Earth Science Lessons

Earth Science Lesson Plans
1. The Sun and Stars
2. Crystals
3. Planet Earth
4. The Wonders of Water
5. Air is Everywhere
6. 22 Experiments with Air
7. Elements are Everything
8. Magnets
9. Weather

Little Susie Snowflake

Little Susie Snowflake was born very high above the earth where cirrus clouds occur. (35,000 feet) from a tiny amount of water vapor that froze a pattern around a tiny particle of pure salt from sea spray! At first she was a plain hexagonal crystal of ice but she floated around and around attracting more water molecules and grew stubby arms. Then thin ice filled in the spaces between Susie's arms. It was about 35 degrees below zero and she slowly grew into a simple little plate snowflake, so small she was barely visible!

She fell from her high perch into a veil of snowflakes with millions of little flakes just like herself and soon landed on the top of altostratus and altocumulus clouds (25,000 feet high.) The top layer of the clouds was still very cold (20 degrees below zero.) As Susie fell through the deck of clouds it got warmer and warmer (14 degrees above zero). There was lots more water vapor and Susie grew 6 more arms with odd little decorations between them and more thin ice formed around her edges.

Susie became a large beautiful plate with thickened edges and sharply pointed corners. She tossed about in the churning clouds and sank into the low stratocumulus clouds of a winter storm. There was even more water to grow on! The temperature was almost 0. She drifted downward growing 6 broad plate-like extensions at each corner.

Susie Snowflake reached snowflake paradise when she entered nimbostratus clouds with an abundance of water. The temperature now was 10 degrees above 0 and she started to grow fast! Needlelike arms started shooting out and branching crystals grew from them until they touch and connect. She continued to branch as she fell and grew armfuls of branching crystals, extending the points and ending them with hexagonal plates. . She became heavy enough in her crystal dress to leave the paradise clouds and fall to the earth. Susie Snowflake might have landed in my yard and become part of a snowman or maybe we ate her in our snow cone! Or Susie could have been part of a glacier or maybe one of the plants in the yard drank her when she melted and she became part of the plant!

Snowflake Bentley from Vermont photographed a snowflake for the first time in 1885 when he was 19 years old. Although ice crystals are clear, scattering of light by the crystal facets and hollows/imperfections make the crystals appear white in color. The whole spectrum of light is diffused by the small ice particles. Guinness World Records list the world's largest snowflakes as those of January 1887 in Montana. Allegedly one measured 15 inches wide. The exact details of the sticking mechanism remain controversial. Possibilities include interlocking, sintering, electrostatic attraction as well as the existence of a "sticky" liquid-like layer on the crystal surface. The individual ice crystals often have hexagonal symmetry.

“The Greatest Star of Them All” by Alexander Green www.spiritualwealth.com

Familiarity can be the enemy of awe and wonder. This is particularly true of something we see less and less this time of year: the Sun. Throughout most of human history, we had no idea the Sun was a star... or that the stars scattered across the night sky were other suns unimaginably far away. For thousands of years, it was an article of faith that the world was an immovable disk around which the Sun, the planets and the stars all revolved. Everyone believed, indeed knew this. That changed a few centuries ago. Yet it is only within the last few decades - using everything from ground-based telescopes and spectroscopes to the space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) - that we have gained a real understanding of our nearest star.

So let's take a closer look at the celestial giant on which so much of our lives depends... The Sun is 93 million miles away. A passenger jet flying 550 miles per hour would take 20 years to get to the Sun. To reach the next nearest star, Alpha Centauri, that same plane would need five million years. The Sun is by far the largest object in our neighborhood, making up 99.8 percent of the mass of the solar system. Its diameter is 865,000 miles. Were it hollow, 1.3 million earths could fit inside it. Yet, in astronomical terms, the Sun is just an average-sized gas ball - out of some 200 billion - in the Milky Way galaxy.

Things look fairly placid here on Earth, if not downright stationary. But that is an illusion. The Earth spins on its axis at 1,040 miles an hour while chugging around the Sun at 66,600 miles per hour. Meanwhile, the Sun - with its retinue of planets - is screaming around the center of the galaxy at 483,000 miles per hour while the Milky Way itself moves toward the Andromeda Galaxy at a hair-raising 1.3 million miles per hour. (And you wonder why you always feel rushed?

The Sun is the most alien place in the solar system. Its interior is unimaginable hot - at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit - and converts 400 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second. Indeed, conditions there are so extreme that hydrogen and helium atoms break into their constituent parts - protons and electrons - and re-fuse into heavier elements. That process - called nuclear fusion - is what makes stars shine.

Author and astronomer Bob Berman writes, "The power of the Sun's continuous nuclear fusion is equal to 91 billion megatons of TNT per second. That's 91 billion standard one-megaton H-bombs going off in the time it takes to say 'Holy moly.'"

Fortunately, we're a safe distance away. In fact, we're the perfect distance away. Venus is a boiling mess. Mars is a frozen desert. But you and I are here because we inhabit "the Goldilocks zone," a region where temperatures are moderate and water can exist as a liquid.

We are all tied to the Sun in the most intimate ways. It is the master timekeeper, marking off our days and nights as well as the years. The Sun drives our weather and climate and even affects your moods.

Psychologists are familiar with something called Seasonal Affective Disorder. When the skies turn grey, the weather cools and the days shorten, our bodies slow down, our energy wanes and our outlook darkens. Your biological clock and even your disposition are affected by sunlight (or the lack of it).

In fact, we need this precious resource to live. True, too much sunlight is damaging. But too little is dangerous, too. Sunrays generate Vitamin D, a substance that strengthens your immune system, protects against rickets, and combats osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, diabetes and influenza. Vitamin D is the most powerful anti-cancer agent ever discovered. Researchers say you should enjoy 20 to 30 minutes of sunshine before applying sunblock.

Not just our planet revolves around the Sun, but life itself. Through photosynthesis, plants convert sunlight into usable energy, kicking off the food chain and creating the foundation for the entire web of life. The Sun is responsible for most of our energy, too. In "Chasing the Sun," Richard Cohen writes, "The Sun is the great self-renewing resource, the creator of coal, peat, oil, hydroelectricity, and natural gas. It raises moisture into the atmosphere, to return as the downpours that drive turbines; it powers the winds and the waves, and all their effects; it lavishes itself over the entire planet, delivering to the Earth's surface more energy in just forty-four minutes than we use in a year."

