Module 3: Atmosphere

To be honest, I am still struggling with the way Wile has organized the whole air/atmosphere/weather units. I am going to rearrange things a little bit here, and instead of covering atmospheric pressure first, I am going to cover the layers of the atmosphere and from there go to weather which will include atmospheric pressure.

I was gone all weekend, so will finish the lesson plans for the rest of the week tonight. This should get us through the day.

Monday: pg. 62-76 layers of the atmosphere. Watch videos of the layers of the atmosphere. Draw in notebook the layers and what occurs in each layer. Note that no other resource I've come across calls this the homosphere.
Tuesday: Aurora video from NASA.
Wednesday: plot where to see auroras on map. See Dancing in the Night Sky activity
Thursday: make a magnetometer to measure solar storms. See magnetometer activity.
Friday: Notebooking activity. Take picture of sky and note the kind of clouds. Do this every day for two weeks. Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy video on the atmosphere. We got ours from the library.

AFTER REMARKS

Bill Nye Atmosphere was not as good as his other videos. I wouldn't watch it again.

Dancing in the Night sky worked out well, along with the mapping  aurora activity from NASA.

Structure of the atmosphere was worth watching.

RESOURCES


NASA solar storm math activity


make a magnetometer-measure solar storms- NASA


Links to atmosphere and weather lessons, worksheets and videos

video and interactive links to the atmosphere. Nova segments

NASA links on the atmosphere

Video on the structure of the atmosphere.

Great Video on Auroras from NASA

Activity to go with NASA video "Dancing in the Night Sky"

Module 2: Air

This module covers humidity, air composition, greenhouse gasses, ozone and air pollution. I would like to spend more time humidity, and broaden it to include dew point, and spend less time on greenhouse gases ozone and air pollution.

Schedule
Monday: Watch videos on humidity and dew point, and do the activity to find the dew point and the activity to make a cloud in a bottle. Record activities in notebook.
Tuesday: Do the activities to model and find the relative humidity in the classroom. Put worksheets in notebook.
Wednesday: Read the section on the composition of air and check out the discovery of nitrogen site.Draw a diagram showing the composition of air in notebook.
Thursday: Read about the greenhouse effect and global warming. Do lab on greenhouse effect. Fill out lab report and put in notebook. Find lab sheets here
Friday: Read and talk about ozone. Using a rope, demonstrate the difference between a high energy wave and a short energy wave. See resource activities on ozone. Go to the air pollution site and watch how they have been tracking the amount of pollutants in the air for the past 10 years.

You will notice I don't spend much time testing. We talk and discuss the subject so much I know what they understand.

Resources

Air- Humidity and Dew point
Video: relative humidity and dew point. Good explanations of the difference.

Very good video on humidity and dew point. Has a couple simple experiments on finding the dew point and making a cloud in a bottle.

 

Worksheet on how to find the relative humidity in your classroom/home, and making models to show visibly the difference between cold and warm air and the amount of moisture they hold.

humidity in the air worksheets

Air Composition 

Great site on the discovery of the different components of air. 

composition of air/discovery of nitrogen

Ozone 

Good explanation of ozone with related activities

ozone site

Air Pollution

Video on how pollutants have been tracked for 10 years, showing that the clean air act of 1999 really has improved our air quality.

air pollution viedeo

Module 1: Physical Science Links for the Younger Set

Here are a couple of links to help pull the younger elementary students into the lesson.
Metric conversion worksheet

Cartoon about Weight and Mass

Everyone gets involved building molecules

Module One: Atoms and Molecules, Units of Measurement

Module One is an introduction to matter and measurement. This will be review for the older students.The preschooler will sit in with us as we watch the movies and do the experiments. Everyone will have their own notebook to record what we did for the day, whether it's a video, worksheet or experiment. Even the preschooler will draw pictures and write simple sentences of what we are doing. To be honest, the preschooler is actually more on a kindergarten level. Below is my schedule for next week, with the resources listed below the schedule. We'll see how it goes.

Schedule
Monday: Introduce atoms with Bill Nye the Science Guy video. Build a model of an atom using a atom modeling kit. Write about what you did and put in notebook.
Tuesday: Electrolysis experiment. Use lab report template and put report in notebook.
Wednesday: ECPS pp. 7-17,  Experiment 1.2 Cubits and Fingers. Use lab report and put in notebook.
Thursday: Metric Conversion Worksheet
Friday: Concentration experiment. If I dilute the vinegar, will it still react to baking powder? Observe the reaction of baking powder to different concentrations of vinegar. Use water as a control.
Steps to a good experiment


Resources

Videos


Bill Nye the Science Guy- Atoms 1/2

Bill Nye the Science Guy- Atoms 2/2

Experiments

This is basically the same experiment as found on page 2 in Exploring Creation with Physical Science but it has better explanations and includes instructions for capturing the hydrogen and oxygen and for more advanced students, the mathematical calculations that go with it.
Electrolysis Experiment

Worksheets and Online Quizzes

Metric Conversion Worksheet

Interactive Quiz on Converting Metric Length

Worksheets and ppts covering middle school science

Online games and videos on atoms

Lapbooking and Notebooking


Great lapbook and notebook ideas for atoms.

Chemistry unit study. Includes scientist biographies

Lab report template

Notebook pages on atoms

The Skeleton

When I teach science, I need a skeleton. Something that gives strength and cohesiveness to all the aspects of the branch of science we are studying. Usually  this is the textbook.

The skeleton this year will be Exploring Creation with Physical Science by Wile. I am not a big Wile fan, but I need a book. To me, the book is the jumping off point of the course. It is just the beginning. To the book we will add field trips, experiments, notebooking, lapbooking, activities and whatever else is needed to engage the kids minds and help them understand and remember.

Starting... Again

Here we go again.
Time to teach science, and what am I going to do?
I have a 9th grader, a 6th grader, a 4th grader and a preschooler. Is it possible to teach them all together, or at least somewhat together. I don't know, but I am going to try.
Join me on my journey.