Fourth (and First) Grade Physics,
2018-19
Use: Real Physics
4 Kids: Focus on Elementary Physics, Rebecca Keller, as your basis
for the study this year, as well as the website: Rader’s Physics 4 Kids, if you need further
help with topics (although some of it might be a bit complex for their ages)….
If this site IS too advanced, try this one for topical
questions, instead:
Suggested Schedule:
Week 1:
P4K – Chapter 1 – What is Physics?
Supplies listed in teacher book at beginning of each
chapter. I would gather them ahead of
time and put in a big box so that I could just pull stuff when I needed it!
My Fun with Learning:
“Early Ways of Counting;” and “Pythagoras – Father of Math” –
Discuss that older books are often written more clearly than
more modern ones. This book discusses a
lot of basic science facts (which don’t change), even though we now know more
about many things such that some of these topics will be outdated in some ways
(for instance, the story about computers or telephone transmissions, that you
will read later on in the year). Math is
essential to all science work, but especially to physics, which is why you are
reading a little about math right now!
Read from:
Childcraft, Volume VIII: pages 4 – 85, re: general physical science
principals…. (Can continue in week 3….)
Week 2:
P4K – Chapter 2 – Push and Pull Force, Work and Energy
My Fun with Learning: “The Apple and Isaac Newton”
Childcraft, Volume VIII: pages 270 – 291 re: force and
gravity….
Science Arts project – page 70 (read little science blurb
before starting project!)
Science Arts project – page 71
Weeks 3 – 6:
Science in a Nutshell Kit: Energy and Motion
Work your way through these experiments, related to the last
topic, which you have already read some about.
If you have further questions while doing these, you may find answers at
the Rader website that I posted at the beginning of this list.
I would suggest doing 3 experiments per week.
There was only one activity journal left and part of another
one, so I made copies of the pages to complete that second one, plus a couple
of extra copies. You want to always keep
at least one copy of these journals or you will have to order new ones and I
don’t know if they have changed, but they have gotten more expensive and they
make you buy a set of 5…. (The kits used
to be $32-36, which I thought was expensive then, but now they are about $60,
so guard them! I would have saved more
for you if I had known at the time you were going to homeschool!)
Continue reading from Childcraft any pages not completed
week one….
Science Arts projects – pages 78; 79 and 85
Week 7 – 9:
Simple Machines
Continue extending what you have learned thus far with
simple machines, which doesn’t seem to be a subject covered in the P4K
text…. I again suggest three weeks so
that they can experiment some….
Science is Exploring:
Unit 6 “How do we use Machines?”
Childcraft, Volume VIII:
page 215 – 263, re: simple machines
Science Arts project – page 77
You will cover things such as levers, fulcrums, pulleys,
wheel and axles, screws, clamps, wedges and inclined planes….
Your Complete Book of Science 1 / 2 has a whole section on simple machines. They will be good for Eli to fill out – maybe
too simple for Lilly, but if she wants to do them, too,
then get the pages photocopied….
Follow the suggestions in the Complete Book to look for simple machines you use every day
around your house without thinking about them, experiment with using them, try
modifying them to see how they can be used in new ways, etc. Keep a full supply of tools like screwdrivers
and screws, hammers and nails, etc. around for them to use during this time.
My Fun with Learning:
“Archimede’s Bathtub”
You can create a simple Archimede’s screw by taping, with
packing tape, a tube to the outside of a can.
Insert the bottom, open end of the tube into water and turn until the
water rises to pour out the top (have something to catch it!)
Week 10
P4K – Ch. 3 – Kinds of Energy: Stored / Moving
Two
Slinky’s!!!!! Large and small. Look at stored
energy (in a spring) versus kinetic, or moving energy. One is a little stretched out on one end, but
they both still work….
Read from:
Childcraft, Volume VIII: pages 162 – 181, re: general principals of
physical science….
Science Arts project – page 76
Week 11
P4K – Ch. 4 – When Things Move: Friction
(There was a section on friction at the end of the “How do
we use Machines?” unit you just covered recently in Science is Exploring….)
Monster Machines
Read from: Childcraft, Volume VIII, pages 264 – 267, re:
general principals of physical science….
My Fun with Learning:
“Mr. Watt’s Steam Engine”
Science Arts project – page 80
Week 12
P4K – Ch. 5 – Chemical Energy: Atoms / Batteries
So a bit of a review from last year…. Make sure to emphasize that when dealing with
batteries, even they can give quite a little shock, and that this is nothing
compared to the shock of the electricity running through the outlets of a home,
which are millions of times stronger and enough to kill even adults! Hopefully keep those little curious boys
safe!
Week 13 - 14
P4K – Ch. 6 – Electricity
(Soooooooo wish I still had my electrical connections
Nutshell, but I sold it! So sorry! It was perfect. I am still looking for a replacement thing
for this….)