The Aztecs and Egyptians worshiped the Sun, as did the Persians, Incas and Tamils of southern India. Grand monuments to it still dot the globe, from the pillars of Stonehenge to the Great Pyramid at Giza to the temple ruins of Machu Picchu. This is not surprising, really. Consider how many ways the Sun resembles the traditional image of a deity: It is a mysterious enigma, ever-present, powerful beyond measure, a giver of light, responsible for life on earth, yet too terrible to gaze at directly. Sun worship stemmed from a fundamental truth: Without our nearest star, life on earth wouldn't exist. Yet knowledge about the Sun was not easily won. We had to wait for the advent of the telescope and the scientific method. Isaac Newton, in fact, spent so much time studying the Sun that he had to shut himself in a darkened room to wait for the full return of his sight. It took three days. Dutch philosopher Spinoza ground the mirrors for his own telescope - and died at 44, his lungs rotted from year of inhaling glass particles.

Early church authorities tried to strangle the science of astronomy in its cradle, insisting it undermined the Bible's geocentric view of the universe. Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still, not the Earth, thundered Martin Luther. When Italian astronomer Giordano Bruno openly theorized that the Sun was a star and the universe might contain other worlds, he was promptly put to the stake. Galileo, the father of observational astrononomy, was forced to recant his heliocentric views and placed under lifelong house arrest. Scientists quickly got the message, privately declaring that it was better to be humble than hanged. Progress and scientific understanding could not be stopped indefinitely, however. Today we know the Sun influences crop yields, global temperatures and ocean currents. Solar eruptions - caused by intense magnetic activity - affect the position and strength of the Gulf Stream, the frequency of auroras, the clarity of radio transmissions, the longevity of Earth satellites, the thickness of the atmosphere and the condition of the ozone layer.

The atoms that make up your body were forged in the heart of ancient suns. The iodine in your thyroid gland was fashioned from supernova material. The iron in your blood came from the cores of previous star generations. As Carl Sagan famously declared, we are star stuff contemplating star stuff. The Sun is the lamp of the world, an awe-inspiring, life-giving ball of fire, a constant source of comfort and wonder. Throughout history, it has dominated art, language, religion and science. It is the great muse of artists, responsible for glorious sunsets, dazzling rainbows and the ethereal Northern Lights. Yet there is much about the Sun we simply don't know. Scientists are still trying to understand what causes sunspots and solar winds, how its magnetic particles affect the Earth's climate and how the Sun's rays can be cost-effectively captured.

New spacecraft are even being designed to harness its power. Engineers are betting that some day - many years hence - it might be just the right fuel to carry us beyond our dying star's grasp and out of the solar system... in search of another Sun.

The Sun and Stars

Nebulas are stellar nurseries where stars are born. They are beautiful places in our universe of incredible shape and colors! They are huge clouds of spinning balls of gas and dust. Particles are drawn together by gravity and shrink to form prostars. As they shrink the particles collide and fuse together and explodes out creating heat and light. It ignites and a star is born. . Planetary nebulas are born from the death of old stars.

New stars are blue and white and very bright. Dwarf stars are smaller and last longer. Large giants and super giants have shorter lives. When the supply of gas runs out the star dies. If a cloud spins slowly it creates one star. If a cloud spins fast it creates twin stars.

If a cloud spins medium, a star with planets is born. About ½ stars in universe are double stars.

Our sun is 93 million miles from earth. The sun’s diameter is 869,900 miles. The suns light takes 8 minutes to reach us. There is fusion inside the core of the sun and atoms of hydrogen collapse into each other forming helium and giving off enormous energy. Seventy elements have been identified in the sun by a spectroscope. The layers of the sun are:

1. core

2. radiation zone

3. convection zone

4. photosphere a sea of boiling gases 10,000 * F - the thin layer of the sun’s surface

5.chromosphere - the inner atmosphere

6. corona the outer atmosphere is the halo you see during a solar eclipse by the moon that stretches far into space and lasts 7 minutes. Sometimes during an eclipse, a diamond ring shines out or “Bailey’s Beads,” little rays that sparkle through an eclipse.

The hottest stars are blue and white. The hottest stars have the brightest light. Medium stars are yellow-orange and cooler stars are red. Small stars fade away. Big stars grow bigger and cooler changing from blue or yellow to red. A red giant may swell to a super giant and explode in a supernova pushing it’s outer layers into space leaving a tiny star, a white dwarf that is very dense and heavy. They are tiny, dense, and give off x-rays. Their weight gives them enormous gravity.

White dwarfs are old stars with a dim light. They may explode to neutron stars or black holes. The neutron star radiates like a lighthouse, is dense, heavy, and spins fast giving off radio waves. One cup of neutron stars weighs a million million tones. 1 cup of white dwarfs is 100 tonnes. There is a gravitational collapse. The red super giant vanishes.

Shooting stars are not stars but meteors that enter our atmosphere and burn up. Stars aren’t moving. The earth is rotating. Stars twinkle because their light wobbles as it passes through our atmosphere. The color of a star reflects the temperature of the star and it’s composition. The star sphere has an equator. There are more than 500,000 million stars are in our galaxy of stars alone.

Galaxies are groups of stars. Galaxies cluster together. There are billions of galaxies. A Spiral galaxy is a flat disc with arms spiraling out from a center bulge. The Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy fairly large at 100,000 light years across. Old stars are in the center. Young stars are in the arms. The whole Milky Way Galaxy of stars spins in space. The milky river of starlight we see in the sky is part of the Milky Way Galaxy. Our solar system is 2/3 of the way out from the center of our galaxy. Galaxies may be barred spiral and arms curl out from a bar. Elliptical galaxies are usually old stars. Some are like squashed balls, and some become irregularwhen they collide with another galaxy. This is the rarest type. The galaxies closest to ours are the large and small Magellanic Clouds that are irregular galaxies. Andromeda is the nearest visible galaxy. Galaxies group together to form super-cluster chains. Our Milky Way Galaxy belongs to a group of galaxies called The Local Group. If you look toward Sagittarius, you are looking toward the center of our galaxy. We are part of the LOCAL GROUP of 32 galaxies. Our sun is the star of the Milky Way Galaxy! If there is no sun then there is no heat, no light, no clouds, no rain, no life. Thereby it shines and spins by the grace of The Creator.

Stars contain 99.8 % of the matter in the solar system. Solar means of the sun. If you weigh 60 lbs on earth, you would weigh 1,680 lbs on the sun. Our sun is a nuclear bomb 5 billion years old and it will continue to burn for 5 billion years more. Heat, light, and electrically charged particles stream out from the sun to the ends of the solar system. Hydrogen is the sun’s fuel. The sun’s gravity locks the planets in orbit. Planets circle the sun. The solar system has 9 planets and 60 moons, millions of asteroids, and billions of comets!

Planets in our solar system are much closer to us than stars. The closer a planet is to the sun, the faster it must move in orbit. The closest star to our solar system is Alpha Centauri. SIRIUS is the brightest star in our sky magnitude 1.4. The faintest stars are mag. 6.

