Bridge12

Adaptions: You can adapt this lesson for ELL or special needs students by pairing them in groups and assiging each person in the group a task...the ELL and Special Needs students could draw the pictures or record information while they learning about matter by other group members without pressure/anxiety. Extensions: You can extend this activity to younger greades by using something other than candles. For example, you can use an ice cube, watch it melt, and over time chart the level of water and have the students explain what happenes to the water and the state of matter it has turned into. 6.1.2 Explain the properties of solids, liquids and gases using drawings and models that represent matter as particles in motion whose state can be represented by the relative positions and movement of the particles. 6.1.3 Using a model in which matter is composed of particles in motion, investigate that when substances undergo a change in state, mass is conserved.

Indoor Gardening with Kitchen Waste Introduce experiment by talking about the six basic parts of plants: roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds.  Grow a garden by using plant scraps that usually get thrown away. Supplies: 2-3 carrot tops, cut about 1 inch from the top, shallow bowl, pebbles (optional), sand, water, 1 fresh pineapple, pot of damp soil.

Multi-grade project that can you can differentiate according to skill and prior knowledge (experience). Older grade levels can research other possible materials to recycle from the kitchen in other ways.

Earth Friendly Birdhouse: Design Process - choosing specific materials for the design in mind and function. You have also been talking about resources and know that conserving resources by recycling, reusing, and reducing waste is important. Now you will have a chance to put what you know to use. Design Challenge:Design and build a birdhouse that will attract a bird in your neighborhood. The bird you plan the house for should be about the size of a tennis ball. Criteria:Your birdhouse must have a door that is big enough for a golf ball to fit through. Have a perch inside. Have a perch outside the door. Be able to hang from a tree or other support for 5 minutes with a golf ball inside. Keep birds safe from rain and wind. Be squirrel and cat proof.

Multiple grade levels can do this project, but differentiation would be required for skill and developmental level. Younger grades would require more help and modeling of project.

Crow Creativity: 5th Grade / Can you solve a problem as creatively as a crow?  Download PDF 1. Build a tricky tube puzzle to find out if your friends can solve a problem like a crow. A clear plastic tube is best, but a paper towel roll, cut down to about 8 inches, will work too. 2. Make a basket out of tin foil. The basket should be big enough to hold a small cookie. 3. Tear some strips off a roll of duct tape. Lay the roll of tape flat on a table and fit the tube inside the center of the duct tape roll. Then use the duct tape strips to tape the tube in place so that the tube stays upright. Tape along the side. Do not cover the openings of the tube in tape. 4. Put a cookie in your basket and drop the basket into the tube so it goes to the bottom of the tube with the handle facing up. 5. Place about 5 twist ties or a piece of long metal wire next to your tube. 6. Find a friend to solve this problem. Tell your friend that there is a cookie at the bottom of the tube. Your friend can have the cookie but has to get the cookie out of the tube first without lifting up the tube. If you are using a paper towel roll, let your friend look inside the tube to see how it's set up.  Supplies: See Downloadable PDF

Upper elementary students to middle school students could create a trick tube or similar experiment that a friend or critter (squirrel) has to solve.

Make Your Own Ant Farm: - Life Science After completion of ant farm, spend days or weeks observing these amazing insects. Supplies: Small glass bowl or jar, glass fishbowl, sand, loose soil, sugar, water, 20 ants (from the same colony), rubber band, cheesecloth, black construction paper, bread crumbs, masking tape, and spiral notebook.

K-3 could do this project, but require more research, writing, or drawings of the project about habitat, colony structure, body-parts and function, etc.

This activity is unique because it combines science with a practical application that provides a solution to a problem. In this activity, students will be put a small bowl of hot oatmeal into a plastic baggie, test the temperature, and seal it.  Then students will place three sheets of aluminum foil or three sheets of newspaper over the baggie.  After 15 minutes the students will re-test the temperature using a thermometer and discover which material saved heat!

This is a familiar activity!  This fun activity teaches students about harnessing potential and kinetic energy!  Very good for students who need to learn or like to work in teams!  Also would be fun on a family night.

Using household items such as a shoebox, plastic wrap, potting soil, and an old sock, students can grow their own plants! Students will tae care of their plants and chart the plant's progress and changes. They will also analyze their plant's structures and compare their common structures with other plants while discussing their purpose.

Using paper, string, and salt, students will create a cone out of the paper that will act as their pendulum.  They will swing the pendulum so it just touches the pile of salt and watch the designs it makes.  Students can change the pendulum's direction to see if that changes the design.

Helps students understand the difference in nerves and what they feel or sense. Can be used any grade level depending on what standards you look at.

The Lincoln High Dive: 5th Grade Science Experiment Newton's first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.  This experiment also illustrates gravity. Supplies: A Lincoln penny (or other small coin), a piece of card stoic or stiff paper, a film canister, baby food jar, or other similar size container with a mouth slightly larger than a penny, a pencil or pen, and scissors.

Natural vs. Artificial: Can You Taste the Difference? You probably know that cane sugar isn't good for you in large doses, but did you know that many artificial sweeteners can't even be processed by your body?  Supplies: Real maple syrup, pancake syrup containing high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, artificial sweetener such as Splenda or Equal, honey, honey flavoring, fresh orange juice, orange juice from concentrate, paper, and pencil. Set up the experiment by preparing small samples of each food for tasting, arranging them in sets according to type.

Good resource

Students will be able to witness what a solid and liquid are all the while being intrigued and engaged because of the use of ice cream. Great activity for grades K-1. They will be able to witness the science behind what makes a liquid and a solid. Represents the nature of science as well.

Students will be able to benefit from making the helicopters by observing  the design process. Observing the motion of the object, and learning what contributes to its flight/spinning motion is the main basis of the activity. 2 standards are included in this lesson and noted on the sticky note.

This was a wonderful experiment that our cohort did in our family science class. It was very fun for us, and so Im sure it will be fun for the kids. It will allow students to see basic principles of what makes a rocket move.