The Little Sci-Expert at School by Lau Londoño

Grade

SCIENCE ADVENTURES FOR KIDS

L O O H C S t a

by MaríaLucía Rojas, Ph.D. & Science4Future

educational-fun projects & their work pages.

e e x m p o e s r e i m w e a n t g s n i m r o f r h t e i r e t curiosity a e l u m i P at st ! h t

at SCHOOL

Science4Future

at SCHOOL

by MaríaLucía Rojas, Ph.D. & Science4Future

ALSO BY MARIALUCIA ROJAS, Ph.D.

THE LITTLE SCI-EXPERT AT SCHOOL

Little Sci-Expert: An Early Childhood Curriculum

written by MaríaLucía Rojas, Ph.D.

Little Sci-Expert: The Big Childhood Curriculum

creative direction by Pablo Andres Muñoz

The Little Curious One at Home

edited by Alexa Langen

The Little Curious One at School

illustrated by Fredy Díaz & Angie Rodríguez

The Little Sci-Whiz at Home

cover design by Fredy Díaz

The Little Sci-Whiz at School

layout by Laura Londoño

The Little Sci-Expert at Home

2015

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Dear Teachers and Parents Safety Rules

9 10 12 14

CHAPTER 1: Communicating with My Environment: The Senses My Video Camera: My Sense of Sight How I Use My Skin to Feel: My Sense of Touch A Way to Use My Nose: My Sense of Smell Using My Tongue to Eat: My Sense of Taste I Need My Nose to Taste Food How I Capture Everyday Sounds: My Sense of Hearing

15 16 20 24 28 32 36

CHAPTER 2: Our Big Home: Sharing the World Living and Nonliving Things Animals and Plants Living Together: Habitats

41 42 46

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CHAPTER 3: What do I Need to Live? Needs of Living Organisms The Sun, King of the Universe The Water, Queen of the World The Air, Mr. Invisible The Food, Ms. Delicious

51 52 56 60 64

CHAPTER 4: Plants: How Sun, Air, Water and Land Are Connected Exploring Seeds: Baby Plants Growing Seeds: Plants The Suction Flower: How Water Moves Through Plants

69 70 74 78

CHAPTER 5: Little Eco-wizards: Protecting Our Environment Recycling Paper: Paper-Mache The Carnival of Bubbles: A Densityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Trick The Magic Bottle: Discovering Liquid Densities

83 84 88 92

CHAPTER 6: Discovering Matter How Do I Perceive Matter? States of Matter Measuring Matter: Measuring Solids and Liquids Stretchy Materials: A Property of Matter Playing with Densities: Matter Densities Matter Disguised by Its Temperature: How Matter Changes with Temperature

97 98 102 106 110 114

CHAPTER 7: Everything I See Can Change A Trick to Resize: Magnifying Glass Resizing with Water: Water Absorption

119 120 124

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CHAPTER 8: Colors in Our Everyday Life The Color Orange and Pumpkins The Color Red and My Surroundings The Color Green and the Plant Kingdom The Phantom Color

129 130 134 138 142

CHAPTER 9: Understanding our Environment A Special Circular Motion: Centrifugal Force Irresistible Attraction: Magnets Fire is Dangerous! How Everything in Nature Grows Why Are Leaves Green?

147 148 152 156 160 164

CHAPTER 10: Little Sci-experts Extracting Color from Red Carnations A Fun Volcano: A Chemical Reaction My Homemade Shiny Clay: A Physical Change of Matter A Giant Volcano: Proportions to Create Reactions Releasing Energy: Mixing Compounds The Chameleonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mix: Magic Beans

169 170 174 178 182 186 190

References Work Pages completed by the little sci-experts

195 199

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To my son, Pablo Andres, for always being so kind and accepting a preoccupied, working and stressed mom and loving, supporting and understanding me anyway!

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Acknowledgements My mom, who was a strong pillar of my life. All the parents of my little students, for encouraging me to continue this beautiful work in the educational field. All the children I have taught, for showing me the right ways of teaching them. Angela Ciocca, for understanding my goals and valuing my work as a science teacher in her institution. My family, for always being with me. Pablo A. Muñoz, Alexa Langen and Tatiana Jelves, for editing this book. Raul Espinoza, for his comments and understanding the true value of this ever-growing project. Ines Palacios, for her contributions. Angie Rodriguez, for doing the illustrations of the work pages. Fredy Díaz, who did the cover and the illustrations of this book. Laura Londoño, who did the graphic design of this book.

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Introduction I proudly present this book to all teachers and parents who are the first in the care of our children’s education. This innovative book, The Little Sci-Expert at School, is part of the collection Science Adventures for Kids, which offers children of all ages an enjoyable and practical way to learn science. This interactive book was designed specifically for first graders in order to help motivate and guide them as they encounter science early in their everyday lives while increasing their literacy skills. These amazing experiments and their work pages help children learn basic and simple scientific skills in which they can further build more complex ones, and offer teachers and parents a creative way to participate in the learning process of their children, giving them a lifelong love of learning. The Little Sci-Expert at School is a new concept of workbook. It is aligned and articulated with the curriculum called Little Sci- Expert: An Early Childhood Curriculum, which presents exciting experiments as an early learning experience. This book facilitates the creation of harmonious teamwork between teachers and parents to assist and support children in their learning process. The Little Sci-Expert at School helps teachers clarify and reinforce concepts while evaluating children’s understanding and learning. It is a special tool for parents, providing them with an overview of the experiments with which they can help their children complete the exercises, as well as for children who actively engaged in learning at home, and have an opportunity to use a concept that has been introduced and practiced under supervision in classroom as they improve their reading and writing abilities. Using The Little Sci-Expert at School, children will be exposed to scientific vocabulary and tools. Teachers help them with the language, providing the names and phonetic sounds, and providing vocabulary reinforcement. These engaging experiments and their work pages capture first graders’ interest and trigger their curiosity, allowing them to explore the concept further; they are a way to continue training children’s mind to think critically. Within these pages, you will find exciting lessons for curious children who are filled with questions, and who want to know everything about their environment. You, teachers and parents, will serve as guides to open the door to the magical and fun world of science through their first experiments. I am sure you will enjoy this task; the love of science is contagious! When children use these work pages, talk to them about the experiments since ( 10 )

they love to show what they have learned. Celebrate and share the excitement of your children, encourage them to answer the questions, applaud their achievements and the way they complete the exercises. All this will fill them with enthusiasm strengthen your bond, increase their self-esteem and their love of learning. In this book you will find 40 eco-friendly, hands-on experiments. Each experiment includes a theoretical support of the topic, an overview of the procedure and results, as well as the work pages to be done both at school and at home. Topics are organized in chapters by common themes, allowing children to explore the world of science. They see how they can communicate with our environment, with whom we share the world, what organisms need to survive, how to play with densities and how sun, air, water and land are connected. They also experience ways to protect our planet and methods to discover matter and understand our environment. Although the exercises are simple, their completion reinforces the purpose of each experiment. They are effective tools in ongoing efforts to encourage children to improve literacy, as well as critical and creative thinking skills. They allow children to use and apply each topic and concept with great specificity to their surroundings, describe and interpret illustrations, ask questions, find similarities and differences, draw pictures related to the experiments, draw conclusions, make and confirm predictions, find patterns and relationships, communicate ideas and experiences, associate spoken and written words and develop their vocabulary. These work pages also contribute to the process of interactive and shared writing, allow children to record information and help them to focus on the big picture, bridging the gap between doing and watching. They allow teachers to reinforce particular topics and concepts, clarify childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doubts and assess the understanding and learning of the concepts. They help parents contribute more to the learning process of their children since they provide both the theoretical concept as well as an overview of the experiment. Each worksheet is engaging, fun, educational, and easy to use. They are just perfect for learning while having fun! The Little Sci-Expert at School offers teachers and parents a fun and educational way of stimulating childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s curiosity, allowing them to actively participate in their childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning process. It will provide first graders with a lifelong love of learning science and enable them to grow up happier, emotionally and socially healthy. This book will foster literacy, critical and creative thinking skills that will help children learn throughout their school years and beyond!

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Dear teachers and parents

Even now, children continue growing emotionally, physically and cognitively. They will continue strengthening their development with appropriate stimulation. First graders have a lot of questions, and are excited to continue learning through explorations and discoveries. They will easily improve skills and gain many new ones according to the encouragement provided to them. Therefore now with The Little Sci-Expert at School you have the wonderful opportunity to actively participate in your children learning process. The Little Sci-Expert at School allows teachers and parents to work jointly, helping their first graders in their education. This book shows you how, by using science experiments, first graders experience the thrill of discovery and move toward literacy. It is also aligned and articulated with the curriculum called Little Sci-Expert, which involves teachers, parents and children enthusiastically in the magical world of science. During the years of teaching children ages two to seven, I have observed the great benefits of early learning science experiences. Through hands-on science and ecofriendly experiments, children became involved in science, looked forward to their next class and experiment while developing social, emotional, literacy, critical and creative thinking skills. I have also witnessed a transformation in many of them. That is, a whole transformation, both in their physical bodies and in their cognitive development. While they were losing their teeth, they were gaining maturity in their ways of thinking and of expressing themselves, not only in their speech, but also in their behavior. I have evaluated the maturity of their thought processes according to their answers to questions, conclusions they draw and the inferences and hypotheses they make. Children ages six to seven focus very well on topics, discussing them with maturity and depth, follow directions, use materials with appropriate technique and make accurate comparisons, inferences, predictions and conclusions, participating in whole parts of the scientific process while continuing to improve their literacy, critical and creative thinking skills. They act far beyond their ages, and sometimes I forget they are only six, seven years old â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until I focus on their faces, and snap back to reality. It is truly ( 12 )

amazing how wonderfully first graders can do the experiments; they really work like older children. I have not noticed the same creative thinking skills among children who have not been taking science lessons. I have also seen how, in using science as an early learning experience, we encourage children to know about themselves and their environment. They learn that they can find everything in nature relating to colors, smells, foods, sounds, clothing, etc. Early in their lives, children appreciate the simple things, to care for and protect nature, while they learn scientific skills like observing, comparing, identifying and classifying: skills that can foster a talent for science, and apply to other disciplines. These observations and evaluations, along with results of decades of research, have shown that early home life and early learning experiences have a strong impact on the childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning process and his future success. Early learning science experiments can help establish social, emotional, literacy and creative and critical thinking skills with which first graders will continue their education with great advantage! We, as educators and parents, have an enormous responsibility to our first graders; they are the future of our families, our nation and the world. With this book, we can make the best out of the wonderful opportunity to teach and participate in the learning process of our countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future men and women in all walks of life.