In 1543 Copernicus said planets go around the sun and the earth rotates on its axis. The sun spins on an axis and turns 1 time in 25 days - 27 days at the equator. The sun mystery is that the sun wobbles and shivers getting larger and smaller by10 km. The earth wobbles. It takes the earth 26,000 years to complete one circle or precession around our galaxy. About 3,000 asteroids located between Mars and Jupiter circle our sun in what we call the asteroid belt. Ceres is the largest asteroid. Billions of space icebergs called comets travel around our sun beyond Pluto forming a huge disc.

When the solar wind lights the sky, the wind is trapped at the poles and causes beautiful auroras. I asked my father one time “What is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?” and he said it was an aurora borealis. The sun constantly blows invisible gases into space. The solar wind is a flow of plasma from the sun that may cause radio blackouts, auroras, and change in the earth’s magnetism. Sunspots occur when giant storms erupt on the surface of the sun. They are cooled areas that are dark spots visible for a few hours or several weeks usually near equator. Solar flares are energy that builds up blasting jets of burning gas into space. Flames or prominences appear that can travel 200 mph and stretch 100 thousand miles. Earth is in the sun’s outer atmosphere. The earth’s atmosphere and magnetic field protect life from the sun.

On a clear night you can see about 2000 stars. There are 88 star pictures called constellations. Many are named for characters in Greek stories. (Orion the hunter is a giant who carried an unbreakable sword. The fuzzy patch of light in the sword is the Orion nebula. Stars go in circles at the poles.

Polaris is 50 times greater than our sun. Hold an umbrella and turn it, Polaris is always at the top. If Polaris sinks, the sailor is going south. If Polaris rises they are going north. If stars rise in the sky / going east. If stars are setting - west. POLARIS stays still. Face north and move arm up ½ way about 45*. There is Polaris, the last star in the handle of the little dipper. The stars aren’t actually moving but the earth is rotating. The ecliptic is the suns path through constellations in the sky called the zodiac.

Activities: Give students a picture of a constellation and let them pick out the glow in the dark stars and stick them on the wall with sticky putty. Let them make star finders. I use small pictures of the polaris constellation. Students punch holes using large push pins through the small stars in the picture through a small square of black construction paper underneath which is placed over a small square of carpet or cardboard. The black paper is placed over the end of a cardboard tube from paper towels and held with rubber band. Look through and you see Polaris! One year we made stars from clay, colored them and put them on a little tree another year we made "suncatchers" using contact paper and colored cellophane. Solar ovens are nice and we also make sun prints. I love to teach them the song "The Stars are Coming Out Like Popcorn". They love it!

CRYSTALS “The Flowers of the Mineral Kingdom”

Crystallography is the study of crystals. The father is Abbe Hauy. The most obvious characteristic of crystals is transparency and geometric regularity. There are 14 BRAVAIS LATTICES grouped into 7 SYSTEMS. X-rays passing through a crystal scatter in a regular pattern. All minerals crystallize into their own individual lattice structures. All minerals are made of crystals. Crystals can be grown synthetically.

A unit cell is the smallest spatial structure possessing the characteristics of the mineral as a whole.

ALL CRYSTALS have symmetry. There are different planes of symmetry and a center of symmetry. Our body has bilateral symmetry. All crystals possess DIAD, TRIAD, TETRAD, or HEXAD symmetry. Systems are defined in terms of symmetry:

SYMMETRY: 3 TYPES: There is always a balanced pattern in the arrangement of the FACES

1. PLANE if cut along the plane there will be a mirror image

2. ARIAL is symmetry around an axis. There are identical faces in identical positions at regular intervals. May have several axis of symmetry 2 fold, 3 fold, 4 fold, 6 fold

3. SYMMETRY ABOUT A CENTER each face has a parallel face to it on the opposite side

The surest way to I.D. a crystal is x-ray diffraction. Crystals are solids with geometrical form and are built up from a large # of tiny units having the same shape - the solid state is synonymous with crystalline state. ATOMS make up all matter, are in constant motion, and their energy increases as the temperature increases. As the temperature cools, atoms arrange themselves in an ordered structure. The outside shape of a crystal is determined by many inside tiny units that have the same angles and form regular shapes.

FLOURESCENCE: Minerals can glow in a variety of colors when exposed to Ultraviolet light Impurities in the minerals are “activators”. The color depends on the activator and the kind of U.V. light (long or short wave)

The 6 LATTICE SYSTEMS:

1. CUBIC 12% salt has the highest degree of symmetry

2. HEXAGONAL 8% of crystals including snowflakes and most gems

3. TRICLINIC or TRIGONAL: 9% such as wollostonite, rhodonite, kyanite, microcline, axinite, plagioclase, corundum, calcite, hematite, tourmaline, and QUARTZ

4. TETRAGONAL: 10% include rutile, zircon, scheelite, scapolite, wulfenite, and chalcopyrite

5. ORTHORHOMBIC: 22% include sulfur, stilinite, arsenopyrite, marcasite, aragonite, witherite, andalusite ,topaz, olivine, cordierite, chalcocite

6. MONOCLINIC: wolframite, azurite, malachite, gypsum, crocoite, vivianite, erythrite, datolite, epidote, stilbite, and pyroxenes

Crystals usually occur in groups in rock fissures, cavities (geodes) or flat surfaces (druses). Sometimes they penetrate one another. MASSIVE Crystals are minerals with crystals too small to be seen. TWINS / Twinning is 2 or more inter-grown crystals as zircon, rutile, cassiterite, staurolite, Iron cross=pyrite. Their formation depends on the geological conditions: Graphite, ice cubes, sand, the metals in bridges, coins, asprin, snowflakes, icicycles, stones, salt, sugar, bones

Crystals often can be as transparent as glass. Small amt. of impurities can cause fantastic change in color. Impurities are responsible for color changes and stars. Some crystals are electrical conductors.

LUMINESCENCE = a crystal emits light when scratched, tapped, or broken. ex. sugar.

PHOSPHORESCENCE = when crystals glow after a light source is shut off.

FLOURESCENCE = when they glow under a UV light

ELECTROLUMINESCENCE = crystals glow when electric current is passed through.

THERMOLUMINESCENCE - if they emit light when warmed. ex. barite

There are many electronic uses for crystals in lasers, t.v. , telephone, computers

Some crystals generate a small electric current when struck. Squeezing can create a pulse of electricity because of the arrangement of the unit cells as in quartz. Some crystals generate electricity when heated. Tourmaline has no elec. charge but when heated, one end turns + and the other - . As it cools it reverses. Sometimes liquid is trapped in a crystal. In N.Y. found calcite crystal with a pint of water trapped inside for 8 million yrs. Sometimes they trap gases too.

