ABC SCIENCE SHOEBOXES by Ingrid Sherwood
I believe that there is a finite number of science principles from which an infinite number of phenomena can result. Identifying those finite principles and teaching their vocabulary to my students has been one of my career goals.
I share the results of my quest below, and I welcome corrections to any of my scientific misconceptions.
A NOTE ABOUT THE COMPILATION OF THE SHOEBOXES: Where I write,
“TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is RED for Chemistry,” for example, that is to become a “cheat sheet” glued in the top of the shoebox so that if you open it up and can’t remember what can be done with the materials, you can refer to it.
A: ABSORPTION…Why address ABSORPTION in early childhood science?
“Absorption” is a scientific strand, a scientific principle, a precursor to "diffusion" and "osmosis." Using my "A Shoebox, Absorption," students discover whether paper towels or pieces of laminate "absorb" water. Once they have tuned in to "absorption," they are primed for dissolving experiments and for mixing oil and water and for terms, such as "miscible" and "immiscible."
Absorption
QUESTION: Will a paper towel or a piece of laminate absorb water?
INFORMATION: Absorption is soaking up through little holes, pores, or spaces.
HYPOTHESIS: If we place water on a piece of paper towel,
then the paper towel [will, will not] absorb water.
If we place water on a piece of laminate,
then the laminate [will, will not] absorb water.
MATERIALS: Piece of paper towel, piece of laminate, container of water, dropper or pipette, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Place water in container. Draw water into the dropper and slowly place drops of water on the piece of paper towel, then on the piece of laminate.
RESULTS: Draw the results.
CONCLUSION: The paper towel allowed water to go into little spaces while the laminate did not.
DISCUSSION: Speculate where the water went in the paper towel.
♪SONG: To the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”
from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
When Johnny spills his chocolate milk: absorb, absorb.
When Susie spills her orange juice: absorb, absorb.
A sponge absorbs. A towel absorbs.
Don't worry if we spill some more.
Here's a roll of paper towels to absorb.
EXTENSIONS: Test various solid materials for absorbency with various liquids.
Test various colors of fabric for absorbency of heat by placing them in sunlight.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Aa
MATH EXTENSION: Control and count the number of drops dropped from the dropper.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: What Happens to Your Food? (Food IS ABSORBED to where your body needs it.) Alastair Smith, illus. Maria Wheatley (Usborne)
Fiction: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Raincoat DOES NOT absorb.) Nancy White Carlstrom, illus. Bruce Degen
ART CORRELATION: Create stained paper designs by dropping drops of liquid on paper. Discuss the marks and the wrinkles.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Absorption Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw the paper towel and how the
drop of water looked after you
dropped it.
Draw the laminate and how the
drop of water looked after you
dropped it.
B: BALANCE…Why address BALANCE in early childhood science?
Everything in the universe is either in balance or seeking balance. From balance toys to electrons in an atom, matter and energy seek balance according to specific laws of science. The young child learns how each balance toy seeks balance in the way that the scientist learns how each electron seeks balance.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Balance
QUESTION: Will I get all of these toys to balance?
INFORMATION: Balance can happen when apparently equal objects produce stability as well as when apparently unequal objects produce stability. Working with balance toys can produce discrepant results because the center of gravity of an object is not always visually obvious. Center of gravity is the point on an object that acts as if all the gravitational force were pulling from that point and the point where that object balances.
HYPOTHESIS: If I manipulate the toys,
then I [can, cannot] get them to demonstrate balance.
MATERIALS: Balance toys (available from Oriental Trading), a toy bird that balances on a pedestal or on your finger, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Manipulate toys.
RESULTS: Display balanced toys, and draw one of them.
CONCLUSION: Sometimes the toys balanced when they appeared lopsided and looked like they should tip over.
Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why objects which appeared lopsided did not tip over.
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" adapted from Barrett Kendall's Portfolios:
When something's unbalanced, it tips to one side.
Symmetrical balance keeps you on your ride.
Sometimes things are tricky. You think they will slide
(or You think they'll collide)
Just when they are balanced. I know 'cause I tried.
EXTENSIONS: Build balanced structures with blocks and other objects.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Bb
MATH EXTENSION: Watching a second hand, time how long one of the balance toys, such as the see-saw or merry-go-round, stays in motion.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Make It Balance, David Evans and Claudette Williams (Dorling Kindersley Let's Explore Science)
Fiction: Mirette on the High Wire, Emily Arnold McCully
ART CORRELATION: Read Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: CLAUDE MONET, p. 29 The Japanese Footbridge (symmetrical balance), p. 28 Haystacks in different seasons (darker, heavier colors balance large haystack). Discuss Monet's works, then ask students to draw balanced drawings.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Balance Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw your favorite balance toy.
C: COLOR MIXING…Why address COLOR MIXING in early childhood science?
It’s so much fun! It’s mixing with predictable results! It makes you feel like a chemist in a lab! By the way, the secondary colors are solutions or liquid mixtures, not compounds, and the primary colors can be retrieved from them. I can’t remember how, but if anyone asks, I’ll look it up.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is RED for Chemistry.
Color Mixing
QUESTION: What colors will result when I mix the primary colors?
INFORMATION: The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. When two primary colors are mixed, they make a secondary color. [These combinations are true when mixing colored water, paint, etc. Combinations of colors of light are different.]
HYPOTHESIS: If I mix _____ (primary color) and _____ (primary color),
then I will get _____ (secondary color).
MATERIALS: Six small plastic cups; red, yellow, and blue food coloring (In an empty food coloring bottle, place 10 drops of color and fill bottle with water; concentration is strong enough.), water, six swizzle sticks; record sheet; crayons; sunglass goggles, optional: round plastic half-gallon ice cream lid with six circles drawn in permanent marker to serve as tray for small plastic cups and to suggest the color wheel
PROCEDURE: Fill three of the plastic cups three-fourths full of water. Place a drop of red food coloring in one cup, yellow food coloring in the second cup, and blue food coloring in the third cup. In the fourth cup, mix some of the red water and yellow water. In the fifth cup, mix some of the yellow water and blue water. In the sixth cup, mix some of the red water and blue water.
RESULTS: Record results on the record sheet with crayons.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect. (Red plus yellow make orange. Yellow plus blue make green. Red plus blue make violet.)
DISCUSSION: Speculate what color results when mixing red plus yellow plus blue (brown).
♪SONG: To the tune of "Oh, Do You Know the Muffin Man?" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Oh, do you know the spectrum man,
The spectrum man, the spectrum man?
Oh, do you know the spectrum man?
His name is ROY G. BIV (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet).
EXTENSIONS: Change the values of colors:
Intensify each color of water by adding more food coloring to make it darker. Dilute each color of water by adding more water to make it lighter.
Make shades of colors of paint by adding black paint. Make tints of colors of paint by adding white paint.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Cc
MATH EXTENSION: Draw a circle and divide it into six equal parts to make a color wheel. Tell students that colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: any quality book about colors
Fiction: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin Jr., illus. Eric Carle
ART CORRELATION: Give each student a piece of paper (onto which name is written right away), a paint brush, and a dinner-size paper “plate-palette” with a squirt of red paint, yellow paint, and blue paint. Starting with a swab of yellow paint, students mix yellow with a dab of red to create orange. After cleaning their brushes on the edges of their paper plates, students mix a swab of yellow paint with a dab of blue paint to create green. After cleaning their brushes on the edges of their paper plates, students mix a swab of red paint with a dab of blue paint to create violet. Students paint masterpieces on their papers and continue to clean their brushes on the edges of the paper plates in-between colors. The painting finale is mixing all the colors remaining on the paper plate to create brown. For clean-up, students place their brushes into a tub of water, their paper “plate-palettes” into the trashcan, their masterpieces on a drying rack, and wash hands, as necessary.
Teacher, Draw bubbles around the color words and question marks for students to color. You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Color Mixing Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
yellow + red = ?
yellow + blue = ?
red + blue = ?
D: DENSITY…Why address DENSITY in early childhood science?
Young children traditionally do “sink and float.” It's wonderful and necessary to have students play and observe. But when students discover phenomena, we don't take full advantage of the moments unless we tell them relevant terms, which they are not likely to discover on their own. “If an object sinks, its density is greater than that of the water it displaces. If an object floats, its density is less than that of the water it displaces.” At first this may mean no more to you or me or our students than “…to the Republic for which it stands…” or “LMNO,” but eventually it will make sense. We need to immerse our students in scientific language the way we immerse a sinker in the water.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Density
QUESTION: Which objects will sink, and which objects will float?
INFORMATION: Density is the compactness of molecules in an area. Objects float if their density is less than the density of the water which they displace. Objects sink if their density is greater than the density of the water which they displace.
HYPOTHESIS: If I place _____ (object) in water,
then it will [sink, float].
MATERIALS: Bowl; pitcher of water; tongs; ten objects, no more than six which sink or six of which float when placed in water; laminated Density Graph on which to place objects; graph record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Use pitcher to put water into bowl. Use tongs to transfer objects in and out of water.
RESULTS: When removing objects from water with tongs, place each object in appropriate column of Density Graph, "sink" or "float." Color paper Density Graph record sheet.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Speculate why some objects half-float and half-sink and why some objects float for a while and then sink.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Sailing, Sailing" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Sinking, sinking Sinking, sinking
Into the water bowl, Happens naturally
I'm so very heavy, When something in water has
That I sink without a hole. A greater density [than the water it displaces].
Floating, floating, Floating, floating
I'm so light, you see, Happens naturally
I will even float When something in water has
If you put a hole in me. A lesser density [than the water it displaces].
EXTENSION: Try “floating” 10 paper clips squeezed inside a 12-inch square of aluminum foil and 10 paper clips in a 12-inch square of aluminum foil shaped into a "boat." Why does the ball sink and the boat float?
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Dd
MATH CORRELATION: Graphing results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Tell Me How Ships Float (Whiz Kids), Shirley Willis
Fiction with the intent to teach content: Mr. Archimedes' Bath, Pamela Allen
Fiction: Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel, illus. Blair Lent
ART CORRELATION: Make sponge prints with sponges of different textures, and discuss the density of the sponges.
(Density Graph needs to be laminated.)