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Safety Rules Safety Advice to Teachers and Parents! Science experiments are fun, but they must be undertaken with great care. As with everything involving young children, if improperly handled, they could be dangerous. If you want to repeat the experiments, should read and familiarize yourself with each adventure/experiment before performing it with the children. Please, follow the directions given in each experiment. Although the items listed are of common household use, like the vinegar we use for salad dressing at home, if children drink it, they could get sick. Always watch and supervise your “little Sci-experts” and pay attention to them every second! You must be very clear with the children about following this important rule: “Do not taste or smell any substance without permission of your teacher or adult.” Children need to learn how to properly use science materials. Although all materials and substances used are nontoxic, none of the compounds or substances is to be eaten or drunk unless so specified. The experiment about taste is different because of its specific purpose. You must to be very careful with our “little Sci-experts,” for they love to taste and smell everything. Keep in mind you are working with first graders, who are all questions, sensations and experimentations. They are extremely curious, which is natural at this age! Each experiment and activity in this book must be performed following the instructions provided. In the experiment “Fire is Dangerous!, ONLY a teacher or an adult is allowed to use matches or a lighter. In adventures where a blender is required, allow children to put food into the blender container and push the buttons under adult supervision only. Be sure to always store unused tools out of reach of children. Work with smalls groups, three to seven children according to their ages. The writer accepts no responsibility for any damage caused or sustained while performing the forty experiments and their activities. ( 14 )

Chapter 1 Communicating with My Environment: The Senses We get all the information from our surrounding through our senses. Our senses assimilate and reach permanently all the information from our environment to send it to the brain, where is processed. Our special parabolic antennas (our senses) capture, receive and amplify sensations and stimuli in specific places (receptors), which transmit these signals (information) to the brain. Our brain deciphers, identifies and interprets these signals and stores all this information to be used when necessary. When our senses are stimulated, our brain actively searches into its wide data bank of learning sensations and translates these signals into colors, images, flavors, odors or textures. Our team-senses works cooperatively at all times; so we can also identify objects without seeing them by using their other properties, such as smell, taste, sound or texture. ( 15 )

My Video Camera: My Sense of Sight

Our eyes (our own video camera) are at work all the time. In a fraction of a second, they absorb an amazing range of images and perceptions from our environment. Eyes have light-sensitive places (photoreceptors) that capture beams of light bouncing off of objects. These light-stimuli are sent to the brain, which recognizes, deciphers and translates these signals into colors, images, figures, textures and forms of the objects we are seeing. The wonderful process of vision depends upon a few components: light, photoreceptors, photo pigments (molecules that absorb certain wavelengths of light), structures in the eyes, and the brain. Light activates the cascade of events that leads to sight. Our eyes are essential in performing daily activities, such as walking, cooking, driving, working, learning, eating, reading, going shopping, watching movies, etc. In this experiment, children learned how important our eyes are in performing daily activities such as walking, gripping, drawing, and observing the pictures in a book. They performed these activities with their eyes open and then covered with a blindfold. Children also identified colors, and clarified the concept of colorless. ( 16 )

Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture that shows your eyes and brain working together to see.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Color the things able to see.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

( 17 )

My Video Camera: My Sense of Sight

DEAR PARENTS, TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT AND TALKTHEM TO YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: DEAR ENCOURAGE AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER PARENTS THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture that shows your pet recognizing you.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Draw how your brain works with your eyes looking at an object.

Write two activities in which your sense of sight is useful.

REMEMBER! Our eyes work all te the time and they are essential for performing lots of activities. For example, when you are in the park your eyes tell you if your friends are there too.

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Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

How I Use My Skin to Feel: My Sense of Touch

Our whole body is covered with skin. As a result, our entire body can feel sensations such as cold, warmth, pain, pressure and textures. We feel these sensations because our skin has mechanical, thermal and pain receptors that receive stimuli from the environment and carry them to the brain. Our brain, along with our other senses, helps us to decipher, recognize, and interpret these perceptions among the wide assortment of learning sensations. In this adventure, children explored textures and temperatures. They used their hands to touch plastic, foam, sponges, brushes and cotton. Children felt the same materials with their legs, arms, neck and face. They touched ice to feel cold temperatures, and compared the cold with the warmth of their bodies. Finally, children tried to catch air to clarify the concept of textureless. ( 20 )

Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture that shows your skin and brain working together to feel textures.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Draw lines to match the words with the materials you used in this experiment.

Write a sentence about your sense of touch.

( 21 )

How I use My Skin to Feel: My Sense of Touch

Color the parts of your body that allow you to feel.

Glue soft, rough and smooth materials in the circles.

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Our whole body is covered with skin. As a result, our entire body can feel sensations such as cold, warmth, pain, pressure and textures. For example, your tongue feels softness when eating gelatin.

( 22 )

Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

A Way to Use My Nose: My Sense of Smell

When we smell, we use special places (chemoreceptors) in our nose that can detect a range of odors, aromas, and fragrances from the environment and send these signals to the brain. Our brain helps us to identify and recognize this specific odor among the wide assortment of odors and fragrances that we have previously experienced. In this exploration, children discovered odors and fragrances. They smelled liquid fragrances, water, condiments, candles and fresh fruits to compare, contrast, identify, and associate their odors. When using a blindfold, they tried to identify the kind of fragrance, fruit or condiment according to the smell. They also clarified the concept of odorless. ( 24 )

Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the things you can identify by using your nose.

Color the picture that shows your nose and brain working together to smell.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Take three pieces of cotton, submerge each one in a different fragance and paste them in the circles. Then write their names.

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A Way to Use My Nose: My Sense of Smell

Draw lines to connect the words with the materials you used in this experiment.

Orange fragance

Cinnamon

Apple fruit

Apple fragance

Candle

Orange fruit

Color the pictures with smells you like and write their names.

Find the words nose, brain, smell, odor in the puzzle. q g l u e p

w s m e l l

b r a i n i

r e o d o r

t y f v s y

y e x t e r

REMEMBER! Our nose can detect a range of odors, aromas, and fragrances from the environment so we are able to associate a certain smell with a particular situation or with a specific scent. For example, when you mom is around your nose detecs her perfume.

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Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

Using My Tongue to Eat: My Sense of Taste

We use our senses to interact with the environment. In the case of our sense of taste, our fine antenna (our tongue) uses taste cells (a kind of chemoreceptor) to receive taste sensations from the environment and send these signals to the brain where they can be associated with one of the basic tastes (sweet, salty, sour, bitter and savory). Other taste sensations result from the combination of the basic tastes. Traditionally, some places on the tongue have been related with the ability to detect taste sensation such as bitter, sour, sweet and salty (taste map). But in the last few years, this theory has changed: one more basic taste (savory) has been identified, and the entire tongue is now known to contain chemoreceptors to sense all basic tastes with equal intensity. (1) fruits, cheese, cookies, crackers and different types of juices. Children identified sweet, salty, and sour flavors. They tasted water to clarify the concept of tasteless. Using a blindfold, children also tried to identify the kind of sample according to its taste. (1) Wanjek, Christopher. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tongue Map: Tasteless Myth Debunked.â&#x20AC;? LiveScience. August 29, 2006.

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Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture that shows your tongue, mouth and brain working together to taste.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Draw two things you love to eat.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

( 29 )

Using My Tongue to Eat: My Sense of Taste

Write four names of materials you used in this experiment.

Draw two liquids you love to drink.

Draw food related to sour, salty and sweet flavors.

REMEMBER! Our tongue and mouth tell us about tastes in foods. For example, your tongue and mouth taste sour when tasting lemon juice.

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Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

I Need My Nose to Taste Food

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true; our nose helps us taste! When we eat, the tongue and the nose, using taste and olfactory cells (chemoreceptors), detect tastes and aromas simultaneously. These senses are very closely related because we have a special channel that connects the roof of the throat to the nose(1). As a result, when we eat, components of food (aromas, odors, and tastes) stimulate both senses at the same time. When we have a cold, this channel closes and we are not able to taste adequately. In this experience, children tasted samples of orange, pear, lemon, apple, Goldfish crackers and solutions of salt and brown sugar. After identifying these flavors, they pinched their nose and tasted the same samples. Children were confused about flavors and discovered how important their nose is for tasting. (1) www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smelltaste

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Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write a sentence with the word “taste.”

Find in the puzzle the parts of your body you need to taste properly. q m l n e p

t o n g u e

b u a i n i

r t o d o r

t h f v s y

y e x t e r

Draw lines to connect the words with the materials you used in this experiment.

Goldfish

Lemon

Apple juice

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Orange juice

I Need My Nose to Taste Food

Color the picture that shows your nose, tongue, mouth and brain working together to taste.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Color the picture in which you are fully tasting.

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Our nose works cooperatively with our sense of taste to recognize flavors but when you have the flu, you are unable to identify the flavor of your Goldfish crackers.