Democritus identified the smallest piece of matter as atomos. Each element is made up of different kinds of atoms. You combine 2 or more atoms to make molecules. A magnet or a + electric charge will cause a light beam to swerve. An atom is mostly empty space and resembles a solar system. It consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons with electrons spinning around it. The electrons can make quantum jumps in orbit around the nucleus.

Atoms build matter in the three forms of a solid, liquid or gas. Crystals grow from gases or liquids! Atoms go from disorder to order. Atoms are always in motion. Molecules have qualities like a magnet with a + or - charge and attract or repel. The electrical charge can be weak or strong. Two factors determine the state of matter = molecular motion and electrical attraction

A GAS has no shape, size, or volume and molecules have a weak attraction for each other and there is almost total disorder. There is a resistance of a gas to an object moving through it and the resistance can add up as the breeze you feel when you ride a bike or swing. Atoms of most gases team up to make molecules. The NOBLE GASES do not pair up = helium, neon, argon

LIQUIDS do not have shape but they have size and volume. They don’t spread out like gases. The molecules stick together but slip and roll over each other. It takes more force to push molecules apart than air!

SOLIDS have volume; take up space, have a definite shape, the molecules bound together vibrate! CRYSTALS are molecules arranged in the highest degree of order - the solid. It has billions of tiny crystals.

THE 4^th STATE of matter is PLASMA = a hot gas with no electrons.

5^th STATE = SUPERSOLIDS packed tight under extreme pressure

CRYSTALS are like “frozen ice”. Most crystals are too small to see with the naked eye. Crystals are groups of atoms, molecules, or compounds that have firmly clumped together like bricks layered from a disorderly pile. The electrical forces within give them their shape!

Crystals need nuclei to form:

1. Around dust particles

2. In supersaturated solutions (warm liquid dissolves more solid matter)

Heat puts atoms in motion. Cold slows atoms down. The bonds that hold molecules together are of different strengths. Freezing temps and boiling temps vary depending on the strength of the bonds. The freezing point and melting point are almost identical.

Sublimation is when gas turns to solid or solid to gas with no liquid step. Each kind of molecule has a unique shape of it’s own

Quartz is the most abundant crystal has unit cells of 3 silicon dioxide mol. clasped together in repeated patterns. It takes time and freedom to form perfect crystals - the less time and freedom the more defects.

Glass is not crystalline but a supercooled liquid that becomes hard so quickly there is no time for crystals to organize. It is amorphous and has no shape to it’s structure.

The final shape of natural crystallization is it’s HABIT = the preferred mode of growth = the arrangement and proportion of faces on a single Crystal.

HABITS:

1. Acicular needlelike = natrolite

2. Bladed broad flatlike blade gypsum

3. dendritic treelike or branching copper

4. Equant = same diameter in every direction garnet

5. Prismatic elongated in one direction tourmaline

6. Striated shallow parallel grooves on 1 or more faces pyrite

7. Tabular thick or thin flat plates wulfenite

Most minerals lock together in more than one pattern depending on temp. pressure, and saturation. They have more than one habit = ALLOTROPIC “variety”. Habits change: Why does it change from 1 habit to another as temp. drops? Water is a mineral with 4 habits. ASBESTOS has 1 habit = stringy crystals

Carbon has 2 habits: forms graphite in hexagonal system or diamond in cubic system

1. Graphite smooth slippery flat 6 sided molecules easily slide over each other – used as lubricant and to write

2. Pyramid crystals high temp. and great pressure = diamond the hardest

RADIOACTIVITY occurs in some minerals like uranium, thorium. They give off energy as radiation. Some are a rich orange, green or yellow in color. Some minerals respond to a magnet, usually the iron bearing minerals. Lodestone is a natural magnet,

and varieties of magnetite, franklinite, hematite, chromite, pyrrhotite, ilmenite. Magnetism grows stronger when heated and depends on the amt. of iron content.

OTHER PROPERTIES:

TASTE: a mineral must be soluble in water to have taste as salt, epsomite, borax

ODOR: arsenopyrite = garlic, kaolinite= earthy Pyrite = sulfurous

FEEL: soft, smooth like chalk (a rock composition of microscopic fossil shells)

An acid test for carbonate minerals: crush some and add a few drops of acid and they will bubble = aragonite, calcite, dolomite

LIQUID CRYSTALS are crystals that have characteristics of liquid and solid states. Can be poured yet molecules arrange themselves in rows side by side. Some change color with a small temp. change The membranes surrounding brain cells are made of liquid crystals. Our sense of smell may be due to liquid crystal. Most liquid crystals change the way they group together when exposed to different chemical vapors!

CRYSTAL WISKERS are single perfect crystals and are very strong. They were discovered as interference in miniature electrical equip.

METALS a few dislocations or mismatches make a metal soft wider planes of slippage. Many dislocations make it hard.

Gems are minerals that have ornamental value of beauty, durability, rarity (about 20 minerals) The most valuable gems are at least as hard as quartz. There are about 2500 minerals known and they are of many different COLORS or can be multicolored or banded or metallic. Gems have outstanding transparency, luster, color, prized for their beauty with little or no flaws they are cut, shaped or polished.

1. FACETED for brilliance = diamond

2. POLISHED for stars, colors and patterns = tigers eye or sapphire

3. CARVED as jade, turquoise, or agate

ROCK is an aggregate of minerals. We learn about the earth’s history from understanding the differences in rocks and how they are formed and from fossils. Minerals like rocks form under a variety of conditions of heating, cooling and pressure.

Content: Planet Earth How is the earth like a loaf of bread? It has a crust. How is the earth like a birthday cake? It has layers. Our earth is 41/2 billion years old. Earth, sometimes called the water planet or the blue planet, is a big rock of iron and some nickel. It’s called the water planet or blue planet because ¾ of the surface of the earth is covered by water and it looks pretty blue from the moon. The earth is like a big magnet, the 3^rd from the sun of nine planets spinning around the sun. A star with planets is called a solar system. Our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy, a spiral galaxy and part of a cluster of galaxies. There are many galaxies in the universe. They cluster together to make super cluster chains!

Our earth is like a layered birthday cake all decorated with life! There are 4 layers of the earth; the inner core, outer core, mantle and crust. The crust is mostly oxygen and our bodies are mostly oxygen too.

Earth erupts, quakes, has tectonic plates that slide around, has an atmosphere, weather, gravity, a thunderstorm belt, a north and south pole, an equatorial belt, and seasons. There’s a global electrical current that forms the thunderstorm belt around the earth. Earth has a negative charge and the atmosphere has a positive charge. Clouds are the electrical generators. The sun is the driving force. Gravity is the pulling force. The weight of an object on earth is the force of gravity on the object.

