Physics 2.5: MS & Upper Elementary

 Hello all,

     I felt very strange about finishing our semester before Thanksgiving today...and not having an Expo.  But I'm glad we made the choice to end early, especially with how covid is going.

    A big thank you to students for bringing their Archimedes screws to class.  It warms my heart to see their homework.  For real.  Even if most of the screws didn't work!  Luke finally got his to work (that's because his mom needed a functioning one to demo in class...it stinks being the teacher's kid- I made him work for hours on that project!).  We talked about how screws are used for both digging up dirt and irrigation- practical application!

    In our UE class, we discussed pulleys and gears.  (Levers are the last simple machine and students will study it for homework.)  Groups created a pulley system.  I didn't give them a lot of instruction because I wanted to see if they could figure out how to do it themselves.  All the groups got the basic concept and definitely were able to feel that the pulley system helped reduce their effort- those water jugs were pretty heavy sans all the carabiners!  They measured the length of the rope used for one carabiner as opposed to six and saw that as distance increases force decreases, aka the used rope got longer and the milk jug felt lighter.  

    Next, we discussed wheels and axles.  We actually worked with gears and measured how far a small one turns in relation to a larger gear.  I did not inform the kids that a wheel and axle work the same way- the axle turns more than the wheel (you're welcome to share that info).  I used the Gears SciFinders Kit from the library.  You should "check it out"!  Hehe.

    We didn't have enough time to discuss mechanical advantage, nor draw-journal.  Figuring out the pulley systems took a while!

    Lastly, we had several "real life" discussions in class- how to have a class discussion, being responsible to read your homework handout now that you are in upper elementary and shouldn't rely on your mom AND listening to ALL the directions prior to beginning a project (that last one brought out stern Ms. Liesl!).  Quite productive. ;)

    The MS projects are coming along splendidly and we discussed the upcoming test, simple machines write up, project due date and zoom demo.

    Autumn and Felicity, we missed you!  

    -Much love, Ms. Liesl  


HOMEWORK:   

Middle School:

  • Study for the test
  • Simple Machines Project-Due Dec. 2nd, write-up due on Dec. 4th
  • Test due Dec. 9th
  • Expo Project due in February
Upper Elementary:
  • At Home Activity-  Lever activity in Big Trouble with Simple Machines.  Find levers in your house.  Classify them as first class, second class or third class.  The kitchen, craft/school/office area, bathroom drawers or garage are great places to look.  A lever is a bar that goes up and down over a point (or a fulcrum).  Can you classify which class these levers are?  Your arm, tweezers, stapler, see saw, catapult, wheelbarrows, nutcracker. 
  • Book- Choose a book from the library that discusses simple machines.
  • Vocabulary- Think about what you think each vocabulary word means and read the definition.  Choose one word and draw a picture that fills up a whole sheet of paper like something that could go in a coloring book.  Label the picture with the vocabulary word.  I will photocopy it and give it to the younger classes to color.
  • Videos-
  • EXPO PROJECT