Density Graph
sink
float
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Density Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Density Graph
sink
float
E: ENERGY/ELECTRICITY…Why address ENERGY/ELECTRICITY in early childhood science?
Electricity is a form of energy that students understand can be turned on and off. It empowers students to create a circuit over which they have control of whether it can be turned on or off. The pragmatic intent of the Ee Shoebox is to create a complete circuit, while the contemplative intent of the Ee Shoebox is to ponder the source of energy. To focus on the concept that the sun is the source of all energy, read My Light by Molly Bang.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Energy/Electricity
QUESTION: How will I use energy from batteries to make a bulb light up?
INFORMATION: The sun is the source of all energy. Energy is the ability to do work or to move something. Energy comes in many forms: heat energy, chemical energy, electrical energy, light energy, sound energy, mechanical energy, nuclear energy, and the energy of motion. Potential energy is energy stored due to position. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion and has magnitude as well as direction. In order to convert the potential energy stored in a battery to potential for the purpose of lighting up a light bulb, a complete circuit must be created.
HYPOTHESIS: If I connect a battery and wires and light bulb,
then I [can, cannot] make the light bulb light up.
MATERIALS: D battery, battery holder, 2.5V bulb, bulb socket, two test leads (insulated wires) with alligator clips, record sheet, pencil (The electrical supplies are available from Nasco or another science materials company.)
PROCEDURE: CAUTION: You can get a zap of current by placing your fingers into the circuit!
Connect the two test leads with alligator clips between the battery in holder and the light bulb in socket in order to make a complete circuit.
RESULTS: When the circuit is complete, the bulb lights up.
CONCLUSION: The light bulb does not light up unless the wires are connected so as to form a complete circuit.
DISCUSSION: Discuss the notion that the circuit was completed only when metal met metal as metal is a conductor of electrical energy.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the
Bedpost Overnight?"
Does your body lose its energy while you're sleeping overnight?
Then eat up a good breakfast to get energy and ignite.
Food gives you your energy,
Gas will make your auto run.
Energy comes from motion,
Light, sound, fire, and the sun.
♪SONG: To the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In:”
Sit in a circle. Put hands palm up. Teacher uses left hand to clap right hand of student on the left. That student uses left hand to clap right hand of student on his/her left. Continue clapping around the circle while singing…
Oh, when the electrons, relay their charge, Oh, when the electrons relay their charge, Then we have electricity (or electric current), When the electrons relay their charge.
Oh, when Ben Franklin flew kite with key, Oh, when Ben Franklin flew kite with key,
He could have BEEN electrocuted.
He didn't know then. Now we do.
♪SONG: To the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain:”
It’ll be comin’ out of the wires and the plugs.
It’ll be comin’ out of the wires and the plugs.
Oh, be careful with electricity,
Oh, be careful with electricity
As it’s comin’ out of the wires and the plugs!
EXTENSION: Add more batteries, bulbs, and wires to make a longer circuit.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ee
MATH EXTENSION: Discuss that batteries come in different sizes and strengths, such as D, C, AA, AAA. Light bulbs come in different sizes and strengths, as well.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Electricity, Samantha Berger, Pamela Chanko (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers); My Light, Molly Bang
Fiction: Franklin in the Dark, Paulette Bourgeois, illus. Brenda Clark
ART CORRELATION: “Electric Art Activities” that must be closely supervised include: drawing with crayon on aluminum foil on a warming tray, ironing crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper, and tracing on a light table. (A light table can be fashioned by placing a piece of safety glass over a Lite Brite without the holey piece. Photocopy and laminate simple pictures for students to trace. Tape a laminated picture on the “light table,” put a piece of paper over the laminated picture, and provide a marker for students to trace the picture.)
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Energy/Electricity Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw how the battery in holder, light
bulb in socket, and two wires looked
when the light bulb lit up.
F: FRICTION…Why address FRICTION in early childhood science?
Friction is a wonderful, physical (as in you move to do it and as in physical science) way to investigate how two surfaces react with one another. Revisiting the concept of balance, students can understand that friction is a variable that can be manipulated by changing materials. They can test various materials in the way that shoe manufacturers test materials for the soles of shoes and tire manufacturers test how rubber meets the road.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Friction
QUESTION: Will my hand feel warm or cool when I rub it on the tile floor, fabric, and sandpaper?
INFORMATION: Friction is the rubbing together of two objects and the resistance caused by the rubbing.
HYPOTHESIS: If I rub my hand on _____ (the tile floor, smooth fabric, or sandpaper), then my hand will feel [warm, cool].
MATERIALS: Tile floor, piece of smooth fabric, piece of sandpaper, record sheet, red and blue crayons
PROCEDURE: Rub fingers rapidly across the tile floor. Hold smooth fabric with one hand, and rub it with the other hand, slowly at first and then rapidly. Repeat carefully with sandpaper.
RESULTS: Draw materials you rubbed with your hand. Circle each picture with red if it felt warm and blue if it felt cool.
CONCLUSION: The rougher the objects, the more the objects resist each other, the more friction is created, and the warmer the feeling.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why hand feels warmer when it rubs certain materials. Discuss that it is easier to slip on surfaces that create less friction than on surfaces that create more friction.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Three Blind Mice" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Rub, rub, rub. Rub, rub, rub.
Rub, rub, rub. Rub, rub, rub.
Friction is when we rub and rub.
It helps us to stop or clean the tub. Friction is when we rub and rub-ub.
Rub, rub, rub.
EXTENSION: Test various pieces of fabric, paper, mouse pads, cardboard, etc., for friction. Rub hands together, too.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ff
MATH EXTENSION: Count how many times you can draw a line with a sharpened pencil on a piece of sandpaper before the point wears down.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Fiction with the intent to teach content: The Ogs Invent Fire, Felicity Everett (Usborne Reading for Beginners)
Fiction: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
ART CORRELATION: Draw with crayons or colored pencils on a variety of appropriate surfaces, including paper, wax paper, sandpaper, fabric, etc.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Friction Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw the materials that you rubbed
with your hand. Circle each picture
with red if it felt warm and blue if it
felt cool.
G: GRAVITY…Why address GRAVITY in early childhood science?
The toddler in the high chair knows that his/her cup will be on the floor if it goes off the tray. Why not tell young children that objects “fall” because of “gravity.” And then tell them that gravity is a law of science, not just that objects fall to the ground when you drop them, but that gravity holds the moon in its orbit around Earth. Everything in the universe is relative to everything else.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Gravity
QUESTION: Will a penny stay in the air if I leave it there?
INFORMATION: The earth's gravitational force, gravity, pulls downward on everything because in the larger scheme, the objects in the Solar System are pulling on each other. Gravity is the attraction of two objects because of their mass.
HYPOTHESIS: If I hold a penny in the air and let go of it,
then the object will [stay in the air, fall downward].
MATERIALS: Penny, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Hold the penny out from your body, and then let go of it.
RESULTS: Record whether or not the penny stayed in the air.
CONCLUSION: On Earth, whenever an object is "dropped," it falls down, unless other scientific principles compete with the law of gravity.
DISCUSSION: This is a good time to explain how scientists agree upon the laws of science. If something always happens, like objects always falling to the earth, then it can be stated as a law of science.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Hold a penny out from you.
Let it go. What will it do?
Penny in the air no more;
Penny now is on the floor.
Galileo dropped things, too,
To show what gravity will do.
♪SONG: Sing to the tune of “Ring Around the Rosie:”
Gravitation means that
All objects attract each other.
Big masses more;
Big distances less;
Moon’s up and apple’s down.
EXTENSION: Repeat the procedure with other objects, such as a feather, paper, paper clip, etc.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Gg
MATH CORRELATION: Tallying results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Gravity, Susan Canizares, Daniel Moreton (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers)
Fiction: Corduroy, Don Freeman (Why did Corduroy fall on the floor?) Alice in Wonderland (Why did Alice fall down the hole?)
The Princess and the Pea (Why could the princess feel the pea under all those mattresses?)
Gravity (in nursery rhymes-adorable!), Norma L. Gentner, illus. Diana Magnuson (Wright Group Song Box)
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: REMBRANDT, p. 6&7 self-portraits.
Discuss how gravity pulls on Rembrandt's face in the later self-portrait, then draw self-portraits.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Gravity Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Tally your results.
Did the penny stay in the air?
Yes No
H: HOURS…Why address HOURS in early childhood science?
“Hours” represents time measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Time Measurement).
Hours (Time Measurement)
QUESTION: Can I cover a whole piece of paper with rubber stamps in one minute?
INFORMATION: Time is a measurable duration during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues.
HYPOTHESIS: If I make rubber stamps on a piece of paper,
then I [can, cannot] cover the whole paper in one minute.
MATERIALS: One-minute timer (or watch or clock with a second hand), rubber stamp, stamp pad, record sheet
PROCEDURE: Determine how to begin and end timing one minute, whether with timer or second hand.
At the beginning of the minute, placing the rubber stamp on the stamp pad before each stamp, start making rubber stamps on the paper. Stop at the end of one minute.
RESULTS: The stamped paper will be a record of how many stamps can be made in one minute.
CONCLUSION: Students should have a benchmark activity for how much they can do in one minute.
DISCUSSION: Discuss what can be done in one minute.
CHANT: Chant as choral question and response:
How many seconds in one minute?
60 seconds in one minute!
How many minutes in one hour?
60 minutes in one hour!
How many hours in one day?
24 hours in one day!
How many days in one week?
7 days in one week!
How many weeks in one month?
4 weeks in one month!
How many months in one year?
12 months in one year!
How many weeks in one year?
52 weeks in one year!
Yea, TIME!
♪SONG: See “The Twelve Days of Measurement” in the Ii Shoebox-Inches.
“Time” is “the twelfth day of measurement!”
EXTENSION: Introduce ways of measuring time: sundial, clock, etc. If you have small Judy clocks or old watches or clocks, put them in the shoebox for students to manipulate.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Hh
MATH CORRELATION: Time measurement, second hand on a clock
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Time Song, Rozanne Lanczak Williams, Cyd Moore
Fiction: Cinderella (How was time important to Cinderella?) Bedtime for Frances, Russell Hoban, illus. Garth Williams; Bear Shadow, Frank Asch
10 Minutes till Bedtime, Peggy Rathmann (Scholastic)
ART CORRELATION: Stamping
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Hours (Time Measurement) Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Can I cover this sheet with stamps in one minute?
