On Friday we held our last class for Nuts About Nature! It has been so much fun teaching this class and I have enjoyed each and every one of the students. For our last class we were blessed with a sunny and 70 degree day, so we gathered up our nature journals and colored pencils and headed outside to do some nature journaling.

Our church has a wonderful little wooded area with picnic tables and benches. So I gave the kids parameters and let them set about to see what they could discover and journal about. Here are some photos from the classes, including some of their discoveries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next week for our very last co-op meeting before summer break we will be having an end of the schoolyear party, including an Art show and Drama performance. And also there will be displays put up from the other classes. So the students will get a chance to show off their nature journals to others!

I left the students with tremendous encouragement to keep up their nature studies over the summer! And to help to encourage the families in our co-op to keep nature study alive, I will be leading a nature club two Fridays each month May through August. We will be visiting parks all around our area and focusing on different nature topics for each one. I look forward to sharing with you about our meetings.

Materials Needed for Activities/Experiments:
Ant Farm - active with ants (can be ordered by clicking this link Ant Farms or bought at many local stores)

Whiteboard Preparation:

List the classification of ants, and the ant life cycle.

Welcome Back to Class!

Materials Needed:

Dry Lima Beans (soaked in water overnight)

Toothpicks

Clear Tape

Index Cards

Whiteboard Preparation:

Draw a picture of a dissected lima bean

Literature Resources: 

 

Key Words:

germination

chlorophyll

capillary action

seed coat

embryo (seedling)

endosperm (stored food)

cotyledons

photosynthesis

dicot

monocot

Internet Resources:

 Plant Lesson Plan

Seed Parts

The Great Plant Escape

Seeds at Enchanted Learning

Questions to be answered in class today:

What is a seed? What types of seeds are there? How do seeds grow?

1) What is a Seed?

All plants have the ability to reproduce themselves (make more of themselves). The way many plants do this is through a seed. Every plant seed has the start of another plant curled up inside of it. Give me some examples of seeds. (use book) A seedling also has one more two cotyledon on them, which are the first leaves the plant produces. There are two basic types of seeds: the monocot, which is a seed that has one cotyledon, such as corn; and the dicot, which has two cotyledon, such as a lima bean.

2) What are the Parts of a Seed

Seeds are made up of three parts: the seed coat, which protects the seed and keeps the baby plant inside warm until the conditions are right for it to grow; the endosperm, which is the food that feeds the seed, and the embryo (seedling), which is the baby plant waiting inside to grow.

3) How does a Seed Grow

In the spring, the soil is warmed by the sun, and the water that was previously frozen in the soil melts. The warm and wet soil makes the seed coat swell until it bursts open under ground. This process is called germination. The plant's roots then begin to grow down into the soil. The roots take in water to drink and send it up through the plant, which is called capillary action. And the roots take in minerals (nutrients) from the soil that helps the plant make more food to grow. Meanwhile, the plant sprouts up through the soil toward the sun, because it needs the sun to grow, right? The sun also helps the plants make their own food. Once the plant has broken through the surface of the soil, it will sprout leaves and begin to make food through a process called _______. Do you remember?? Yes, photosynthesis. The more sun a plant gets, and the more water and minerals it takes in through it's roots, the bigger the plant grows. That's why plants grow so well in the spring when there is more sunlight and more water.

Now, this is a interesting fact: while most seeds sproute when the soil is damp and warm, some seeds can only sprout in the heat of a forest fire! In the western half of our country, plants called chaparral only sprout after they have been exposed to the high temperatures and the smoke of a forest fire. Some seeds of the chapparral will stay in the soil for years, waiting for a fire to come and help them sprout.

4) Bible Lesson

Read the "Story of the Seed" (Luke 8:4-21) and discuss.

5) Dissecting a Lima Bean Seed

Give each student a previously soaked lima bean seed

Have them slowly and carefully use a toothpick to remove the seed coat

Have them identify the other two parts of the seed, the seedling and the stored food

Have them tape each of the three pieces to an index card and label them: endosperm (stored food), embryo (seedling), seed coat

6) Notebook Entries

Students label the top of the page "Seed Dissection"

Have students glue their index card to the top half of the page under the title.

Have students glue the Key Words under that on the bottom half of the page. Click below to download.