( 34 )

Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

How Do I Capture Sounds: My Sense of Hearing

Our sense of hearing (our amplifiers), uses special places in our ears (mechanoreceptors) to receive and amplify new and familiar sounds from the environment, and carry these signals to the brain to be interpreted as sounds that are as familiar to us as the singing of birds, barking of dogs, the sound of rain and the voices of our own children, parents and friends. When sounds are new, our brain stores them in its wide library of sounds. In this experiment, children act as sound-detectives identified and compared sounds. They heard sounds from a flute, a whistle, a maraca and a tambourine to find the differences between them. They also heard and contrasted sounds from rice, lentils, green beans and black beans placed inside plastic and glass containers. Finally, children identified noises from black beans inside plastic containers of different sizes. They also clarified the concept of soundless. ( 36 )

Chapter 1

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Find in the puzzle the words ears, brain, sense and sound. q m l t o b n e

s o u n d r g a

e u a q o a i r

n t o u n i d s

s h f e t n v p

e e x s a l t e

Draw two musical instruments.

Color the the parts of your body that help you to identify sounds without seeing. Write their names.

( 37 )

How Do I Capture Sounds: My Sense of Hearing

Color the picture that shows your ears and brain working together to hear.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Color three things that you used in this experiment. Write their names.

Write a sentence with the word “sound.”

REMEMBER! Our ears receive sounds all the time. For example, you can listen to your favorite music thanks to your ears.

( 38 )

Chapter 1

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 2 Our Big Home: Sharing the World All life on Earth is interconnected and interdependent with nonliving things and ambient conditions. Living and nonliving things all around us form natural environments, where they interact one with other. These natural environments include vegetation, animals, soil, rocks, atmosphere, natural resources and natural and physical phenomena. Our planet is an extraordinary mosaic of land, sea, weather, and life forms. No two places are identical in time or spaceâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;we live in a complex and dynamic tapestry of habitats. A habitat is an ecological area, which is inhabited by particular species of plants and animals. Despite the vast variability that may exist from one place to the next, there are some general habitat types that can be described based on shared climate characteristics, vegetation structure, or animal species. Aquatic habitats include seas, oceans, lakes, rivers, wetlands, marshes, lagoons, streams, rivers, and swamps. Deserts and scrublands are landscapes that have scarce precipitation. Forests and woodlands are habitats dominated by trees. Forests extend over about one-third of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s land surface and can be found in many regions around the globe. Grasslands are habitats that are dominated by grasses and have few large trees or shrubs. Tundra is a cold habitat characterized by low temperatures, short vegetation, long winters, brief growing seasons, and limited drainage (1). (1) animals.about.com/od/habitat-facts

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Living and Nonliving Things

Our environment is full of living and nonliving things. All life on Earth is interconnected and interdependent with nonliving things and ambient conditions. Living things such as humans, animals, plants, flowers, and microorganisms can eat, produce energy, drink, feel, move, grow, and react against weather conditions. By contrast, nonliving things can only move or grow in size, but they cannot feel sensations or perform functions such as reproducing. Living things such as animals and plants promote many conditions of human wellbeing, such as by providing company, food, and medicinal substances. Nonliving things such as air, water, light, wood, metal, rocks, plastic, and clothes are used in our bodies, our homes, industry, agriculture, education, etc. In our adventure, children compared and found differences between living and nonliving things. They observed how a live rabbit could move, eat, drink water, feel and react when we touched it. Children used small mechanical animal toys, such as rabbits, chicken, turtles, fish, flies, and birds. They experienced how these toys could not move by themselves because they are not alive. Finally, we talked about how we, as living organisms, can eat, drink, and move. ( 42 )

Chapter 2

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Find and color the living things and circle the nonliving things.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

Color the activities that living things can do. Write their names.

( 43 )

Living and Nonliving Things

Color the things that people, animals and plants need to live. Write their names.

Write three differences between living and nonliving things.

Draw three nonliving things.

REMEMBER! People, plants and animals are living things and can eat, drink, feel and move. For example, you can dance while a plastic toy cannot.

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Chapter 2

NOTES & COMMENTS

Animals and Plants Living Together: Habitats

We share our home, planet Earth, with living organisms such as plants and animals. The entire planet is rich in life forms, especially places like the tropics, which is home to millions and millions of plants and animals. Climate determines the environmental conditions that an animal must face. The type of an environment where an animal lives is called a habitat. Each living organism develops and adopts certain characteristics that allow for its survival in its appropriate space; for instance, animals living in Antarctica have thick fur and blubber to protect them from the cold, yet they would not be able to survive in a hot desert habitat. In this experiment, children had fun classifying animals and plants according to five habitats: Antarctic, desert, forest, wetland and ocean habitats. They also related physical characteristics of animals and plants with their habitats. We identified animals and plants, their names, their physical characteristics, and their habitats. ( 46 )

Chapter 2

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

DEAR TEACHERS

Color the desert habitat.

Write a sentence with “forest habitat.”

Draw lines to match plants with the name of their habitats.

Desert

Wetland

Ocean

( 47 )

Forest

Antartic

Animals and Plants Living Together: Habitats

Color the animals of ocean habitat.

Color the things that a habitat has.

Draw the habitat you like the most. Write its name.

REMEMBER! Animals and plants are adapted to live in specific places called habitats and it is difficult for them survive in other places. For example, polar bears live in the North Pole but they are not able to live in a desert.

( 48 )

Chapter 2

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 3 What do I Need to Live? Needs of Living Organisms Living organisms require specific conditions and resources to stay alive. Animals need air, water, food, and shelter, while plants need air, water, nutrients, and light. Humans, animals, plants and all forms of life need air to perform physical and biochemical functions. Sun is vital in supporting life; without it, our planet would get extremely cold, and all living things on it would die. We need to absorb sunlight through our skin in order for our bodies to produce and use certain vitamins. It is essential for photosynthesis, a process by which its energy is caught and transformed by plants to make their own food, grow and carry out their own physical and biochemical functions. Humans and animals are able to move to get food, but plants must find their nutrients in soil. Plants are the only living species capable of producing their own food by photosynthesis; they are primary producers, autotrophs. Animals, heterothophs or consumers, have very diverse food behaviors: there are carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. Water is also extremely important for living things; it is involved in physiological and chemical processes of living organisms, facilitates the flow of nutrients in an animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blood and is essential in photosynthesis. ( 51 )

The Sun, King of the Universe

The sun is essential in producing power, light, heat, and life. It is the center of our solar system. It reminds me of a song that I used to sing when I was a child: “Sol, solecito, caliéntame un poquito.” You may know it! Its translation is, “Sun, little sun, warm me up a little bit...” We are all very familiar with the sun, having grown up seeing and feeling its effects from sunrise to sunset. The sun is essential to all forms of life. It is involved in the water cycle, it is vital in photosynthesis, and its energy is used to generate electricity. The sun and the Earth work together to give us day and night, as well as the four seasons. Sunlight starts the energy cycle of our planet. This energy is caught and transformed by plants to make their own food, to grow, to carry out their own physical and biochemical functions, and to produce their structures, including fruits and flowers. Energy travels and changes from plants to animals. Animals eat plants, while humans eat plants and animals. Following this mechanism, energy is preserved and flows throughout the whole food chain until it is given back to the environment to start the cycle again. In this adventures, children discovered how sunlight is essential to plants. We planted germinated seeds of sesame and black beans in glass containers with potting soil. To see the effect of sunlight on plants, we covered the tops of half containers to block out sunlight. At the end of our experiment, children uprooted the new seedlings and measured them. ( 52 )

Chapter 3

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture related to summer.

Contrast the plants and color the healthy one.

Write a sentence with the word “photosynthesis.”

( 53 )

The Sun, King of the Universe

Color the things that need sun to live. Write their names.

Write the names of the seasons.

Color the picture that shows you daylight.

REMEMBER! Sun is essential to plants and to all forms of life. For example, plants cannot perform photosynthesis without sun.

( 54 )

Chapter 3

NOTES & COMMENTS

Water, Queen of the World

Water is an extraordinary substance, from biological, biochemical, and chemical points of views. In fact, water is essential to living organisms. Water is the habitat for countless species; it is involved in physiological and chemical processes of living organisms, it helps to regulate world temperature and that of our body as well; it protects animals in ice-covered frozen lakes in winter; it facilitates the flow of nutrients in an animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blood, etc. In our body, the amount of water is relatively constant; it is moved as needed, thus enabling the body to perform every physical and biochemical function. There is harmony of water distribution in the universe. Our planet is about 70% water, our body around 70% too, and the water cell content is also approximately 70%. Water signifies life. It is very important for animals and plants. Our body needs water to perform all the chemical reactions for living. Chemically, water is a very important substance with a simple structure that gives its own special characteristics. Water is the universal solvent. Its sociability is great since it can relate with a large amount of substances, forming countless combinations. Water is used as a point of reference in terms of density since density of substances has to be related with water. In this adventure, children discovered some properties of water and its important role in nature. They explored some of its physical properties such as color, smell and taste. We reviewed its daily use in activities such as drinking, taking showers, washing hands, cooking, bathing pets, and doing laundry. Children were able to talk about how plants, animals, and humans need water to survive. ( 56 )

Chapter 3

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write a list of things that need water to live.

Color the Earth that shows how much water our planet has.

Color the aquatic habitats.

Wetland

Forest

Ocean ( 57 )

Water, Queen of the World

Color three activities that require water.

Color the picture related to water and weather.

Draw three things that do not need water to live. Write their names.

REMEMBER! Water is essential for people, animals and plants. For example, we need water to survive and perform many of our daily activities.

( 58 )

Chapter 3

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Air, Mr. Invisible

The atmosphere, the environment that surrounds our planet, is commonly known as air. The atmosphere acts as our planetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s protective barrier by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation and reducing daytime and nigh time temperature extremes. Air is mainly a mixture of gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide. Humans, animals, plants and all forms of life require air to perform physical and biochemical functions to be alive. The tissues and organs in our body (notably the heart and the brain) are damaged if deprived of oxygen for longer than four minutes. In this adventure, children explored some characteristics of air, and observed that air makes objects move and work. Children discovered the color and texture of air. They understood the relationship between air and the process of breathing. We also used the exhaled gas from breathing to make various things move and work. ( 60 )

Chapter 3

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Draw lines to connect the word and the objects.

