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Winter is All Around Us
Students present what they have learned on Antartica. Students identify deciduous and evergreen trees and plants; identify and study about the habitats of animals that migrate, hibernate, and adapt; study the Aurora and Aurora Borealis...
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Science
Third graders study light and shadow, participate in mirror activities, and build a periscope.
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The Shadow Knows
Sixth graders examine the relationship between light and the angle it strikes objects. In groups, they shine light from a flashlight on different objects and describe how it affects the shadow. To end the lesson, they complete a...
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Cloud Shadows
Students classify the visual opacity of various materials, what is needed to create shadows, and classify clouds by the types of shadows that they produce.
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How Does Light Travel?
Sixth graders are read The Way to Start a Day by Byrd Baylor or Bear Shadow by Frank Asch. They discuss how the sun affects their daily life, 6th graders are encouraged to think about the light we recieve from the sun and how man has...
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Sunshine and Shadows
Students measure their shadows early in the morning, record direction of shadow, make marks in ground with chalk or tape, measure with ruler, and record results. Students repeat process at noon, and then later in afternoon. Students...
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Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows I
Students examine the elevation of the sun to discover the changes in seasons. They observe and measure the length of their shadow. They compare this measurement to one taken four months later.
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The Earth Moves Around the Sun
Students demonstrate that the movement of the sun causes shadows which were used as the first indicators of telling time.
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Orbits Worksheet #1
A diagram of Earth's path around the sun, including the position of the moon, is displayed at the top of the worksheet. Five multiple questions get astronomers to analyze the diagram considering what is going on in the solar system. Use...
Star Date
Modeling the Night Sky
Dramatize the stars and planets as they become a visual representation of the solar system in this activity. Young astronomers track and simulate various constellations as they orbit the Earth to learn the position and motion of objects...
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Day and Night
First graders study that day and night result from shadows produced by Earth's rotation. Students work to show how shadows are produced, look for and identify shadows and observe shadows produced from different sources.
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Shining the Light on Skin
Students investigate the relationships between certain environmental factors and levels of exposure to sunlight. The variables of location, time of year, and day, and the weather which affect the intensity of the sun are explored in this...
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Individual Sundial (Cloud/Rain Activity)
Students make a simple sundial to examine the changes in shadows over time. In this sundial and shadow instructional activity, students make a simple sundial out of a manila folder and pencil. They observe how shadows change over time,...
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How We See Things
Students investigate how mirrors reflect light. In this reflection lesson, students draw the path of the light reflected from a mirror. Students construct a list of objects that are light sources.
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Growing plants
Students explore plants and recognize that they are living things that require light and water to grow; students identify, name and match the parts of plants.
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Forces in Action
Students investigate questions centered around force and motion by going through the scientific process and creating fair tests and experimentation. In this lesson about forces-in-action, students diagram their findings and explore other...
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Rain Shadows and Sea Breezes
Students plot the average rainfall for a variety of cities in the United States. Using the map, they work together to determine patterns on which toxicants are transported through the air. They determine the impacts of various weather...
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Colored Shadows
Sixth graders explore how three colored lights can be combined to produce a wide range of colors.
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Timekeeping by the Sun
Students measure shadows to learn about the Sun-Earth relationship. In this astronomy lesson, students create a shadow stick of a Pokemon character and record measurements of its shadow in a data chart. Follow-up discussions guide...
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Surface Area of a Leaf (Grades 7-9)
In this math and science activity, students read about the process of photosynthesis and plant growth. They determine how a plant's ability to create food is dependent on the surface area of its leaves using geometric calculations. They...
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Demonstrating Moon Phases
Third graders participate in a demonstration of the moon's phases. In this moon phase lesson, 3rd graders watch as the teacher demonstrates moon phases with a bright light and a Styrofoam ball. They answer questions associated with the...
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The Earth is Flat
Third graders experiment to gain understanding of the shape and rotation of the Earth. In this Sun and Moon science instructional activity, 3rd graders understand that the Earth rotates on its axis and how that explains the appearance...
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A Moon with a View
Third graders explore the rotation of Earth and the moon. In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders participate in an Earth and moon simulation in which part of the class "becomes" the sun, while other children represent the moon by...
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Seasons
Students investigate the reason for seasons on Earth during three activities. They construct a model of the Earth and Sun to identify patterns in the changes of the angle of light on the Earth's surface. Then they conduct a heat...