 7) Nature Challenge

- Growing a Green Bean Plant

In class I sent home with the students a clear plastic cup, bag of potting soil, and a bag with green bean seeds in it. Place the soil into the plastic cup, then plant the bean seeds (about 2" down into the soil), and then water lightly. Keep the soil moist and place in a sunny location if possible, such as a window sill. The seeds should germinate in about 7 days. If you'd like, keep a plant journal to track the progress of your seed.

- Observing Capillary Action

Buy three white carnations from your local flower shop. Snip the bottom inch off of each carnation. Fill three vases or glasses with water. Color the water in the glasses with three different colors (of your choice) by putting 10 to 20 drops of food coloring in each glass. Put a carnation in each glass. Let them sit overnight. Record your actions and observations on a science journal.

- Lodgepole Pine Trees

Click on the following link and watch video number 43c "Lodgepole Pine":

 http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/insideyellowstone/videolist.htm

What does serotinous mean?

If you are interested in learning further about forest fires, I highly recommend the book Fire!: A Renewal of A Forest, by Celia Godkin.

Welcome to another fun class!

Materials for Activities:
Scrap pieces of paper with varying colors and backgrounds
Nature Magazines (to be used to cut pictures from)
Glue Sticks 

Literature Resources:
Explore Spring: 25 Great Ways to Learn About Spring (Explore Your World series)
Draw 50 Baby Animals: The Step-By-Step Way to Draw Kittens, Lambs, Chicks, and Other Adorable Offspring
Baby Animals of the Woodland Forest (Nature's Baby Animals)
I See Animals Hiding
Animals With Crafty Camouflage: Hiding in Plain Sight (Amazing Animal Defenses)
Where in the Wild?: Camouflaged Creatures Concealed ... and Revealed
How to Hide a Butterfly and Other Insects (Reading Railroad)
What Color Is Camouflage? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2)
Animal Disguises (Science Kids)
Spring Song

Key Words:
camouflage
mammals
fledglings
predators
burrow
instinct

Internet Resources:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/camouflage.shtml
http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/camouflage/camouflage.html
http://www.brainpopjr.com/science/animals/camouflage/grownups.weml#teachers
http://home.howstuffworks.com/animal-activities4.htm

CLASS TIME:
Welcome Back to Class
Class Attendance
Recap Last Week – Signs of Spring
Weekly Challenge Participants Sharing Time

Class Starters:
Quote:
“Have ye not seen Him, when through parted snows
Wake the first kindlings of the vernal green?
Have ye not heard Him, when the tuneful rill
Cuts off it’s icy chains and leaps away?
In thunders echoing loud from hill to hill?
In songs of bird, at break of summer’s day?
Have ye not felt Him while your kindling prayer
Swelled out in tones of praise, announcing God was there?

- Mrs. Heman, from Type Lessons for Primary Teachers

 

Nature, God’s creation, speaks of Him. Over and over I will say this to you, if you learn nothing else from my class, I want you to understand that nature is a place that if you open your eyes to see, you WILL find Him. And one of the many ways that I see Him in nature in spring is by noticing the birth of baby animals..baby birds, baby bunnies, baby chipmunks and squirrels, baby raccoons, baby frogs, baby opossums, and even baby skunks! Spring is alive with new birth, babies everywhere!!

Questions to be answered in class today: Why do so many animals have their babies in the spring? How do animals find and make their homes? How do animals keep their babies safe? What is camouflage?

1) Why do so many animals have their babies in spring?
Spring is a time when loads of animal’s babies are born. Why do you think that is? Basically, because the weather getting warmer. Because the weather is getting warmer that means #1 the temperatures are more suitable for raising young ones; and #2 there is more food available to eat. If babies were born when winter time was coming, the babies wouldn’t stand as much of a chance of survival because they would could freeze or die from starvation. Now, what’s one of the main things that animals have to have before having their babies?

2) How do animals find and make their homes?
Animals have to have homes just like people do. Many animals make new homes in the spring or return back to the same ones if they’ve migrated, or just keep using the one they’ve used all along if they do not leave. Animals have homes for the same reasons we do. They need a place to have their babies and keep their families safe from bad weather and danger. Animals are born knowing what kind of home they need. Now how is that? The instinct that God gave them tells them exactly what they need to do to survive. And one of those things is to have a suitable home. Some animals find simple shelters to call home, yet others build complicated structures. Some use homes that other animals built before them, they just move right in and make themselves comfortable.