I: INCHES…Why address INCHES in early childhood science?
“Inches” represents linear measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Linear Measurement).
Inches (Linear Measurement)
QUESTION: How many inches long is each object?
INFORMATION: An inch is a unit of linear measurement in the customary system.
HYPOTHESIS: If I measure this object,
then I will find that it is _____ inches long. (Make a hypothesis or estimate for the length of each object.)
MATERIALS: Inch ruler (Draw a six-inch ruler with only the inches and their marks on poster board or on tag and laminate it.); 2 objects each that are 1 in., 2 in., 3 in., 4 in., 5 in., and 6 in.; 6 cups labeled 1 in., 2 in., 3 in. 4 in., 5 in., 6 in.
PROCEDURE: Measure and classify the objects by placing them in the appropriate cups according to length.
RESULTS: Two objects in each cup
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses or estimates.
DISCUSSION: If an object does not measure exactly in whole inches, put it in the cup marked with its closest measurement.
♪SONG: From the website: http://www.mathcats.com/microworlds/inchworm_overview.html
Do you know the Inchworm song from the musical, "Hans Christian Andersen"? It goes like this:
Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, you and your arithmetic will probably go far. Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, seems to me you'd stop and see how beautiful they are!
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (“Length” is “the sixth day of measurement.”)
On the twelfth day of measurement, my teacher said to me,
(Twelfth day) "Let's compare time.
(Eleventh day) Let's compare temperature.
(Tenth day) Let's compare mass.
(Ninth day) Let's compare weight.
(Eighth day) Let's compare volume.
(Seventh day) Let's compare area.
(Sixth day) Let's compare length.
(Fifth day) Isn't measurement fun?!
(Fourth day) Let's compare width.
(Third day) Compare height.
(Second day) Let's compare size,
(First day) And measurement is when we compare."
EXTENSION: Duplicate the inches shoebox for centimeters. [I actually have three shoeboxes for linear measurement: one shoebox for nonstandard linear measurement (measuring objects with yarn and gluing the pieces of yarn onto a piece of paper), one shoebox for inches, and one shoebox for centimeters.]
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ii
MATH CORRELATION: Linear measurement, ruler (There are snap-together inchworm math manipulatives.)
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: How High Is Pepperoni? illus. Jack Keely (Scholastic)
Fiction: How Big Is a Foot? Rolf Myller
ART CORRELATION: Glue one-inch squares of paper to glue onto sentence strips or pieces of paper cut into various lengths to see how many inches long they are. If the one-inch squares are different colors, students can make a pattern which will make the squares easier to count.
J: JINGLE…Why address JINGLE in early childhood science?
Jingle is about a form of energy with which young children are familiar: sound energy. It relates to the Ee Energy/Electricity Shoebox in that a bell has potential energy to make a sound, that a bell has kinetic energy when it makes its sound, and that its energy can be absorbed by the object with which it is muted.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Jingle (Sound)
QUESTION: How can I mute a sound (make a sound stop)?
INFORMATION: Sound is caused by vibrations.
HYPOTHESIS: If I ring a bell,
then I [can, cannot] mute its sound (make its sound stop).
MATERIALS: Bell, six-inch ruler with a one-inch square of felt glued over the last inch, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Ring the bell. Holding the ruler in the other hand, touch the felt square to the bottom rim of the bell.
RESULTS: Record whether the sound stopped.
CONCLUSION: Sound stops when vibrations stop.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why the sound stopped when the bell was muted.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Jingle Bells" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Strike the bell. Can you tell? The sound goes on and on.
But mute the side. The sound has died. Vibrations can't go on.
EXTENSIONS: Strike a tuning fork and watch it make waves in a Petri dish of water.
Have two students each hold a Slinky at opposite ends so that it is spread out. Plink it at one end to watch the wave travel in the way that sound waves travel through matter.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Jj
MATH CORRELATION: Tallying results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Sounds All Around, Wendy Pfeffer, illus. Holly Keller (Scholastic Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science Stage 1)
Fiction: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Tony Ross
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: PABLO PICASSO, p. 23 Three Musicians.
Discuss the instruments the musicians are playing (possibly: clarinet, guitar, accordion). See how Picasso used repeated patterns to suggest vibrations or sounds. Draw or cut out shapes and glue them to suggest sounds.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Jingle Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
.
Did the sound stop when you muted it?
Trial 1 ____ ____
Trial 2 ____ ____
Trial 3 ____ ____
Trial 4 ____ ____
Trial 5 ____ ____
Trial 6 ____ ____
Trial 7 ____ ____
Trial 8 ____ ____
Trial 9 ____ ____
Trial 10 ____ ____
K: KINETICS…Why address KINETICS in early childhood science?
Kinetics is the branch of science that deals with the effects of forces upon the motions of objects. Is that not fascinating to young children?!
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Kinetics
QUESTION: If you put an eraser on top of a toy car, and crash the car, will the eraser stay on top of the car or go off of the car?
INFORMATION: Kinetics is the science of force and motion. Inertia is the tendency of an object to stay at rest or in motion.
HYPOTHESIS: If a toy car crashes,
then an eraser [will, will not] stay on top of the car.
MATERIALS: Toy vehicle, eraser block or other barricade for car, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Place the eraser loosely on top of the car, and roll the car into the barricade. Repeat for a total of ten trials.
RESULTS: Graph results as to whether passenger stayed in vehicle or did not stay in vehicle.
CONCLUSION: Passengers can be thrown out of cars because of inertia, the tendency to stay (at rest or) in motion.
DISCUSSION: Could you tell when the eraser would stay on top of the car and when it would go off? Could you tell which side of the car the eraser would land on when it went off?
♪SONG: To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:"
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion.
An object will start to move only if it's forced.
Once it moves, it carries on unless another force acts.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion.
EXTENSION: Devise a seat belt for the passenger (eraser) in the toy vehicle to demonstrate understanding of inertia.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Kk
MATH CORRELATION: Graphing
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Push or Pull/Make It Move, Susan Canizares, Betsey Chessen (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers)
Make It Go, David Evans and Caludetter Williams (Dorling Kindersley Let's Explore Science)
Fiction: Pig’s Wild Cart Ride, Bob Graham, available from amazon.com; Curious George Rides a Bike, Margret Rey
ART CORRELATION: Make spatter paintings by dipping paintbrush in paint and flicking the brush so that spatters of paint go onto paper. Cars with textured wheels are available from Oriental Trading for making car tracks. Spin tops that are markers produce visual records of motion.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Kinetics Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Did the eraser stay on top of the car?
Yes No
Trial 1 ____ ____
Trial 2 ____ ____
Trial 3 ____ ____
Trial 4 ____ ____
Trial 5 ____ ____
Trial 6 ____ ____
Trial 7 ____ ____
Trial 8 ____ ____
Trial 9 ____ ____
Trial 10 ____ ____
L: LIVING/NONLIVING…Why address LIVING/NONLIVING in early childhood science?
The first time I began a science unit teaching “living and nonliving,” I thought it was ridiculous. What kid doesn’t know that a cat is living and a rock is nonliving? However, students were surprised to learn that trees were living things. When I listen to debates over “When does life begin?” and “When does life end?” I consider this topic one of the most fascinating, complex, and important topics of science.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is GREEN for Life Science.
Living/Nonliving
ACTIVITY: Classify models of living and nonliving things.
INFORMATION: Living things need air, water, food, and space. Living things can reproduce living things like themselves. Living things can die. When classifying models of living and nonliving things, be sure to emphasize that the models of living things are not living but that they represent living things.
In the 1700s, Carolus Linnaeus classified living things into two kingdoms: plants and animals.
Today, scientists classify living things into five kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi (“former plants,” like mushrooms with no chlorophyll), protists (one-celled micro-organisms, including plant- and animal-like organisms with a nucleus), and monerans (microscopic one-celled animals without a true nucleus, like bacteria).
MATERIALS: Models or pictures of living and nonliving things
PROCEDURE: Classify the things as living or nonliving according to the definition that living things need air, water, food, and space; can reproduce living things like themselves; and can die.
EXTENSION: Pretend to be nonliving objects, like a rock. Pretend to be living objects, like trees, animals, amoebae, etc. Compare and contrast the “activities” of nonliving things with the activities of living things. Compare and contrast the activities of plants and animals.
♪SONG: Response song to the tune of "Frere Jacques"
Teacher: Are you living? Are you living?
You're a _____ (tree, rock, chair, bird, etc.).
You're a _____ (repeat what you just sang).
Student: I am [living / nonliving]. I am [living / nonliving]. I'm a _____ (repeat what teacher sang).
I'm a _____ (repeat what teacher sang).
♪SONG: Sing to the tune of “You’re a Grand Old Flag:”
You’re a living thing. You are made up of cells.
You can eat. You can breathe. You can grow.
If you are a plant, though animals can’t,
You make your own food, yes, but, oh,
If you are a plant, ambulate then you can’t,
Animals from place to place can go.
But plant or animal, for sure,
You eat, drink, reproduce, breathe, grow.
EXTENSION: An important concept related to energy (referred to in My Light by Molly Bang) is that energy from the sun allows green plants to grow. Plants are producers (of their own food). All other living things are consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores). Students can make individual or collaborative food chains or food webs.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ll
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: I Am a Seed/I Am a Rock/I Am a Leaf, Jean Marzollo, illus. Judith Moffatt (Scholastic)
Fiction: Jack and the Beanstalk (Were the magic beans living or nonliving?); The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein; The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, Judith Viorst
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: PIERRE AUGUSTE RENOIR, p. 25 A Girl with a Watering Can. Discuss how the girl is supplying one of the needs of living things for the plants: water. Draw something that is living like the plants and something that is nonliving like the watering can.
M: MAGNETISM/ELECTRICITY…Why address MAGNETISM/ELECTRICITY in early childhood science?
Magnetism gets “bumped up a notch” when it is related to electricity.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is Orange for Physics.
Magnetism/Electricity
QUESTION: Which objects are attracted by a magnet?
