Group items tagged

2.1.1. "Observe, describe and measure ways in which the properties of a sample of water (including volume) change or stay the same as the water is heated and cooled and then transformed into different states."

This activity can be used as a cross-curricular activity as well; the teacher can require the students to use a certain number of adjectives to describe the states of the water.

This is simple for most students to take part in, but be sure to put students in pairs to help assist those with needs to put together the experiment correctly. When assessing it may require pictures to have students explain what is being done.

3.4.2 "Define the uses and types of simple machines and utilize simple machines in the solution to a ―real world problem."

Extension: Our water needs to be clean for so many reasons- not just taking a bath! Students could brainstorm in groups reasons why we need clean, filtered water (i.e. cooking, cleaning, etc.)  Extension: Social Studies- What an eye opening experience it could be for students to learn about third world countries and how lucky we are to not have to worry about having clean water to clean, cook, and bathe with.

Put students with partners who can help one another with the activity. For students who may struggle, have video of the experiment for them to observe if they are struggling with instructions. 

2.2.1 Construct and use tools to observe and measure weather phenomena like precipitation, changes in temperature, wind speed and direction.2.2.2 Experience and describe wind as the motion of the air. Differentiation: Allow gifted students to record the direction of wind for a week or even a few weeks.  With this information discuss with the class the effects of wind direction and how it correlates to weather.

This project would also be excellent for creating a sense of community in the classroom as everyone would be working together toward a common goal (acceptance of their project by NASA_.   ELL differentiation:  I would probably find a different project to accommodate ELL's as this project is very intense, and requires a strong command of language (in order to follow instructions.)  It is possible to create a book of picture instructions for the project or give them a smaller, yet still important role in the class for this particular assignment.

2.1.3. Predict and experiment with methods (e.g. sieving, evaporation) to separate solids and liquids based on their physical properties.2.1.4 Observe, sketch, demonstrate and compare how objects can move in different ways (e.g., straight, zig-zag, back-and-forth, rolling, fast and slow).2.1.5 Describe the position or motion of an object relative to a point of reference (e.g., background, another object).2.1.6 Observe, demonstrate, sketch and compare how applied force (i.e., push or pull) changes the motion of objects. Differentiation: Instead of writing out a hypothesis, have special education students draw the designs or what they predict will happen to the salt when they swing their pendulum.

1.1.2 Characterize materials as solid or liquid, investigate their properties, record observations and explain the choices to others based on evidence (i.e., physical properties). 1.1.3  Experiment with simple methods for separating solids and liquids based on their physical properties. Differentiation: Gifted students could do extended research on how people used to make butter in the pioneer days.  Have them note what was similar to how they made butter, and what was different.

The math in this activity is not too challenging but it requires the students to be precise in their data collection to see good results.  It meets the goals of the CCSS for 6th grade math that students "Attend to precision" and "look for and make use of structure".  Gifted students might be interested in the information about the Buffon Needle Problem, link found in the "Tips" section.  To extend the lesson students could consider what changes could be made to the lesson to improve the accuracy of its approximation of pi.

Sticky Note: I choose a kindergarten standard for this because it could be easily manipulated to fit this standard. They could be grouping these based on how high they bounce. It could also be used with higher grade levels with math and doing measuring, graphs and data (range, mean, median, mode, etc).

2.2.1 "Observe, describe and measure ways in which the properties of a sample of water (including volume) change or stay the same as the water is heated and cooled and then transformed into different states." This activity can be modified for ELL students by having them record drawings during each observation, rather than writing the words for their observations. This would be a great activity for drawing, because each state looks so much different than the others (solid, liquid, and gas). This activity can be adjusted for older grades by having the students do the same activity with predictions at the beginning of the experiment about what they believe will happen. These students could also make other predictions about other types of matter that would react in the same way the juice ice did. For further exploration, these students could then test their hypothesis regarding other objects and their state of matter.