The majority of animals build their homes using natural materials like grass, dirt, sticks, and mud. It all depends on the type of home they need, and where they live. Animals that live on or near ground level will make or find homes naturally close to the ground. Such as the Song Sparrow, even though it can fly, tends to hang around the ground a lot, not much in trees. Therefore it builds its nest down low near the ground. And some mammals, like skunks, rabbits, chipmunks, and groundhogs dig burrows down underground to have their babies. Often snakes will find old burrows and make them into their homes. Sometimes the old owners will come back to find a new animal has moved in! How would you like it if someone moved in to your home while you were out at the store?

Some animals make their homes using material they make from their own bodies. Many insects do this. Such as bees make their own homes from beeswax, paper wasps use their own spit, spiders spin webs from their own silk.

Large animals like deer and moose actually don’t build homes. These kinds of animals move around a lot, so they have their babies in the woods or in tall grass. They push some grass down and make a soft nest, but leave tall grass around so they are hidden. Animals that live in trees such as squirrels make nests in high places. Sometimes they’ll find holes in trees to make their nest in or make it in the crook of the tree. Squirrels use leaves and twigs to build their nest.

Generally, it’s not too easy to find animal’s homes, and that’s good, that’s the way the animal wants it. So most animals will spent a lot of time finding the safest, hardest-to-find place for their homes that they can.

3) How to animals keep their babies safe?
We as humans will hardly ever leave our babies alone. But animal mothers do it all the time, they have to seek after food. If baby animals are hidden well they are actually pretty safe when their parents are not around because babies have no scent yet, so predators cannot smell them.

Animal parents often leave their babies alone during the day. Deer and rabbits only visit their babies a couple of times a day to feed them. The rest of the day the mothers are close-by, but not right next to their babies. This keeps the babies safe from any predators that may be hunting.

Baby animals have other ways to stay safe from predators. One way is how they look. Many animal babies have fur or feathers of a different color from their parents. For example, a baby fawn has light colored spots on its brown coat. Adult deer do not have spots. The light spots help the baby deer to blend in wherever it is. Does anyone know the name of this?? This is called camouflage. Baby birds are usually grayish brown, no matter what color the parents are. Their drab colors blend in with their nests, so it’s really hard for predators to see them.

4) Bible Lesson –
Psalm 32:7
“You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
Psalm 91:14
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”

When God created animals, He gave many of them the gift of camouflage. This gift helps to protect them from harm, guard them from trouble. This camouflage is symbolic of when we choose to follow and love Jesus Christ we are in His protection. Much like being camouflaged; He IS our camouflage in an evil world. And when we choose to not follow and love Him, much like the animals that have no camouflage, we will stand out in the way of danger and be subjected to the evils of this world.

There are many species of birds that have very creative ways of protecting their eggs and babies. Have you heard of the Killdeer bird? The Killdeer bird is the only “shorebird” we have in this area. Although technically shorebirds, they often times as in our case live very far from the ocean. Well Killdeer birds have an amazing way of protecting their eggs and babies. Now first it’s interesting to know that they lay their eggs right on the ground, right out in the open. Now that doesn’t seem very safe does it? But, when a predator approaches they exhibit a clever “broken wing display” in which they appear to be struggling with a broken wing while leading the predator away from their babies! Why would a predator be more interested in that? If the Mama Killdeer has a broken wing she will be easy prey, and she’s much meatier. Therefore she’s willing to sacrifice herself for her babies.

Another interesting fact is that many birds that make traditional nests will use their wings to cover their eggs and babies to protect them from the weather elements. When cool weather and cold rain comes down, parent’s waterproof-feathered wings give warm protection. Psalm 91:4 says, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

 

 

Being in His protection doesn’t mean that everything will always be perfect and that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Being camouflaged or under His wings simply means that we are under His care, and whatever happens to us we know that He is ALWAYS with us and that He will be there to help us through whatever comes our way in life. And that nothing bad will happen to us that He will not use for our good.

Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

5) Notebook Entries
Label top of sheet with Camouflage and the definition (from board)
Look at camouflage photos I took - download by clicking image below.

