Monday, October 13, 2008

Energy!

Parents, This week we will be learning about Energy. Energy is what we will learn about through our TEKS for the year. Energy comes in many forms, such as light, heat, electrical, and solar energy.

On our first site
Energy Quest Room you will find information about energy. You will see a classroom that has different links to information on energy, games to play, scientists, time line of energy and much more. This is a good site because your child can explore on their own or you can explore with them. It also links for teachers and parents.

This picture should help when describing different forms of energy. In the picture you will see that there is:

1. Light Energy
2. Chemical Energy

3. Solar Energy

4. Heat Energy
5. Electrical Energy

6. Mechanical Energy

7. Nuclear Energy
Wind Energy is a form of electrical energy, in other words we use wind energy to convert into electrical energy. At the site Energy In Motion, your child can play a game that asks question about wind energy. It explains how wind energy is made and used for electricity in homes. This would be great for both you and your child to play with!

At
Florida Power and Light, you can learn information about the different types of energy. Your child can play energy games, learn how to read a electrical meter, experiment with energy, and so much more. This site is good for learning and review knowledge learned at home and in school.

That is all for this week, I hope you have fun learning about energy with your child. Turn in next week for more fun stuff!


Ms. Dzik

Solids, Liquids, and Gases


Dear Parents,
This week in class your child will be learning about solids, liquids, and gases. These three physical states of matter are apart of our everyday lives. For example we need water which is a liquid to survive, and we cannot breathe without oxygen. This unit on physical states of matter is apart of the
TEKS that will learn over the next year. I hope that this unit will be a fun and interesting one for you and your child. I want your child to see how the particles arrange in each of the states of matter.

On the site
States of Matter you and your child will see by clicking on each state of matter how the particles are arrange for solids, liquids, and gases. Here is a picture of what the states of matter look like with their names with picture examples of each state of matter:

This will be helpful to explain what solids, liquids, and gases look like because they each come in many different forms. It is a good review for you and your child to go over and to make anything that is unclear, clearer for your child. At the FOSSweb, you and your child can actually see what affect an oven and freezer has on liquids and solids. This will be good for your child to learn how heat and cold affect solids and liquids. Your child can also predict what will happen to each state of matter before they actually do it. There is also a good link to ask a scientist, where you can see answer to questions about solids and liquids.

For the final site, I would like your child to go to
Study Jams! Here your child can watch a video about the states of matter, sing a song about it, take a quiz, and review vocabulary on solids, liquids, and gases. This is a fun and interactive site that I think will break down the concept of these states of matter. Please take your child to this site as a review for this unit. The picture below is also a link to this website.

That is all for this week, hope you and your child have a great time with this unit. If you have any questions let me know. Have fun!

Ms. Dzik

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Water Cycle

Dear Parents,
I am so excited to announce that we will be learning about the water cycle this week! Water is such a big part of our lives and it gives us such nourishment. Learning about water is a part of our science TEKS that we have to learn throughout the year. During this week your child will be able to identify the significance of the water cycle as it pertains to their lives. I have added a picture of what the water cycle looks like, this should help to understand how the water cycle works. This is how the water cycle works:

1. The water evaporates in the atmosphere
2. Falls to Earth as precipitation to the ground, lakes and rivers.
3. Then it flows to the sea where it evaporates again back into the atmosphere.
To start off this unit on the water cycle there interactive water cycle that your child can go to and watch how the water cycle works. Your child can click on different part of the water cycle to hear how each part interacts in the water cycle. It is a great representation of the cycle and will help for remembering it later. Just click on the water cup on the right side of the screen to see the interactive water cycle.

On the
Water, Water Everywhere site you can click on the picture on the right side of the page and learn about the different part of the water cycle in detail. When you click on each part you will see the information as well as pictures to describe each part of the water cycle. This site is helpful because of the information given and that it shows such good pictures of each part. You and your child will have fun learning about the water cycle together.

For our last site the
Water Cycle Game, you and your child will learn about the water cycle through and interactive game. In this game you will actually do the each step in the water cycle and then at the end you will label each part of the water cycle. Have fun with this game it is a good review for each part of the cycle.

Have a great time learning with your child! More to come next week.

Ms. Dzik

Recycling

Parents,
This week in science class we will be learning about how important it is to the environment to recycle. Learning about recycling is a part of our science
TEKS (the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). Your child will be able to make wise decisions when it comes to conservation of resources and recycling certain items such as plastics, cans, paper, and glass.

Below I will be adding some internet sites that will be helpful for you and your child to explore recycling. At the following site
Recycle City your child will learn about recycling, how reducing waste saves money, how Dumptown makes their city clean through recycling and where all our garbage goes. Also their is a game to play where your child is the City Manager and has to make the town clean through recycling.

At the
Just for Kids website you will learn information about what reduce, reuse, and recycle mean, where your trash goes, how to reduce trash waste, what is a landfill, how they make energy from waste. Then you can play recycling games and do fun activities with recycling.

Finally at the Funschool site your child and you can play the game Clean Up Your World to clean up trash in a park. In this game your child will have to distinguish between plastics, paper, cans, and glass. It a fun game that will help them to tell the difference between different recyclables.

Have a great time learning with your children!

Ms. Dzik

Welcome Parents and Students

Welcome to Ms. Dzik's Science Investigators! At this site you will find the information that we will learn this year as well as games, activities, and other resources to help you and your child with their learning. I hope that this will be helpful to all who come to this site and that you will learn as much as your child will. Have Fun!

Ms. Dzik