Science

Here is a look at our science over the past couple of weeks...

When reading ``A Day at the Sugar Bush`` for Social studies, we came across a wonderful introduction to what we would be studying in science, the 3 states of matter, in the explanation of the process of making the maple syrup.

The tree sap (liquid) is boiled to allow the excess liquid to evaporate. Benjamin knew right away what they meant and we talked about how some of the liquid turns into steam (gas) and the sap thickens to make the syrup. I asked him what would happen if we froze it and he told me it would turn into a solid. There is also a picture in the book showing how much sap is needed to make a certain amount of syrup, and we talked about how evaporation decreases the amount of remaining liquid and why.

We also talked about how the tree sap is the "blood" of the tree, carrying nutrients to the leaves, branches, trunk and roots just like our blood carries nutrients to our body.

We also read about the 3 states of matter in ``The Berenstain Bears Big Book of Science and Nature``...

And did some worksheets...

Rachel...

Benjamin...

We did a couple of experiments as well...the first one was showing the kids the 3 states of matter. Ice (solid)...

Melted in the microwave to make liquid...

And boiled on the stove to watch the water evaporate and create steam (gas)...

The second experiment can be found here http://sciencewithkids.com/Experiments/Matter-experiments/Air-pressure-experiment-kids.html