INFORMATION: In most substances, particle (electron) motions cancel out, so the materials are nonmagnetic. In a few substances, most particularly in iron, the circling and spinning motions of the particles (electrons) do not quite cancel out, so the materials are magnetic. In an ordinary unmagnetized piece of iron or steel, the pieces (atoms) face in all directions, and their effects cancel out. In a magnetized piece of iron or steel, tiny groups of pieces (atoms) gather together in clusters and form a line, so that the iron or steel becomes a magnet. Nickel and cobalt are also magnetic metals.
HYPOTHESIS: If I test ____ (object) with a magnet,
then I will find that it is [magnetic, nonmagnetic].
MATERIALS: Magnetic and nonmagnetic materials, magnet, graph
PROCEDURE: Test and classify the objects as magnetic or nonmagnetic
RESULTS: Objects classified into baskets or on a graph
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Speculate about how to make accurate hypotheses as to whether other materials might be magnetic or nonmagnetic.
♪SONG: To the tune of "A Tisket, A Tasket" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
A magnet, a magnet,
A lodestone is a magnet.
Some are horseshoes; some are bars.
To iron they're all attracted.
EXTENSION: Use two magnets, not only to attract each other, but to repel each other.
Make an electromagnet using a nail wrapped with wire and a D battery.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Mm
MATH CORRELATION: Count how many paper clips that a variety of magnets can hold.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: The Mystery of Magnets (big book from Newbridge Early Science Program)
Fiction: Mickey's Magnet, Franklyn M. Branley and Eleanor K. Vaughn, pics. Crockett Johnson
ART CORRELATION: Collect a variety of magnets for students to trace in order to learn that magnets come in different shapes and sizes: bar magnets, horseshoe magnets, donut magnets, circle magnets, etc.
I N T E R M I S S I O N :
WE COMPLETED THE FIRST HALF OF THE ALPHABET!
FOR PRAGMATISTS ONLY: If ABC Shoebox Science appeals to your sensibility, then you may well be satisfied with any lesson well done, particularly if it incorporates inquiry with content. Hopefully, the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science meet that criterion. In addition, the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science are intended to invite further investigation by changing materials, variables, and controls.
FOR PHILOSOPHERS ONLY: If ABC Shoebox Science appeals to your sensibility, then you may well be a global thinker like I am. Many lessons represent “pieces” to me, but I get frustrated when I can’t fit lessons that are “pieces” into an overall “schema.” ABC Science Shoebox is designed around an overall schema of science principles. Since the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science are intended to invite further investigation by changing materials, variables, and controls, when students come up with new ideas for their own experiments, there will be a shoebox to file them in (literally or figuratively).
L I G H T S A R E D I M M I N G :
TIME FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE ALPHABET . . . . .
N: NATURAL RESOURCES…Why address NATURAL RESOURCES in early childhood science?
Young children are familiar with all kinds of matter and are well served by the opportunity to classify it. The intent of this shoebox was to classify “States of Matter,” however, the “Ss Shoebox” was steadfastly occupied by “Surface Tension,” and the “Mm Shoebox” was steadfastly occupied by “Magnetism.” So I put the activity in the “Nn Shoebox” for “Natural Resources,” but while classifying the states of matter, it occurred to me that many of the solids and liquids were not natural resources. So, the Activity 2 became classifying natural solids and liquids and manufactured solids and liquids.
Natural Resources
ACTIVITY 1: Classify solids, liquids, and a gas (air).
INFORMATION 1: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. The three states of matter on Earth are solid, liquid, and gas. (Stars include plasma.) Solids keep their shape. Liquids take the shape of the container in which they are placed. Gases are invisible and fill up their containers. Tiny solid particles, such as particles of sand, appear to take the shape of the container into which they are poured, but each particle maintains its shape. You can tell by the heap on top that the individual solid particles retain their shape.
MATERIALS: Containers of solids and liquids and a container of air; piece of felt with three sections labeled, “solid—liquid—gas”
PROCEDURE 1: Examine each container to see if the substance inside keeps its shape or takes the shape of the container. The container that appears to be empty actually contains air, which is invisible. Classify containers of solids, liquids, and gas on piece of felt so labeled.
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Tarantella:"
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter takes up space, has weight.
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter, matter, matter, matter
Comes in three divergent states.
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter takes up space, has mass.
Matter, matter, matter, Comes as solid, liquid, gas. Hey!
♪SONG: To the tune of "Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
A LIQUID changes shape, you know,
From pitcher into glass does flow.
A SOLID stays the same, you see,
The shape's the same consistently.
A GAS will take up all the space.
The molecules will have a race.
A gas will fill up all the room.
Hear a gas go, “Zoom, zoom, zoom!”
EXTENSION 1a: Solids keep their shape. Liquids take the shape of their containers. Gases take up all available space. Oobleck exhibits properties of both a solid and a liquid in that it oozes like a liquid when it is left alone, but it becomes hard like a solid when you push on it. This may be similar to the layer of Earth under the surface and may account for the shifting of the continents.
EXTENSION 1b: Pretend to be molecules in solids, liquids, gases, and Oobleck. Molecules in solids are tightly packed and relatively still and retain their shape. Molecules in liquids are less tightly packed and more fluid and take the shape of their container. Molecules in gases are loosely packed and fill their container. Once, through Young Audiences, a professional dancer developed a series of dances for my class to enact solids, liquids, and gases.
ACTIVITY 2: Classify natural resources and manmade resources.
INFORMATION 2: Natural resources include materials found in nature, such as rocks, leaves, twigs, water, oil, air. Manufactured resources include materials, such as plastic, paper, shampoo, fabric softener. All living things, including fossils, contain carbon and are considered organic. Renewable resources include trees, fish, and wind. Nonrenewable resources include minerals and the fossil fuels, gas, oil, and coal.
ADDITIONAL
MATERIAL FOR
ACTIVITY 2: piece of felt with two sections labeled, “natural—manufactured.”
PROCEDURE 2: Classify containers of solids, liquids, and gas on piece of felt labeled “natural—manufactured.”
EXTENSION 2: During a discussion of careers, highlight services versus products, then natural resources versus manufactured products.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Nn
MATH CORRELATION: Make a rain gauge to measure how many inches of rain fall during on a rainy day.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Follow a Raindrop (Discuss water as solid, liquid, gas.), Elsie Ward (Scholastic I Can Read About Science Library)
Fiction: The Story of Ferdinand (Discuss the natural resources. What is smell, and why can Ferdinand smell the flowers? particles travel through air), Munro Leaf
ART CORRELATION: Dramatize and dance as described above.
O: OUNCES…Why address OUNCES in early childhood science?
“Ounces” represents weight/mass measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Weight/Mass Measurement).
Ounces (Weight/Mass Measurement)
QUESTION: Can I match objects of the same weight by holding them?
INFORMATION: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Mass is the amount of the matter. Weight is the product of the mass times gravitational pull which is why on Earth mass and weight are the same while in space mass stays the same and weight changes. Heavy things have more weight. Light things have less weight.
HYPOTHESIS: If I hold a film canister in my hand,
then I [will, will not] be able to tell whether it is the same or different weight as another film canister.
MATERIALS: Balance, three pairs of objects of the same size but different weights:
To create objects of the same size but different weights, obtain three pairs of film canisters and prepare them as follows. Make pairs of film canisters the same weight by adding the same number of washers or the same amount of plaster of Paris. For instance, the first pair of film canisters may contain ten washers each; the second pair of film canisters may contain five washers each; and the third pair of film canisters may be empty. (I prefer using plaster of Paris because after it hardens, it can’t be shaken to produce noise. I fill the first pair of film canisters almost to the top so that the lid will still fit on; I half-fill the second pair of film canisters; and I leave the third pair of film canisters empty.)
Once you put the lids on the prepared film canisters, the lids should not be removed by the students.
PROCEDURE: Hold one film canister in one hand and find the matching film canister with the other hand. Continue until you have matched all the pairs. Then place the matched pairs of film canisters on the balance.
RESULTS: The pairs of film canisters balance each other.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses.
DISCUSSION: Seriate the film canisters from lightest to heaviest, heaviest to lightest, and describe each arrangement.
♪SONG: To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"
Oh, weight is a measure of the mass.
Oh, weight is a measure of the mass.
Maybe heavy, maybe light; please with me recite,
"Weight is a measure of the mass."
EXTENSION: Use teddy bears, Unifix Cubes, or other manipulatives to determine the mass of the film canisters. Weigh lots of objects on the balance and on a scale. I use the little food scale you can buy at the grocery store.
Pretend you are on the moon and on different planets and walk, jog, jump, gallop, skip, hop, and sashay like you would according to your weight on various locations in outer space.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ou ou diphthong
MATH CORRELATION: Weight/mass measurement, balance, scale
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
[Nonfiction]: The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (weights on planets), Joanna Cole, illus. Bruce Degen
Fiction: The Golden Egg Book (The bunny wasn't very big; how much could he and the egg have weighed?), Margaret Wise Brown, pics. Lilian Obligado
ART CORRELATION: Make a crayon resist by coloring yourself and your spaceship on a planet, then covering it with watered down black paint.
I believe that there is a finite number of science principles from which an infinite number of phenomena can result. Identifying those finite principles and teaching their vocabulary to my students has been one of my career goals.
I share the results of my quest below, and I welcome corrections to any of my scientific misconceptions.
A NOTE ABOUT THE COMPILATION OF THE SHOEBOXES: Where I write,
“TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is RED for Chemistry,” for example, that is to become a “cheat sheet” glued in the top of the shoebox so that if you open it up and can’t remember what can be done with the materials, you can refer to it.
A: ABSORPTION…Why address ABSORPTION in early childhood science?
“Absorption” is a scientific strand, a scientific principle, a precursor to "diffusion" and "osmosis." Using my "A Shoebox, Absorption," students discover whether paper towels or pieces of laminate "absorb" water. Once they have tuned in to "absorption," they are primed for dissolving experiments and for mixing oil and water and for terms, such as "miscible" and "immiscible."
Absorption
QUESTION: Will a paper towel or a piece of laminate absorb water?
INFORMATION: Absorption is soaking up through little holes, pores, or spaces.