Earth has 5 oceans: Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Antarctic. 7 continents: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. 7 mountain ranges: Rockies, Andes, Appalachian, Alps, Urals, Himalayas, and The Great Dividing Range.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest and there is a ring of volcanoes called “The Ring of Fire.” Water in the Pacific has two gyres( water circles going in opposite directions. Other oceans have 1 gyre) The Mid Atlantic Ridge has a huge trench and curves like a snake.

Earth spins and so do the sun and our galaxy and it makes one complete turn in a day (24 hours), takes a year to circle the sun (365days) and 26,000 years to circle the galaxy.

The hottest, driest, snowiest place is California, coldest is Alaska, wettest is Hawaii, and the windiest is New Hampshire.

MATERIALS: Model of the earth and poster showing sun and planets, spotlight, glow in the dark stars of different sizes, laminated cards showing stars of the constellations, large laminated pictures of sun and planets to put in order and for games. Instrument showing planets spin faster the closer to the sun (Easy to make: empty pen cartridge and thread cord through it, attach ball to one end of cord and small handle to other end. Leave enough cord to pull ball in showing how it speeds up – Twirl around holding pen end and then pull cord bringing it to the center and speeding it up).

ACTIVITIES: Teach song “I’m the Earth”. Put planets in order from the sun. Do planet activity sheet. Kids pick a constellation, count out their stars and create it on the wall with the "glow in the dark" stars of different sizes. They can stick them up with that sticky clay.

Content: The Wonders of Water Plants and animals are mostly made of water. I hold up the large paper mache molecule and ask children what it looks like. They usually guess Mickey Mouse! Water is called the “Mickey Mouse Molecule” because that’s what the molecule looks like. H2O is 2 hydrogen ears and oxygen head.

Water is the universal solvent. It is tasteless, colorless, odorless and unique. It is the only element on the earth found in all three forms - liquid, solid, and gas. Many things dissolves in water and it flows through everything that is alive. It is unique because when it freezes it grows bigger when most things shrink. The most important things we must have to stay alive are oxygen from the air and water to drink.

Water cycles. It evaporates into the air, condenses into clouds and precipitates out as rain, snow, sleet, hail, fog and dew. The sun is the driving force. Teach the water cycle song

This is a good time to talk about temperature and how molecules respond. When they are cold they pack closely and jiggle. When they heat up they start to slide around melting and then begin to move faster when they get hot and jump into the air. Children enjoy acting this out.

Examine pictures of clouds and lightning. Lightening is electrical flashes between the clouds and the earth. Thunder is made when the heat from the electrical flash makes the air expand quickly making the sound of thunder. You can illustrate this by popping a bag of air. The quick expansion of air makes the pop.

Talk about safety. Lightening is dangerous and they should take cover in a safe place like a building or car during a storm. Children know that it is very important for them to drink water and animals and plants are mostly made of water.

Materials: Hand drum, Mickey Mouse Molecule representing water, Hand out of the water cycle, Pictures of water, ice and clouds, water cycle chart, paper bag, misc. materials for doing other water experiments you choose.

Activities: Water cycle song, Act out the effect of temperature on molecules of water. Put a drop of food coloring in a bottle of water and watch the molecules disperse. Dissolve different substances in water ex. salt or sugar. Check buoyancy of different objects in water, a magnet goes through water, light goes through water. Check surface tension by floating a paper clip on the surface of a glass of water. , check the capillary action by putting the tip of a paper towel in a glass of water. Show examples of erosion, evaporation, condensation. Show difference in density of fresh and salt water with an egg. The egg floats in salt water. A straw appears bent in water

The cycle of life is intricately tied up with the cycle of water. Jacques Cousteau

The noblest of the elements is water. Pindar

When the well is dry we know the worth of water. Benjamin Franklin

The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives. American Indian

Water is a highly precious resource.

There are some places where a barrel of water costs more than a barrel of oil. Lord Axworthy

Throughout the history of literature, the guy that poisons the well has been the worst of all villians.

A Lake is the landscapes most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eyes; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. Thoreau

If there is magic on this planet it is contained in water. Loran Easely

Water is the only drink for a wise man. Thoreau

When you drink the water, remember the spring. Chinese proverb

Content : Elements are Everything - Atoms, Structure and Form (Liquid, Gas, or Solid) Elements around us, in the Air and water, and in our bodies

Everything is made up of atoms of elements and temperature changes their behavior. They tighten together and jiggle when they get cold and when they are hot they move apart quickly and jump around even jumping into the air! They can have a positive or negative electrical charge and have a center body(nucleus) that is kind of like a little bag of marbles that has different numbers of tiny bodies (electrons) spinning around it. Some are light weights and some are heavy weights! Balloons are filled with helium. It is lighter than anything in our air close to the earth and floats up into the sky. Children might be familiar with a few elements: oxygen, calcium, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, sodium, hydrogen, iron, nickel, copper, silver, gold, mercury, carbon, aluminum, chlorine, arsenic, tin, lead, iodine, krypton, neon. Show them some samples. Ask children if they can name some of the elements. Elements are made of atoms that are all alike, one kind of atom, ex. oxygen. When oxygen joins to another kind of atom Hydrogen, it becomes a molecule - 2 different atoms join together to make water - H2O – the Mickey Mouse molecule made of 2 hydrogen’s and 1 oxygen. Point out some of the elements on the chart as they name a few. All of the body needs oxygen to be alive. Our lungs take in air and our red blood cells grab it from the air and carry it off to feed the cells of our body. There are more than 100 elements.

Our body is made mostly of 5 elements: Oxygen 65%, Carbon 17.5%, Hydrogen 10.2%, Nitrogen 2.4%, Calcium 1.6%, others 3.3

The Earth is made mostly of 5 elements: Oxygen 49.5%, Silicon 25.8%, Aluminum 7.5%, Iron 4.7%, Calcium 3.4%, and Others 9.1

The Air close to the earth is mostly 3 elements: Nitrogen 78%, Oxygen 21%, Carbon Dioxide 1%

Materials: Chart of Elements, Molecule of water (the “Mickey Mouse Molecule” is easy to make of paper mache). Samples of elements: silver, gold, tin, iron, copper, helium in balloon, charcoal (carbon), sulfur. Earth, body, and air charts of the elements (pie charts are easy for children to visualize.)Colored marshmallows and toothpicks to make a molecule of water.

Activities: Children act out behavior of atoms. Stand close together and just jiggle (frozen). As molecules heat up they get more active. As they get cold they freeze in place and jiggle. When they melt to liquid they move sliding around. When they heat up they move fast even jumping into the air. Construct a molecule of water using the colored marshmallows. Draw simple pictures of the hydrogen atom. Draw a small ball and fill it in and then draw a tiny ball out from it and a circle going through it showing that the electron circles the larger body in the center (nucleus). This is a simple picture and simple science.