Blow ball

Balloons

Flute

Pinwheel

Write a sentence with the word “air.”

Draw two animals that fly.

( 61 )

Airplane

Whistle

The Air, Mr. Invisible

Color the things that can move with air.

Find in the puzzle four things that need air to live. e l e p h a n t

s e u l d r g u

e o a a o a i r

t n b n n i d t

s h o t t n v l

e e y s a l t e

Write a sentence explaining what you learned in this experiment.

REMEMBER! People, animals and plants need air to live. For example, when penguins dive in water they need to come up to the surface to breathe.

( 62 )

Chapter 3

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Food, Ms. Delicious

All living organisms need energy to perform their physical and biochemical functions; they need energy to move, to grow, to reproduce, and to perform many others functions. All organisms transform (metabolize) food, producing energy. Humans and animals are able to move to get food, but not plants; so they must find their nutrients in soil. Plants are the only living species capable of producing their own food by the process called photosynthesis. This process takes place in chloroplasts, the food factory, where plants use solar energy, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. Animals have very diverse food behaviors: there are carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. All animals have a need for proteins, carbohydrates, good fats, and vitamins. In this adventure, we reviewed the importance of a balanced diet to be healthy, to get energy, to carry out our daily activities, and also to enjoy life. Using samples of fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese, milk, juice, cereal, Goldfish crackers, and a plastic chicken, cow and fish, we talked about vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and good fats and their benefits that allow us to live healthily. Children also talked about their favorite foods. ( 64 )

Chapter 3

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write a sentence about how you get energy.

Draw lines to match the names of food with the type of nutrient they have.

Protein

Vitamins

Carbohydrates

Calcium

Apple

Chicken

Cheese

Spaghetti

Broccoli

Beans

Carrots

Bread

Color the things that can make their own food. Write their names.

( 65 )

The Food, Ms. Delicious

Color the things that need food to live.

Draw your favorite vegetable.

Write four things that animals eat.

REMEMBER! People, animals and plants need food to survive. For example, plants need soil with compost to grow heathy.

( 66 )

Chapter 3

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 4 The Plants: How Sun, Air, Water and Soil Are Interconnected Plants have diverse methods of reproduction; seeds represent part of the several reproductive systems of plants, and have been an important development in the reproduction and spread of gymnosperm and angiosperm. A seed contains the embryonic plant (baby plant) from which a new plant will sprout and grow under proper conditions. Plants grow using soil nutrients, water, air and sunlight in the process of photosynthesis. Plants have an extremely important role in our planet; they constitute the habitat for millions of species and they initiate the food chain. Plants are capable of producing their own food; they are primary producers, autotrophs. Energy travels and changes from plants to animals. Animals eat plants, while humans eat plants and animals. Plants also help to clean our environment since they use carbon dioxide to produce oxygen in the atmosphere. They give us food, medicine and countless products. The absorption of water in plants starts at the roots. Roots take water from soil and transport it to the xylem. The xylem is a part of the vascular system that carries water and dissolved minerals from the roots to the rest of the plant. The absorption process is enhanced when fine roots are covered by root hairs that significantly increase the absorptive surface area and improve contact between roots and the soil. Once in the xylem tissue, water moves easily over long distances, in these open tubes, to the stems to then enter the leaves and flowers. ( 69 )

Exploring Seeds: Baby Plants

Seeds represent part of the several reproductive systems of plants. A seed contains the embryonic plant (baby plant) from which a new plant will sprout and grow under proper conditions. The baby plant, or seedling, has the same parts as the adult plant; it includes embryonic leaves, root, and stem. Living organisms grow using the process of cellular division to increase their size. Our body, an animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body, and plants grow to maturity using the reproductive cell capacity. According to the species, seeds are very diverse in size and form. Seeds provide us with a variety of plants, fruits, vegetables and trees. In fact, plants have a very important ecological role, serving as habitats for a large number of animal species. In addition, plants give us food, flowers, fruits, wood, cork, polymers, paper, perfumes, medicines, colors, and many other products. In this adventure, our little sci-experts examined seeds. They discovered where that seeds are packaged, compared their sizes and forms, and identified the baby plant and its parts. They observed and compared seeds from fruits, vegetables and beans according to their forms and sizes. Children glued seeds of fruit and beans on a paper plate. ( 70 )

Chapter 4

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

DEAR TEACHERS

Color the pictures related to seed germination.

Draw lines to match the fruits with their seeds.

Pear

Apple

Peach

Orange

Avocado

Write the names of the parts of a baby plant.

( 71 )

Exploring Seeds: Baby Plants

Color what you find inside a seed.

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

Find in the puzzle the words radicle, hypocotyl and epicotyl. r e p i c o t y l

a s e u l d r g u

h y p o c o t y l

a t n b n n i d t

f s r a d i c l e

s e e y s a l t e

REMEMBER! Seeds have baby plants inside from which we will have a plant. Each plant has its own seeds. For example, if you want to have your favorite fruit regularly at home you need to plant its seeds in your backyard.

( 72 )

Chapter 4

NOTES & COMMENTS

Growing Seeds: Plants

On our planet, there are countless species of plants, animals, and other forms of living organisms all coexisting in various ecosystems. Plants play an essential role in ecosystems since they constitute the habitat for millions of species. Like animals, plants have their own habitat in which we find native species as well as exotic ones that have adapted to a new environment. Most plants come from seeds. When seeds find suitable conditions, they germinate, producing new plants. Every plant grows under specific climatic conditions and requires water, air, and nutrients to live. Some plants may like warmer temperatures, while others may prefer cooler temperatures for best growth, and even to survive. It is always important to know the natural environment of a plant so you can grow it in the same climatic conditions. Make sure your plants have good lighting, enough water, good soil, and good drainage. In this exploration, children saw how seeds grow under specific conditions of temperature, light, nutrients, air, and water. We grew black beans under different conditions of water, soil and light, to see the effect of those variables on the growth rate. Children watered seeds and observe how black beans grow daily. When the plants grew to approximately 4cm, we uprooted them to explore each part and to measure its total size. They really understood that when seeds are planted plants come from them. ( 74 )

Chapter 4

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Draw the steps that show how plants grow. Write their names.

Color the plant that has the things it needs to grow healthy.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

( 75 )

Growing Seeds: Plants

Write the names of the parts of a plant.

Predict what will happen when you place a seed in soil. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Write four things that plants need to live.

REMEMBER! Plants need proper conditions of sun, water, soil and air to grow and be healthy. For example, if we place a plant in a close plastic bag it would die because it needs air to live.

( 76 )

Chapter 4

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Suction Flower: How Matter Moves through Plants

Plants, like any other living organisms, cannot live without water. They absorb water from the soil through their roots. Water moves up throughout the xylem (part of the vascular system of a plant) from the stem to the entire plant. When a plant has all the water needed, it eliminates excess water via the leaves. This process, called transpiration, ensures that a continuing cycle of water travels throughout the plant (1). In this experiment, children discovered how water moves through a plant. We reviewed that plants absorb water from the soil through their roots. They observed the movement of water through the stem by using celery. We used the same method to color daisies. ( 78 )

Chapter 4

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Draw the end product of this experiment.

Write a sentence with the word “daisy.”

Write the names of the following objects.

( 79 )

Growing Seeds: Plants

Color the picture that shows how water travels into the plant.

Color the picture that shows how plants get water from the soil.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Plants get water from the soil through the roots by using small tubes like straws. Using these tubes, water and nutrients move up through the entire plant. For example; adding compost to the soil, nutrients move up to the entire plant.

( 80 )

Chapter 4

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 5 Little Eco-wizards: Protecting Our Environment There are variety of ways to protect and preserve our environment, such as helping to clean the air, the water and the land. Recycling is an important method to preserving a green and pleasant world. When we recycle we reuse materials that would normally be thrown in the garbage, ending up decomposing in a landfill. By recycling we also reduce the amount of pollution to our land, protecting our environment in an eco-friendly way. In our experiments we reuse plastic containers and papers to teach our children, our worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future citizens, how to help keep our planet healthy. ( 83 )

Recycling Paper: Paper Maché

Paper-maché is a byproduct of recycling, which is an important way of protecting our environment. When we recycle we reuse materials that would normally be thrown in the garbage, ending up in uselessly decomposing in a landfill. By recycling we also reduce the amount of pollution to our land, protecting our environment in an eco-friendly way. We can recycle newspapers, magazines, gift-wrapping, and unwanted files. A fun and economical use is by making paper-maché crafts items such as ornaments and figures. In this exploration, we went “green” by making paper-maché with recycled tissue papers. Children chose from a variety of used colored tissue paper to make their own paper-maché. We made a smooth and soft paste with paper, glue and flour in the blender. Children poured the paste in a cookie cutter where it took the shape of the mold. ( 84 )

Chapter 5

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

DEAR TEACHERS

Find in the puzzle the words: gooey, flour, glue and texture. q g l u e p f

w o a z l o l

e o s x k i o

r e d c j u u

b y f v h y r

t e x t u r e

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

Draw the materials listed below.

Cookie cutter

Blender

Glue

Water

Flour ( 85 )

Recycling Paper: Paper Maché

Color the things you can recycle. Write their names.

Color the picture that shows a way to protect our environment.

Write a sentence using the word “recycling.”

REMEMBER! We need to protect our environment by recycling and reusing materials. For example, we reuse the tableware when eating.

( 86 )

Chapter 5

NOTES & COMMENTS

Carnival of Bubbles: A Density Trick

Density is a physical property of solids, liquids and gases that describes how closely packed together are the atoms in an element or the molecules in a matter. It is defined in a quantitative manner as the relationship of the mass of objects with a constant volume. In chemistry, we compare densities of matter to the density of water. For example, water is denser than isopropyl alcohol while mineral oil is denser than alcohol. In this experiment, children performed a density “trick.” They poured isopropyl alcohol in a clear plastic bottle. After that, children added a colored oil drop by drop. They added also some water to make the alcohol heavier; as a result, the oil bubbles rose from the bottom to about one inch from the liquid surface. They added three more colored oils to make their own homemade “Carnival of Bubbles.” ( 88 )

Chapter 5

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Fill in the puzzle the words from the word box. Bubble

Funnel

Oil

Draw what you did in this experiment.