HYPOTHESIS: If we place water on a piece of paper towel,
then the paper towel [will, will not] absorb water.
If we place water on a piece of laminate,
then the laminate [will, will not] absorb water.
MATERIALS: Piece of paper towel, piece of laminate, container of water, dropper or pipette, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Place water in container. Draw water into the dropper and slowly place drops of water on the piece of paper towel, then on the piece of laminate.
RESULTS: Draw the results.
CONCLUSION: The paper towel allowed water to go into little spaces while the laminate did not.
DISCUSSION: Speculate where the water went in the paper towel.
♪SONG: To the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”
from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
When Johnny spills his chocolate milk: absorb, absorb.
When Susie spills her orange juice: absorb, absorb.
A sponge absorbs. A towel absorbs.
Don't worry if we spill some more.
Here's a roll of paper towels to absorb.
EXTENSIONS: Test various solid materials for absorbency with various liquids.
Test various colors of fabric for absorbency of heat by placing them in sunlight.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Aa
MATH EXTENSION: Control and count the number of drops dropped from the dropper.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: What Happens to Your Food? (Food IS ABSORBED to where your body needs it.) Alastair Smith, illus. Maria Wheatley (Usborne)
Fiction: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? (Raincoat DOES NOT absorb.) Nancy White Carlstrom, illus. Bruce Degen
ART CORRELATION: Create stained paper designs by dropping drops of liquid on paper. Discuss the marks and the wrinkles.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Absorption Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw the paper towel and how the
drop of water looked after you
dropped it.
Draw the laminate and how the
drop of water looked after you
dropped it.
B: BALANCE…Why address BALANCE in early childhood science?
Everything in the universe is either in balance or seeking balance. From balance toys to electrons in an atom, matter and energy seek balance according to specific laws of science. The young child learns how each balance toy seeks balance in the way that the scientist learns how each electron seeks balance.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Balance
QUESTION: Will I get all of these toys to balance?
INFORMATION: Balance can happen when apparently equal objects produce stability as well as when apparently unequal objects produce stability. Working with balance toys can produce discrepant results because the center of gravity of an object is not always visually obvious. Center of gravity is the point on an object that acts as if all the gravitational force were pulling from that point and the point where that object balances.
HYPOTHESIS: If I manipulate the toys,
then I [can, cannot] get them to demonstrate balance.
MATERIALS: Balance toys (available from Oriental Trading), a toy bird that balances on a pedestal or on your finger, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Manipulate toys.
RESULTS: Display balanced toys, and draw one of them.
CONCLUSION: Sometimes the toys balanced when they appeared lopsided and looked like they should tip over.
Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why objects which appeared lopsided did not tip over.
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" adapted from Barrett Kendall's Portfolios:
When something's unbalanced, it tips to one side.
Symmetrical balance keeps you on your ride.
Sometimes things are tricky. You think they will slide
(or You think they'll collide)
Just when they are balanced. I know 'cause I tried.
EXTENSIONS: Build balanced structures with blocks and other objects.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Bb
MATH EXTENSION: Watching a second hand, time how long one of the balance toys, such as the see-saw or merry-go-round, stays in motion.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Make It Balance, David Evans and Claudette Williams (Dorling Kindersley Let's Explore Science)
Fiction: Mirette on the High Wire, Emily Arnold McCully
ART CORRELATION: Read Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: CLAUDE MONET, p. 29 The Japanese Footbridge (symmetrical balance), p. 28 Haystacks in different seasons (darker, heavier colors balance large haystack). Discuss Monet's works, then ask students to draw balanced drawings.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Balance Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw your favorite balance toy.
C: COLOR MIXING…Why address COLOR MIXING in early childhood science?
It’s so much fun! It’s mixing with predictable results! It makes you feel like a chemist in a lab! By the way, the secondary colors are solutions or liquid mixtures, not compounds, and the primary colors can be retrieved from them. I can’t remember how, but if anyone asks, I’ll look it up.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is RED for Chemistry.
Color Mixing
QUESTION: What colors will result when I mix the primary colors?
INFORMATION: The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. When two primary colors are mixed, they make a secondary color. [These combinations are true when mixing colored water, paint, etc. Combinations of colors of light are different.]
HYPOTHESIS: If I mix _____ (primary color) and _____ (primary color),
then I will get _____ (secondary color).
MATERIALS: Six small plastic cups; red, yellow, and blue food coloring (In an empty food coloring bottle, place 10 drops of color and fill bottle with water; concentration is strong enough.), water, six swizzle sticks; record sheet; crayons; sunglass goggles, optional: round plastic half-gallon ice cream lid with six circles drawn in permanent marker to serve as tray for small plastic cups and to suggest the color wheel
PROCEDURE: Fill three of the plastic cups three-fourths full of water. Place a drop of red food coloring in one cup, yellow food coloring in the second cup, and blue food coloring in the third cup. In the fourth cup, mix some of the red water and yellow water. In the fifth cup, mix some of the yellow water and blue water. In the sixth cup, mix some of the red water and blue water.
RESULTS: Record results on the record sheet with crayons.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect. (Red plus yellow make orange. Yellow plus blue make green. Red plus blue make violet.)
DISCUSSION: Speculate what color results when mixing red plus yellow plus blue (brown).
♪SONG: To the tune of "Oh, Do You Know the Muffin Man?" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Oh, do you know the spectrum man,
The spectrum man, the spectrum man?
Oh, do you know the spectrum man?
His name is ROY G. BIV (Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet).
EXTENSIONS: Change the values of colors:
Intensify each color of water by adding more food coloring to make it darker. Dilute each color of water by adding more water to make it lighter.
Make shades of colors of paint by adding black paint. Make tints of colors of paint by adding white paint.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Cc
MATH EXTENSION: Draw a circle and divide it into six equal parts to make a color wheel. Tell students that colors opposite each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: any quality book about colors
Fiction: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Bill Martin Jr., illus. Eric Carle
ART CORRELATION: Give each student a piece of paper (onto which name is written right away), a paint brush, and a dinner-size paper “plate-palette” with a squirt of red paint, yellow paint, and blue paint. Starting with a swab of yellow paint, students mix yellow with a dab of red to create orange. After cleaning their brushes on the edges of their paper plates, students mix a swab of yellow paint with a dab of blue paint to create green. After cleaning their brushes on the edges of their paper plates, students mix a swab of red paint with a dab of blue paint to create violet. Students paint masterpieces on their papers and continue to clean their brushes on the edges of the paper plates in-between colors. The painting finale is mixing all the colors remaining on the paper plate to create brown. For clean-up, students place their brushes into a tub of water, their paper “plate-palettes” into the trashcan, their masterpieces on a drying rack, and wash hands, as necessary.
Teacher, Draw bubbles around the color words and question marks for students to color. You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Color Mixing Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
yellow + red = ?
yellow + blue = ?
red + blue = ?
D: DENSITY…Why address DENSITY in early childhood science?
Young children traditionally do “sink and float.” It's wonderful and necessary to have students play and observe. But when students discover phenomena, we don't take full advantage of the moments unless we tell them relevant terms, which they are not likely to discover on their own. “If an object sinks, its density is greater than that of the water it displaces. If an object floats, its density is less than that of the water it displaces.” At first this may mean no more to you or me or our students than “…to the Republic for which it stands…” or “LMNO,” but eventually it will make sense. We need to immerse our students in scientific language the way we immerse a sinker in the water.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Density
QUESTION: Which objects will sink, and which objects will float?
INFORMATION: Density is the compactness of molecules in an area. Objects float if their density is less than the density of the water which they displace. Objects sink if their density is greater than the density of the water which they displace.
HYPOTHESIS: If I place _____ (object) in water,
then it will [sink, float].
MATERIALS: Bowl; pitcher of water; tongs; ten objects, no more than six which sink or six of which float when placed in water; laminated Density Graph on which to place objects; graph record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Use pitcher to put water into bowl. Use tongs to transfer objects in and out of water.
RESULTS: When removing objects from water with tongs, place each object in appropriate column of Density Graph, "sink" or "float." Color paper Density Graph record sheet.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Speculate why some objects half-float and half-sink and why some objects float for a while and then sink.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Sailing, Sailing" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Sinking, sinking Sinking, sinking
Into the water bowl, Happens naturally
I'm so very heavy, When something in water has
That I sink without a hole. A greater density [than the water it displaces].
Floating, floating, Floating, floating
I'm so light, you see, Happens naturally
I will even float When something in water has
If you put a hole in me. A lesser density [than the water it displaces].
EXTENSION: Try “floating” 10 paper clips squeezed inside a 12-inch square of aluminum foil and 10 paper clips in a 12-inch square of aluminum foil shaped into a "boat." Why does the ball sink and the boat float?
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Dd
MATH CORRELATION: Graphing results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Tell Me How Ships Float (Whiz Kids), Shirley Willis
Fiction with the intent to teach content: Mr. Archimedes' Bath, Pamela Allen
Fiction: Tikki Tikki Tembo, Arlene Mosel, illus. Blair Lent
ART CORRELATION: Make sponge prints with sponges of different textures, and discuss the density of the sponges.
(Density Graph needs to be laminated.)
Density Graph
sink
float
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Density Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Density Graph
sink
float
E: ENERGY/ELECTRICITY…Why address ENERGY/ELECTRICITY in early childhood science?
Electricity is a form of energy that students understand can be turned on and off. It empowers students to create a circuit over which they have control of whether it can be turned on or off. The pragmatic intent of the Ee Shoebox is to create a complete circuit, while the contemplative intent of the Ee Shoebox is to ponder the source of energy. To focus on the concept that the sun is the source of all energy, read My Light by Molly Bang.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Energy/Electricity
QUESTION: How will I use energy from batteries to make a bulb light up?
INFORMATION: The sun is the source of all energy. Energy is the ability to do work or to move something. Energy comes in many forms: heat energy, chemical energy, electrical energy, light energy, sound energy, mechanical energy, nuclear energy, and the energy of motion. Potential energy is energy stored due to position. Kinetic energy is the energy of motion and has magnitude as well as direction. In order to convert the potential energy stored in a battery to potential for the purpose of lighting up a light bulb, a complete circuit must be created.