CONTENT: MAGNETISM

Magnetism is one of the strangest things in nature! What happens is a dance of electrons!

It’s believed a shepherd discovered the first magnet when a rock stuck to a nail in his sandals! A wall of magnetic stones pulled a W. Va. miners helmet off his head! Magnetite or lodestones are natural magnetic rocks found in iron deposits and they get there because a bacteria that breathes without oxygen, enjoys the dark and likes to eat iron. When they digest iron it is turned to magnetite. Many animals have cells that contain magnetite. Scientist think magnetic cells help animals (bees, tuna, dolphin and whales) find food and migrate. In certain parts of their brain we find magnetite. It may help them tell up from down. Whales have been stranded in areas of irregular magnetic fields. Humans have a small amount of magnetite lining their noses. Scientists think our noses were once like compasses!

Magnets attract certain objects and produce magnetic fields which come together at the poles. Opposite poles attract. The magnetic force is strongest at the poles and weakest at the center. The magnetic field is the lines of force around an object. Like poles repel / unlike poles attract.

Pure metals have the same kind of electrons. Atoms are the basic substances of the universe and the nucleus and electrons have opposite charges. Different substances have a different # of electrons circling around the nucleus. Electrons form a sort of cloud around the nucleus. Atomic particles may spin, charge in motion, and have a magnetic moment. The spinning motion makes the larger atom magnetic. Electrons may spin in the same or opposite directions. If 2 spin the same it is a strong magnet. If 2 spin in opposite directions they cancel each other and have a magnetic moment of 0. Atoms of certain elements line up in domains and have a magnetic field.

Ferromagnetic - magnets such as iron, nickel, cobalt lodestone (the magnetic atoms of the same substance turn toward and away from a magnet because of a peculiar crystalline structure.) Ground up magnetite is mixed with plastics to make refrig. magnets. Powdered ferrites coat magnetic recording tapes
Paramagnetic means having a slight magnetism such as gold, copper, aluminum and can be detected with a magnetometer. If you make an aluminum pan cold enough it will behave like an iron magnet.
Diamagnetic includes silver and most others and is the natural magnetic quality of all matter – even human tissue. Human tissue responds to a strong magnetic field. Stand next to a strong magnet, the atoms in your body repel the magnet!

Temperature and magnets - If the temperature of ferromagnetic metal is raised, the magnetism disappears. The point that it loses its magnetism is called the Curie temp. If you lower the temp of rare earth metals, they become magnetic. Atoms of materials shift around in different ways. Magnetite (3 iron, 4 oxygen) is found in any good rocky area and resembles grey lumps of coal heavy for their size. Use a compass to find them.

Blood hemoglobin contains iron that gives blood its red color. Hematite (rust) is a more common compound of iron. Lodestone has large crystals of magnetite and a permanent magnetism. A Chinese compass uses lodestone floated in water on a small boat. The density of magnetite is over 5. 1 cup of magnetite weighs 5 times that of a cup of water. Pure iron has a density of 8.

If you freely suspend a bar magnet it lines up like a compass and always has a north and south pole. Magnetic particles line up in the same direction. Dropping or heating a magnet will damage it and cause the particles to shift positions. Magnetic transparency is the ability of a magnet to attract through non-magnetic materials. Most materials are non-magnetic. Metals attracted to a magnet are called FERROMAGNETIC like iron. Iron has the strongest attraction to a magnet. Copper, aluminum and gold have weak attractions. Magnets can be created. In 1820 Oersted discovered that electricity produces magnetism. Wherever electricity goes, magnetism follows = electromagnetism. A dry cell battery coil of wire around nail makes a temporary electromagnet. Electromagnetic waves travel through anything, even through a vacuum. Magnets are used on cranes, latches, stud finders, doors, tapes, VCRS, TVS, bells, buzzers, machines ,vacuums, speedometers, computers, credit cards, automatic tellers and in physical therapy.

MATERIALS: Magnetic wands, small amt. of Total cereal, paper clips, 3 nails, materials for magnetic sculpture, 2 bar magnets, round magnet, horseshoe magnet, compass, balloon, salt, pepper shaker of iron filings, 3 feet of insulated copper wire, 6 volt battery, liquid crystals, rust mixed with sand.

ACTIVITIES: Have a ferromagnetic scavenger hunt! Test magnets through different materials. Do magnets work through water? Create a magnet sculpture. See how many paper clips you can hang from each other. Cereal contains iron (Total works best) and you can pick up particles with a magnet. A magnet erases tape recordings. The needle of a compass is a magnet. A compass on the North Pole will spin in circles. The forces of attraction and repulsion may be strong or weak. Any moving magnetic field will produce an electrical current. Rub a balloon on hair 12 times and you can pick up salt. Horseshoe magnets work well lifting heavy objects. Because the poles are close together, they combine strengths.

Magnetic field examples: Put filings in a pepper shaker and test fields by putting beneath paper a bar magnet, a round magnet and a horseshoe magnet.

Bipolarity is one of the most puzzling differences between magnetism and electricity. Magnetic fields have 2 poles that cannot exist apart. If you break a magnet apart, a North and South Pole appear at the ends of the 2 pieces (like the brooms in the sorcerer’s apprentice!) The magnetic field always wraps around itself, flows into itself, and can never separate from its poles. Electricity can only travel in one direction. There is an odd relationship between electricity and magnetism. A magnetic field produces electricity. An electric current creates a magnetic field. Magnetism passes through many materials that do not conduct electricity ex. glass, plastic. When electricity passes through a wire it creates a magnetic field around the wire and you can reverse the current and reverse the poles.

An MRI is magnetic resonance imaging. The machine is like a big donut and takes a picture by reading the turning of atoms in tissue.

Dating with magnets = Thermo remnant magnetic dating notes the direction of the poles of magnets found in the ground.

Bombs in WWII: Nazis dropped mines on bottom of rivers with inclinometers and when a ship passed over, it triggered them. The ships had to be demagnetized.

Liquid crystals change when exposed to magnetic fields and can shut out light like closing a shutter. They are large irregular molecules such as nitrobenzene

Plasma magnetism in the future? = magnetized water. Lightening changes water so more nitrogen sticks to it. To gather micrometeorites in water the best time is Aug. 11 – Dec. 13

Earth is the biggest magnet. We think it is from the huge electric currents deep within where molten iron surrounds a solid core of iron. The motion creates electricity. The earth’s magnetic field can change. It is believed the poles reversed at one time. In ancient clay banks magnetite needles are frozen in time and N points south. If you are close to one of the poles the needle stands on end. An inclinometer measures the angle of dip to figure out distance from pole. A magnet can cause damage to computers and tapes.

Insulators are shields to protect against magnetism.

