Kindergarten, Science, Week 23

This week we

• looked at books that had pictures of seasonal changes
• found pictures of the sun, moon, and stars to glue on the '4'
• we couldn't find but a couple pictures in magazines, so we had to turn to other sources, such as the internet and the picture section of our clip art
• reviewed books and videos about seasons and stars

Kindergarten, Science, Week 22

Monday

• I read Genesis 1:14. This week we are going to learn about the seasons.
• Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 4 -17
• This is mostly review, but K. wanted to re-do some of the explorations we had done in previous weeks.

Tuesday

• Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 19 - 21
• Concept: the earth is tilted, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to get more or fewer hours of light
• Exploration:
• Darken a room, stand about 3 feet from a globe with the northern hemisphere tilted toward the you.
• Shine a flashlight (the sun) on the globe.
• Notice that the hemisphere tilted toward you (northern) gets more light and the hemisphere tilted away from you (southern) gets less sun. This is summer in the northern hemisphere.
• Make the earth orbit the sun 180°. Now the southern hemisphere should be tilted toward the sun. This is winter in the northern hemisphere.

Wednesday

• Why Do The Seasons Change? pages 22 - 27

Thursday

• I Can Read About Seasons
• This book has great illustrations. I wasn't planning on reading the entire book in one sitting, but K. was interested, so I kept reading.

Friday

• Read I Can Read About Seasons again
• Concepts:
• The earth is tilted this results in the northern and southern hemispheres to get different amounts of light causing the seasons.
• The hemispheres seasons are opposite.

Kindergarten, Science, Week 21

Monday

• We watched the video What's Up in Space?: Stars from the series The Solar System for Kids

Tuesday

• We watched the video Space Science for Children: All About Stars

Wednesday

• I read The Big Dipper by Franklyn Branley

Thursday

• We watched Space Science for Children: All About Stars again. I gave K. her choice of the videos and she chose this one.

Friday

• We read The Big Dipper again

Kindergarten, Science, Week 20

Monday

• I read pages 22 - 29 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept: Stars are in the sky all the time, but we can't see them during the day because the sun is brighter and closer.
• Exploration:
• Shine a small flashlight onto a wall in a dark corner. We used a key chain that has a green LED light.
• This is an example of a star in the sky at night.

• Then shine a bright flashlight at the same place on the wall.
• This is an example of the sun.
• Even though the small light is still shining on the wall, you can't see it.

Tuesday

• I read pages 30 and 31 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept: We do not see the sun at night because it is on the other side of the earth.
• Exploration:
• Take a globe and tape a paper doll (you could use a drawing or picture of your child) where you live on the globe.
• Tape another paper doll on the opposite side of the globe, on a country your child is familiar with. We did Egypt.
• Set the globe on a table.
• Hold a flashlight and shine it on the globe.
• Let your child turn the globe and observe that as the earth rotates she has daytime and nighttime.

Wednesday

• I read pages 32 and 33 from Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept: As the earth turns, it looks as if the sun rises and sets, but really the sun does not move.
• Exploration:
• Cut a sun out of yellow paper.
• Use the largest ball you have. We used an exercise ball.
• Using a paper doll or a drawing, show your child that if the ball was the earth and they were standing on it their head would be perpendicular to the ball.
• Then have them put their chin on the ball.
• Tape the "sun" a few feet away on the same level as their head.
• Slowly rotate the earth and your child so they can see the sun appear little by little (the sun rising).
• Here is a video of our exploration. I left it turned so that you would see the sun rising without needing to slant your head, but looking at the furniture, you can see everything is sideways.

Thursday

• I read pages 34 - 37 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concepts:
• The moon turns around once in 4 weeks.
• The earth turns around once in a day and night.
• The earth turns very fast, but we do not feel it turning because the air is turning with us.
• Gravity (we had learned about that previously) holds us to the earth.

Friday

• I read pages 38 - 45 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept: It takes a year for the earth to move around the sun.
• Exploration:
• Go outside and set a ball down to represent the sun.
• Let your child be the earth. They will rotate and orbit the sun.
• You be the moon, slowly rotate and orbit the earth.
• Then switch places.
• Rotating and orbiting is really difficult to do. You may want to draw the path that the earth takes around the sun with sidewalk chalk, and don't get frustrated or exasperated with your child. I wanted K. to experience being both the earth and the moon, but I found it worked best when I was the earth and I held onto her hand as she was the moon.

Kindergarten, Science, Week 19

We are on Day 4 now, learning about the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

Monday I read about Day 4  in the book The Creation.

Tuesday

• I read pages 8 - 11 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept:
• Even though the moon looks bigger than the sun or stars it is really smaller. It looks bigger because it is closer.
• Exploration:
• I gave K. a penny and had her put it next to a globe. Which is bigger?
• Then I moved the globe across the room and had her put the penny close to her eye. Which looks bigger?
• Next, we went outdoors and compared the size of the penny to a tree. Which is bigger?
• Then we moved away from the tree until the penny, when close to the eye, appeared bigger than the tree.
• Last, I had her slowly move the penny out to arm's length and watch the penny "shrink" in size.

Wednesday

• I read pages 12 and 13 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept:
• The moon orbits the earth.
• Exploration:
• We went outside and I pretended to be Earth and K. was the moon, orbiting Earth.
• Then we switched places.

Thursday

• I read pages 14 - 17 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept:
• The moon is made of rock.
• Exploration:
• We looked at pictures of the moon on-line.

Friday

• I read pages 18 - 21 in Moon, Sun, and Stars.
• Concept #1:
• The moon reflects light from the sun.
• Exploration:
• You'll Need: a hand mirror.
• I had K. stand in a dark corner of the room.
• I told her that the ceiling light was like the sun and the mirror in my hand was like the moon.
• Then I moved the mirror until light was reflected to where K. was standing.
• Then I let her try.
• Concept #2:
• We see only the part of the moon lighted by the sun.
• Exploration:
• You'll Need: a ball (we used a basketball), a table lamp without the shade, a dark room
• Set the lamp on something so the light is on the same level as you will hold the ball. It needs to be enough above your child's head so their shadow isn't on the ball.
• Have your child stand about 3 feet from the lamp -- they are Earth.
• Hold the ball and orbit Earth -- you are the moon.
• Have Earth turn with you so he can see how the moon is lit differently as it orbits Earth.
• Here is a video. This wasn't the first time we had done it, so Earth wasn't real interested in cooperating and was spinning faster than the moon, which it does (Earth rotates 28 times to 1 rotation of the moon).