Have students choose a photo
Glue onto top section of page

Do “My Camouflage Creation” activity
- hand out magazines
- have student pick a picture of an animal that would be easy to camouflage
- have students come up to table to find a piece of paper as a camouflage background for the animal
- glue animal on the paper scrap
- glue onto bottom half of notebook and label “My Camouflage Creation”

6) Nature Challenge
- Interesting Video on Camouflage
Below I have posted a video about a Marine Biologist who studies camouflage and the Cuttlefish. Watch the video. Make sure you pay special attention toward the end of the footage of the octopus, VERY cool!

- Baby Animal Name Game/Quiz
Visit the link below and take the Baby Animal Name Game Quiz. At our next class, tell me how many you missed. I missed TWO! http://biology.about.com/od/animalnamegames/a/aa102308a.htm

- Birds in Pairs
As we discussed in class, this time of year, birds are pairing up to have a family. It is a frequent sight in backyard trees, or overhead flying above you to see birds in pairs. Take a nature walk simply to try and observe pairs of birds together. Also look for things like pieces of nesting material in bird’s beaks. Also, look in the trees and bushes, can you spot any nests?

Old man winter stretched out his freezing cold fingers again this week, so we weren't able to get outside during our classtime, however the plan is once again to do this next week!  This week we spent some time in class brainstorming the signs of spring. Also this week, my lesson was lacking in an in-class activity, simply because my week was unbelieveably crazy and I wasn't able to pull one together in time.  However you will find an activity in the nature challenge for the week.

Literature Resources:

Spring (Nature Projects for Every Season)

Explore Spring: 25 Great Ways to Learn About Spring (Explore Your World series)

Everything for Spring: An Early Childhood Curriculum Activity Book

It's Spring

Spring Things

Spring (Simply Science)

(I will be coming back to this post to add more spring books later)

Class Starter:

Read Solomon 2:11-13 and discussed

¹¹ See! The winter is past;
       the rains are over and gone.

 ¹² Flowers appear on the earth;
       the season of singing has come,
       the cooing of doves
       is heard in our land.

 ¹³ The fig tree forms its early fruit;
       the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
       Arise, come, my darling;
       my beautiful one, come with me."

Read quote from Our Birds and Their Nestlings: "It is springtime, and the old earth has awakened from her long winter nap. Songs of gladness greet her everywhere as she throws off the snowy blanket that has covered her through the dreary, cold days and long, silent nights of winter. She hears the gentle patter of raindrops which call from their hiding places the bloodroots and the violets. A sunny smile lights up her face as the birds chirp their songs of welcome to the spring."

Questions to be Answered: What is Phenology? What are some signs of spring?

1) What is Phenology?

Phenology is the study of the seasonal timing of life cycle events. You are studying phenology when your record the date a certain plant flowers, a tree's leaves emerge, an insect hatches, or a migratory bird appears on it's nesting grounds. The dates on which these happen each year are affected by factors such as daylength, temperature, and rainfall.

Journey North has a wonderful website where students can learn more about phenology and even report their sightings, and much, much more!

2) Bible Lesson

What does spring make you think of and feel like? Perhaps freshness, newness, new birth, new beginnings, coming back to life. To me it is symbollic of the resurrection of Jesus - read Matthew 28:1-10 and discuss. Let us rejoice this time of year as we remember this.

3) Signs of Spring and Notebook Entries

First, we brainstormed a list of the signs of spring up on the whiteboard, and the students wrote the list in their notebooks as we brainstormed. Then the students, if they wanted to, drew a spring scene in their notebooks as well.

 

 

4) Nature Challenge

RESEARCH - PHENOLOGY

 

Just a quick entry to let you know that I've updated my book list for the Nuts About Nature - Thunder and Lightning post. I had some more time to go through my pile and found some more gems!

First, I'd like to write about a change in the class topic schedule. Because of getting a later start in the year on the Nuts About Nature classes, I have changed up the outline of the remaining classes in incorporate some more outdoor study time.  This week we learned about Thunder and Lightning. Next week if the weather cooperates, hopefully we will get outside to do some nature study.  It is possible some of the topics for the classes will get switched with another week depending on the weather conditions and whether or not we can get outside. I will post a new tentative scheudule soon.

Ok, now on to this week's lesson...Thunder and Lighting!

