil and put them in glass jars (filling them up half way). We add water and shook! After 2 mins layers started appearing. By examining the jars of the last couple of days we were able to label the different layers (sand, silt, clay) and see organic material floating on the top. I loved how the experiments tied in so nice to our lecture that first day! After final observations we could give evidence if our soil was good for growing plants or not.

I just love the worm bobbing in the water pic ;0)