Elementary Science

October 15

Aren’t Tree Cookies cool?  We can learn a lot about a tree by observing its rings — more than just the age of the tree!  We can learn about the growing conditions during the tree’s life, about any forest fires the tree survived, even if the tree grew on a slope!

You observed and measured a tree cookie in class.  Both pages belong in your Nature Journal.

I also gave you a page called “Tree Anatomy.”  Please make a “color key” for the cookie and color it nicely.

Below is a link to another tree cookie activity.  It is called “My Life in a Tree Cookie.”  Do this and put it in your Nature Journal.

Life in a Tree Cookie

Lastly, read pages 166-168.  Write definitions for “gymnosperm” and “conifer”.

October 8

Zowie!  You were terrific junior scientists today!  In our pinecone lab you observed what a dry pinecone looked like, and you saw how it changed in hot water and in cold water.  Please make sure you put your lab paper inside your Nature Journal, in the October section.

We are starting Lesson 10, Trees.  Please read pages 152-157.  Write definitions for these vocabulary words:

  1. Seedling
  2. Sapling
  3. Masting

October 1

Today we learned about leaf anatomy!  Please read pages 103 – 107 to see how botanists use leaf venation, margins, and shape to classify leaves.

Then, just like we did in class today, you will go outside and find at least THREE leaves.  Use them to do Activity 6.8 on page 108.  Draw each leaf (you can trace, or you can draw) including the leaf veins.  Then, label each one with venation (page 104), shape (page 105-106), and margins (page 107).  Of course, you are welcome to color your leaves, too!  The activity directions tell you to use Mod Podge and hang them to dry…but NO.  We’ll do something like that in class in a couple of weeks.

Your vocabulary words this week are below.  Please write their definitions and put them in your Nature Journal under the “October” tab.

  1. Anatomy
  2. Apex
  3. Midrib
  4. Margin

 

September 24

We’re skipping up to Chapter 6, Leaves, in our book for now.  This chapter tells us how plants make their own food through photosynthesis.  It also teaches us about “leaf anatomy”.

This week, please do these activities –

  1. Read pages 94-98.
  2. Write definitions for stoma, consumer, producer, photosynthesis.

(Parents – your student is welcome to keep a “vocabulary words” page and add to it each week, rather than using a separate piece of notebook paper.)

  1. Use the Activity 6.1 handout I gave you to answer questions about our lab today.
  2. Color the photosynthesis drawing and put it in your Nature Journal.

Next week I am collecting ALL of your homework so far for the month of September!  So, you’ll give me all of your vocabulary definitions, all of the coloring pages from today, and both lab reports (Walking Water and Burning a Candle in a Jar).

September 17

Thank you for doing a terrific job on your Nature Journal pages. Drawing is an important part of botany.  You don’t have to be an artist to draw what you see!  In the future, please color your drawings also. Thanks.

  • This week, please read pages 23-28.
  • Write definitions for “vascular” and “nonvascular” and add them to your Nature Journal.
  • Answer the questions on the handout I gave you called “Walking Water Without a Vascular System”. Put the handout in your Nature Journal.  Be sure to color the water in the cups!

September 10

Hello Elementary Scientists!  I am so happy you are in class with me.

Today we talked about “botany”, and we went on a field trip into our forest!  Do you remember what plants we found?  Can you tell your family about our scavenger hunt?

For homework, please do these —

  1. Read pages 14- 22.  You may read them by yourself, or a parent can read them to you.
  2. Define these vocabulary words on a piece of notebook paper.  Keep it in your journal.
    1.  bio
    2. logy
    3. botanist
  3. Complete Activity 1.3 on page 21.  Use the handout I gave you in class today.
  4. Design a notebook cover for your Nature Journal.  Follow these directions:
    1. Title must be “My Nature Journal”
    2. Write your first and last name below the title.
    3. Write “Elementary Science” below your name, and “2024-25”Then, draw and color a nature scene, or find one to use, or print my template from here.  Make sure it shows plants of our home, not of the Arctic or South America, for example!

My Nature Journal

Thank you!  Keep all your homework pages inside your Nature Journal.  Bring your journal to class every week.