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

( 89 )

Alcohol

Carnival od Bubbles: A Density Trick

Color in green the reusable things and in blue the recyclable things.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

Draw two things you can reuse at home.

REMEMBER! We can perform tricks with the heaviness of liquids. For example, we easily float when swimming in the ocean because of the salty water.

( 90 )

Chapter 5

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Magic Bottle: Discovering Liquid Densities

As exposed in the previous adventure, density is a physical property of matter (solids, liquids and gases) that has a direct relationship with its weight. It is the proportion of the mass of the matter and its volume. We already know, water is a density pattern because we compare the density of a substance to the density of water. As a result, we know if the substance is less dense than water, it floats, and if it is denser, it sinks. In this adventure, children used liquids and solids with different densities to make a homemade â&#x20AC;&#x153;magic bottle.â&#x20AC;? They poured four liquids into a plastic bottle. Children added glitter and several small objects to observe their behavior within those liquids. They saw how some solids floated while others sank into the layers of liquids according to their densities. ( 92 )

Chapter 5

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Name the layer of the bottle and color each layer.

Write the name of each material.

SOAP

CORN SYRUP

Write what happens when a liquid is heavier then water.

( 93 )

Carnival od Bubbles: A Density Trick

Write a sentence with the word “reuse.”

Find in the puzzle five things you can reuse. c l o t h e s

b l s o y s p

o o h y k i o

o t i s j u o

k n r k h y n

s s t t u r s

Draw two things you can recycle at home.

REMEMBER! Liquids and solids follow rules of weight. Lighter solids in liquids float while heavier ones sink. For example, when we use a trampoline in a pool you sink first but quickly you go to the surface of water because you are lighter than the water inside the pool.

( 94 )

Chapter 5

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 6 Discovering Matter Our surroundings are made and formed by matter. Everything we perceive through our senses is matter. Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. All matter is made of atoms and molecules and has its own chemical composition that gives it specific physical and chemical properties. Physical properties include color, weight, density, elasticity, absorption, temperature and volume. Examples of chemical properties are reactivity, heat of combustion and oxidation states. Matter is presented in different states. The four fundamental states of matter are solid, liquid, gas and plasma. There are many other states related to glass, crystal, magnetism, low-temperature and high-energy settings, which take place in exceptional conditions. Each state is characterized by its volume, shape and cohesion between the particles. Matter in a solid state has fixed volume and shape, and its particles have high cohesion because they are close together with minimal possibility of movement. The liquid state has fixed volume, but can occupy different shapes according to the container it is in, and the particles are far enough apart to be able to move. In contrast, particles in the gaseous state can move completely freely, with no cohesion. Matter in this state has both variable volume and shape. In this chapter, we will concentrate on solid, liquid and gas states. ( 97 )

How Do I Perceive Matter? States of Matter

Each classic state has its own typical volume and shape. According to our sense of touch, most solids are hard, liquids are soft, and gases do not have texture. Another important characteristic of these states is the mobility of molecules. Molecules in a solid are generally held in place; in liquids, they are free to move; in gases, they move very freely and quickly. We can have liquids, solids or gases at the same temperature since different kinds of matter have their own chemical composition that defines their properties, such as its capacity to be in a particular state at a given temperature. For example, at room temperature, we can experience solids such as cookies and butter, liquids such as juice and water, and gases such as air. In this exploration, children discovered differences between solids and liquids based on their textures, whether they caused wetness, and their mobility. Children worked with butter, milk, water, apple juice and with uncooked macaroni, lentils, black beans and rice Finally, children observed how at room temperature we found solids and liquids at the same time. ( 98 )

Chapter 6

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Label the pictures below according to their state of matter.

Color two things related to the properties of solids.

Write the names of three liquids that you drink when you are thirsty.

( 99 )

How Do I Perceive Matter? States of Matter

Color the things made of matter.

Draw three of your favorite solid foods.

Write the names of the states in the water cycle.

REMEMBER! Matter has different appearances: It occurs mainly in liquid, solid and gaseous states. For example, when you go to the park you see solids such as grass, balls and bicycles but you can only feel the wind hitting your face.

( 100 )

Chapter 6

NOTES & COMMENTS

Measuring Matter: Measuring Solids and Liquids

We measure things in order to quantify magnitudes or amounts relative to the corresponding units of measurement, such as grades, pounds, meters, liters, etc. We evaluate temperature, volume, mass, length, size, industrial and physical processes, etc. When we want to know how much sugar or milk we have, or how heavy a potato or a stone is, we have to measure these things. Usually, we use a scale to know the weight of a solid. The most widely used weight units are ounces (oz), pounds (lb), and grams (gr). In the case of liquids, we use a graduated cylinder, beaker, or test tube to measure the volume. Regularly, we use milliliters (mL), fluid ounces (fl. oz), or liters (L) to quantify volume. In this exploration, children measured solids using a diet scale, and liquids using a beaker. They used a diet scale to determine the weight of solids in ounces, and compared the different weights of the samples. Children measured liquids in fluid ounces using a beaker. ( 102 )

Chapter 6

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the picture related to your approximate weight.

Color the picture with the heaviest weight.

Color the things you can measure. Write their names.

( 103 )

Measuring Matter: Measuring Solids and Liquids

Draw a scale.

Color the picture related to your approximate height.

5’ 2”

4’ 5”

3’ 2”

Color the thing you used to measure liquids.

REMEMBER! We measure things in order to quantify magnitudes or amounts. For example, when your mom goes to the supermarket, cashiers weigh vegetables and fruits to calculate the price.

( 104 )

Chapter 6

NOTES & COMMENTS

Stretchy Materials: a Property of Matter

Matter has chemical and physical properties, which are determined by its chemical composition. Chemical properties are those such as flammability and reactivity to other chemical substances. Examples of physical properties include flexibility, malleability, ductility, and color. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s observe elastomers, flexible materials such as spandex or rubber that can extend or expand in length and width without breaking or changing their properties. These materials are called stretchy because they can revert to their original size and shape after being stretched. In this experiment, children used some examples of stretchy and non-stretchy materials to illustrate the concept of elasticity. They tested different materials to find out which one was stretchy. Children observed how far they could stretch the material without tearing it. They also observed how the materials get back to their original size after being stretched out. Finally, children stretched their bodies by doing an exercise. ( 106 )

Chapter 6

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write an “R” next to the rigid materials and an “E” next to the elastic materials. Then color them.

Rubber band

Plastic animal

Sponge

Cotton

Elastic

Paper

Write a sentence with the word “elastic.”

Draw what you like the most in this experiment.

( 107 )

Plastic slinky

Stretchy Materials: a Property of Matter

Color the picture that shows you stretching your muscles.

Color the things made of stretchy materials.

Write a sentence explaining what you did in this experiment.

REMEMBER! We stretch flexible materials, which revert to their original size and shape without breaking. For example, we stretch our muscles when doing exercises.

( 108 )

Chapter 6

NOTES & COMMENTS

Matter Densities: Playing with Densities

As discussed in Chapter 5, density is a physical property of matter that describes how closely the atoms of an element or the molecules of a compound are packed. This parameter has a direct relationship with weight of matter since it is defined as the relationship of the mass of objects with a constant volume. When we hold solids, we know that this substance is heavier than another one by its weight. Using water as our density pattern, when we place objects into it, we know if the substance is lighter (it floats) or heavier (it sinks) than water. For instance, a metal is heavy and sinks in water while plastic is light and floats on water. In this adventure, children played a density game. They compared the density of several materials with waterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s density by placing objects such as shells, pebbles, wood starts and plastic and foam animals in water. Children observed how solids float or sink in water according to their weight. ( 110 )

Chapter 6

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write a sentence with the word “density.”

Find in the puzzle the words density, drop, heavy and water. p h l m d q y

d e n s i t y

r a n b c o u

o v w a t e r

p y a x w t p

k z d h f s o

Color the things that float when you drop them in a cup of water.

( 111 )

Matter Densities: Playing with Densities

Draw lines to match the words and the objects.

Foam butterfly

Rocks

Screw

Cup

Foam elephant

Styrofoam balls

Water

Predict what will happen when you drop a screw in a cup of water. Color the figure related to your prediction.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Water can be our scale too. For example, a ship or a boat float in the ocean because they are lighter than water.

( 112 )

Chapter 6

NOTES & COMMENTS

Matter Disguised by its Temperature: How Matter Changes with Temperature

I like to think of temperature as a disguise for matter because matter can switch from one state to another according to temperature; that is, temperature changes the external appearance of matter without changing its chemical properties. At room temperature, we find water in liquid-state. When we lower this temperature to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, we have water in solid-state (ice). But when we raise the temperature to two 212 degrees Fahrenheit, we find water in gas-state. However, its chemical formula remains H2O. We know the classic states of matter are solid, liquid, gas and plasma. Different substances have different freezing and melting points and can coexist at the same temperature; for example, at room temperature we can see solids such as cookies, chocolate or apples; liquids such as juice, milk or vegetable oil; and gases such as the oxygen in the air. In general, liquids in the freezer change to solids, but if we take them out of the freezer they melt turning back to liquids. In contrast, solids melt at high temperatures, changing to liquid; but they turn back to solid at room temperature. In this adventure, temperature was our â&#x20AC;&#x153;magic wand.â&#x20AC;? Children explored liquids and solids according to their texture and temperature. They observed how at room temperature we found, at the same time, solids and liquids. Children saw how solids, such as chocolate, melted when we heated them in the microwave oven. They also observed how liquids such as water and apple juice turned to solids in the freezer, but if we took them out of the freezer, they turned back to liquids. ( 114 )

Chapter 6

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the pictures that show what you observed in this experiment.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 4

Picture 3

Picture 5

Predict what will happen when you place milk into the freezer. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Frozen Milk

Liquid Milk

Write what happened to the ice when we took it out the freezer.

