Week of April 15 - 19

Here's what happened in the Science Lab this week:

• Kindergarten: My kinder friends and I explored pillbugs (more commonly known as roly polies) this week. We got to observe them, learn more about roly polies and their lifecycle, and make a little roly poly craft to take home. Home extension: We talked this week about what roly polies eat; allow your student to use this informaton to help them keep a roly poly pet in a jar for a little while!
• 1st grade: This was week 2 of our seed investigation. This week, we observed 6 different kinds of seeds and sorted them before planting our own seed to take home and nurture. Home extension: allow your student to place his/her plant in a sunny windowsill, and remind him/her to water it every day. You could even give your student an extra challenge: measure the plant's growth every day to see how quickly it grows!
• 2nd grade: We got to share our animal research information today to the rest of the class. It was so much fun learning new information about every animal! We'll use this information later to create our own ocean food chain during Science Lab. Home extension: Ask your student to share facts about 2-3 animals they heard about from classmates today.
• 3rd grade: This was week 2 of our owl study, and it was messy! Students were able to dive right into dissecting their owl pellet this week. Students worked for almost the whole hour to uncover bones and clean them off for next week's project. Home extension: Do a Google search for "live owl webcam." There are several to choose from online; they provide an opportunity to watch barn owls in action 24/7!
• 4th grade: We tested the effects of gravity and air resistance with a challenge today: we had to build our own parachute with the most "hang time." Students had to work with their team to decide on appropriate materials before constructing and testing their parachute. Home extension: provide students with some string and a grocery sack or piece of tissue paper and allow him/her to continue the investigation at home.

 Green Thumb Club members: our next meeting is Tuesday, April 23. Hope to see you there!

Earth Day: Earth Day is April 22, but we'll be celebrating it all week long in the Science Lab next week! We'll start on Monday morning with a ladybug release -- all students will get to release a ladybug into the wild. Ladybugs are considered a garden's best friend (acting as a pest control) so we know they'll do wonderful things both for OUES's garden and for surrounding neighbors' gardens! If you're interested in playing a super-cool, online recycling game, check out Recycle City's Dumptown Game.

Week of February 18 - 22

Here's a review of what happened in the Science Lab this week:

• Kindergarten:We explored a different kind of energy today: heat energy! We performed a quick experiment to find out how heat affects hard and gummy lifesavers before playing a sorting game with heat source cards. Home extension: allow your child to join in the cooking fun with a meal that involves a microwave or oven. Seeing that heat helped transformed the ingredients into a delicious  meal will help solidify our knowledge of heat energy.
• 1st grade: We learned about heat energy in the form of friction today. We learned that rubbing our hands together creates friction, which creates heat. We tested various objects around the room to see which caused heat from the friction. Home extension: allow your student to continue this investigation at home by encouraging him/her to test various items for heat from friction. You can also play the mini-friction game we played online by clicking HERE.
• 2nd grade: We focused on light energy today and performed a series of activities to investigate it. You can view the activities by clicking HERE. Home extension: Play the Prezi presentation with your child close by, and ask him/her to describe the activities to you. Most can be recreated at home, which would be so fun!
• 3rd grade: We did an investigation about gravity today; we tested various objects to see which would fall first. We also learned a little bit about Isaac Newton and his 3 laws of motion. Home extension: allow your student to do some independent research over Isaac Newton to see how else he contributed to science. 
• 4th grade: We learned more about the water cycle, its source of energy, and the fact that water molecules are constantly moving through the water cycle by playing a game. Home extension: Ask your student to describe our water cycle movement game and what they learned. Do water molecules always follow the exact path of the water cycle? What makes the water in the water cycle move?

Green Thumb Club members: our next meeting is Tuesday, February 26. Hope to see you there!

Donations: We would greatly appreciate any Kleenex and/or empty syrup bottles that you could donate!