Earth Science: Astronomy, Units 6, 7 & 8

Earth's Moon, Space Exploration & Astronomers

That's a wrap! Our study of astronomy (and subsequently Earth Science) is officially complete. Tessa is non too happy about it. She can't imagine an entire summer without science.

Talk about perfect timing. Our study of Earth Moon's culminated on the eve of the April 15, 2014 total lunar eclipse. We camped out on top of an open sleeping bag in front of the picture window in our schoolroom where we followed the progress of the eclipse. Tessa declared it "pretty cool."

Note: We ended up skipping Unit 7 (Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "The Earth's Movements Through Space Cause Day and Night and the Seasons") since we just studied the exact same information at the end of our study of Weather.

Monday - Earth's Moon

• Read What the Moon is Like by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "The Earth Has One Satellite Called the Moon - How Are Moon Craters Made?" (page 52) and "What Is the Source of the Moon's Light?" (page 53).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: The Moon DVD by Disney.

Tessa had a little bit too much fun making "moon craters" by dropping rocks of various sizes into a tin of flour. She learned the size and height from which a rock is dropped effects the size and depth of the resulting crater.

Tuesday - Earth's Moon

• Read The Moon by Elaine Landau.
• Completed "The Moon's Path" (page 27) experiment from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.

Wednesday - Earth's Moon

• Read The Moon Seems to Change by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read Faces of the Moon by Bob Crelin.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "The Earth Has One Satellite Called the Moon - Phases of the Moon" wheel (page 54).
• Completed moon flipbook from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.

Following Monday - Earth's Moon & Space Exploration

• Read Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca.
• Read One Giant Leap by Robert Burleigh.
• Tried "space food" (freeze-dried ice cream sandwich).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Space Exploration DVD by Disney.
• Viewed total lunar eclipse the morning of April 15, 2014.

Following Tuesday - Astronomers

• Read Look Up! by Robert Burleigh.
• Read When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer by Walt Whitman.
• Read Annie Jump Cannon, Astronomer by Carole Gerber.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "The Earth Has One Satellite Called the Moon - Space Riddles" (page 55).

If you're wondering where Galileo is, we will cover him next week in history during our study of the Renaissance.

Following Wednesday - Space Exploration

• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Space Travel - What's Been Up There?" (page 40).
• Completed (or in one case, attempted) the three rocket experiments from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.

Tessa completed a rocket-shaped timeline of some of America's most important spacecrafts.

Tessa blew a "rocket" off the end of a straw during one of three rocket experiments we attempted from our from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.

Following Thursday - Extra

• Read Galaxies, Galaxies! by Gail Gibbons.

Earth Science: Astronomy, Unit 5

Planets

Did you think we got sucked into a black hole or something? Naw, it just took us a while to get through our study of the planets. Wowzers...did we ever learn some fascinating facts! A lot of new information since my stint in fourth grade. Tessa's all set to build a space rocket in the backyard so she can zoom off for a first-hand look.

Introduction

• Read Meet the Planets by John McGranaghan.
• Attempted a combination of Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "How Far?" (page 36) and "Solar System Mobile" from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit, but our Command strips didn't hold.
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: The Planets DVD by Disney.

Mercury

• Read Mercury by Gregory L. Vogt.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Mercury" (page 9).

Venus

• Read Venus by Paul Fleisher. 
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Venus" (page 9).

Earth

• Read Earth by Jeffrey Zuehlke.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Earth" (page 9).

Mars

• Read Mars by Conrad J. Storad.
• Read Mission to Mars by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Mars" (page 10).

Jupiter

• Read Jupiter by Rosanna Hansen.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Jupiter" (page 10).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "What a Gas!" (page 6).

Saturn

• Read Saturn by Laura Hamilton Waxman.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Saturn" (page 10).

Uranus

• Read Uranus by Gregory L. Vogt.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Uranus" (page 11).

Neptune

• Read Neptune by Paul Fleisher.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Neptune" (page 11).