( 115 )

Matter Disguised by its Temperature: How Matter Changes with Temperature

Label each picture using a word from the word box. Them color them.

Melted ice cream

Pencil

Melted water

Bread

Apple juice

Butter

Water

Color the things you found at room temperature.

Bread

Milk

Crackers

Butter

Ice

Water

Cheese

Ice cream

REMEMBER! Water changes its appearance according to the temperature. For example, in the clouds we see it as a gas because the high temperature of the sun evaporates water from ocean, rivers and lakes.

( 116 )

Chapter 6

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 7 Everything I See Can Change The world is changing every second of every day. It has been transforming since its origin because of both natural causes and human intervention. Examples of these natural causes include earthquakes, volcanoes, solar flares, geology, seismic activity, severe storms, floods, tsunami, landslide, drought and wildfire. Human interference includes pollution and abuse of natural resources. We are also able to make changes to matter by using physical, chemical, mechanical and optical methods; for example, we modify colors, sizes, textures, odors, flavors and chemical compositions. ( 119 )

A Trick to Resize: Magnifying Glass

Our environment is extraordinarily diverse. It has objects of all sizes: large, medium, small and tiny. Some of these tiny particles are impossible to see in detail with the naked eye. Instead, we need to use a magnifying lens to make the object seem bigger than it really is. In this adventure, children discovered details of their hands, nails, papers, and little figures by using a magnifying glass. They discovered the world of minute details and learned how they can seem to increase the size of objects by using a magnifying glass. Children also understood when they need to use a binocular or a microscope. ( 120 )

Chapter 7

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Put the letter in the correct order.

MGANG INIFY

LLSHES

M __ G __ I __ Y __ __ G

S __ E __ L __

SSALG

BLBPEES

G __ __ S __

P __ B B __ __ S

Draw what you saw through the magnifying glass.

Write a sentence using the word “magnify.”

( 121 )

A Trick to Resize: Magnifying Glass

Color the thing you use to see bacteria.

Glasses

Microscope

Binoculars

Magnyfing glass

Draw two tiny things that you can see by using a magnifying glass.

Write the word that completes the sentence. Use a word from the box. Magnifying glass

Binoculars

I use my

Eyes

to see my dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s car.

REMEMBER! Our environment has different sizes of objects: tiny, medium and large. We are not able to see extremely small objects. For example, we can not see bacterias so we need to use a powerful magnifying lens called microscope to see them.

( 122 )

Chapter 7

NOTES & COMMENTS

Resizing with Water: Water Absorption

Absorption is a physical process in which the intermolecular organization of the matter, under specific conditions, allows the entry of molecules of another substance, increasing its volume (size). Some materials in contact with water absorb it and increase their volume. But if they are removed from the water, they will slowly shrink back to their original size as they dry up. At room temperature, the capacity to absorb water depends mainly on time of contact, the type of material, and its internal chemical conformation (intermolecular spaces). For example, crystal powders, cotton and clothes absorb more water than wood. In this adventure, children used crystal powders and colored sand to observe which material changes in size while absorbing water. They placed, at room temperature, crystal powders and colored sands in contact with water to see which of them absorbed water. Children understood the relationship between absorption process and increasing in size. ( 124 )

Chapter 7

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Draw what you saw happen with the growing powders and the colored sands.

Predict what will happen when you place raisins in water. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Raisins did not grow

Raisins grew

Write a sentence with the word “increased.”

( 125 )

Resizing with Water: Water Absorption

Find in the puzzle the words crystal, sand, polymers and water. c p o l y m e r s

r z q l x e a t o

y x e k c w s y w

s a n d v a d u h

t c r h b t f l g

a v t g n e g o b

l b y f m r h p h

Color the thing that grew by absorbing water.

Draw two things that you used in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Absorption is a process in which some materials absorb water while others not. For example, when it is raining we use umbrellas because we do not want to get wet.

( 126 )

Chapter 7

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 8 Colors in Our Everyday Life As discussed in Chapter 1, the colors we can see are the result of the interaction between objects and a source of light. The chemical composition of objects absorbs part of the visible light spectrum, and reflects a specific light signal to our eyes. Our brain captures these signals projected by our eyes and translates and interprets them as colors. ( 129 )

The Color Orange and Pumpkins

Orange is a secondary color. When we mix primary colors, we make secondary colors. For example, combining yellow with red, we get orange. This process is known as a physical change because red and yellow changed into a new color, orange. We see orange objects because our brain identifies a specific light signal sent by our eyes as color orange. We find in nature a large number of orange objects. In the animal kingdom, many animals present this color on their skin, feathers, or fur (some frogs, butterflies, fish). In the plant world, we can find countless amounts of flowers, fruits and leaves that represent this color. In this experiment, at a table covered with an orange tablecloth children wore orange hats, interacted with some examples of orange, made orange by mixing primary colors, and observed a small pumpkin to further related the color orange to our environment, and also to Halloween! ( 130 )

Chapter 8

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color and label the circle with the colors you used to get orange.

Draw two orange animals.

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

( 131 )

The Color Orange and Pumpkins

Color the circles with the primary colors you need to get orange. Write their names.

Find in the puzzle two orange fruits. c p p l y p e m

o r a n g e a a

y x p k c a s n

s a a d v c d g

t c y h b h f o

a v a g n e g l

l b y f m r h p

REMEMBER! Around us we find animals, flowers, vegetables, fruits and variety of orange objects. For example, you may have different orange clothes to wear.

( 132 )

Chapter 8

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Color Red and My Surroundings

Red is a primary color with which we can make a range of secondary colors. In Chapter 1, we learned about the theoretical basis of the vision process, which allows us to interpret the light that objects reflect into our eyes. An example as to why things are red is a red pepper. Red peppers contain the carotenoid pigment called lycopene. This pigment absorbs most of the visible light spectrum, and reflects the red color to our eyes. In nature, we have red flowers, animals, fruits, vegetables, plants, soil, rocks and metals. In our daily lives, we find events, situations, emotions and a variety of elements associated with this color. Our red blood is our source of life, carrying all the nutrients needed for the proper functioning of our body. In this adventure, at a table covered with a red tablecloth, children explored the relationship between red and animals, flowers, plates, cups, plants, parts of our body, alert signals and Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day. ( 134 )

Chapter 8

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the pictures with warning signs.

Draw two red items of clothes you have at home.

Write a sentence about what you learned in this experiment.

( 135 )

The Color Red and My Surroundings

Color the materials you used in this experiment. Write their names.

Draw two red parts of your body.

REMEMBER! Our environment has red flowers, animals, fruits, vegetables, plants, soil, rocks and metals. For example, your mom may have a beautiful red dress.

( 136 )

Chapter 8

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Color Green and the Plant Kingdom

Green is the color of grass, plants, some animals, ocean tonalities, peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes, fruits, vegetables, minerals and precious stones such as emeralds. In ecological terms, this color represents nature or its protection. It is the predominant color in the jungle and in rain forests. In fact, most plants are green because they contain chlorophyll. We see green leaves or grass because the chlorophyll in them absorbs the blue and red colors of the light spectrum and reflects the green. Our eyes pick up this green light frequency, and this stimulus is sent to our brain to be translated as green color. In our experiment, at a table covered with a green tablecloth, children wore green hats and handed green plates, cups, paper strips, flowers, pens, baskets, apples, grapes and pebbles. They made green by mixing blue and yellow. Children observed and touched examples of color green, and related this color with Saint Patrickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day. ( 138 )

Chapter 8

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color and label the circle with the colors you used to get green.

Color the green animals.

Write your conclusion about this experiment.

( 139 )

The Color Green and the Plant Kingdom

Draw three green vegetables.

Circle the words related to green. Leaf

Rose Spinach

Coconut

Grass Sunflower

Grapes

Mandarin Brocoli

Carrots

Avocado

Complete the sentence with any of the following words: Primary

Secondary

Green is a

color.

REMEMBER! Nature is rich in the color green. For example, green is the color of grass, plants, some animals, some peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes, fruits, vegetables, minerals and precious stones.

( 140 )

Chapter 8

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Color Phantom

Have you ever heard of “The Phantom Color”? What is it? It is a very special, common, and marvelous color, the colorless or ghostly color! The phantom color is everywhere! It is the color of the water we drink, of the air that fills our whole environment, of the wind that hits our faces, of glass, and of much more. Why “phantom”? A substance is colorless because it allows beams of light to pass through them with little interaction. As a result, we see no color. Who has had an accident with a very clean glass windowpane or door? Oops! We couldn’t see it there because it was colorless. In this experiment, at a table covered with a colorless plastic tablecloth, children received colorless and white plastic plates, cups and bottles. We talked about the air, and the wind. Finally, children got a cup with water to touch it and observed its color. Children recognized, compared and contrasted the absence of color in our full-color world. They learned some uses of “The Phantom Color.” ( 142 )

Chapter 8

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Can you see your hands through a clear plastic plate? Circle the picture related to your answer.

Circle the things made of phantom materials.

Write a sentence with the word “phantom.”

( 143 )

The Phantom Color

Circle the pictures in which you use a cup made of phamton material.

Draw lines to match the words with the materials used in this experiment.

Bear

Cup

Styrofoam balls

Plate

Bottle

Apple juice

Draw what you like the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! The color phantom (or clear) is everywhere! For example, it is in the air that fills our whole environment, and in the wind that hits our face.

