Fabulous Luther 4th!: Content Workshop ~ Science and Social Studies

Welcome!

Please visit this page to see updates on what is taking place in our Science and Social Studies class! I will post pictures, possibly videos, and maybe links to fun activities related to our class! I am excited to be using this new format this year and I hope you take the time to check it out!

Seeds, Seeds, and More Seeds September 24, 2012

Last week I wrote about how 4th graders are learning about properties of objects, particularly seeds. We began this by studying apples and the seeds of bean pods. Our learning continued last week with an in-depth discussion of seeds found in other objects ~ Fruits!

We learned that FRUIT is the structure or part of a flowering plant that surrounds or protects seeds. These seeds are the young plant that will eventually grow. We were shocked to learn that all plants that contain SEEDS are FRUITS!! What was even more surprising was that many of our common or well-known vegetables are actually fruits ~ green beans, peas, even corn!

This was very surprising so we had some fun taking apart fruits to identify seeds and share their properties. Here are a few photos showing the 4th graders studying mangos, avocados, kiwi, tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges, lemons, pears, plums, green peppers, snap peas, green beans, and peaches:

Our study of seeds continued Friday and today with a new set of seeds, the difference being that these seeds were dry, and not found in fruits. We organized them based on their properties. We identified the seeds as pea, popcorn, sunflower, and bean seeds. Then we learned that these dry seeds were actually alive, but considered dormant or at rest. Next we came up with the decision to place them in a container of water to see if they would become active or grow. Here we are studying the properties of the dry seeds:

Our seeds have now soaked over the weekend. We are now studying why they appear swollen and how we can determine the amount of water they absorb.

Like scientists, we are expected to share our thinking and learning in our Science notebooks. We are taking detailed notes and are making colored drawings.

Now we are setting up our experiment to test the amount of water a seed can absorb over night. For this test we will use lima beans because of their size! They will be easier to study that the other beans we observed.

What are Properties? September 19, 2012

What a busy week it has been in Science! We began the week reviewing our work from Friday ~ studying Food Chains. We learned that a food chain is how energy moves through living things. We discussed how the sun provides heat and energy to plants which create their own food. Plants are known as producers. Animals will eat plants for food. These animals are first level consumers. When other animals eat the plant eating animals are also known as consumers. Finally we learned that their are animals that eat dead or decaying plant and animal matter. These animals are known as decomposers. Ask us to draw you an example!

Yesterday we began the next phase of Structures of Life learning by defining the word "properties." We defined properties as characteristics or features of objects that can be observed by people. Today we participated in an activity to practice our powers of observation.

First we were given an apple and asked to draw and color it. Afterward we had to write all the things that we could observe about our apple. After about 5 minutes of work time we came together to share our ideas which were written down on the smartboard. Once all ideas were shared, we grouped them into different categories. The made observations about color, size, shape, texture, mass (weight), smell, taste, uses, and unique features. We did this by using our senses ~ seeing, touching, tasting, hearing, and smelling.

We added this to our knowledge of properties. Finally we ended the day with a new object and this time we were allowed to open the object. We again shared our observations about the properties of new object, but included the properties found inside. Inside this object were seeds. We were asked what this object and our apple had in common and we agreed it was the seeds! We are going to continue our investigation of this new find tomorrow!

Taking time to complete neat work in our Science Notebooks!

Look at this scientist!

Very detailed and very neat!

Hard at work ~ Great job being focused on your task!

What could this new object be?

Learning About Living Things ~ Classifying Plants and Animals! September 13, 2012

For the past three days we have been discussing living things in our environment ~ plants and animals. After our visit to the marsh we talked about the types of plants and animals we could see when visiting. We created a venn diagram to compare and contrast plants and animals.

The past two days we went deeper into our study of animals to prepare for our unit ~ Structures of Life. We first broke down the Animal Kingdom into Vertebrates and Invertebrates. Then we discussed warm versus cold-blooded animals. After that students worked together to chart some of the characteristics of the different animals kingdoms. We focused mainly on our vertebrate animals with this activity.

Check out a few classroom photos from today's work:

Working together to complete our animal chart.

Using our animal web to help complete our worksheet.

Hmm....let me think about what you're saying....

Science! Science! September 10, 2012

Last Thursday we began our very first science unit. We will begin the school year studying the unit ~ Structures of Life! I am excited to begin the year with this FOSS unit. Students will spend the majority of their time learning about living things found in nature.

Today we discussed what makes something living. We first identified what is living in nature and students commented that this includes all plants and animals. After this discussion we listed all the ways that we know plants and animals are living.

Following our discussion we decided to make a trip to our area marsh to begin to recognize some of the plant and animal life around Luther Elementary School. Students took their Science Notebooks and pencil, as well as crayons to help make their observations. They sat on the dock and wrote down, drew, and colored what they saw or heard while sitting in the marsh. Our biggest combined observation was the fact that our marsh was EMPTY! There was absolutely no water in our marsh! This meant we could not see all animals that normally live around our school. However, students from both classes were able to share animals they have observed in the marsh when water is present. These included ducks, geese, turtles, frogs, salamanders, and the occasional crane. The students also talked about the mama deer and her fawns that have been seen. Hopefully this spring we will be able to go back out and view this special wildlife!

Please check out the pictures below to view the work done by both Mrs. Schuenke's class and our Fabulous Luther 4th!