HYPOTHESIS: If I connect a battery and wires and light bulb,
then I [can, cannot] make the light bulb light up.
MATERIALS: D battery, battery holder, 2.5V bulb, bulb socket, two test leads (insulated wires) with alligator clips, record sheet, pencil (The electrical supplies are available from Nasco or another science materials company.)
PROCEDURE: CAUTION: You can get a zap of current by placing your fingers into the circuit!
Connect the two test leads with alligator clips between the battery in holder and the light bulb in socket in order to make a complete circuit.
RESULTS: When the circuit is complete, the bulb lights up.
CONCLUSION: The light bulb does not light up unless the wires are connected so as to form a complete circuit.
DISCUSSION: Discuss the notion that the circuit was completed only when metal met metal as metal is a conductor of electrical energy.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the
Bedpost Overnight?"
Does your body lose its energy while you're sleeping overnight?
Then eat up a good breakfast to get energy and ignite.
Food gives you your energy,
Gas will make your auto run.
Energy comes from motion,
Light, sound, fire, and the sun.
♪SONG: To the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In:”
Sit in a circle. Put hands palm up. Teacher uses left hand to clap right hand of student on the left. That student uses left hand to clap right hand of student on his/her left. Continue clapping around the circle while singing…
Oh, when the electrons, relay their charge, Oh, when the electrons relay their charge, Then we have electricity (or electric current), When the electrons relay their charge.
Oh, when Ben Franklin flew kite with key, Oh, when Ben Franklin flew kite with key,
He could have BEEN electrocuted.
He didn't know then. Now we do.
♪SONG: To the tune of “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain:”
It’ll be comin’ out of the wires and the plugs.
It’ll be comin’ out of the wires and the plugs.
Oh, be careful with electricity,
Oh, be careful with electricity
As it’s comin’ out of the wires and the plugs!
EXTENSION: Add more batteries, bulbs, and wires to make a longer circuit.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ee
MATH EXTENSION: Discuss that batteries come in different sizes and strengths, such as D, C, AA, AAA. Light bulbs come in different sizes and strengths, as well.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Electricity, Samantha Berger, Pamela Chanko (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers); My Light, Molly Bang
Fiction: Franklin in the Dark, Paulette Bourgeois, illus. Brenda Clark
ART CORRELATION: “Electric Art Activities” that must be closely supervised include: drawing with crayon on aluminum foil on a warming tray, ironing crayon shavings between two pieces of wax paper, and tracing on a light table. (A light table can be fashioned by placing a piece of safety glass over a Lite Brite without the holey piece. Photocopy and laminate simple pictures for students to trace. Tape a laminated picture on the “light table,” put a piece of paper over the laminated picture, and provide a marker for students to trace the picture.)
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Energy/Electricity Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw how the battery in holder, light
bulb in socket, and two wires looked
when the light bulb lit up.
F: FRICTION…Why address FRICTION in early childhood science?
Friction is a wonderful, physical (as in you move to do it and as in physical science) way to investigate how two surfaces react with one another. Revisiting the concept of balance, students can understand that friction is a variable that can be manipulated by changing materials. They can test various materials in the way that shoe manufacturers test materials for the soles of shoes and tire manufacturers test how rubber meets the road.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Friction
QUESTION: Will my hand feel warm or cool when I rub it on the tile floor, fabric, and sandpaper?
INFORMATION: Friction is the rubbing together of two objects and the resistance caused by the rubbing.
HYPOTHESIS: If I rub my hand on _____ (the tile floor, smooth fabric, or sandpaper), then my hand will feel [warm, cool].
MATERIALS: Tile floor, piece of smooth fabric, piece of sandpaper, record sheet, red and blue crayons
PROCEDURE: Rub fingers rapidly across the tile floor. Hold smooth fabric with one hand, and rub it with the other hand, slowly at first and then rapidly. Repeat carefully with sandpaper.
RESULTS: Draw materials you rubbed with your hand. Circle each picture with red if it felt warm and blue if it felt cool.
CONCLUSION: The rougher the objects, the more the objects resist each other, the more friction is created, and the warmer the feeling.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why hand feels warmer when it rubs certain materials. Discuss that it is easier to slip on surfaces that create less friction than on surfaces that create more friction.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Three Blind Mice" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Rub, rub, rub. Rub, rub, rub.
Rub, rub, rub. Rub, rub, rub.
Friction is when we rub and rub.
It helps us to stop or clean the tub. Friction is when we rub and rub-ub.
Rub, rub, rub.
EXTENSION: Test various pieces of fabric, paper, mouse pads, cardboard, etc., for friction. Rub hands together, too.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ff
MATH EXTENSION: Count how many times you can draw a line with a sharpened pencil on a piece of sandpaper before the point wears down.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Fiction with the intent to teach content: The Ogs Invent Fire, Felicity Everett (Usborne Reading for Beginners)
Fiction: Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson
ART CORRELATION: Draw with crayons or colored pencils on a variety of appropriate surfaces, including paper, wax paper, sandpaper, fabric, etc.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Friction Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Draw the materials that you rubbed
with your hand. Circle each picture
with red if it felt warm and blue if it
felt cool.
G: GRAVITY…Why address GRAVITY in early childhood science?
The toddler in the high chair knows that his/her cup will be on the floor if it goes off the tray. Why not tell young children that objects “fall” because of “gravity.” And then tell them that gravity is a law of science, not just that objects fall to the ground when you drop them, but that gravity holds the moon in its orbit around Earth. Everything in the universe is relative to everything else.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Gravity
QUESTION: Will a penny stay in the air if I leave it there?
INFORMATION: The earth's gravitational force, gravity, pulls downward on everything because in the larger scheme, the objects in the Solar System are pulling on each other. Gravity is the attraction of two objects because of their mass.
HYPOTHESIS: If I hold a penny in the air and let go of it,
then the object will [stay in the air, fall downward].
MATERIALS: Penny, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Hold the penny out from your body, and then let go of it.
RESULTS: Record whether or not the penny stayed in the air.
CONCLUSION: On Earth, whenever an object is "dropped," it falls down, unless other scientific principles compete with the law of gravity.
DISCUSSION: This is a good time to explain how scientists agree upon the laws of science. If something always happens, like objects always falling to the earth, then it can be stated as a law of science.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Hold a penny out from you.
Let it go. What will it do?
Penny in the air no more;
Penny now is on the floor.
Galileo dropped things, too,
To show what gravity will do.
♪SONG: Sing to the tune of “Ring Around the Rosie:”
Gravitation means that
All objects attract each other.
Big masses more;
Big distances less;
Moon’s up and apple’s down.
EXTENSION: Repeat the procedure with other objects, such as a feather, paper, paper clip, etc.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Gg
MATH CORRELATION: Tallying results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Gravity, Susan Canizares, Daniel Moreton (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers)
Fiction: Corduroy, Don Freeman (Why did Corduroy fall on the floor?) Alice in Wonderland (Why did Alice fall down the hole?)
The Princess and the Pea (Why could the princess feel the pea under all those mattresses?)
Gravity (in nursery rhymes-adorable!), Norma L. Gentner, illus. Diana Magnuson (Wright Group Song Box)
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: REMBRANDT, p. 6&7 self-portraits.
Discuss how gravity pulls on Rembrandt's face in the later self-portrait, then draw self-portraits.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Gravity Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Tally your results.
Did the penny stay in the air?
Yes No
H: HOURS…Why address HOURS in early childhood science?
“Hours” represents time measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Time Measurement).
Hours (Time Measurement)
QUESTION: Can I cover a whole piece of paper with rubber stamps in one minute?
INFORMATION: Time is a measurable duration during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues.
HYPOTHESIS: If I make rubber stamps on a piece of paper,
then I [can, cannot] cover the whole paper in one minute.
MATERIALS: One-minute timer (or watch or clock with a second hand), rubber stamp, stamp pad, record sheet
PROCEDURE: Determine how to begin and end timing one minute, whether with timer or second hand.
At the beginning of the minute, placing the rubber stamp on the stamp pad before each stamp, start making rubber stamps on the paper. Stop at the end of one minute.
RESULTS: The stamped paper will be a record of how many stamps can be made in one minute.
CONCLUSION: Students should have a benchmark activity for how much they can do in one minute.
DISCUSSION: Discuss what can be done in one minute.
CHANT: Chant as choral question and response:
How many seconds in one minute?
60 seconds in one minute!
How many minutes in one hour?
60 minutes in one hour!
How many hours in one day?
24 hours in one day!
How many days in one week?
7 days in one week!
How many weeks in one month?
4 weeks in one month!
How many months in one year?
12 months in one year!
How many weeks in one year?
52 weeks in one year!
Yea, TIME!
♪SONG: See “The Twelve Days of Measurement” in the Ii Shoebox-Inches.
“Time” is “the twelfth day of measurement!”
EXTENSION: Introduce ways of measuring time: sundial, clock, etc. If you have small Judy clocks or old watches or clocks, put them in the shoebox for students to manipulate.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Hh
MATH CORRELATION: Time measurement, second hand on a clock
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Time Song, Rozanne Lanczak Williams, Cyd Moore
Fiction: Cinderella (How was time important to Cinderella?) Bedtime for Frances, Russell Hoban, illus. Garth Williams; Bear Shadow, Frank Asch
10 Minutes till Bedtime, Peggy Rathmann (Scholastic)
ART CORRELATION: Stamping
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Hours (Time Measurement) Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Can I cover this sheet with stamps in one minute?
I: INCHES…Why address INCHES in early childhood science?
“Inches” represents linear measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Linear Measurement).
Inches (Linear Measurement)
QUESTION: How many inches long is each object?
INFORMATION: An inch is a unit of linear measurement in the customary system.
HYPOTHESIS: If I measure this object,
then I will find that it is _____ inches long. (Make a hypothesis or estimate for the length of each object.)
MATERIALS: Inch ruler (Draw a six-inch ruler with only the inches and their marks on poster board or on tag and laminate it.); 2 objects each that are 1 in., 2 in., 3 in., 4 in., 5 in., and 6 in.; 6 cups labeled 1 in., 2 in., 3 in. 4 in., 5 in., 6 in.
PROCEDURE: Measure and classify the objects by placing them in the appropriate cups according to length.