Materials for Activities:

Blue Ice Cubes

 - (water and blue food coloring frozen into cubes)

Warm water

Clear, plastic container, the size of shoebox

Red food coloring

Brown paper lunch bags

Whiteboard and Other Preparation:

Draw the three main types of lightning (what will be on notebook entries)

Place chairs in circle in main area, with chair for sun outside of circle

Talk to helper about pretending to be person on earth

Literature Resources:

Non-Fiction
Explore Spring: 25 Great Ways to Learn About Spring (Explore Your World series)
The Weather Book (Wonders of Creation, Vol. 1) (Wonders of Creation , No 1)
Weather Mania: Discovering What's Up and What's Coming Down
Look at the Sky and Tell the Weather
The Kid's Book of Weather Forecasting: Build a Weather Station, 'Read the Sky' & Make Predictions! (Williamson Kids Can! Series)
Janice VanCleave's Weather: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn Into Science Fair Projects (Spectacular Science Project)
Wild Science Projects About Earth's Weather (Rockin' Earth Science Experiments)
Wild About Weather
Weather!
The Weather Book: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the USA's Weather
The Essential Book of Weather Lore

Fiction

Storm on the Desert
Thunder Cake
Storm in the Night
Ohio Thunder
Like a Hundred Drums

Books on Benjamin Franklin

How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning
Benjamin Franklin: Writer, Inventor, Statesman (Biographies)
The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin
A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin (Picture Book Biography)

Key Weather Words:

Weather

Convection

Currents

Atmosphere

Electrical Charge

Negative Charge

Positive Charge

Thunderstorm

Cold Front

Warm Front

Expand

Contract

Forecast

Internet Resources:

http://www.weatherwizkids.com/index.htm

http://www.theweatherchannelkids.com/

http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/

http://www.scholastic.com/kids/weather/

http://www.wildwildweather.com/

http://www.kidslightning.info/sabintro.htm

Class Starters:

Read Psalm 135:7: “He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”

Quote:

“There is no season such delight can bring…as summer, autumn, winter, and spring.”

 – William Browne

Questions to be answered in class today:  Why is spring a crazy weather time of year? What is “whiplash weather”? What causes thunderstorms? How do they form? What is thunder and lightning?

1) What is Whiplash Weather?

Have students gather in main area. There’s a new term that I’ve just recently become familiar with. It’s called Whiplash Weather.  During the spring months the weather is often referred to as this.  Why do you think that is so?….what does whiplash mean? The weather tends to be unstable this time of year. Spring is the hardest time of year to predict or forecast weather. What is the reason for this?...it all begins with the sun and how it works with the air. The earth is a huge place, and all encompassed (surrounded by) air.

Let’s pretend that this circle of chairs in our earth. Let’s pretend that we are the air and the sun (designate one student to be the sun which will sit in a chair outside of the circle pretending to shine on earth; and have teacher helper pretend to be person on the earth in the middle of the circle).

The air moves around the earth all the time, all over the earth, being driven by the sun (have students hold hands and move around the circle of chairs signifying the air moving around the earth). And the sun and air’s job is to try to make the temperature “even” or “moderate” all over, that is NOT an easy job to do. (stop the students for a moment)

Remember how the sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere at an angle during the winter? That means the sun is lower in the sky, and so the earth doesn’t get as much of the sun’s light or heat and the air is cooler (have the teacher’s helper pretend to be cold as the student’s pretending to be the cold air move again).

Well, in spring the sun appears higher and higher in the sky (have the student pretending to be the sun stand up on the chair). Now its rays are hitting the earth more directly and make the air warm right up (have the teacher’s helper pretend to warm up). But the ground takes longer to warm up than the air; the ground is still pretty cold from the winter.

So in spring, the air and sun have a lot more work to do to even out the temperatures. The warm air that is heated by the sun and the cold air coming up from the frozen ground can bump up against each other (have students gently bump up again the chairs, the earth’s surface). That means the weather changes from warm to cold, and back again (have teacher’s helper pretend to be warm then cold then warm and back and forth).

(Have students stop and listen) These changes help clouds to grow very quickly, sometimes spring storms have such large clouds that they make huge amounts of rainfall, and sometimes lightning, hail, and even tornadoes. But remember the warm air and cold air are close together. The weather can change from sunny and warm to snowy and cold in just a few hours. This is called “Whiplash Weather”!! (have students take a seat back in classroom).

2) What is a Thunderstorm? How does it form?