Pluto

• Read Pluto: A Dwarf Planet by Gregory L. Vogt.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Pocket Planet Guides - Pluto" (page 11) and then assembled the rest of the book.

A page from Tessa's completed "My Pocket Planet Guide." Did you know Titan, one of Saturn's moons, has an atmosphere?

Earth Science: Astronomy, Unit 4

Constellations

As enthralled as Tessa is with Greek myths, I was pretty sure she would enjoy learning about constellations. And, how right I was! She has absorbed so much since we started our study of space that when we visited the Saint Louis Science Center's James S. McDonnell Planetarium last week, she knew nearly all of the answers to the questions the docent asked during the sky shows we viewed. Stellar!

Tuesday

• Read Constellations by F. S. Kim.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Groups of Stars Seen Together Are Called Constellations - Naming Star Pictures" (page 26).
• Assembled telescope from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.

Wednesday

• Read Once Upon a Starry Night: A Book of Constellations by Jacqueline Mitton.
• Assembled star map from Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Groups of Stars Seen Together Are Called Constellations - The North Star and the Big Dipper" (page 27).
• Created constellations with glow-in-the-dark Wonder Stars Super Kit by University Games.

Following Monday

• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Comets, Meteors, and Stars - A Celestial Constellation Viewer" (page 14).
• Read Little Bear, You're a Star!: A Greek Myth About the Constellations by Jean Marzollo.

Tessa and I created a constellation viewer with an empty Pringles can, card stock and star stickers.

Earth Science: Astronomy, Units 2 & 3

Stars & the Sun

A brief intro to the stars and sun.

Unit 2 - Stars

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Stars Are Huge Balls of Hot, Glowing Gases - Wondering About Stars" (page 16).
• Read The Magic School Bus Sees Stars: A Book About Stars by Nancy White.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Stars Are Huge Balls of Hot, Glowing Gases - What Is a Star?" and "Stars Minibook" (page 17).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "Comets, Meteors, and Stars - Where Do They Go?" (page 13) and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Litte Star" (page 14).

Unit 3 - The Sun

• Read The Sun: Our Nearest Star by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read The Sun: The Star of Our Solar System by Ellen Lawrence.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Our Sun Is a Star - Is Our Sun a Star," "Why Do We Need the Sun," (page 21) and "Our Sun Minibook" (page 22).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Science: Solar System, Grades 1-3 "The Sun - Sun Collage" (page 19).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: The Sun DVD by Disney.

Tessa cut out pictures from magazines to make a collage of things that depend on the sun to survive.

• Read pages 5-9 from Eclipses by Jessica Morrison.
• Explored Thames & Kosmos Space Exploration kit (solar eclipse, sundial, solar collector and finger parabola experiments).

Earth Science: Astronomy, Unit 1

Our Solar System

Tessa and I are beyond excited to begin exploring space! This will be our final science unit of the year. So far, Tessa is completely enthralled. We are planning a trip to the planetarium soon.

Monday

• Read What Is the Solar System? by Carmen Bredeson.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Earth Is Part of a Solar System In the Milky Way Galaxy - Introduce the Solar System" (page 6), "Gather More Information" (page 7) and "Solar System Minibook" (page 7).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Outer Space DVD by Disney.

Tuesday

• Listened to The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System audiobook by Joanna Cole.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Space Adventures DVD ("Gets Lost In Space!" episode) by Scholastic.

The Magic School Bus book and episode mentioned above follow the same story line. Tessa loves The Magic School Bus, so she didn't mind the overlap. If you can only get one, get the audiobook. It is better and more informative.

Wednesday

• Read The Planets by Gail Gibbons.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Exploring Space, Grades 1-3 "Earth Is Part of a Solar System In the Milky Way Galaxy - Put the Planets in Order" (page 8).

Tessa created this out-of-this-world planet chart with the Evan-Moor "Put the Planets in Order" lesson from above. She painstakingly colored the planets and then pasted them in order on black cardstock (several pieces taped together). She also drew the sun. 

