Earth and the Lithosphere

Another week of science. Yeah!

This week we are on Module 6, Earth and the Lithosphere. I am using as my core text Exploring Creation with Physical Science by Jay Wile. This year I have kids in every level. Is it possible for us to do science together? That is the challenge I have taken on.

Schedule:

Monday:   Lithosphere and plate tectonics
Tuesday:Mountain Formation

Wednesday: Volcanoes

Thursday: Earthquakes

Friday: Catch-up day

This chart shows my effort to teach all my levels at once. Activities referenced in the chart are listed in the resource section below.

	Kindergarten	Elementary	Middle School	High School
Lithosphere, Structure of  the earth	earth layers  coloring sheet, magnetic fields activity. Magic  School Bus "Inside the Earth"	SC Landforms earth layers coloring sheet, geomag  comic book, magnetic fields activity, Magic  School Bus "Inside the Earth"	SC Landforms earth layers coloring sheet, geomagnatism comic book, magnetic fields activity, Magic  School Bus "Inside the Earth"	Lithosphere  facts, SC Landforms, geomagnatism comic book, magnetic fields activity
Plate  Tectonics	plate tectonics coloring pages	plate tectonics worksheets	plate tectonics worksheets	plate tectonics worksheets
Earthquakes	Bill Nye Earthquakes	Deadliest Earthquakes Nova Bill Nye Earthquakes	Deadliest Earthquakes Nova, Bill Nye Earthquakes	Deadliest Earthquakes Nova, Bill Nye Earthquakes
Volcanoes	Magic School Bus Blows Its Top	Deadliest Volcanoes, Magic School Bus Blows Its Top	Deadliest Volcanoes, Magic School Bus Blows Its Top	Deadliest Volcanoes
Mountain Formation	Mountain formation activity	Mountain formation activity	Mountain formation activity	Mountain formation activity

Resources:


magnetic fields activities

Bill Nye- Earthquakes

easy earth layers coloring sheet

coloring pages plate tectonics and earthquakes


earth layers coloring page

7-12 grade USGS resources
comic book about geomagnatism


Lithosphere facts from science daily

volcano 101 national geographic video

plate tectonics facts, worksheets, quizes

South Carolina Landforms

The Magic School Bus Blows its Top

Nova full length video: Deadliest Volcanoes

This is terrific! If you only watch one video, watch this one. You could probably get it from the library if the link goes dead.

earthquake links from NOVA

Plate Tectonics video

Find the fault interactive activity

How Mountains are Made

How Mountains are made worksheets

Module 5 and 4: The hydrosphere and the wonder of water

I'm rearranging the order of the book (again) to make the flow of ideas a little better. We have already covered clouds and cloud formation, so we will skip that part and talk about the water cycle and what is so unusual about water. At the end of the week we will talk about groundwater, because that will bridge nicely into the lithosphere.

Schedule:

Monday: Hydrosphere and water cycle. Watch Magic School Bus and do worksheets on water cycle. Module 5

Tuesday: Properties of water experiments and worksheets. Module 4

Wednesday: Properties of water experiments and worksheets. Bending water experiment.

Thursday: Glacier video

Friday: Understanding groundwater video. Build an aquifer in a cup.

Notes:

The aquifer in a cup is a great activity.

The groundwater video is a little hard to understand.

We did this experiment from the properties of water link in the resource section below, comparing the heat properties of different liquids.

We heated 40 ml of alcohol, 40 ml of oil and 40 ml of water and graphed the temperature while they were being heated to the boiling point and then cooled. We did this using a vernier stainless steel thermometer and a go link plugged into the computer and graphed with logger lite software. The kids loved it. They could actually see the difference between the two liquids in their ability to heat up hold heat.Unfortunately, when I heated the oil, I lost my heat sensor.

This is what alcohol looked like.

This is what water looked like.

This is oil. You can tell right where I burned out my temperature sensor.

Resources:

The Magic School Bus Ups and Downs

Resources for all ages on water and the water cycle

Activities and coloring pages from the EPA on the water cycle\

I really like this link because it ties the properties of water to the hydrosphere.

Properties of water experiments and worksheets

Bending water with a comb experiment

Glacier video from pbs kids

Wonderful explanation of the properties of water part 1

Understanding Groundwater parts 1 and 2

Groundwater activity: make an aquifer in a cup

water cycle worksheet

Worksheets and quiz on the water cycle

Bill Nye and the Water Cycle

Magic School Bus and Wet all Over

The hydrosphere for younger children

Module 8: Weather and It's Prediction

Here we are. Sunday night and I'm still working on lesson plans... The material doesn't look that hard. I will probably ask the study questions as we go along rather than assigning them as homework. Check out the cyberspace videos for the younger set. 

Notes:

The book is unclear as to where lightning starts. The flash actually starts at the ground first and travels to the cloud. See Nova video.

My grandfather, who was a farmer, told me that if there is no dew on the ground, it will probably rain. I have found this to be a pretty accurate indicator.

If your weather data collecting is incomplete and/or inadequate you can get the data you need from the weather data link listed below. Kids tend not to collect the most accurate data:) 

Schedule: 

Keep recording weather all days. See weather chart in previous post.

 Monday: All reading from Exploring Creation with Physical Science. Read pp. 181-189. Resources Precipitation video and hail video.

 Tuesday: Read pp.190-197

 Wednesday: Study questions 1-13. Cyberchase video.

 Thursday: Study questions 14-24. Hunt for the Supertwister.

 Friday: Experiment 8.2 using weather data to predict the weather.

Resources:

interactive anatomy of Katrina

links to sites containing past weather data

links to lesson plans, printables, experiments etc. on weather

how to predict the weather without a forcast

using past weather data to forecast the weather

great game that teaches how to predict the weather using weather maps and data

Best lightning video from Discovery

What makes thunder?

Precipitation

How hail is formed

PBS Cyberchase episodes that have to do with weather

Watch full cyberchase video about tracking storms

Watch Nova's Hunt for the Super Twister full episode

Link to Nova short film on lightning

Weather Module 7

This week I'd like to do fewer videos and more reading and hands on. We've already talked about clouds somewhat, so the first order of business is to set up our own weather station. We will make our own instruments.  I think the kids will learn more by reading the instruments themselves rather than getting all the information off the web. Here is our schedule.

Monday: Pages 157-161 on clouds. Make barometer and rain gauge.
Tuesday: pp 161-165 Earth's thermal energy.
Wednesday: 165-171 Latitude/Longitude, wind patterns Make weather vane
Thursday:171-176 Air Masses
Friday: Study questions


Resources

Blank weather chart

vocabulary

make your own weather instruments

US wind map

Estimate the wind speed without an anemomeeter

A blank weather chart I created. Enough space for 2 weeks

Latitude and Longitude game

Global Wind Pattern visualization

Six Major Wind Belts

Latitude and Longitude

Air Masses

Module 3,7: Weather

We are taking spring break Wednesday-Friday. So this is a light week. The Magic School Bus is one of my favorite science shows for the younger ones.

Monday: Soda can implosion. This is an awesome demonstration of air pressure for any age. Start reading chapter on weather. Take picture of sky and add to cloud atlas. Use NOAA sky chart as a reference.
Tuesday: Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm. Younger ones have library books on weather. 9th grader reads chapter.

Resources:
soda can implosion

Get the Magic School Bus

Kicks up a Storm from the library. Great for the younger kids. I had to order the tape from Amazon.

NOAA sky chart