In our part of the country, spring time means thunderstorm time, That’s because thunderstorms happen when lots of cold air meet lots of warm, damp air.  When the cold and hot air meets, this is called convection. What happens when you take a ice cold water bottle from the fridge and set it in the hot air/sun? It sweats, or creates water, this is called condensation, right? All this sweating in the sky is great for cloud making. And as the clouds grow they tumble together and rise and collect more and more water. Those humongous, warm, water filled clouds get pushed higher and higher into the sky, where they meet with more cold air. Eventually the clouds get so full, down comes the rain. Now, a thunderstorm is basically rain with thunder and lightning. So, what is lightning and thunder? Let’s start with lightning since it comes first.

3) What is Lightning?

The energy created by the very warm air and the very cold air moving together inside of a cloud cause’s electrical energy (friction) (have kids rub their hands together and feel the heat of friction). When enough of this friction happens it’s possible that we will get lightning.

Let’s demonstrate another way, what lightning is. Have students gather in main area where carpet is.  Have them take off their shoes and drag their feet about, becoming conductors of electricity.  Then have the cast off their stored electricity on one another!  Zap!! Have students return to classroom.

In our demonstration, you were the clouds and the spark of electricity was the lightning. Within a cloud, particles of air, dust, and water vapor crash together. Like when you stroked your feet onto the carpet, the colliding particles caused the buildup of static electricity. The charges that separate within a cloud can build up in the same way nad then jump to the ground below. We call this giant discharge of electricity, Lightning.

Lightning begins when some of the negative charges move from the cloud towards the ground. This movement starts things off, and it called the “leader”. Not only does the leader set the path for the lightning bolt, but it makes the surrounding air electrically unstable. Charges become free to move about from the cloud. A split second later, a huge amount of electricity follows the leader’s path. Electrons in the unstable air drain into the ground below and then shoot back up into the sky. This rapid and major release of electricity from the air to the ground and back produces a huge flash of lightning. Lightning is very dangerous; you should never be outside when it is around. Just imagine the small spark, you couldn’t even visibly see, that you created from rubbing your feet on the ground, that little shock can hurt a bit. Actual lightning is WAY more powerful. A lightning bolt heats the surrounding air to five times the temperature of the sun’s surface!!

There are three main types of lightning:

Intracloud Lightning – the kind that happens within a cloud

Cloud-to-Ground Lightning - the kind we know most about; the most dangerous kind that jumps from sky to the ground.

Intercloud Lightning – lightning leaps across a gap of clear air between two different clouds.

4) What is Thunder?

Thunder is simply the sonic boom sound of the lightning exploding into the air. Light travels faster than sound, so we see the lightning first, then hear the thunder. Think of fireworks. Or think of when you get “shocked” there is sometimes a small audible sound. Now think of how big lightning is and why is produces such a loud sound!

Let’s do something fun to demonstrate the sound of thunder.  Use brown paper lunch bags to blow up and pop. Just like lightning in a cloud, the compressed air in the bag came loudly bounding out…THUNDER!

5) Convection Demonstration (warm and cold air interaction)

In this demonstration the cold air is the blue ice cubes and the warm air is the red food coloring. Fill the plastic container a little more than halfway with warm (not hot) water. Place the blue ice cube at one end of the plastic container. Then add three drops of red food coloring to water at other end.  What happened to the ice cube in the warm water? What happened to the drops of red food coloring? What else did you notice?

Warm (the red) air molecules have more energy and move faster than do less energetic cold-air molecules. The speedy warm air molecules tend to move away from each other. So warm air, with its molecules space further apart, is lighter than cold air, with its sluggish closer spaced molecules. This causes warmer air to rise, and colder, heavier air to sink. This up and down movement of air due to differences in temperature is called convection currents.

6) Bible Lesson –

The Bible lesson will be sent this week as part of your nature challenge.

7) Notebook Entries

Types of Lightning – Draw a thunderstorm scene, noting the three main types of lightning.

8) Nature Challenge

Bible Lessons

 - Look up and read Job 38, pay close attention to verse 35

The actual path of a lightning bolt appears to be crooked and haphazard. However, Job 38:35 reminds us of the Creator's detailed control of nature. He even opens up the conducting path for the electrons: "Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'"?

- What is lightning good for?

