Using a color chart, students will make observations outside during each of the four seasons. During each session, they will try to find as many colors as possible and record what they see. As a class they will make charts describing the colors they... (View More) find in each season. At the end of the school year, students will compare their results and generate conclusions about variations in colors in nature both within a season and between different seasons. This is the 2nd of 3 sets of learning activities that are part of a unit on seasons that are companion activities to the Elementary GLOBE children's book, Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds. Includes a teacher implementation guide. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

In this activity, each student will keep a science journal during each of the four seasons. Students will record observations of the general outdoor environment they visit and then will make observations of one specific item from the habitat in each... (View More) season. At the end of the school year, students will compare their seasonal drawings and share their results with the class. This is the 1st of 3 sets of learning activities that are part of a unit on seasons that are companion activities to the Elementary GLOBE children's book, "Mystery of the Missing Hummingbirds." Includes a teacher implementation guide. GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on, K-12 school-based science education program. (View Less)

In this activity, students compute the strengths of the gravitational forces exerted on the Moon by the Sun and by the Earth, and demonstrate the actual shape of the Moon's orbit around the Sun. The lesson begins with students' assumptions about the... (View More) motions of the Moon about the Earth and the Earth about the Sun, and then test their understanding using an experimental apparatus made from a cardboard or plywood disk and rope. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications. (View Less)

This lesson addresses the common student misconception that the Earth is closer to the Sun during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This lesson encourages students to voice this misconception at the beginning of the lesson and then attempts to... (View More) correct it-first, by exploring the reason for it, and then by presenting an alternate explanation. Materials needed for the demonstration include a small globe and a desk lamp for each group of students, a large ball, and overhead transparency. This resource is from PUMAS - Practical Uses of Math and Science - a collection of brief examples created by scientists and engineers showing how math and science topics taught in K-12 classes have real world applications. (View Less)

In this activity, students become familiar with the orientation of shadows, their size in relation to the object casting them, and how the alignment of the Sun, the object, and the shadow tells us much about how shadows work. Supplies needed for... (View More) this investigation include pebbles, coins, marbles or counting blocks, a box of chalk, chalk/wipeboard and markers, overhead projector or lamp. This is lesson 4 of Threads of Inquiry: Observing the World Around Us, a series of 10 inquiry investigations focusing on the changing seasons and other aspects of our everyday existence. Each lesson includes teacher background information, Inquiry investigations are adapted to meet the developmental stage and skill level of students in three grade bands: K-2, 2-4, and 4-6. Each grade band is supported by educational strategies appropriate to the student's developmental stage, a narrative that models and describes the inquiry process applied in the lesson, and a hands-on inquiry investigation. Literacy extensions and a non-linguistic pre- and post-assessment accompany each lesson. (View Less)