Experiments:

1. Make a nail into a magnet: Dissolve the domains and make them line up in the same direction. You will need 3 nails of iron. Stroke a nail with a bar magnet 20 times and touch the staples to test. Pound a nail with hammer holding with end pointed north. It will break apart the domains and force atoms to line up. Wrap 3 foot insulated copper wire around a nail and connect the ends to a 6 volt battery – electric current flows in one direction ( electromagnet) is used on cranes to pick up scrap metal. You can switch it on and off. If you remove copper wire staples drop and it loses magnetism

2. Experiment: Observe the Poles. Use 2 bar magnets and dip N pole of one in filings. Dip S pole of other in filings. Notice how filings hang on when put together or pull apart. Dip both N poles in filings. Put together and pull apart. Filings will repel each other

3. You need a ruler, bar magnet and staples. Slide magnet toward staples and measure when pulled. Try through plastic, cloth, tissue, foil, rubber, glass slide. None work well as insulators, a strong magnetic field goes through everything

4. Attach ball bearings to end of bar magnet. 3^rd ones push apart. Add the 4^th and join. Both attract and create 2 north poles in 7^th bearings

5. Mix rust and sand put in saucer and push around to pick up with magnet.

6. There are 2 kinds of compass = radial and dip. Magnetic suspension cushions objects. Mr.Farraday discovered the magnetic dynamo with a copper wire wrapped into circle and tied with 4 twist ties. Wrap free ends of wires around compass in same direction connecting the wires. Move bar magnet in and out of center and the compass needle jumps. The movement produces an alternating current.

7. Heard of levitating ladies with bar magnets! Magnetism is stronger than the force of gravity. Make a magnetic wand for tricks.

Game: Go fish with magnets. Punch holes in fish for points. If catch tire then put fish back or lose turn

Experiments with Air

Air pressure is 15 lbs. per square inch. These experiments will show that air has weight, exerts pressure, and takes up space and when air expands it makes noise. There is air in water, our bodies, and the soil and air affects many things around us. Give examples such as the rust of iron is caused by oxygen in the air. Thunder is the rapid expansion of air (and so is popping a bag or a balloon.). Air currents can be seen in smoke circulation. The air toy I use that young students like the most is a plastic arm with a little fist on the end. I open it and ask them if anything is inside. They take turns looking and all say nothing is inside. So I close it with the little fist and squeeze it and it shoots off! They learn that air takes up space and has power to move things! I wish I could find another one. Mine is almost worn out! There is also a toy that gives someone a "blast of air"! I ask kids to blow on their hand and feel the air. Though they cannot see it - it is there (invisible to them like germs). This is a good time to impress upon them that they can't see everything - some things are so small that they are invisible!

To show weight – tie a balloon on each end of a dowel ( pop one and watch other fall)
Thunder = fill paper bag with air and listen to the sound from the rapid expansion of air
Showing currents = a smoking rope in a jar. Ask why circulation occurs.
2 wet cloths on chalkboard. Fan one of them. Air hastens evaporation. Dry hot air hastens it even more.
If you cut off the air from a flame it goes out (no oxygen.)
Put a string through a straw and attach the string to opposite walls and attach a filled rocket balloon (that you can let the air out of) with tape to the straw to show jet thrust.
Put a paper in a jar and lower it in water. The compressed air keeps it dry.
Put water in jar with a piece of cardboard over it. Turn it upside down and see air pressure at work.
Try to separate 2 rubber cups to feel air pressure
Put some water on the back of your hand then blow. How does it feel? Cool? Evaporation takes heat with it.
Use 2 jars of water and a tube to siphon and create an air vacuum
Two objects of different weight fall at = speed and shape changes air resistance. (Galileo). Try a crumpled paper and a flat paper.
Air moves things. Try straws and ping pong balls.
Jump on air!
Name some ways we use air. Ex. tires, bubble wrap, mattresses, cooling,
Make little flags to check out currents in the classroom
Straw and water make a dropper,
Name some sounds air makes. Bubble wrap makes a sound when popped. And sound is made when air moves through trees, the roar of a hurricane.
Ice in a can with salt forms dew on outside.
Pour air from one glass to another under water
Put a balloon in the fridge. It expands when taken out.
Get a solar balloon and let kids see how the warmed air in the balloon (from the heat of the sun) makes the balloon rise.

Weather

Jokes: How does the rain tie its shoes? In a rainbow.

What did the cloud say to the wind? You blow me away!

Weather is the variations in the atmospheric conditions experiences at a given place. It affects our lives and our activities. Climate is the usual weather over a long time: frigid, temperate, or torpid. The study of weather is called meteorology. Weather happens in the troposphere, the layer of air 8 miles next to the earth. It is caused by the interaction of the heat from the sun, air and water and the tilt of the earth as it spins around the sun. The sun is the engine that drives weather. It affects both animals and plants. As weather changes animals may migrate, hibernate, estivate, and some even change colors like the Arctic hare.

There are currents in the ocean (gulf stream) and currents in the air (trade winds). The wind comes from the earth spinning and air moving from high pressure to low pressure. Because the earth spins west to east, winds don't blow north to south but there is the Coriolis effect where wind curves right north of the equator and left south of the equator. In the middle latitudes the winds blow mainly west. Air and water change in the atmosphere. The air can be still, moving, hot, cold, wet or dry. Air has pressure and takes up space. All air contains water vapor. Humidity is a measure of the water vapor in the air. A Front is when moist warm air meets cool dry air. Hot air moves faster than cold air and rises above cold air.

Water cycles and it can take many forms. It evaporates into the air, condenses into clouds and precipitates out as rain, snow, hail, sleet and fog. The biggest hailstone documented had a circumference of 17.5 inches(the size of your head) and weighed 1.67 pounds. A raindrop doesn't take the shape that people depict but because of air resistance looks more like a hamburger bun. The SUN is the engine that drives the water cycle. Weather and gravity cycle the earth's water. Water is found in fog, dew, rain, lakes, rivers, oceans, icebergs, clouds, and ground water. Water warms and cools more slowly than the soil. It evaporates, condenses, and expands when it freezes at 32 degrees and forms a six sided crystal. A molecule of water is made of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom and looks like Mickey Mouse, therefore called the “Mickey Mouse Molecule” It travels in cycles and forms clouds. When moisture in the air freezes it becomes frost and covers the ground. If it freezes on plants it may form hoarfrost or it may form fernfrost on windows. Wind and water contribute to erosion and shape land (ex. glaciers).

