Lower school science and the first grade classes are delighted to be able to say we are forging through with our pledge to help save the monarch butterflies. Not only has first grade raised and released monarch butterflies in their regular classrooms but they have also planted and continue to keep watch over the health and growth of the milkweed plants they planted during science class and housed in our  classroom greenhouse.  In tune with helping preserve the monarch population, first grade learned the difference between harmful herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides and those that are non-harmful to the environment. They furthered their knowledge about safe herbicides by creating and testing a variety of natural herbicides made from salt, vinegar, water, and borax. The herbicides were tested in our science garden with the finding that over time the salt, vinegar, and water herbicide worked best.

 

Second grade is soaring through their study of birds in science.  It has become common chit-chat in class since completing our bird watching adventures to discuss the variation of birds we observe on a daily basis throughout our campus arboretum and within our classroom courtyard at the bird feeders. Most impressive was the massive red tailed hawk that landed in the courtyard seemingly in search of prey and the American Yellow Warbler.

  As we continue to learn about the evolution and adaptation of birds, the second graders have created and defended their own made up animal feather adaptations.  They have also learned about contour and down feathers and how they are gathered to use  in everyday household items. The students have experimented to learn about the effectiveness of using feathers as a form of insulation.

The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is quickly approaching for the third grade class. In science class we are focussing on all things moon related. The students have learned fantastic facts about the moon's surface, craters, orbit and rotation, and also about its eight phases.  We have completed a cratering demonstration which enabled the students to simulate how meteors are able to create  many craters that are of varying sizes on the moon.  We learned about how the Earth's atmosphere helps keep the surface safe from most potential meteor impact. The students have also created  sun, moon, Earth models to demonstrate the relevance of the rotation and orbit of each in relation to one another. Each night students are looking into the sky to view which of the eight phases the moon is in and recording the information they gather into their Moon Phase Journals.