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Pictured above:Poster welcoming parents to the Sandy Beach Museum in Mrs. Park’s grade 3 class at Lowell. Parents were invited to view models and reportsfrom the Shoreline Science unit.Pictured to the right:Students in Mrs. Monfette’s grade 3 class at the Hosmer,put their knowledge to work by creating terrariums, an activity which was partof the Soil Habitats module.
Term II begins with a second Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading module for students to explore in grades 3,4 and 5...Walk into any of our third, fourth
and fifth grade classrooms in the
District and you will notice that
teachers and students are
immersed in a second unit of
study which integrates literacy
and science. These units include
the following topics:
Grade 3 ~ Gravity & Magnetism,
Shoreline Science and Soil Habitats
Grade 4 ~ Weather & Water,
Variation & Adaptation & Light
Energy
Grade 5 ~ Models of Matter,
Aquatic Ecosystems and Planets and
Moons
continued on page 2
Students have completed an open response which checked how well they were able to apply the concepts they had learned about during their first exploration. It’s always
gratifying to hear how students express their thoughts and ideas in their own words; truly a sign of mastery. We have provided some examples of this work on the next few pages.
Summative Assessments
SEEDS OF SCIENCE! ROOTS OF READING
WATERTOWN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, ISSUE 1, JANUARY 2012
Gravity & Magnetism - Grade 3
What do you know about forces? When you write your answer, be sure to name and give examples of at least two forces.
Student Response:
A force is a push or a pull. You can observe and give evidence of a force. One force is magnetic force. The magnetic force has two poles. One is north pole. The other is south pole. An example is if you get two magnets you can put N+N or S+S to make them hover over the pencil. It hovers because these two poles repel. Repel means push away. Attract means stick together. Magnets usually attract iron and other magnets. An example of iron is a paper clip... Magnets don’t attract all metals.
Another force is gravity. Gravity pulls things down. There are different amounts of gravity on different planets.
One more force I know about is electrostatic force. An experiment for electrostatic force is to use a balloon and a string. If the balloon is charged, it can stick right up to the string. If not, it will just hang there. It needs to be charged. As you can see, there are forces everywhere.
Soil Habitats
Grade 3
How is soil important for all living things? Explain as many ways as you can think of.
Student Response:
Soil is important because it can help plants and trees stay in the ground. It is also important because it can absorb the water. Otherwise, it would just fall
into the lakes and rivers. Plants depend on soil to grow. Soil is an important part of the food chain. Some animals depend on plants to eat. We depend on the soil to grow crops like apples, carrots, grapes, cauliflower, corn and many other crops. Soil is also a home to many insects and animals such as the badger, earthworm, ant, isopod and cricket. Most animals that live in the soil are called decomposers. Decomposers make new soil out of dying things. When soil absorbs water, it makes nutrients. Nutrients are like vitamins but for plants. When soil has a lot of nutrients, it is called rich soil. Rich soil is better for growing crops and flowers. As you can see, soil is very important and has many uses.
Sample Summative Assessments
Shoreline ScienceGrade 3
How does a rock become a grain of sand that you can find on the beach?
Student Response:
A rock becomes a grain of sand once it gets eroded by the waves. The waves crash against the rock; the rock gets pounded and hit for many years. It takes this long for it to break down. The rock begins to get smaller and smaller. When the rock turns into grains of sand, the waves carry it to the beach or to the shore. This is how rock becomes a grain of sand.
Variation and AdaptationGrade 4Look at the characteristics of the two animals pictured. Write a paragraph that compares at least three of their characteristics and explains how these characteristics help the animals survive.
Student Response:The polar bear and the penguin both have characteristics that help them to survive. The polar bear has a yellow/white coat which acts as camouflage on the ice. The polar bear also has inches of fat under its skin which helps to protect it from the very cold temperatures. Polar bears also have stiff pads of hair on their feet which helps them to swim and walk on the ice. The penguin also has a layer of fat under its skin which helps to protect it from the cold. Webbed feet and wings help it to swim in the water when looking for prey. Penguins have black backs and white bellies also used to camouflage when in the water. The polar bear and the penguin have adaptations which enable them to survive in their environment.
Light Energy - Grade 4Describe three ways that light interacts with materials and give examples of each.
There are many ways that light interacts with materials. My evidence for my claim is below.
One way that light interacts is when it transmits through material. I did an experiment about this with a partner. One person held a flashlight which was the light source. The other person held a material and a notecard that was used as a light detector. Sometimes it did not transmit light. Sometimes it would bend or break (refracts). We also did an experiment to show this. We had a bowl of water and we put a pencil in it. We observed that the pencil looked different at different angles. Sometimes light is also blocked. When it is blocked, it creates a shadow. Two things can happen when light is blocked. Another interaction is light absorption. This is when a material blocks light but doesn’t reflect much. The light rays stay in the material. We did an experiment to demonstrate this and we observed that the darker the material, the more it absorbs.For example, black felt absorbs a lot because black is the darkest color visible. The next interaction I’m going to talk about is reflection. reflection is when light is emitted from a light source and object and then hits something...