Clouds are the biggest natural electrical generators. The basic cloud formations are stratus, cumulus, cirrus, and nimbus. A large cumulonimbus cloud can weigh more than one billion pounds!When sunlight passes through water it separates light into the colors of the rainbow. You can also do this with a prism or a glass of water. There is no energy released in a rainbow. When there is a thunderstorm, lightening travels from cloud to cloud, cloud to earth, or earth to cloud. Light travels faster than sound and we see the lightening before we hear the thunder. The lightning is electricity and because it is so hot it causes the air to expand making the thunderous sound. Lightening can have a peak temperature of 55,000 degrees Fahrenheit (hotter than the sun's surface). There is more electricity in a bolt of lightening than can be produced by all the generators in the U.S. If you want to know how many miles away a storm is, count the time between the lightening flash and the sound of thunder and divide by 5. Light travels faster than sound. Planet earth has a negative charge and the atmosphere has a positive charge. There is a global electric current and a thunderstorm belt that surrounds the earth. Always remember "When thunder roars, go indoors!"

Droughts happen when the earth loses more water than it collects. They can happen for months or even years. Strong winds may form a vortex and act like a vacuum cleaner forming hurricanes, tornadoes, or dust bowls. It can suck up all sorts of small things from the ground or water.

A haboob is a violent dust storm that occurs only is the Sudan of Africa and Arizona. The strong winds can stir up sand and dust into a moving wall 15000 to 3000 feet high that can scrub the paint off of houses and cars.

A tornados average duration is 15 minutes however one in Missouri lasted for 7 hours 20 minutes and traveled 293 miles. It is an intense whirlwind of small diameter over land that extends downward from a convection cloud in a severe thunderstorm. They are funnel shaped, can extend 2000 feet high and may spin at a speed of 250 mph. If it occurs over water it is called a water spout. They arise from "mammatus" clouds which are thunderclouds with small rounded bumps. "Tornado Alley" stretches through the plains from Texas to Illinois.

Hurricanes are violent storms that form in warm water over the western Atlantic Ocean. They may spin 200 mph with an eye from 4 too 25 miles wide. The storm becomes a hurricane when it reaches 73 mph. Tropical storms in the China Seas are called typhoons. In the Indian Ocean and the seas north of Australia they are called cyclones.

Weird weather: Tornados and waterspouts are responsible for curious thing raining from the sky. It has rained spiders in Hungary, maggots in Mexico, thousands of tiny fish in England and the bloody rain in Europe was caused from the red sand of the Sahara desert. In London they have "pea-soupers" when the fog is thick and green from dust and smoke. When there is indoor air pollution it is called the "pigpen Effect". When we say "It's raining cats and dogs" we mean that it is heavy rainfall!

Weather forecasters may include animals and plants! The pine cone closes up when there is moisture in the air. The groundhog is probably the most famous looking for his shadow. If he doesn’t see it there is supposed to be 6 more weeks of winter. Crickets chirp faster when the weather gets warmer. They say if you count how many times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds and then add 10 to the number , you get the temperature.

Natural predictors of good weather:

1. Cumulus clouds appear to dissolve and vanish 4. Clouds are high in the sky

2. Sky is red at sunset 5. Birds fly high in the sky

3. Wind is from the west 6. Fog rises

Bad weather predictors:

1. Cumulus clouds increase and move lower in the sky

2. Clouds travel at different speeds and in opposite directions

3. The sun looks hazy and has a halo

4. Birds fly low or not at all and are noisier

5. There is a ring around the moon

6. The sky is red at sunrise

7. Cows huddle and turn their tails to the storm

8. Crickets are in the chimney

9. Wooly worms have a heavier coat and there are a lot of them crawling about.

10. Butterflies migrate earlier

11. Hornets and yellow jackets build heavier nests

California is the hottest, snowiest, and driest place in the United State. Alaska is the coldest. Hawaii is the wettest. and New Hampshire is the windiest.

Instruments used to measure weather: Weather vane(wind direction), rain gauge(rainfall), barometer( air pressure), anemometer(wind speed), hygrometer(humidity) and thermometer(heat). Today meteorologists use radar and satellites to track weather patterns.

There are 3 major concerns for our atmosphere: 1) Ozone depletion 2) Acid rain 3) Global warming

Ozone (O3) is caused by CFC's (chloroflourocarbons) from refrigeration and air conditioning units, industrial solvents, insulation, polystyrene foam(styrofoam) and aerosol spray cans. One CFC molecule can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules. There is a growing hole in the ozone layer of the stratosphere over the Antarctic. Ozone at ground level poses serious health risks and is harmful to lung tissue. The ozone layer in our atmosphere protects us from the sun's harmful rays.

Acid rain results from pollution of the air by power stations that burn coal or oil to generate electricity. They pour the waste gases into the air and when it rains they are dissolved in the water creating acid rain. The acid raqin kills trees, plants, and life in rivers and lakes and eats away at buildings. Smoke and gases from factories and car exhaust pollute the air and form smog that can make people sick. Too much pollution can cause changes in the weather causing heat buildup, floods and droughts.

Global warming is caused by the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. CO2 is made when we burn wood, coal, or oil. Cutting down trees or burning trees may lead to less rainfall and the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere which raises the earth's temperature .

Activities:

1. Make a rainbow by placing a 4" prism in a sunny window of your room and kids can follow the path of the sun across the room. You can also make one by placing a glass of water on a piece of white paper in the sun. Make sure the paper is in the shadow. Color a rainbow.

2. Test for acid rain by chopping finely a red cabbage, pouring hot distilled water over it and let it stand for one hour. Strain the juice which should be purple. Put distilled water in one jar and the same amount of rainwater in another jar and add the same amount of cabbage juice to each jar. If the rainwater turns red it is acidic.

3. Have kids describe ice, tell where it is found and how it is used.

4. Make a wind sock (use a tall white trash bag decorated, wire, tape, and a bamboo pole), weather vane, a rain gauge, sundial or barometer. Take a large black plastic bag tied to a long string, sit it in the sun and watch the heat from the sun lift it up(best to do early morning)

5. Using a connector (from supply store listed in resources) between 2 large drink bottles to show the formation of a vortex. Young kids love this!

6. Teach the water cycle song.

7. Give children a thermometer (plastic for safety) and let them hold it in a closed hand and watch the temperature rise.

8. Make a cloud by pouring hot water in a jar, covering it with plastic wrap and putting several ice cubes on top of the plastic.(Sit jar in front of black piece of paper.) Make clouds ( stratus, cumulus, and cirrus) on a piece of paper using cotton and gluesticks.

9. Put a dry pine cone (a natural barometer) in water to see it close when it is wet and open when it dries.

10. Teach the poem "The Thermometer"

The thermometer has a little red line,

That jumps right up when the weather is fine..

But when it's cold as everyone knows,

Down to the little round bulb it goes.

It scrunches all up in a tight little ball,

As if it can't stand the cold at all.

Then the weather begins to change, and

The little red line begins to climb again!

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