Science is Exploring:
Unit 2 “How do we use Electric Current?”
World Book’s Young Scientist: “Electricity all Around,” page 49 – 75
Childcraft, Volume VIII:
pages 183 – 213, re: electricity….
Science Arts project – page 84
Do some experiments from somewhere!!!!
Week 15
P4K – Ch. 7 – Moving Electrons
(Again, perhaps some review from last year….)
Set of balls to compare density
– one is cut open so you can see inside….
Science Arts project – page 73;
86-87; 18-19; 30-31; 34-35
Week 16 – 18
P4K – Ch. 8 – Magnets
Usborne Science with Magnets
Very First Magnet Kit – includes a tube of
iron filings. Be careful with
them! Don’t let them out or they will be
everywhere and eaten or inhaled (NOT good)!
Can use them in a ziploc bag and watch magnet drag them around, make
pictures, etc. Can mix with salt and watch magnet separate them from the salt, etc.
World Book’s Young Scientist: Magnetic Power, page 78 to end of book….
Science Arts projects – pages 88 – 92
(As always with magnets, caution against putting some of
these, which are strong, into mouths, etc.
If swallowed they can be deadly! Or at least troublesome in the
extreme!)
Experiment with what things are magnetic or not (even some
metals are not magnetic – why?) Look for
magnetic things around the house.
Experiment with repulsion, etc.
Use repulsion to power a vehicle, etc.
I am sure I have elements of the two kits mixed up with each other, plus
extra magnets added in!
That takes you to the half, and hopefully Christmas break!
Week 19 – 24 (six weeks! 3 for light and 3 for sound)
P4K – Ch. 9 – Light and Sound
World Book’s Young Scientist: Light, page 8 – 47
Optical Illusions
My Fun with Learning: “Michael Farraday’s Candle” and
“George Eastman’s Little Brownie”
Childcraft, Volume VIII: pages 142 – 161, re: light
(sight, mirrors, prisms, etc.)
Science Arts projects – pages 45 – 51; 72; 74; 75; 65;
117; 130; 131
Use light and sound related objects I have included to explore
and experiment:
Tuning forks
Prism
LED Sparkler
Color paddles to mix
colors (hold up to light to see the secondary colors made from primary mixes)
Science is Exploring:
Unit 3, “How do we make and hear Sounds?”
My Fun with Learning: “The Age of Radio Begins” and
“Voices on a Beam of Light”
Childcraft, Volume VIII:
pages 87 – 141, re: sound
(Again, this is a field quickly advancing, so take about how
lasers are changing things, how satellites are changing movement of sound
around the world, etc., etc….)
Week 25 - 26
P4K – Ch. 10 – Saving Energy
My Fun with Learning:
“You, Scientist”
Science Arts projects – 39 - 42
https://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/new-online-game-allows-kids-create-own-energy-efficient-city.html
Modern Machines
My Fun with Learning:
“Bits, Bytes, and Binary Numbers”
This is the area that has changed the most. Talk about the huge changes in modern
computers. I am sure that even the
gadgets book I am including is out of date by now (published in 2000). Talk about that. Every 2-3 years there are exponential changes
in this field right now! Look for books
about robots and how they will change our world! Look up info on nano-machines. That is all the rage now….
How Things Work:
Groovy Gadgets
Talk about apps. Talk
about the dangers of computers and how they are changing the way we think and
feel. How we must try to control
them. Let them design their own gadget!
Also, I picked up a used Rube Goldberg kit: Castle Escape. It looks like all pieces are there, so I hope
they are!
Week 29 – 32
Flight!
Gliders to Jets Nutshell Kit
(11 experiments, so do 3 each of first 3 weeks and 2 each
last week….)
Read all about flight and space
flight during this time period!
I am making a couple of copies of the journals (have two
left) so that you will have more for later….
I do not have the solar balloon any more (it did not work well, any
way….) I am looking for a replacement, or just talk about but skip that
part…. It takes a very airtight and
light plastic, plus a LOT of heating, so a very hot day, in order to get it to
lift off….
How Things Work:
Astonishing Aircraft
Childcraft, Volume VIII: pages: 268 – 269, re: how wings hold planes up
Parachute Man! (He’s really too heavy, but
good to contrast with the lighter parachutists included in the kit….)
We NEED to go to Dayton sometime soon, to the USAF
Museum! Everyone will LOVE it! They do homeschool days twice a year,
too! For the entire U.S.!
Gyroscopes – some the boys had when they were little –
all are slightly different! Have fun!
Week 33 – 36
Engineer your own structures!
Use: K’nex
Education: Introduction to
Structures: Bridges
Read from: Childcraft, Volume VIII, pages 292 – 329, re:
general principals of physical
science….
Science Arts project – 106 - 107
Read about famous, innovative bridges!
That should give you a GREAT start to physical science knowledge!
No comments:
Post a Comment