SCIENCE DOCENT GUIDE HELPING HANDS SCIENCE K GOMES ELEMENTARY Kindergarten Math Science Nucleus 2016 1
DOCENT GUIDELINES K KINDERGARTEN DURATION: 30 minutes GENERAL INFORMATION: Do not spend more than 5-10 minutes for an introduction. Allow as much time for the hands on component. If you are doing an art project, make sure you have all the materials readily available. Kindergarten s vocabulary is limited. You may need to repeat large words and have students repeat the word. Repetition is important for this grade level. Talk at a moderate pace and make sure the students are following you. If you give students instructions make sure you repeat the instructions slowly and make sure they understand the procedure. Note: Background information is added information for the docent only. Weather Planned Lessons Lesson Overview NGSS CORRELATION Wind Clouds Clouds (storybook) Properties of Water Snowflakes and Crystals (storybook) Observing wind and determine the direction of wind Exploring how clouds are formed Exploring the 3 states of matter of water K-ESS2-1 Use and Share observations of weather ESS2. Weather K-ESS2-1 Use and Share observations of weather ESS2. Weather K-ESS2-1 Use and Share observations of weather ESS2. Weather 2
KINDERGARTEN MEASURING TEMPERATURE OBJECTIVES: Discovering how to use a thermometer. Recording information on temperature. K VOCABULARY: temperaturee thermometer MATERIALS: thermometers (2 types, one to explain (paper one) and one that can be immersed in water (plastic one) containers of warm and cold water ice cubes BACKGROUND: Thermometers are useful in our everydayy life. Students are familiar with their parents watching the morning news for information on the temperature. It helps them decidee what to dress for the day. Temperature is a practical thing to know! Changes in temperature can be felt when any livingg organismss touches an ice cube or feels fire burning. It wasn t until the 17 th century in Italy that meteorology became a science. Galileo Galilei made the first thermometerr around 1600. Gabriel Fahrenheit, a German instrument maker invented in 1714, put mercury in a glass tube and created a scale of temperature and called it a thermometer. His name is still used for the English system of reading temperature e. In devising a scale he used zero as the lowest temperature obtainable with a mixture of ice and common salt, and first proposed to divide the interval between this temperature and that which is normally found to characterize the blood of a healthy man into 12 divisions. In other words, arbitrary points which had significance in human culture. The centigrade thermometer, which most countriess now use is based on freezing of water and boiling of water as its end members. Anders Celsius (1701-1744), a Swede, first proposed the use of the intervals that are now in wide use on the Centigrade thermometer. The thermomete is based on 0º for freezing and 100º for boiling of water. Water is used because of its importance to our everyday lives.. 3
PROCEDURE: 1. Ask students where they would normally measure temperature around the house. Make a list of these which could include the following: oven, heater temperature, refrigerator, and fevers. 2. You may want to tell students that the thermometer that is used to find your body temperature is not used to measure ovens or refrigerators. Thermometers are made to measure different things. 3. Measuring temperature can be exciting for students. Just to see the "red" liquid move up and down is somehow magical for children. (Red liquid in school thermometers is alcohol, mercury thermometers are banned in most schools.) In this exercise the students use different containers of water. Students record on their lab sheets the measured temperature. You will be measuring in centigrade, but if you have other thermometers you can still use the worksheet. Have students label the degrees that are on the thermometer they are using. PLEASE REMEMBER: even if the student cannot read have the students draw what they see. The goal of these lessons will help a kindergarten read a thermometer by the end of the school year. 4. You may want the students to predict which one is hot and which ones are cold before they start measuring with the thermometers by putting their fingers in the cup. We do not suggest using hot boiling water. 5. Tell the students to put the thermometer in the different containers and watch the red line go up or down. They should record the information on their lab sheets. On the worksheet there are 3 thermometers that the students can record. You determine what the students measure. If you want more than 3 stations you may want to provide students with more worksheets. 6. If you have an outside thermometer you should measure the temperature outside over the next few days. Make sure the measurements are taken at the same time each day. Talk about which days were coldest, which were warmest, and which were the most comfortable. You will probably use a glass thermometer for this exercise. Caution the children to be careful. Do not push the thermometer into anything. But if a child does break one, tell them to tell you immediately. If the thermometers are alcohol, they will not cause any damage. In most place mercury thermometers for elementary age students are prohibited. 4
MEASURING TEMPERATURE USING A THERMOMETER 5