Other Resources of Interest

• LeapReader Interactive Solar System Discovery Set - LeapFrog
• Magnetic Solar System Playset - Ata-Boy Inc.

The magnetic solar system set includes a play board underneath the magnets. Imagine the scene in the pic below without all of the planets, labels, etc. on it...just the sun, stars and orbits. (And, silhouettes for where the classic planets go.)

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 7

Weather Forecasting

This was our last week studying weather. I don't know about you, but I am overjoyed to be moving on! Weather is not my favorite thing. Tessa, on the other hand, is sad to see it go. Of course she is, right? Next up...space.

(Somehow, I managed not to take any pics this week.)

Monday

• Read Weather Forecasting by Gail Gibbons via OpenLibrary.org.
• Read Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons via OpenLibrary.org.

Tuesday

• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Weather Forecasting: Under Pressure" (page 43), "Hair-Raising Hygrometer" (page 44) and "Windy Way" (page 45).
• Started The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Weather Forecasting: Meteorologist Mixer" data recording worksheet (page 42).

If I would have known how much Tessa was going to like tracking and recording the weather, I would have invested in some real weather instruments. I wish I would have anyway because I'm not sure any of our homemade gadgets really worked all that great. The anemometer was a complete flop. Seriously, don't make these...find something better.

Wednesday

• Read Freddy the Frogcaster by Janice Dean.

I was going to have Tessa complete "Winter Skit: Weather News for the U. S." that I found at TeacherFileBox.com, but our day ran really long. I ended up skipping it.

Following Tuesday

• Finished The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Weather Forecasting: Meteorologist Mixer" data recording worksheet (page 42).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Weather Forecasting: Mapping It" worksheet (page 45).

I just never know what Tessa is going to enjoy. The things I think might bore her to tears turn out to be her favorite things. She was all about looking up weather data in the newspaper and then mapping it and the weather data we collected on national and local maps. Who knew?

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 6

The Seasons

I wasn't thrilled with my book options for this unit, so I was a little worried the concept of the changing seasons in relation to the Earth's tilt and its orbit around the sun might come across as a wee bit abstract. Luckily, Bill Nye was able to pick up the slack. Tessa seemed to get it just fine.

Wednesday

• Read Sunshine Makes the Seasons by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Shining Seasons" (page 34). (I only had one inflatable globe, so I just moved it from one season to the next. I made sure the North Pole always pointed in the correct direction.)
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Earth's Seasons DVD by Disney.

Thursday

• Read Changing Seasons by Bobbie Kalman.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Global Opposites" (page 35).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Get Clear on the Hemispheres" worksheet (page 39).

Friday

• Read Four Seasons Make a Year by Anne Rockwell.
• Read Skip Through the Seasons by Stella Blackstone.
• Tessa sorted the months by season with free printables from Teachers Pay Teachers. We used "Vocabulary Sort - Seasons!" by Marjorie Sheridan for the season titles and "Months of the Year Title Cards" by Dawn Melvin for the month titles.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Creative Calendars" (page 35). (I changed my printer settings to print "2014 Black and White Chevron Monthly Calendars" by Tiffany Ford two to a page so the calendars would be smaller and easier for Tessa to work with.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: The Fun Four" worksheet (page 38). (We were running short on time, so we completed this orally.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Seasons: Seasonal Squares" game (pages 40-41).

Tessa sorted the months by season. This proved a little changing until I encouraged her to think about the month each season starts. From there, we deduced that each season is made up of three months.

Tessa's completed "Creative Calendars." She grouped the months by season, labeled and illustrated the cover of each booklet and then drew icons for various holidays.

Tessa always enjoys playing the mini games that are sprinkled into our curriculum. I try to squeeze them in where I can.

Other Books of Interest

• The Reasons for Seasons - Gail Gibbons (Would have liked to have read this one, but couldn't locate it at a library or find it free to read online.)

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 5

Storms

Tessa is terrified of the possibility of being in a tornado. Living in Missouri, there's usually at least one that touches down in the vicinity each season. After this unit on storms, I think she's a little more confident now that she understands them better...and, what to do if there is one. She doesn't seem quite so scared now. We'll see. Storm season is just around the corner!

