Our Solar System

Space might possibly be my favorite unit to teach (next to chemistry).  I am fascinated by all that we know and don't know about what is out there past our solar system.  There is so much that we don't even know about our own solar system. 

We start each class by viewing the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day that you can find here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130113.html .  Students write what they THINK the picture is showing.  Then, we discuss it (I read the explanation below), and students write what the picture is showing.

I have a working prezi that we are using.  I think it is important for students to have notes, so this is a slow process.  I also like videos that actually show the planets, so I have a little bit of each.  Like I said, the prezi is not finished.  I will post again.

http://prezi.com/-ajpiybymvig/solar-system/?auth_key=1f78e7684eceff8611e0fcbc4968722843af5a16&kw=view--ajpiybymvig&rc=ref-13523093

Our AMAAAAAAZING Earth, Moon, and Sun

I know.  It has been, well, forever since I blogged about my classroom.  It appears that blogger is blocked at my school now, so with the little ones at home, my home-blogging has been nil. 

I am, however, very excited about what we are doing right now in 6th grade science! 

I love love LOVE teaching about our amazing Earth, Sun, and Moon systems.  Students have been learning about WHY we have different seasons (most of us on Earth, anyway), WHY we have night and day, and WHY we see phases of the Moon. 

One of the things we watched to help students understand night and day and the seasons is Study Jams.  I like Study Jams, but I did NOT like that this particular video tells that we are CLOSER to the sun in summer, when, in fact we are further away.  I know they probably meant that we are TILTED closer to the sun in Summer, but this already confuses kids, so I had to clarify.  Here is the site for the video:

http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/solar-system/day-on-earth.htm

Another interactive video I LOVE to show is this one:  http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.eiu.seasonsgame/  (Teachers domain is FREE.  You have to register to view more than 6 items, I think, or you can see less per sessions as a guest.)

This one above is very elementary, and my kids joke about "Max" and the way he is animated, but it is a GREAT learning tool.  I just joke along with them.  Ah, middle school.

For Moon phases, I showed this video on You Tube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXseTWTZlks

I also showed these when we were learning about eclipses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHb5ruGUyw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dk--lPAi04

I encouraged students who have iPods, iPads, tablets, or smart phones to download a free app for Moon Phases, so they can see the moon phases every day.  Most students have one of these devices in their home that they can use, and they get very excited when they can connect what we are learning with their "fun" at home!  Unfortunately, we don't have access for all students to use these at school, and my hall is not wired wirelessly yet, but there are other ways to use technology and get kids excited about what they are learning. 

Next week, we will be watching Apollo 13, and students will be able to see what space travel has been like for astronauts.  I like for them to see the travel through the atmosphere, close-ups of the Moon, and to think about how far we have come in space travel and why it is important for our future.  Of course, I will be stopping the movie OFTEN to ask questions and make statements.  Kids love that!

Junior Scientists!

I love Fridays.  We all do, but ONE of the MANY things I LOVE about Fridays is the Junior Scientist presentations.  Here are some from today:

Spooky Science

Oh, Halloween.  Such an exciting time of year.  The excitement makes teaching school FUN...and hard.  So, my wonderful team and I decided to have a "special" day on October 31st.  We each did a 30-minute activity for our four periods, so I decided to do something "spooky".  The goal of mine, however, was not to spend over $12 (pretty lofty for a science teacher).  I decided to use the "milk/food dye/soap experiment" and call is (drum roll, please) "Swirling Potions."  Here is the lab sheet I used: 

Swirling Potions

Name ______________________________________

Purpose: To see what happens when you add dish soap to your potion (milk and food coloring.)

Hypothesis:  If I add food coloring to milk and dip a Q-tip of dish soap into the potion, then __________________________________.

Procedure: 

1. Pour milk into a tray, so that it covers the tray. 
2. Add a drop of whichever colors of food dye you want to add.
3. Dip a Q-tip into the dish soap.
4. Lightly touch the q-tip of soap to the milk.
5. Repeat at least three times.

Data:  

Trial 1:

Trial 2:

Trial 3:

Conclusion:

Why does this happen?

Here are some of the results.  This is awesome, even for little kids! 

This works this way, because water has SURFACE TENSION, milk is mostly water, so touching it with soap breaks the surface tension.  Awesome!

Edible Layers! YUM!

I so badly wanted to come up the perfect, most fun assignment/activity for learning the layers of Earth, and I came up with...nada.  Yes, I could spend a LOT of money on clay or other building material and have the kids build a model.  And building something out of food is fun, but again, with about 100 students, it isn't realistic.  So, I decided this would be a GREAT extra credit assignment and would give us an excuse to eat.  Everyone loves to eat, right?  The requirements for the extra credit assignment were as follows:

• Must be edible and made entirely of food (no added glue, tape, etc.)
• Must show at least the three main layers of Earth
• Must be completed at home.

Students who completed the assignment would receive 10 points on their lowest grade!

Here are some of the results.

*Note:  I made a HUGE mistake with the above cupcakes.  When another teacher sent them over, I thought he said the name of a girl in my second block.  So, we talked about them and ATE THEM in second block.  Imagine my surprise when a girl in my fourth block asked for HER CUPCAKES!!!!  I am STILL trying to think of how in the WORLD to pay her back for GIVING HER CUPCAKES AWAY!  (I gave her two free snacks, extra extra credit, and a glue stick.  I will keep working on that one.)

On a side note, I did find a great foldable at http://mjksciteachingideas.com/pdf/EarthFoldable.pdf to go along with learning about layers.

Solubility

I have been lab crazy.  I just can't think of any way to better teach concepts like density and solubility than through labs (with lots of discussion, of course).  So, after the M & M labs, we tried to see if different substances had difference rates of solubility.  Students had flour, salt, and sugar.  (I tried to find MSG, but I did not have time to make it to an Asian market and none could be found at our grocery stores.)  Students measured water for each container and used equal amounts of each substance, stirring for 20 seconds to see which dissolved first.  They continued stirring in increments of 20 seconds until all three substances dissolved.

More Yummies

I'm off task again.  I wanted something sweet, so I used our ice cream lab (and my son) as an excuse to make some for dessert.  We didn't even have vanilla, but the vanilla soy milk made some YUMMY stuff!  Here is BigLittle when he started shaking his mixture.

Isn't he a cutie?  (I did the rest of the shaking, of course.)
Here he is eating his yummy ice cream (not a up-the-nose-shot)!  It only took about 3 minutes!

And...here is MY yummy ice cream!

(See my Ice Cream Lab post for the recipe/directions!  It's SO easy!)