( 144 )

Chapter 8

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 9 Understanding Our Environment Our environment is a wonderful place where numerous physical, chemical, and natural phenomena take place. It is the place where we first learn, where we find almost everything we need, and the place in which we make contact with living and nonliving things. We can observe many examples of centrifugal force around us; cars, blenders, spinning tops, microwaves, washing machines and the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rotation are good examples of this motion. We note magnetism in everyday life too. Magnetic fields are most often encountered as an invisible force created by permanent magnets, which pull on ferromagnetic materials such as iron, cobalt or nickel and attract or repel other magnets. Magnetic fields are very widely used throughout modern technology, particularly in electrical engineering and electro mechanics. We can also observe magnetic field on Earth, which is important in navigation. Growth, in terms increase in size, is another important phenomenon in nature; living things grow by cell division while the nonliving things by cumulative or water absorption processes. Most plants are green because they have chlorophyll kept in cellular compartments called chloroplasts; the chlorophyll absorbs the blue and red colors of the light spectrum, reflecting green. The color green in plants is an ecological strategy of nature! In fact, plants form the base of the food chain, as they are primary producers, autotrophs. Plants synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide by photosynthesis. It is very important to show and teach children how dangerous fire can be; it can destroy plants, homes, buildings, cars, and it is extremely harmful for human beings, causing injuries in the form of first-, second-, and third-degree burns. ( 147 )

A Special Circular Motion: Centrifugal Force

The circular motion of our washing machine during the spin-dry cycle, the motion of a blender, the movement of a fan or car wheels, and the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rotation are good examples of centrifugal force. In this type of force, an object travels using circular rotation around a central point, generating a velocity. The travel velocity depends on the mass of the object, on the speed of rotation, and on its distance from the center. In this adventure, children observed circular motion by watching objects move around a central point. In order to illustrate this concept, they used examples from our everyday lives such as cars, spinning tops, fans, helicopters and a world globe. Children identified the shape that those objects described when moving and the central point of the circle. ( 148 )

Chapter 9

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write the name of the objects.

Draw two objects that move in circular motion.

Write what this experiment makes you think of.

( 149 )

A Special Circular Motion: Centrifugal Force

Choose and color the things that move in circular motion.

Draw lines to match a word from the box to the related picture. Then color the pictures.

Spin

Toy car

Bicycle

Top

Pinwheel

Fan

Write a sentence with “circular motion.”

REMEMBER! We observe in our surrounding many examples of circular motion. For example, Earth’s rotation allows us to see this motion.

( 150 )

Chapter 9

NOTES & COMMENTS

Irresistible Attraction: Magnets

When we observe materials that attract or reject another material, we are seeing the phenomenon of magnetism. Materials that have this characteristic are called magnets because their internal organization produces magnetic properties related to the north and south magnetic poles (the two different ends of a magnet). Although for many purposes it is convenient to think of a magnet as having distinct north and south magnetic poles, the magnet itself may be homogeneous. If a bar magnet is broken in half, in an attempt to separate the north and south poles, the result will be two bar magnets, each having both a north and south pole. Magnets such as iron, nickel and cobalt are able to attract an opposite pole of another magnet and repel a like pole. In this adventure, children worked with magnets and non-magnetic materials to observe the magnetic power. They observed magnetic force by using a magnetic board to stick on magnetic and non-magnetic shapes, letters, animals and numbers. They also used a magnetic kit to build figures. Children were able to find differences between magnetic and non-magnetic materials. They also clarify the concepts of pulling and pushing. ( 152 )

Chapter 9

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write the letters in the correct order.

ODOW

W __ __ D

RPEPA

P __ P __ R

GMANET

M __ G __ __ T

Predict what will happen when you place paper on a magnetic board. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Write a sentence with the word “magnet.”

( 153 )

Irresistible Attraction: Magnets

Color the picture that shows what magnets do.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Draw three objects that stuck to the magnetic board

Write what you like the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Magnets are objects that push or pull some materials. For example, if your dad spreads on the floor iron filings, you can easily grab them with a magnet.

( 154 )

Chapter 9

NOTES & COMMENTS

Fire Is Dangerous!

In physics, we refer to energy as the ability to produce or perform work. There are different forms of energy, such as kinetic, potential, light, caloric, thermal, gravitational, sound, chemical, electromagnetic, and many others. The heat and light energy released during a combustion reaction, we will call fire. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Combustion is a chemical process in which a substance reacts rapidly with oxygen and gives off heat. The original substance is called the fuel, and the source of oxygen is called the oxidizerâ&#x20AC;?(1). The flame is the result of complex interactions of chemical and physical processes, a rapid chemical reaction of two or more substances with a characteristic liberation of heat and light; it is commonly called burning (2). Depending on the substances we set on fire, the flames may be different colors, such as red, orange, blue or white. The burning of substances releases a powdery residue, ashes. In this adventure, first teacher emphasized how dangerous fire can be, as it causes injuries to people. Thus, children were not allowed to use matches or lighters. Next, children placed an unlit candle on a glass base. After the teacher lit the candle, children blew it out and reviewed that they blow out candles on their birthdays. We used a metal base to watch how paper, cotton, wood and thread burned. Children saw how those materials changed color and size when burning. (1) - www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/combst1.html (2) - www.answers.com/topic/combustion

( 156 )

Chapter 9

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

DEAR TEACHERS

Color the pictures that show how dangerous fire can be.

What happens when paper is burned? Circle the picture related to your answer.

Find in the puzzle the words match, fire, candle and burn. m a t c h c f

a p q w s a i

z o b z c n r

x i u x f d e

Draw a firefighterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s car.

( 157 )

c u r c g l r

v y n g k e h

b t t y j l y

Fire is Dangerous!

Predict what would happen if a house catches on fire. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Write a sentence with the word “fire.”

Draw a firefighter.

REMEMBER! Fire can be very dangerous! It can burn your skin and cause serious injuries. It also makes wood, cotton, paper and thread transform into ashes. For example, wildfires burn and destroy many species of trees.

( 158 )

Chapter 9

NOTES & COMMENTS

How Everything in Nature Grows

In nature, everything grows: both living and nonliving things. Nonliving things can grow by cumulative processes. A stone increases in size over time due to cumulative processes while several materials grow by absorbing water. In contrast, living things grow using the process of cellular division. Our bodies, or those of animals and plants, grow from babies to adults using the reproductive cell capacity to enlarge in size. For example, a seed contains the embryonic plant (baby plant) from which a new plant will germinate and grow under proper conditions. In this experiment, children explained how they have grown since being born. They also talked about outgrowing their shoes, pants, dresses, and T-shirts. Children commented on why their parents have to cut their nails or hair. In order to illustrate the concept of length and growth, children used a spring, expandable gel, a paper baby animal and a mommy animal, a rubber band, and instant capsules. ( 160 )

Chapter 9

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write a sentence with the word “growth.”

Color the picture that shows how an alive dog grows.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Color the things that are able to grow.

( 161 )

How Everything in Nature Grows

Predict what will happen when you place a seed in soil. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Color the thing that makes the instant capsules grow.

Draw how an adult grows from being a baby.

REMEMBER! Our bodies, and those of animals, grow from babies to adults. For example, your parents frequently buy you new clothes because you grow every day.

( 162 )

Chapter 9

NOTES & COMMENTS

Why Are Leaves Green?

The world of plants is rich with the color green; it is the predominant color of foliage, jungle, and rain forests. Most plants are green because they have chlorophyll, a green pigment kept in cellular compartments called chloroplasts. Chlorophyll is an extremely important biomolecule, critical in photosynthesis, which allows plants to absorb energy from light. As explained in chapters 1 and 8, the colors we can see are the result of the chemical composition of the tissues. We see green leaves or grass because they have chlorophyll, which absorbs the blue and red colors of the light spectrum, reflecting green. Plants have an essential role in nature as they produce their own food by using sun energy and carbon dioxide; they are the basis of the food chain. Energy travels and changes from plants to animals. Animals eat plants, while humans eat plants and animals. Following this mechanism, energy is preserved and flows throughout the whole food chain. In this adventure, we blended leaves of baby spinach with water opening up the spinachâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chloroplasts. Children filtered the mixture to separate the colored liquid from the spinach tissue and used the color green to paint. Children understood that plants have colors in special places and we need to open up these places to release the colors. ( 164 )

Chapter 9

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

DEAR TEACHERS

Draw lines to connect the objects to the words. Then color the objects.

Cloth strainer

Cup

Baby spinach

Why are spinach leaves green?

Draw what you saw in this experiment.

( 165 )

Blender

Cotton

Why Are Leaves Green?

Predict what will happen when you mix blue with yellow. Color the circle below according to your prediction.

Complete the sentence with any of the following words: Blue

Green

Leaves have inside a

pigment.

Draw your favorite green toy.

REMEMBER! We see leaves and grass as green because they have a green pigment called chlorophyll in cellular places. We blend the leaves to open up these places releasing the pigment. For example, by blending lettuce or avocado we get soft green color.

( 166 )

Chapter 9

NOTES & COMMENTS

Chapter 10 Little Sci-experts Little children can perform wonderful science projects and activities since they enjoy and love to do experiments. They make volcanoes, rockets, shiny clay, extraction of color from flowers and magic tricks. While children are having fun, they explore the topic with full curiosity, and work in a very reflective attitude; they observe, analyze, ask questions, form hypotheses, draw conclusions and make deductions and comparisons because they are great â&#x20AC;&#x153;little Sci-experts!â&#x20AC;? ( 169 )

Extracting Color from Red Carnations

Flowers come in a great variety of colors. Each color is the result of the combination of special chemical compounds called pigments that are kept in particular compartments within the cell: the plastids and vacuoles. To extract these colors we first must open up these compartments by breaking up cells through different methods such as mechanical disruption, liquid homogenization, high frequency sound waves, freeze/thaw cycles and manual grinding. After breaking the cells by grinding, we mix the pigments with water, and then separate the colored liquid from the flowerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tissue through the process of filtration. In this experiment, our little sci-experts grounded red carnation petals with a mortar and pestle. They then added water to extract the color and, finally, we separated by filtration the colored liquid from the tissue. Children used this colored liquid to draw. ( 170 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Color the materials you used in this experiment. Mortar and Pestle

Coffee filter

Carnation

Write what you saw in this experiment (Ex. I extracted the color red from a flower.)

