Fourth Grade Videos
I hope you enjoy these videos from our school year.
2019 - 2020
*FYI - THIS WEB PAGE IS BEST VIEWED FROM A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP - WHEN VIEWING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE SOME IMAGES MAY APPEAR TO BE CUT OFF.
Some formats that I use to create these videos give me control over the music volume when students are talking and some do not. I apologize if some students are harder to hear.
Exploring Mystery Powders
Over the course of several lab periods, the girls explored the properties of different powders. They compared and contrasted characteristics of salt, cornstarch, baking soda, and alum. They tested for solubility, as well as for interactions with vinegar, iodine, and cabbage juice. We also used cabbage juice as an indicator for acids, bases, or neutrals. We tested vinegar, soda, water, baking soda, milk, soapy water, lemon juice, and hand sanitizer. The girls loved seeing the rainbow of colors and recording their findings in their lab journals.
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African American Women in S.T.E.A.M.
During the month of February (Black History Month), we took some time to research African American Women in the S.T.E.A.M. field. The girls worked well in groups to research an assigned woman. Each group created a poster sharing the information they learned, and presented their findings to their class. The posters are hanging on a bulletin board outside the science hallway through the month of March which is Women’s History Month. Here is a video with pictures of each group's presentation.
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Measurement Mania
In connection with the 4th grade math curriculum, the 4th grade scientists are experimenting with different types of measurements. The girls measured and recorded the temperature of hot and cold liquids, the volume of liquids, the length of objects, the amount of time it takes to do tasks, the volume of solids, and the weight of several objects. They also classified objects and made detailed observations using a hand lens and a flip-top magnifier. I am so proud of their hard work and their diligence following directions. Well done!
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Learning Stations: Physical and Chemical Changes
The girls worked at rotating stations to experiment and explore some chemical and physical properties.
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Solid, Liquid, & Gas - (Root-Beer Float)
We are learning about the states of matter. Our experiment today shows how you can have a solid, a liquid, and a gas all at the same time in one drink. (Ice cream - SOLID, root-beer - LIQUID, carbonated bubbles - GAS) The girls loved sampling all three forms of matter in science class today. :)
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Balloons- Solid, Liquid, & Gas
Groups were given 3 balloons. They could not see what was inside the balloons but the girls quickly predicted that one was solid, one was liquid, and one was gas. Then the girls needed to open them up to test their hypotheses.
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Chemical vs. Physical Reactions
Soda and Mentos
Many people have heard of the Mentos in soda experiment. Today we took a very quick trip outside (to minimize the mess) to do this experiment. We were determining if this reaction was a physical or chemical change. Although there were carbon dioxide gas bubbles that were overflowing out of the soda bottle, we did not create a NEW substance so the girls determined that this was a PHYSICAL CHANGE.
Making Goo
When we mixed glue (and food coloring) with a Borax solution we created a NEW substance (GOO). The girls determined that this was a CHEMICAL CHANGE.
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Invisible Ink - (Chemical Reaction)
The girls wrote a message for a friend in invisible ink (baking soda and water). Each student gave a message and each student received one. When the student received her invisible message, she rubbed blackberries on her paper to reveal her message. The chemical reaction between the baking soda and the blackberries turned the message a different color.
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4th Grade ROBOTICS COMPETITION
We are so proud of the girls' hard work in robotics, an optional 4th grade club. Not only did they learn about robotics and building, but they also practiced leadership skills such as cooperation and collaboration, resilience and problem solving. Congratulations girls!
A BIG thank you to all of the parents, siblings, friends, teachers, administrators, judges, and upper school robotics students who came to support these girls!
Please watch this video featuring the: Lower School Robotics Club 2019 - Making K'nextions
Plate Tectonics Lab
After learning about plate tectonics, the girls simulated a variety of interactions at the plate boundaries. Plates may CONVERGE (collide), DIVERGE (separate), or slide past each other (TRANSFORM BOUNDARY).
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Starburst Lab (The Rock Cycle)
The girls used Starburst candies to demonstrate the stages of the rock cycle. We started by weathering the "rock" (Starburst) into smaller pieces. We used that sediment and applied pressure to create sedimentary rocks that shows the different layers of sediment. We then added some heat and more pressure to mold the sedimentary rock into metamorphic rock. We then heated the metamorphic rock to create "magma" which cooled and became igneous rock. We could then break the igneous rock into sediment pieces and continue the rock cycle. The science classroom smelled great today and we had a great time!
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Making a Shield Volcano (and Cone)
Fourth graders learned how a shield volcano is formed by creating our own models. We began with flat land (a tin tray) and a volcanic creator (bottle cap). We added baking soda and vinegar to create the first eruption. The girls traced the outline of the lava eruption and replaced it with play-dough to simulate how lava turns into new land. We repeated these steps several times simulating multiple eruptions in the same place over time. After each eruption, the lava flow is replaced with a different color play-dough. After several eruptions a shield volcano is formed. At the end we cut into the shield volcano to see the layers beneath the surface. I also took a small sample out of each slice as scientists often do to see how it is possible for one volcano to have different layers in different locations...no two samples are exactly the same. The second video is our cone volcano eruption.
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Weathering, Erosion, and Deposition Demonstration.
This video is significantly longer than my usual videos even after I broke it into two parts. I thought you would like to be a fly on the wall for one of our lessons. The girls were the ones that did the filming of the demonstrations. They did a great job! The first video shows our group demonstration. The 2nd video has the girl's reflections. Tip: You may scroll through the video to watch your daughter's response without watching the entire video. I hope you enjoy a peek at our classroom experience.
Also in this section: My cousin, Benjamin Grant, published a book called Overview and today we used images from his book and Daily Overview Instagram site to show the effects of weathering, erosion, and deposition. The visuals help the students to understand the information with a different perspective. It was PERFECT for our deposition lesson.
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Corn Meal Erosion
Throughout last week, the girls had been experimenting with corn meal landforms to demonstrate erosion and design ways to protect the land from erosion. I was so pleased to see the girls use so much of the knowledge we have been learning about in class to create a structure to protect their corn meal landforms from erosion. This was really great work, girls!
The second video in this section has the girls' reflections of their learning.
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Ice Weathering
Questions: How does ice weather rock? We used plaster of paris to act as our rock. We placed some in an empty milk container as our comparison. Then we put water in a balloon and placed the balloon in a separate milk carton and covered it with plaster of paris. When that hardened, we placed them in the freezer to see if when the water became ice (and expanded) it would weather (or crack) the plaster of paris.
The second video in this section has the students' reflections from this experiment.
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Sugar Shake
To study weathering, students used sugar cubes to represent rocks. We colored an edge to see what the "rock" looked like to start and then we shook the sugar cubes in a container. We paused after every 40 shakes to observe any physical changes. Did the color on any of the edges wear off? We shook 200 times total and recorded our observations.
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Water Weathering
Students explored the concept of water weathering. The students used sugar cubes to simulate rocks that are weathered by water. They put drops of colored water on their "rocks" and observed the changes.
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Color Experiments
Today the girls worked on using scientific observation skills as they completed color experiments. They practiced looking closely, examining carefully for details, asking questions, and using their 5 senses (not taste today). Bonus: Hear what the 4th graders think about science!
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