RESULTS: Two objects in each cup
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses or estimates.
DISCUSSION: If an object does not measure exactly in whole inches, put it in the cup marked with its closest measurement.
♪SONG: From the website: http://www.mathcats.com/microworlds/inchworm_overview.html
Do you know the Inchworm song from the musical, "Hans Christian Andersen"? It goes like this:
Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, you and your arithmetic will probably go far. Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigolds, seems to me you'd stop and see how beautiful they are!
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (“Length” is “the sixth day of measurement.”)
On the twelfth day of measurement, my teacher said to me,
(Twelfth day) "Let's compare time.
(Eleventh day) Let's compare temperature.
(Tenth day) Let's compare mass.
(Ninth day) Let's compare weight.
(Eighth day) Let's compare volume.
(Seventh day) Let's compare area.
(Sixth day) Let's compare length.
(Fifth day) Isn't measurement fun?!
(Fourth day) Let's compare width.
(Third day) Compare height.
(Second day) Let's compare size,
(First day) And measurement is when we compare."
EXTENSION: Duplicate the inches shoebox for centimeters. [I actually have three shoeboxes for linear measurement: one shoebox for nonstandard linear measurement (measuring objects with yarn and gluing the pieces of yarn onto a piece of paper), one shoebox for inches, and one shoebox for centimeters.]
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ii
MATH CORRELATION: Linear measurement, ruler (There are snap-together inchworm math manipulatives.)
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: How High Is Pepperoni? illus. Jack Keely (Scholastic)
Fiction: How Big Is a Foot? Rolf Myller
ART CORRELATION: Glue one-inch squares of paper to glue onto sentence strips or pieces of paper cut into various lengths to see how many inches long they are. If the one-inch squares are different colors, students can make a pattern which will make the squares easier to count.
J: JINGLE…Why address JINGLE in early childhood science?
Jingle is about a form of energy with which young children are familiar: sound energy. It relates to the Ee Energy/Electricity Shoebox in that a bell has potential energy to make a sound, that a bell has kinetic energy when it makes its sound, and that its energy can be absorbed by the object with which it is muted.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Jingle (Sound)
QUESTION: How can I mute a sound (make a sound stop)?
INFORMATION: Sound is caused by vibrations.
HYPOTHESIS: If I ring a bell,
then I [can, cannot] mute its sound (make its sound stop).
MATERIALS: Bell, six-inch ruler with a one-inch square of felt glued over the last inch, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Ring the bell. Holding the ruler in the other hand, touch the felt square to the bottom rim of the bell.
RESULTS: Record whether the sound stopped.
CONCLUSION: Sound stops when vibrations stop.
DISCUSSION: Discuss why the sound stopped when the bell was muted.
♪SONG: To the tune of "Jingle Bells" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
Strike the bell. Can you tell? The sound goes on and on.
But mute the side. The sound has died. Vibrations can't go on.
EXTENSIONS: Strike a tuning fork and watch it make waves in a Petri dish of water.
Have two students each hold a Slinky at opposite ends so that it is spread out. Plink it at one end to watch the wave travel in the way that sound waves travel through matter.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Jj
MATH CORRELATION: Tallying results
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Sounds All Around, Wendy Pfeffer, illus. Holly Keller (Scholastic Let's-Read-And-Find-Out-Science Stage 1)
Fiction: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Tony Ross
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: PABLO PICASSO, p. 23 Three Musicians.
Discuss the instruments the musicians are playing (possibly: clarinet, guitar, accordion). See how Picasso used repeated patterns to suggest vibrations or sounds. Draw or cut out shapes and glue them to suggest sounds.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Jingle Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
.
Did the sound stop when you muted it?
Trial 1 ____ ____
Trial 2 ____ ____
Trial 3 ____ ____
Trial 4 ____ ____
Trial 5 ____ ____
Trial 6 ____ ____
Trial 7 ____ ____
Trial 8 ____ ____
Trial 9 ____ ____
Trial 10 ____ ____
K: KINETICS…Why address KINETICS in early childhood science?
Kinetics is the branch of science that deals with the effects of forces upon the motions of objects. Is that not fascinating to young children?!
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is ORANGE for Physics.
Kinetics
QUESTION: If you put an eraser on top of a toy car, and crash the car, will the eraser stay on top of the car or go off of the car?
INFORMATION: Kinetics is the science of force and motion. Inertia is the tendency of an object to stay at rest or in motion.
HYPOTHESIS: If a toy car crashes,
then an eraser [will, will not] stay on top of the car.
MATERIALS: Toy vehicle, eraser block or other barricade for car, record sheet, pencil
PROCEDURE: Place the eraser loosely on top of the car, and roll the car into the barricade. Repeat for a total of ten trials.
RESULTS: Graph results as to whether passenger stayed in vehicle or did not stay in vehicle.
CONCLUSION: Passengers can be thrown out of cars because of inertia, the tendency to stay (at rest or) in motion.
DISCUSSION: Could you tell when the eraser would stay on top of the car and when it would go off? Could you tell which side of the car the eraser would land on when it went off?
♪SONG: To the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:"
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion.
An object will start to move only if it's forced.
Once it moves, it carries on unless another force acts.
An object at rest tends to stay at rest.
An object in motion tends to stay in motion.
EXTENSION: Devise a seat belt for the passenger (eraser) in the toy vehicle to demonstrate understanding of inertia.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Kk
MATH CORRELATION: Graphing
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Push or Pull/Make It Move, Susan Canizares, Betsey Chessen (Scholastic Science Emergent Readers)
Make It Go, David Evans and Caludetter Williams (Dorling Kindersley Let's Explore Science)
Fiction: Pig’s Wild Cart Ride, Bob Graham, available from amazon.com; Curious George Rides a Bike, Margret Rey
ART CORRELATION: Make spatter paintings by dipping paintbrush in paint and flicking the brush so that spatters of paint go onto paper. Cars with textured wheels are available from Oriental Trading for making car tracks. Spin tops that are markers produce visual records of motion.
Teacher, You may fit four record sheets onto one page, photocopy it, and cut the copies into quarters. “One quarter” is printed below.
Kinetics Record Sheet
Name_________________________
Date_________________________
Did the eraser stay on top of the car?
Yes No
Trial 1 ____ ____
Trial 2 ____ ____
Trial 3 ____ ____
Trial 4 ____ ____
Trial 5 ____ ____
Trial 6 ____ ____
Trial 7 ____ ____
Trial 8 ____ ____
Trial 9 ____ ____
Trial 10 ____ ____
L: LIVING/NONLIVING…Why address LIVING/NONLIVING in early childhood science?
The first time I began a science unit teaching “living and nonliving,” I thought it was ridiculous. What kid doesn’t know that a cat is living and a rock is nonliving? However, students were surprised to learn that trees were living things. When I listen to debates over “When does life begin?” and “When does life end?” I consider this topic one of the most fascinating, complex, and important topics of science.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is GREEN for Life Science.
Living/Nonliving
ACTIVITY: Classify models of living and nonliving things.
INFORMATION: Living things need air, water, food, and space. Living things can reproduce living things like themselves. Living things can die. When classifying models of living and nonliving things, be sure to emphasize that the models of living things are not living but that they represent living things.
In the 1700s, Carolus Linnaeus classified living things into two kingdoms: plants and animals.
Today, scientists classify living things into five kingdoms: animals, plants, fungi (“former plants,” like mushrooms with no chlorophyll), protists (one-celled micro-organisms, including plant- and animal-like organisms with a nucleus), and monerans (microscopic one-celled animals without a true nucleus, like bacteria).
MATERIALS: Models or pictures of living and nonliving things
PROCEDURE: Classify the things as living or nonliving according to the definition that living things need air, water, food, and space; can reproduce living things like themselves; and can die.
EXTENSION: Pretend to be nonliving objects, like a rock. Pretend to be living objects, like trees, animals, amoebae, etc. Compare and contrast the “activities” of nonliving things with the activities of living things. Compare and contrast the activities of plants and animals.
♪SONG: Response song to the tune of "Frere Jacques"
Teacher: Are you living? Are you living?
You're a _____ (tree, rock, chair, bird, etc.).
You're a _____ (repeat what you just sang).
Student: I am [living / nonliving]. I am [living / nonliving]. I'm a _____ (repeat what teacher sang).
I'm a _____ (repeat what teacher sang).
♪SONG: Sing to the tune of “You’re a Grand Old Flag:”
You’re a living thing. You are made up of cells.
You can eat. You can breathe. You can grow.
If you are a plant, though animals can’t,
You make your own food, yes, but, oh,
If you are a plant, ambulate then you can’t,
Animals from place to place can go.
But plant or animal, for sure,
You eat, drink, reproduce, breathe, grow.
EXTENSION: An important concept related to energy (referred to in My Light by Molly Bang) is that energy from the sun allows green plants to grow. Plants are producers (of their own food). All other living things are consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores). Students can make individual or collaborative food chains or food webs.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ll
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: I Am a Seed/I Am a Rock/I Am a Leaf, Jean Marzollo, illus. Judith Moffatt (Scholastic)
Fiction: Jack and the Beanstalk (Were the magic beans living or nonliving?); The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein; The Tenth Good Thing about Barney, Judith Viorst
ART CORRELATION: Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists written and illustrated by Mike Venezia: PIERRE AUGUSTE RENOIR, p. 25 A Girl with a Watering Can. Discuss how the girl is supplying one of the needs of living things for the plants: water. Draw something that is living like the plants and something that is nonliving like the watering can.
M: MAGNETISM/ELECTRICITY…Why address MAGNETISM/ELECTRICITY in early childhood science?
Magnetism gets “bumped up a notch” when it is related to electricity.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is Orange for Physics.
Magnetism/Electricity
QUESTION: Which objects are attracted by a magnet?
INFORMATION: In most substances, particle (electron) motions cancel out, so the materials are nonmagnetic. In a few substances, most particularly in iron, the circling and spinning motions of the particles (electrons) do not quite cancel out, so the materials are magnetic. In an ordinary unmagnetized piece of iron or steel, the pieces (atoms) face in all directions, and their effects cancel out. In a magnetized piece of iron or steel, tiny groups of pieces (atoms) gather together in clusters and form a line, so that the iron or steel becomes a magnet. Nickel and cobalt are also magnetic metals.