Monday

• Read Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: Lightning Safety" (page 28). (We completed this orally instead of using it as a writing assignment.)
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Thunderstorm Is Building" (page 27).
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Few Words About Weather" (page 27).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Storms DVD by Disney.

Our completed "A Thunderstorm Is Building" paper craft, which explains what causes the crashing and flashing that happens during a thunderstorm. We altered it a wee bit. Instead of printing three of the clouds on gray paper, I had Tessa color them. We also didn't sandwich the yarn between double copies of the clouds.

Tuesday

• Read Tornadoes! by Gail Gibbons.
• Looked at pictures and read excerpts from Tornado!: The Story Behind These Twisting, Turning, Spinning, and Spiraling Storms by Judy Fradin.
• Read Otis and the Tornado by Loren Long.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: A Twister in a Jar" (page 29). (This experiment didn't really work for us. I did use a larger bottle and doubled the "recipe," so perhaps that's why. We also completed the tornado-in-a-bottle demonstration featured on the Bill Nye DVD mentioned above. That one was really cool and worked like a charm.)

Wednesday

• Read Hurricanes! by Gail Gibbons.
• Read Hurricane by David Wiesner.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Storms: In the Eye of the Storm" (page 28). (We had a hard time with this demonstration too. I couldn't get it to work at all when the string was attached to the ruler. I couldn't move the paperclip into the eye fast enough without it spinning around and around. After holding the string with the paperclip just so with one hand and briskly stirring the water with the other, I was able to get it to work. It took me many tries to get it just right, though.)

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 4

Wind

Tessa enjoyed many hands-on activities while studying wind this week. She also made the pinwheel featured on Bill Nye the Science Guy on her own.

Monday

• Read What Is Wind? by Robin Johnson.
• Read The Wind Blew by Pat Hutchins.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Wind: Creating Artificial Wind" (page 20). 
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Wind DVD by Disney.

Tuesday

• Read The Magic School Bus Rides the Wind by Anne Capeci.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Wind: Windy Matchup" (page 22).
• Completed "Wind Vane for Kids" from education.com. (There is a weather vane activity in The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3, but I liked this one better.)

We quickly ran outside to test our weather vane. Luckily, the day was breezy and it worked!

Wednesday

• Read Feel the Wind by Arthur Dorros.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Wind: Wonderful Windsocks" (page 23).

We have a ton of washable markers, but none besides black that are permanent. So, instead of drawing designs onto a plastic bag as directed in "Wonderful Windsocks," we used a really cute bag with lime green polka dots that I had stashed away. Tessa cut the fringe and helped me assemble the windsock.

The day was mild and there was a nice breeze, so Tessa had a wonderful time flying her windsock like a kite. It work well when we hung it on a post to tell wind direction too!

Friday

• Tessa read Wind by Marion Dane Bauer during reading.

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 3

Precipitation

Snow, rain, sleet and hail...Tessa learned about various forms of precipitation.

Monday

• Read What Is Precipitation? by Robin Johnson.
• Read How Are Rain, Snow, and Hail Alike? by Ellen Lawrence.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Precipitation: Weather Word Wheel" (page 17). 

Tuesday

• Read Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read Listen to the Rain by Bill Martin.
• Read Come On, Rain by Karen Hesse.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Precipitation: Looks Like Rain" (page 15) and "Going Down!" (page 16).

Tessa conducted a demonstration to see which one falls faster...a raindrop or a snowflake. We used a wadded up piece of blue paper to represent a raindrop and a sheet of white paper of equal size for a snowflake. 

Wednesday

• Read Snow Is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter's Wonder by Mark Cassino.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Precipitation: Frosty Figures" (page 16).

After creating a quick accordion-fold construction paper booklet of various types of snowflakes for "Frosty Figures," Tessa decorated the front cover with snowflakes drawn with glitter glue.

