Trimester 1: Magnetism and Electricity
NEW! (December 6th, 2011)
Fourth graders have spent the last few class periods as electricians! They have chosen a project and wired it all by themselves! Some of our students have created headlights in cars, wired model homes in parallel, and created their very own quiz games!
In the next few weeks before winter break, fourth grade will finish up these projects and look forward to our new unit!
NEW! (October 25th, 2011)
First trimester is flying by for our fourth graders! We are quite the electricians now! Students have developed an understanding of what a circuit is and how a circuit works. We know that a circuit is a path for electrons to follow.
Students have examined the differences between open and closed circuits, as well as parallel and series circuits. Ask your student which circuit has more resistance! He/she should be able to tell you that a series circuit has more resistance (the measure of how easily electrons move through a circuit) because there is more than one light bulb on the same path. The light bulbs share the energy produced by the battery. The light bulbs are dimmer in a series circuit than they are in a parallel circuit. Students also learned the difference between conductors and insulators by testing a variety of objects to determine which ones would light up a light bulb. We now know that most metals make good conductors! Electrons can really zoom through a conductor!
How do magnetism and electricity relate? Students will be exploring this concept in the next few class periods. They will discover that electricity can cause atoms inside of a metal object to line up causing the object to become magnetic.
As we come to the end of our electricity unit, students will be building electricity projects of their own choosing. A supply list for this project was sent home. Please make note of the dates that the electricity project materials are due. The due dates are as follow:
Mrs. Thoune's Class - Friday, October 28th
Ms. Kluchka's Class - Wednesday, November 2nd
Mr. Knowling's Class - Friday, November 4th
NEW! (September 20th, 2011)
So far, we have discovered several key concepts regarding magnets. They are as follows:
- Opposite poles attract, like poles repel.
- Magnets have a magnetic field, or place where the push or pull from the magnet can be felt.
- Earth is a giant magnet. Earth's magnetic field causes the Aurora Borealis.
- A compass is a tool (magnetized, free-swinging needle) that helps us to determine direction.
Fourth grade will now their knowledge of magnets to go on a treasure hunt through the hallways of Sheridan School! Thinking about what we already know about magnets will help us to develop the concept of CHANGE AND CONSTANCY, our year-long theme.
Soon, we will begin the electricity portion of the unit. As an introduction to electricity, fourth grade will be challenged to light up a flashlight bulb using only 1 D battery, 1 flashlight bulb, and 1 piece of wire. This will help us to build a definition of the vocabulary word "circuit".
NEW! (August 27th, 2011)
Our fourth graders will begin the year with an exploration of magnetism. We will test a bag of mystery objects to learn that not all metals are magnetic. Testing these objects will also help us discover important behaviors of magnets; magnets can attract or repel. As our understanding of the behaviors of magnets increases, we will move into a discussion about why certain objects are magnetic while others are not, North and South poles, magnetic fields, and force.
Downloads:
| electricity_project_materials_2011.pdf |
- magnetic / non - magnetic
- temporary magnet
- natural magnet
- permanent magnet
- magnetic field
- magnetic pole
- electron
- electricity (static and current)
- conductor
- insulator
- circuit
- series circuit
- parallel circuit
- closed circuit
- open circuit
- switch
- terminal / contact (on a battery)
- resistance