Predict what color will you extract if the flower is yellow? Color the circle below according to your prediction. Draw a flower and color it with the same color.

( 171 )

Funnel

Extracting Color from Red Carnations

If you do not have a red watercolor but you have petals from a red rose, what will you do? Color the picture related to your answer.

Make a drawing of this experiment.

REMEMBER! We grind materials to extract their components. For example, grinding fruits we get their juices.

( 172 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

A Fun Volcano: a Chemical Reaction

Our world is very dynamic. Whether we know it or not, millions and millions of chemical reactions occur every second. In these reactions, the chemical elements move, dance and combine with one another to form new compounds, which are completely different from the substances that created them. Compounds can also mix together or change to produce new substances. In this adventure children built an active volcano, mixing vinegar, an acid, and baking soda, a base, to produce bubbles of gas in the form of CO2. They used modeling clay to make a mini-model of a mountain. After that, using this model, children performed the chemical reaction to turn their mountain into an erupting volcano. ( 174 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Find in the puzzle the words bottle, clay, funnel and vinegar. n a n b a k g f

l d n o f e h u

Z H l t b d i n

x g v t c p a n

e w c l a y r e

v i n e g a r l

Predict what will happen when you mix baking soda and water. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Explain why the volcano is an example of a chemical reaction.

( 175 )

A Fun Volcano: a Chemical Reaction

Circle the words that relate to this experiment. Cup

Water

Apple Explosion

Soap

Chemical reaction

Glue

Funnel

Food coloring

Glitter

Write what you liked about this experiment.

Draw your volcanoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eruption.

Vinegar Salt

Bottle Baking soda

REMEMBER! Our environment is a huge laboratory where many wonderful things happen as a result of reactions. For example, when we wash clothes, the detergent in water removes the dirt.

( 176 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

My Homemade Shiny Clay: a Physical Change of Matter

Everything we see, smell, taste and touch is matter. Matter is any material that occupies space and has mass. For example, the water we drink, the oxygen in the air we breathe, milk, food, cotton, medicine, our dresses, a tree, a flower, toys, etc., are all forms of matter. Matter can change its appearance without changing its chemical composition, in a physical change. Physical changes only implicate changes in the physical properties of substances without changes in their chemical nature (molecular composition). In a physical change, the substances do not react with one another: we can only put together substances and make a mixture. This exploration illustrates a physical change. Children mixed flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt, food coloring, glitter, water, and oil. Before giving the dough to the children, the teacher first mixed the sticky dough until it was no longer sticky. Children used their clay to make figures. ( 178 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Circle the words that relate to this experiment. Incorporate

Chemical reaction Explosion

Mix

Ingredients

Physical change Food coloring

Density

Draw some of the materials you used in this experiment. Write their names.

Is the clay a result of a chemical reaction or a physical change? Explain your answer.

( 179 )

My Homemade Shiny Clay: a Physical Change of Matter

Write the names of the states of matter that you used in this experiment.

Color the picture that shows what happended in this experiment.

Write what you liked the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Some solids and liquids mix together in physical changes without making bubbles of gas, explosions or anything blast off. For example, when your mother mixes the cake ingredients you do not see eruptions.

( 180 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

A Super Giant Volcano: Proportions to Create Reaction

When chemical compounds interact, they follow rules. A chemical reaction occurs only under specific conditions such as a proper acidity grade (pH), concentrations of reagents (substances participating in the chemical reaction), pressure and temperature. In this experiment, the concentrations (amounts) of the reagents plays an important role since a reaction requires exact quantities of the substances involved. If we use one reagent in excess of the quantity required to react, the excess of this substance remains without reacting. Subsequently, this remaining amount can react producing a second, third or more reactions. Volcanoes with multiple eruptions, as we describe today, show us that we have one reagent in excess (baking soda), which produces multiple reactions when it combines with either the acetic acid, in vinegar or the citric acid, in lemon juice. In this adventure, children used a clear plastic bottle to perform multiple chemical reactions (eruptions) with baking soda and either vinegar or lemon juice in order to reproduce a repeatedly erupting volcano. ( 182 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Write the names of the materials.

VINEGAR

Write a sentence explaining what happened to the volcano.

Draw three things that have the same shape as a volcano.

( 183 )

A Super Giant Volcano: Proportions to Creat Reactions

This giant volcano was made of baking soda, vinager and lemon juice. Predict what would happen if you do not add baking soda. Color the picture related to your prediction.

Write the names of two solids and two liquids that you used in this experiment.

Draw what you like the most in this experiment.

REMEMBER! Chemical reactions occur all the time in our surroundings, from our kitchens to the combustion in airplane engines. For example, medicines are produced in pharmaceutical labs by chemical reactions.

( 184 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

Releasing Energy: Mixing Compounds

In nature, many chemical reactions take place all the time, every millionth of a second. These reactions produce or decompose substances, releasing energy in the form of light, heat, sound, motion, electricity, etc. Vehicles, airplanes, rockets, machines, animals and plants use energy to move, to grow, or to perform work. In this experiment, we made a small rocket blast off by using the freed energy (CO2 bubbles) from the chemical reaction involving citric acid, baking soda and water. Children decorated the small container to be used as a rocket. ( 186 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Put the letters in the correct order.

ILME

L __ __ __

CROKET

R __ __ __ __ T

GSNOIDKABA

B __ K __ __ G S __ __ A

REPAP

P __ P __ R

EGLU

G __ __ E

Write what happened to your rocket.

Predict what will happen if you do not close tightly the rocketâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s container. Color the picture related to your prediction.

( 187 )

Releasing Energy: Mixing Compounds

Color the picture that shows what you observed when you mixed baking soda and lemon juice in a cup.

Draw how your rocket launched.

REMEMBER! Bubbles of CO2 produce pressure in a closed container and cause it to blast off. For example, when your dad opens a champagne bottle, the cork blasts off.

( 188 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

The Chameleonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mix: Magic Beans

As we have widely discussed so far, in a chemical reaction two or more substances interact to yield new compounds. For example, we mix an acid, like vinegar, with a base, like baking soda, to produce gas in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). This reaction includes acidity changes between the initial and final stages. We can visualize those changes by using indicators of acidity, which are compounds that change its color depending on the solution into which they are placed. Therefore, an indicator will change its color in contact with vinegar, baking soda or the final product of this reaction. In this adventure, we made an indicator of acidity, our chameleonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mix, using black beans and water. Children saw the chameleonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mix in action by mixing it separately with vinegar and with baking soda. Finally, they built a volcano mixing these compounds, and could see our chameleon again in action! ( 190 )

Chapter 10

DEAR TEACHERS

REVIEW THE EXPERIMENT WITH THE CHILDREN AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

What color did the “chameleon’s mix” turn into? What grade of acidity did it have? Blue water with Vinegar = acid/base

Blue water with Baking Soda = acid/base

Make an illustration of what you learned in this experiment.

Write a sentence using “acid” or “base.”

( 191 )

The Chameleon’s Mix: Magic Beans

Color the animal that refers to this experiment? Write a sentence explaining why.

Draw two solids and two liquids that you used in this experiment.

REMEMBER! The chameleon’s mix changes its color according to the liquid in which it is placed so we can identify the acidity grade of liquids. For example, it changes to green in contact with Windex since it is basic.

( 192 )

Chapter 10

NOTES & COMMENTS

References

( 195 )

References Articles 1. M.L. Rojas, V. Montes de Gómez and C.A. Ocampo. “Stimulation of lipoxygenase activity in cotyledonary leaves of coffee reacting hypersensitively to the coffee leaf rust. Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology” (1993) 43, 209-219. 2. Matthew Luckiesh. “Color and Its Applications. D. Van Nostrand company” (1915) pp. 58, 221 3. Chris Grimley and Mimi Love. “Color, space, and style: all the details interior designers need to know but can never find.” Rockport Publishers. (2007) p. 137. ISBN 9781592532278. 4. Wanjek, Christopher. “The Tongue Map: Tasteless Myth Debunked.” LiveScience. August 29, 2006. 5. The Science of Early Childhood Development. National Scientific Council on the Development Child. Harvard University, 2007. 6. Evidence of Benefits of High Quality Early Care and Education - Children and Families 2007. 7. National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. Center of the Developing Child. Harvard University, 2007. 8. Phillips, Kenneth J. H. “Guide to the Sun.” Cambridge University Press. (1995) pp. 319–321.

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References Web Pages www.environmentalgraffiti.com/...underwater-volcanoes/

www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/7.html

www.colourtherapyhealing.com/How we see color

www.wikipedia.org

www.faculty.washington.edu/chudler/eyetr.html

www.dynamicchiropractic.com

www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/smelltaste

www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/combst1.html

en.wikipedia.org

www.answers.com/topic/combustion

www.serendip.brynmawr.edu/The whole package

www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching

www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca www.oraclefoundation.org/Your Sense of Sight www.livescience.com/health/060829_bad_tongue.html www. library.thinkquest.org www.ilovebacteria.com/taste.htm www.ehow.com/how-does magnifying-glasses-work www.spiritustemporis.com/solubility www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm www.wordiq.com www.project2061.org/publications/sfaa/online/chap5.htm www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/air/breathe www.nutramed.com/Air daphne.palomar.edu/jthorngren/tutorial.htm www.projectwet.org or http://www.groundwater.org www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity www.waterencyclopedia.com/oil- spills www.hometrainingtools.com www.kidsturncentral.com/crafts wiki.answers.com www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/greenalgae www.seaweed.ie/Algae/chlorophyta www.superfoodsrx.com/superfoods/pumpkin/ www.holisticonline.com/Color www.desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/red.htm www.desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/red.htm

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Work Pages

completed by the little sci-experts

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