HYPOTHESIS: If I test ____ (object) with a magnet,
then I will find that it is [magnetic, nonmagnetic].
MATERIALS: Magnetic and nonmagnetic materials, magnet, graph
PROCEDURE: Test and classify the objects as magnetic or nonmagnetic
RESULTS: Objects classified into baskets or on a graph
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses and speculate why hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
DISCUSSION: Speculate about how to make accurate hypotheses as to whether other materials might be magnetic or nonmagnetic.
♪SONG: To the tune of "A Tisket, A Tasket" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
A magnet, a magnet,
A lodestone is a magnet.
Some are horseshoes; some are bars.
To iron they're all attracted.
EXTENSION: Use two magnets, not only to attract each other, but to repel each other.
Make an electromagnet using a nail wrapped with wire and a D battery.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Mm
MATH CORRELATION: Count how many paper clips that a variety of magnets can hold.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: The Mystery of Magnets (big book from Newbridge Early Science Program)
Fiction: Mickey's Magnet, Franklyn M. Branley and Eleanor K. Vaughn, pics. Crockett Johnson
ART CORRELATION: Collect a variety of magnets for students to trace in order to learn that magnets come in different shapes and sizes: bar magnets, horseshoe magnets, donut magnets, circle magnets, etc.
I N T E R M I S S I O N :
WE COMPLETED THE FIRST HALF OF THE ALPHABET!
FOR PRAGMATISTS ONLY: If ABC Shoebox Science appeals to your sensibility, then you may well be satisfied with any lesson well done, particularly if it incorporates inquiry with content. Hopefully, the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science meet that criterion. In addition, the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science are intended to invite further investigation by changing materials, variables, and controls.
FOR PHILOSOPHERS ONLY: If ABC Shoebox Science appeals to your sensibility, then you may well be a global thinker like I am. Many lessons represent “pieces” to me, but I get frustrated when I can’t fit lessons that are “pieces” into an overall “schema.” ABC Science Shoebox is designed around an overall schema of science principles. Since the lessons in ABC Shoebox Science are intended to invite further investigation by changing materials, variables, and controls, when students come up with new ideas for their own experiments, there will be a shoebox to file them in (literally or figuratively).
L I G H T S A R E D I M M I N G :
TIME FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE ALPHABET . . . . .
N: NATURAL RESOURCES…Why address NATURAL RESOURCES in early childhood science?
Young children are familiar with all kinds of matter and are well served by the opportunity to classify it. The intent of this shoebox was to classify “States of Matter,” however, the “Ss Shoebox” was steadfastly occupied by “Surface Tension,” and the “Mm Shoebox” was steadfastly occupied by “Magnetism.” So I put the activity in the “Nn Shoebox” for “Natural Resources,” but while classifying the states of matter, it occurred to me that many of the solids and liquids were not natural resources. So, the Activity 2 became classifying natural solids and liquids and manufactured solids and liquids.
Natural Resources
ACTIVITY 1: Classify solids, liquids, and a gas (air).
INFORMATION 1: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. The three states of matter on Earth are solid, liquid, and gas. (Stars include plasma.) Solids keep their shape. Liquids take the shape of the container in which they are placed. Gases are invisible and fill up their containers. Tiny solid particles, such as particles of sand, appear to take the shape of the container into which they are poured, but each particle maintains its shape. You can tell by the heap on top that the individual solid particles retain their shape.
MATERIALS: Containers of solids and liquids and a container of air; piece of felt with three sections labeled, “solid—liquid—gas”
PROCEDURE 1: Examine each container to see if the substance inside keeps its shape or takes the shape of the container. The container that appears to be empty actually contains air, which is invisible. Classify containers of solids, liquids, and gas on piece of felt so labeled.
♪SONG: To the tune of "The Tarantella:"
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter takes up space, has weight.
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter, matter, matter, matter
Comes in three divergent states.
Matter, matter, matter, matter,
Matter takes up space, has mass.
Matter, matter, matter, Comes as solid, liquid, gas. Hey!
♪SONG: To the tune of "Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
A LIQUID changes shape, you know,
From pitcher into glass does flow.
A SOLID stays the same, you see,
The shape's the same consistently.
A GAS will take up all the space.
The molecules will have a race.
A gas will fill up all the room.
Hear a gas go, “Zoom, zoom, zoom!”
EXTENSION 1a: Solids keep their shape. Liquids take the shape of their containers. Gases take up all available space. Oobleck exhibits properties of both a solid and a liquid in that it oozes like a liquid when it is left alone, but it becomes hard like a solid when you push on it. This may be similar to the layer of Earth under the surface and may account for the shifting of the continents.
EXTENSION 1b: Pretend to be molecules in solids, liquids, gases, and Oobleck. Molecules in solids are tightly packed and relatively still and retain their shape. Molecules in liquids are less tightly packed and more fluid and take the shape of their container. Molecules in gases are loosely packed and fill their container. Once, through Young Audiences, a professional dancer developed a series of dances for my class to enact solids, liquids, and gases.
ACTIVITY 2: Classify natural resources and manmade resources.
INFORMATION 2: Natural resources include materials found in nature, such as rocks, leaves, twigs, water, oil, air. Manufactured resources include materials, such as plastic, paper, shampoo, fabric softener. All living things, including fossils, contain carbon and are considered organic. Renewable resources include trees, fish, and wind. Nonrenewable resources include minerals and the fossil fuels, gas, oil, and coal.
ADDITIONAL
MATERIAL FOR
ACTIVITY 2: piece of felt with two sections labeled, “natural—manufactured.”
PROCEDURE 2: Classify containers of solids, liquids, and gas on piece of felt labeled “natural—manufactured.”
EXTENSION 2: During a discussion of careers, highlight services versus products, then natural resources versus manufactured products.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Nn
MATH CORRELATION: Make a rain gauge to measure how many inches of rain fall during on a rainy day.
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
Nonfiction: Follow a Raindrop (Discuss water as solid, liquid, gas.), Elsie Ward (Scholastic I Can Read About Science Library)
Fiction: The Story of Ferdinand (Discuss the natural resources. What is smell, and why can Ferdinand smell the flowers? particles travel through air), Munro Leaf
ART CORRELATION: Dramatize and dance as described above.
O: OUNCES…Why address OUNCES in early childhood science?
“Ounces” represents weight/mass measurement, a basic skill.
TEACHER, You may cut this out and glue it in the top of the Shoebox. Suggested background color is BLACK for Basic Skill (Weight/Mass Measurement).
Ounces (Weight/Mass Measurement)
QUESTION: Can I match objects of the same weight by holding them?
INFORMATION: Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Mass is the amount of the matter. Weight is the product of the mass times gravitational pull which is why on Earth mass and weight are the same while in space mass stays the same and weight changes. Heavy things have more weight. Light things have less weight.
HYPOTHESIS: If I hold a film canister in my hand,
then I [will, will not] be able to tell whether it is the same or different weight as another film canister.
MATERIALS: Balance, three pairs of objects of the same size but different weights:
To create objects of the same size but different weights, obtain three pairs of film canisters and prepare them as follows. Make pairs of film canisters the same weight by adding the same number of washers or the same amount of plaster of Paris. For instance, the first pair of film canisters may contain ten washers each; the second pair of film canisters may contain five washers each; and the third pair of film canisters may be empty. (I prefer using plaster of Paris because after it hardens, it can’t be shaken to produce noise. I fill the first pair of film canisters almost to the top so that the lid will still fit on; I half-fill the second pair of film canisters; and I leave the third pair of film canisters empty.)
Once you put the lids on the prepared film canisters, the lids should not be removed by the students.
PROCEDURE: Hold one film canister in one hand and find the matching film canister with the other hand. Continue until you have matched all the pairs. Then place the matched pairs of film canisters on the balance.
RESULTS: The pairs of film canisters balance each other.
CONCLUSION: Compare results to hypotheses.
DISCUSSION: Seriate the film canisters from lightest to heaviest, heaviest to lightest, and describe each arrangement.
♪SONG: To the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It"
Oh, weight is a measure of the mass.
Oh, weight is a measure of the mass.
Maybe heavy, maybe light; please with me recite,
"Weight is a measure of the mass."
EXTENSION: Use teddy bears, Unifix Cubes, or other manipulatives to determine the mass of the film canisters. Weigh lots of objects on the balance and on a scale. I use the little food scale you can buy at the grocery store.
Pretend you are on the moon and on different planets and walk, jog, jump, gallop, skip, hop, and sashay like you would according to your weight on various locations in outer space.
READING/LANGUAGE CORRELATION: Sound/Symbol - Ou ou diphthong
MATH CORRELATION: Weight/mass measurement, balance, scale
LITERATURE CORRELATIONS:
[Nonfiction]: The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (weights on planets), Joanna Cole, illus. Bruce Degen
Fiction: The Golden Egg Book (The bunny wasn't very big; how much could he and the egg have weighed?), Margaret Wise Brown, pics. Lilian Obligado
ART CORRELATION: Make a crayon resist by coloring yourself and your spaceship on a planet, then covering it with watered down black paint.
posted by Ingrid Sherwood at
4:19 PM
4 Comments:
Thanks so much for the Science in a Shoebox! I am going to teach 1st grade next year (my first teaching assignment) and I will certainly have these prepared in baggies for my class. I am thinking I can make up a few shoeboxes, put plastic sleeves on top cut to fit, and insert the Teacher... info. That way I can reuse my shoeboxes since my classroom size is very small. I really appreciate all work you did to create these. Pam
By
Pam DAlessandro, at 10:32 AM
Thank you for sharing. I noticed though that they stopped at O. can i get the second half of the shoebox science. It is great and i have already purchased my shoeboxes and started preparing my items. Thank you.
By
frogg322, at 5:13 PM
I really loved the shoebox ideas. But, I noticed that they only went through O. Is there any way that you could send me the rest? I would really love to try it next year. Thank YOu!
Heather Neu
hneu@bbc.net
By
heather, at 1:24 PM
Could you send me the next set of letters. N-Z. I love this and am already using it in my classroom.
Thanks,
LOLA
By
lola, at 5:07 PM
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