Read the following linked article, and come ready to explain to me why it is that we really need lightning. The next time lightning is crackling across the sky, remember to thank God for his provision of our essential nitrogen.

http://christiananswers.net/kids/lightningbenefits.html

- Outside Activity

Remember how I explained in class that you should NEVER be outside when you see lightning or hear thunder. However, sometime this next week on a windy day (not stormy), go outside for a nature walk.  Remember how we talked about why the wind is more intense this time of year? The forces of warm air and cold air are fighting a battle. On your walk just simply ENJOY the wind and your time feeling it blowing on you. Spend some time reflecting on God's hand in His Creation and give thanks to him for the changing seasons.

ANOTHER FUN WEEK!!!

Materials for Activities:
Ice
Salt
Plastic Cups
Drinking Water

Literature Resources*:
A Drop Around the World
A Drop in the Ocean: The Story of Water (Science Works)
The Magic School Bus Wet All Over: A Book About The Water Cycle
Water Dance
The Science of Water: Projects With Experiments With Water And Power (Tabletop Scientist)
This Is the Rain
The Story of Salt
Water (EYE KNOW)
Tell Me Why Rain Is Wet (Lower Elementary)
* a quick note about literature resources - unfortunately the majority of science books out there are not based on Creation.  So, inevitably you're bound to run into references of "millions of years" and such.  I am very picky about the books I recommend and will not recommend them if they are too evolutionary in content.  However it is hard to avoid completely.  So I have had a serious talk with my children explaining that our beliefs are different and why; and we "eat the peanuts and throw out the shells" so to speak.

Key Words:
water cycle
evaporate
transpiration
water vapor
condensation
precipitation
infiltration
expand
molecule
density
ice
liquid
hydroelectricity
irrigation
erosion

Internet Resources:

http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html

http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/watercycle/index.html

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/earth/groundwater/watercycle.htm

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question58.htm

Class Starter:
Give each student a small cup with a little drinking water in it. Have them drink the water. Ask them if they know where I got that water. Do they know how long it’s been around? The water they just drank has been around since God created the earth! The water that is on the earth today has been in a continual rotation since the beginning of time. We call this rotation “the water cycle”. There is about the same amount of water on the earth now as there was in the beginning.

Questions to be answered: - What is water? What is the water cycle? What happens when water freezes? What effects does salt have on ice?

1) What is Water?
Everybody knows that water is a building block of life, without it everything would cease to exist. Most of the planet and most of our bodies are water. We can survive for a few weeks with no food, but we can only survive a few days without water. Water is the single most essential thing we need in our lives. Water is also the only natural element found on earth that can exist in all three states of being: a liquid (water), a solid (ice and snow) and a gas (vapor). Water is the most versatile substance in the universe. God uses it as part of creating life and sustaining (keeping) life. Water is more than the stuff that comes out of your faucet-it literally keeps you alive! Water is made up of tiny molecules, smaller than our eyes can see, that are in constant motion.

2) What is the Water Cycle?
The water on earth moves continuously in a rotation called the water cycle. Let’s go through the parts of the water cycle, starting with precipitation.

Precipitation – any type of water that falls to the earth. What are some types of precipitation: rain, snow, ice, hail, sleet, mist Infiltration - soaking up of the precipitation.

Infiltration - happens when water soaks into the soil from the ground level. It moves underground and moves between the soil and rocks. Some of the water will be soaked up by roots to help plants grow. The plant’s leaves eventually release the water into the air through the plant’s pores. Some of the water keeps moving down into the soil to a level that is filled with water, called ground water.

Evaporation – when water is changed from it’s liquid form into water vapor. Warmth from the sun causes water from lakes, streams, ice, and soil to turn into water vapor in the air. Almost all of the precipitated water (80 percent) goes right back into the air because of evaporation.

Transpiration – type of evaporation. It happens when plants give off water vapor through tiny pores in their leaves. This is the plant’s way of getting rid of waste, just like people and animals sweat when they’re hot!

Formation of Clouds – All this water vapor is going back up into the sky. Sometimes on a hot humid day you can feel the water vapor, you know when it’s sticky outside in the summer - that’s just water held in the air. The water can change into fine droplets by "condensing" in the air, and we get clouds. When the droplets get big enough, they are pulled to back the earth by gravity as precipitation. And then the cycle starts all over again!