Friday

• Tessa read Snow by Marion Dane Bauer during reading.

Other Books of Interest

• It's Snowing! - Gail Gibbons
• Snowflake Bentley - Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 2

Clouds

Tessa learned how clouds are formed and the different classifications of clouds through a variety of picture books and learning activities. Many of the activities were a bit of a letdown. Tessa thought we were going to "cook up" a big puffy white cloud, not create a teeny puff of condensation in a jar. Hah!

Tuesday

• Read What Are Clouds? by Ellen Lawrence.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Clouds: Sing a Song of Cloud Types" and "Cooking Up a Cloud" (page 9). 

Wednesday

• Read The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Clouds: Clouds of Foam" (page 8). (This activity didn't work as well as I thought it would. Perhaps we used too much shaving cream?)

Thursday

• Read Clouds by Anne Rockwell.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Clouds: Cloudy Weather Windows" (page 11).

Tessa's completed "Cloudy Weather Windows." She created various types of clouds with cotton balls, labeled them and then illustrated the resultant weather underneath them.

Following Monday

• Tessa read Clouds by Marion Dane Bauer during reading.
• Read Cloud Dance by Thomas Locker.
• Read Little Cloud by Eric Carle.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Clouds: Clouds Up Close" (page 10).

All Week Long

• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "Clouds: Cloud Journal" (page 12).

Earth Science: Weather, Unit 1

The Water Cycle

Evan-Moor doesn't offer an age-appropriate ScienceWorks book for weather, so I am drafting my own lessons for this segment of Earth Science with the help of The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3. It provides a great selection of experiments, demonstrations, paper activities, etc., but no actual lessons or schedules. So far, it's working out well and Tessa is enjoying it...just takes a little more planning time on my part.

First up was the water cycle. Having studied this before, Tessa already had a pretty good handle on the basics and components of the water cycle, so we focused on expanding her science vocabulary and zeroing in on details.

Tuesday

• Read What Is Weather? by Ellen Lawrence.

Wednesday

• Read What Is the Water Cycle? by Ellen Lawrence.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Water Cycle: An Itsy-Bitsy Water Cycle" (page 6). 
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Water Cycle DVD by Disney.

Following Monday

• Read A Drop Around the World by Barbara McKinney.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Water Cycle: Watching the Water Cycle" (page 4). 

Following Tuesday

• Read Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorros.
• Completed The Mailbox Investigating Weather, Grades 1-3 "The Water Cycle: Wonderful Puddle Project" (page 5).

Earth Science: Geology, Unit 8

Fossils

I can't believe this is it for our study of rocks. Tomorrow, we begin weather!

Tessa studied fossils last year during Ancient History, Week 2 and completed a lab very similar to the one featured in ScienceWorks. Many of the unit's worksheets are redundant and not altogether enlightening, so I chose to condense the unit down to one day.

Monday

• Read Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki.
• Examined real fossils (fern, coral, mollusk, petrified wood and shark tooth).
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Some Rocks Contain Fossils That Tell About Life On Earth Long Ago - Mini Book" (page 71) and "What Was I?" worksheet (page 74).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Fossils DVD by Disney.

Earth Science: Geology, Unit 7

Earth's Resources

A little education goes a long way. In less than an hour, Tessa went from local litterbug (okay, not entirely true, but you know how careless little kids can be with their trash), to resident green freak.

Wednesday

• Read the rocks and people section from A True Book: Rocks by Ann O. Squire.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "The Resources We Use Come From the Earth - Follow Up" (page 62).

Friday

• Read Earth Smart: How to Take Care of the Environment eBook by Leslie Garrett via the Pearson Foundation's We Give Book initiative.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "The Resources We Use Come From the Earth - Make Conservation Posters" (page 63).

You wouldn't know it from her "smile," but Tessa had a blast designing her own conversation poster. She chose to remind people to recycle cans, paper, plastic and glass.

Earth Science: Geology, Unit 6

The Incredible Changing Earth

Tessa learned how erosion, volcanoes and earthquakes change and shape the Earth.

