Science Unit Overview

· Science Unit Moon Phases Seasons and Astronomy

Science Lesson 1: Goal – understand that the sun hits us more directly (overhead) in the summer and at an angle in the winter and that direct light creates more heat – warmer temperatures

	Direct light/temperature activity with thermometers
	Direct light/temperature activity with black disks (can lids)
	Moon Log – have students begin
	Path of the Sun outside
	Shadows – longer when the sun in indirect – short when directly overhead

Science Lesson 2: Goal – relate new understanding of direct light creating more heat to why we have seasons

Direct Light Activity – rays of sunlight on the globe

Light hitting the earth in the middle gets more direct rays

Bill Nye the Science Guy – Seasons

PowerPoint presentation outline

Science Lesson 3: Goal – reinforce experiential and inquiry learning with the text to understand why we have seasons

	Show overhead of the book pages and ask the questions from the squares
	Book Work: partner read page 312 about seasons
	Finish filling in PowerPoint presentation outline

Science Lesson 4: Goal – master moon phases vocabulary

Outside to dip candles (waxing)

Moon log – moon phases – have been watching for 8 nights

Overhead of moon phase cycle

Which phases are waxing?

	“baby getting bigger”
	Crescent (shaped like a crescent roll) up to the first quarter
	First quarter up to the full moon
	Gibbous (more than have and still wants more – gib us more)

Full Moon (half way through the entire moon cycle)

What do we call it when it is getting smaller?

Waning

Class generated ways to remember the word

	Wain wain go away – getting smaller with each drop of rain
	Wayne Gretsky – a little smaller each time he hits the puck

Gibbous – more than half but this time getting smaller

3^rd quarter – ½ a moon

crescent – less than half, but getting smaller

Cookie Activity – frost, eat away, or unfrost oreos

Vocabulary worksheet

Science Lesson 5: Goal – demonstrate mastery of the material by building a PowerPoint presentation explaining with words and pictures why we have seasons.

	Review what we know about seasons so far
	As a class come up with ideas they might put into their PowerPoint (link to worksheet)
	Hand out PowerPoint presentation requirements
	Show a demo of my own PowerPoint to give them an idea of what is required.

Science Lesson 6: Inquiry lesson about why we see moon phases

Students work in groups with globes, a light source, and a golf ball to understand why we see moon phases

Science Lesson 7: Tides

Spring Tide – high highs and low lows – students demonstrate with their bodies the action of a spring.

Neap Tide – all neat and even

Bulge at the equator

Pre-Pop-Quiz on Why we have seasons (students will not know this is a practice quiz that will let them really think about it, generate questions, understand what they don’t know, help them learn, and get ready for a formal evaluation.)

Draw a picture of why we have seasons

Write a paragraph explaining why we have seasons

Pass to the right to correct – I must see the following

	diagram of all 4 seasons
	I must hear about the tilt of the axis
	I must know the Earth is revolving around the sun
	I must understand that the axis is always pointing North
	I must understand that when we get direct light it is summer and when we receive indirect light it is winter.

Pass back – and have students correct their own mistakes and add anything that they were missing.

Will be another pop-quiz next lesson that will be graded by me.