Sample Summative Assessmentscontd.
and reflects. Everything
reflects light. It might not be a
lot but everything does. Here is
a good way of knowing if
something reflects light. If you
can see it, it is reflecting light. To
prove that we did another
experiment to show us
everything reflects. We took a
mirror and shined a flashlight on
it. Then we dropped some baby
powder. The light hit the baby
powder and that’s how we saw
the ray of light bouncing back.
There are many interactions
that I have written about and
included my evidence for each
interaction.
Weather & Water
Grade 4
Explain what makes water
an important part of
weather. Be sure to
include information about
what causes weather.
Water is a very important
part of the water cycle. The
water cycle is what makes
weather happen. The first part is
evaporation. Water evaporates
forming water droplets called
water vapor. Water vapor is an
invisible gas. When it gets cold
enough, the water condenses.
This part is called condensation.
As the water vapor condenses, it
forms a cloud. It could be a
Cirrus Cloud, a Cumulus Cloud
or Stratus Cloud. Cumulus
clouds are the big, white, puffy
clouds that look like popcorn.
Stratus form in layers like a
blanket. Eventually, the cloud gets
very heavy. If it is winter out, the
precipitation could fall as snow,
sleet or hail. In the summer
when it is hot, it could fall as rain.
All of the precipitation (rain,
snow, sleet or hail) hits the
ground and it goes into runoff or
groundwater. Runoff is where
the water runs down and makes
its way back to the ocean, lake or
river. Groundwater is when
water seeps into the ground and
it goes back into the ocean, lake
or river. Groundwater can be
found on a flat surface; runoff on
a slanted area. So without water,
we wouldn’t have weather and
plants, animals and humans
wouldn’t survive.
Planets & Moons - Grade 5
A group of engineers is
designing a lander that will
go to a different planet.
Write one or more
paragraphs describing
what the engineers will
need to know about the
planet’s conditions and
surface features before
they design the lander.
One thing that the group of
engineers needs to know about
the planet’s conditions and
surface features is the planet’s
atmosphere. If the planet’s
atmosphere is thick, the lander
has to be strong so it doesn’t
crush. The group also needs to
worry about the temperature. If
the temperature is hot, they
cannot use a material that will
burn under the sun. If the
temperature is cold, they can’t
use a material that will freeze.
Then the lander couldn’t move.
The last thing the engineers need
to watch out for is the type of
land. If there aren’t hills on the
planet, the group doesn’t need to
make wheels that can move
smoothly over hills. If there are
hills, then the group of engineers
needs to make large and thick
wheels so the lander can move
smoothly over hills. These ...
are the ideas I have about what
the group of engineers needs to
look out for.
Models of Matter
Grade 5
A student got black
marker on his white T-
shirt. He tried to wash it
off with water and noticed
that the black ink
separated into several
different colors. Why do
you think that the ink
separated like this? Write
a paragraph that explains
your answer to this
question. (You should try
to describe what
happened to the
molecules of ink.)
The ink separated because
when the water molecules went
into the ink, the ink molecules
stuck to the water molecules and
the water molecules moved up,
or moved down taking the ink
molecules with them. The ink
separated into different colors
because some colors are lighter
than others and some are
heavier. From other
experiments, we figured out that
blue was the lightest and yellow
was the heaviest. So the blue ink
rose up and the yellow stayed or
sank lower.
Spreading the ink is also part
of chromatography. You need
three things for a
chromatography experiment: a
test mixture, a medium and a
solvent. In this case, the ink was
the test mixture, the T-shirt was
the medium and the water was
the solvent. The test mixture or
the ink was separated, exactly
what you do with
chromatography, separate test
mixtures. Even though some blue
ink molecules might have risen
higher, all of the blue ink
molecules are the same because
they are all the same substance.
The same goes for the yellow ink
molecules or any kind of ink. The
molecules could also separate
because of different properties
such as shape, size, stickiness, and
more. For example, the blue ink
molecules might have been more
sticky than the other ink
molecules and therefore risen up
all the way. Also, weight could be
a property, if it is heavy or light.
Aquatic Ecosystems
Grade 5
There are many different
types of interactions
happening in the pond
ecosystem shown above.
What different types of
interactions do you see
evidence for in this
ecosystem? Write one or
more paragraphs
describing the different
types of interactions.
There are so many fantastic
interactions happening in this
ecosystem. In the foreground, a
turtle suns itself on a log. A
bluejay perches on a branch
eating a small fish it caught. A
bullfrog seeks refuge on a rock,
and a swallow flies into the
reeds. These are not the only
interactions here. A fish leaps
out of the water, in pursuit ...
of a tasty fly. Ducks swim under
the footbridge with the chance
there may be people crossing by
to feed them. A raccoon comes
out to eat some of the plants
growing at the edge of a far bank.
Two dragonflies dance in the
breeze looking for a meal and a
mate. A crane stands still, keenly
watching the water’s surface for
the telltale sign of a fish.
There are still more
interactions. A styrofoam cup lies
in the sandy mud. Cattails sink
their roots into the rich
substrate. A Willow tree dips its
branches into the water for some
refreshment. A tree near the
bridge fans out its branches and
leaves soaking up the sun’s rays in
the long summer. These are
some of the interactions one
little area or niche could have!
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