3) What About Ice?
Now that we’ve learned about the water cycle, let’s talk about one form of precipitation that we see very often in the winter…ice. So, what happens when water gets cold, really cold? It goes into one of those three forms (liquid, solid, gas) - solid. When the temperature of water reaches 32 degrees F it freezes, turns into a solid. The molecules inside the liquid slow down their movement and become more solid. The molecules are still moving, just not as much. The colder the temperatures are the less the molecules are moving and the harder the ice is. If the temperature is only around 32 degrees the ice will be quite slippery because of this continued movement of molecules on the surface. The colder it gets the stickier and less slippery the ice will become.

4) What is salt? What are its effects on ice?
Now, let’s talk about something that has an interesting effect on ice…salt. Salt is a mineral found in the earth and in our oceans. What do we most commonly use it for? - food (to enhance), put on streets in winter to melt ice making them safer. How does salt melt ice? Salt helps lower the melting point. For water, as we discussed, it has to be 32 degrees F to freeze; however salt will not freeze until the temperature reaches -22 degrees F. When you add salt to ice the salt dissolves into the top layer of ice, mixing with it and dropping the “melting temperature”, making it so the ice returns to its liquid (water) form. In a moment we’re going to see this process in action. But first let’s talk for a moment about how water and salt speak of God, because remember ALL creation speaks of Him and shows Him.

4) Bible Lessons –
Story of the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-26)
In verse 13-14 it says: “Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
Jesus is the Living Water – The water we drink does not keep up hydrated for long, we have to continually drink more and more to keep alive. In the Bible we are taught that Jesus is like “Living Water” to us, never running dry, never running out, always keeping us full through eternity.

Three States of Water
Three in One – God, Jesus, Holy Spirit
(John 17:20-23)
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

As we spoke of before, water is most essential element to our basic survival; and water is the only natural element that can be in three forms. While the three different forms of water look different from one another, they are all still water. Just the same while God manifests Himself in three different ways, they are all still God.

Salt of the Earth
Matthew 5:13 - "You (Christians) are the salt of the earth.”
Salt is a compound produced when sodium, a metal so unstable that it easily bursts into flames, combines with chlorine, a deadly poisonous gas. This natural occurrence is known as a chemical reaction – think of it as two people who misbehave a LOT on their own, but play well when they are together. The two elements stabilize each other, and the resulting compound, sodium chloride (salt), is neither explosive nor poisonous.
What is one of our purposes as Christians on this earth? To help "stabilize" and "neutralize" evil, to bring peace, to enhance other's lives, just as the creation of salt has a stabilizing effect and the use of it enhances our food.

5) Melting Ice with Salt - Activity

Give each of the students a clear plastic cup with a couple of ice cubes in it.  Pour 1/2 t. salt onto ice.  Observe.  What is happening?  The salt is dissolving into the ice cube and the ice is melting, returning to liquid form.

6) Notebook Entries

Have students fills out "Water Cycle Vocabulary" Page; cut out along with Water Cycle Graphic and paste in notebook.  Label with date and "The Water Cycle".

Water Cycle Vocabulary Sheet

Water Cycle Graphics

6) Nature Challenge
With your parent's permission, do one or both of the following activities:

Indoor Challenge: Do you remember how we talked about that the molecules in water slow down, harden and expand when they are cooled to the freezing point? Because the molecules expand this takes up more space. Let's prove this. Pour some water into a plastic container with a lid. Place the lid on and leave some air in the container. With a felt pen or a piece of masking tape, mark the water level on the container. Place the container in the freezer for a few hours. Look at the container once the water has turned to ice. Is the ice at the same level as the water was? Write down your observations perhaps using a picture or photo to illustrate what you proved.

Outdoor Challenge: Listen to or look at the weather forecast. If it is supposed to rain, place a large glass container with a large opening outside on a level surface where the rain can fall freely on it. Rain will collect in the container. After one day, measure the amount of water inside the container. This is the amount of rainfall in your area for that day. Record your observations perhaps using a drawing or photo to illustrate what you did. If you're adventurous record it daily and line graph it (of course this is optional)!!!

RESEARCH BONUS: There are many people who work with water each and every day. If you are interested pick one of the careers below to research. Share with me a little of what you found out and why or why not you'd like to do something like this one day.

Deep Sea Diver

Lifeguard

Meteorologist

Plumber

Hydrologist