Tuesday

• Read Cracking Up: A Story About Erosion by Jacqui Bailey.
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Erosion DVD by Disney.

Wednesday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "The Surface of the Earth Is Always Changing - Erosion" (pages 46-47).
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Catches a Wave! DVD ("Rocks and Rolls" episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

Following Monday

• Read Volcanoes by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read Volcanoes by Claire Llewellyn.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "The Surface of the Earth Is Always Changing - Volcanoes" (page 55).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Volcanoes DVD by Disney.

What lesson on volcanoes would be complete without the classic baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano lab? I think we'll shoot for something a little more dramatic our next time around.

Following Tuesday

• Read Earthquakes by Franklyn M. Branley.
• Read Earthquakes! by the Editors of TIME for Kids.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "The Surface of the Earth Is Always Changing - Earthquakes" (page 56).
• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Earthquakes DVD by Disney.

Earth Science: Geology, Unit 5

Rocks Form In Different Ways

Who knew studying rocks could be so much fun. This week, Tessa learned how different types of rock form with some tasty kitchen demonstrations.

Monday

• Read the igneous rock section (pages 15-19) from A True Book: Rocks by Ann O. Squire.
• Read "Granite" (page 8), "Obsidian" (page 9) and "Basalt" (page 7) from Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads by Laura Evert while examining samples of the same rocks. 
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Rocks Are Formed In Different Ways - Lollipop Rocks" (page 37).

When magma (melted rock) pushes up through the Earth's crust it cools into solid igneous rock. Tessa and I made candy lollipops to demonstrate the process.

Tessa enjoyed her igneous rock lollipops, which we flavored with bubblegum candy oil.

Tuesday

• Read the sedimentary rock section (pages 22-23) from A True Book: Rocks by Ann O. Squire.
• Read "Limestone" (page 12), "Sandstone" (page 13) and "Shale" (page 14) from Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads by Laura Evert while examining samples of the same rocks. 
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Rocks Are Formed In Different Ways - Lot-O-Layers" (page 39).

Sedimentary rock is made from layers of mud, sand and seashells. Over time, pressure and heat cause the layers to stick together and form new rocks. Tessa assembled and then we baked this layer cookie to demonstrate to process.

Wednesday

• Read the metamorphic rock section (pages 24-26) from A True Book: Rocks by Ann O. Squire.
• Read "Gneiss" (page 15), "Marble" (page 16) and "Slate" (page 17) from Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads by Laura Evert while examining samples of the same rocks. 
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Rocks Are Formed In Different Ways - Munchies" (page 38).

Instead of following the recipe provided in ScienceWorks, we used a few pieces of refrigerated break-off cookie dough to demonstrate how metamorphic rock is formed, which was a much easier means to the same end.

Following Monday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Rocks Are Formed In Different Ways - Summary Activities" mini book (page 40).
• Read "Conglomerate" (page 11) from Rocks, Fossils & Arrowheads by Laura Evert while examining a sample of the same rock. 
• Completed a similar activity to Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Geology, Grades 1-3 "Rocks Are Formed In Different Ways - Make Conglomerate Rocks" (pages 41). The version we used was entitled "Making a Rock at Home" (pages 30-31) from Rocks and Minerals by Steve Tomecek.

Tessa layered school glue, sand and pebbles in a small plastic cup to create a conglomerate rock of her own.

Rock & Mineral Study Kits

It just occurred to me that I haven't mentioned what study kits we have been using to conduct our rock and mineral labs.

After extensive searching this past summer, I ordered the following kits from Home Science Tools. I have been 100 percent happy with them. Be sure to check the Web for a coupon before ordering!

Also, if your community has a cave nearby, check their gift shop for specimens.

Rock Study Kit, 15 Specimens

Mineral Study Kit, 15 Specimens

Geology Field Trip in a Bag - We use these specimens for general sorting, etc. activities where it's not imperative that we know what the specimens are. We also use them for activities involving water. The samples from the other kits have paper identification tags attached to them.