KINDERGARTEN CLOUDS OBJECTIVES: Investigating how water produces clouds. Exploring how clouds are formed. K VOCABULARY: atmosphere cirrus clouds cumulus fog nimbus stratus MATERIALS: Clouds by M. Doherty cloud chart cotton balls glue sticks crayon BACKGROUND: Students learn early that clouds are "puffy balls of cotton" in the sky. However, many may not realize that clouds are really another form of water. Evaporation or the process involved in changing water from the liquid state to the gaseous state is very important in the conversion. Introduce to students that clouds are really the gaseous state of water and are produced within the atmosphere. Clouds are groups of tiny droplets of water, or sometimes ice, that form around dust in the atmosphere. Water remains suspended in the air, because the drops are so tiny, Clouds are usually described by technical names (i.e., cumulus), but they can also be described by what they look like (i.e., puffy). Usually learning the technical names is not difficult for children, as long as they have an associated image. Do not give the children these terms unless you have pictures associated with them. A system for naming clouds was developed by Luke Howard, an English pharmacist in 1803. He identified ten distinct categories of cloud, all of which are variations on three basic cloud forms including puffy cumulus clouds, stratus clouds forming in layers, and feathery cirrus clouds. This system proved so simple and effective that it is basically used by meteorologists today. There are 4 major terms that help describe clouds. "Stratus clouds," are grey, and float low in the sky, flat as sheets and may bring rain or drizzle. "Cumulus clouds" are white, 6
and pile high in the air. That means fair weather is coming. "Cirrus clouds are white and curly. They float highest of all and bring a change of weather. "Nimbus in a cloud name refers to clouds that are dark, which usually mean rain or snow. Cumulo-nimbus is a cumulus cloud that usually means rain in the forecast. Fog is just a cloud that is close to the ground. PROCEDURE: Scientifically clouds are classified by their altitude and a combination of the stratus, cumulus, cirrus, and nimbus to further sort them. However, students need to associate nimbus, stratus, cirrus, and cumulus with correct images before they can really learn to describe the clouds that they see in the sky. 1. Ask students if clouds are in outer space. No, because clouds require air and water vapor to live. Clouds on our Earth exist in our Atmosphere. The atmosphere is an envelope of air and water vapor that surrounds the earth. Students sometimes have problems understanding that clouds are actually lighter than the air. You may want to use the Italian Dressing (oil and vinegar with spices) to demonstrate that even though the oil looks heavier than the water, the oil will float. Remind students that air is a substance that takes up space. 2. Ask students if clouds are all the same shape. No, clouds, come in many different shapes. Ask students if clouds are the same color. No, mainly they are white, but can be dark gray. During sunset or sunrise clouds can reflect the colors of the Sun through the atmosphere and makes pretty colors. 3. Read the poem on Clouds by M. Doherty. The pictures with the poem can help students visualize the different types of clouds. 4. Give them a cloud chart (only use one of the versions below);cotton balls and glue. Have them put the cotton balls in the correct form. You may want the children to go over the words with a crayon. 7
CLOUD CHART name 8
KINDERGARTEN PROPERTIES OF WATER OBJECTIVES: K Discovering properties of water. Exploring the states of matter. VOCABULARY: gas liquid solid water. MATERIALS: ice cube per student plastic baggies Towels Snowflakes and Crystals BACKGROUND: Determining the state of matter is not easy. Many times a substance acts like a liquid, but then sometimess it acts as a solid. Cornstarch and water is a classic example of this. If you add the appropriate amount of water to cornstarch it will act as a solid, then if you let the solid rest, it will flow. Matter can also change statess of matter depending on the temperature. Water is an excellent example of how easily you can go from one state to another, just by increasing or decreasing the temperature. Traditionally we have taught students that there aree 3 states of matter. They assume that this is all there is. Solids, liquids, and gases are states off matter that are familiar to us on the surface of the Earth. However, deep in the Earth or deep in space, conditions are different, allowing other states of matter to dominate. For instance, plasma is the most common state of matter in the Universe. It is important early in a child s education to make students understand, that humans define parameters within our world. But that does not make it absolutely correct in other worlds. 9
PROCEDURE: 1. Discuss with students that there are 3 states of matter that water takes, liquid, ice, and steam. In order to change from one state of matter to another, energy needs to be used. The problem that the students will explore is how much heat it will take to convert a solid (ice) to a liquid. 2. First discuss with students what takes on the different forms of water in nature. SOLID LIQUID GAS ice rivers steam icicles oceans clouds snow rain hail 3. Give each student a baggy with one ice cube inside. Have the students feel the coldness. Tell them that they can use anything in the classroom, including themselves to find a temperature that will melt the ice cube, but make sure students don't use fire. You may want to disqualify a heater because that will take some of the fun away. The one who melts the ice cube the fastest is the winner. Students will discover that certain places, like armpits will melt the ice cube quickly. As students are doing this activity, make sure you go over the change of states of matter (solid to liquid). 4. After students melt the ice cube you may want to put the water into a dish and put it near a window and have the students look at it over time. This can help emphasize that water goes through another state of matter, gas. 5. If you have time you may want to read Snowflakes and Crystals. Although the concepts are a little higher than Kindergarten, the pictures help them to see the solid phase of water as a crystal. 10