Miss SassyScientist: Week 5 - A Day in the Forest

A Day in the Forest

Riddle:

I am very

little. I can be different

colors. I grow tall. I

make plants. What am

Answer: A seed.

—ANDREA P., THIRD GRADE

● Fruits and vegetables are edible parts of plants.

● In everyday language, fruits are usually those plant parts that taste sweet, particularly those we get from trees, such as apples, pears, peaches, oranges, and bananas.

● In scientific classification, however, sweetness is not the important factor. A vegetable is a root, stem, leaf, or flower of a plant. The fruit is the part of the plant that is a container for the seeds. To be even more specific, a fruit is the ripened ovary of a flowering plant.

● Nuts, corn, wheat, tomatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash are really fruits.

Third grade Rio Vista - Seed and Fruit Investigation

Dissected snap peas and counted pods/seeds

found average was 7 pods

Dissected fruits and counted seeds

found out some were seedless - manmade

Explored using Pro-scope

Strawberry (students guessed quickly) Tomato (took students many guesses)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2277028/ItsbreakfastIncredible-close-images-everyday-foods-appetising.html

Reading Tree Cookies-

Center of a tree (heartwood) – send nutrients to the rest of the of the tree

Sapwood (xylem)

Thin cambium layer

Phloem

Outer bark – protective layer

Narrow ring --> climate, weather, drought, frost

Stressors --> insects, diseases, disturbances

Scars --> insects, fire, machines, dead branch

Dendrochronology: “study of tree time”

*“Trees Grin” FREE App for Ipad*

auto play

personalize (record, rewrite)

highlighted words

I can be as tall as a tree

Maybe as strong and happy as a tree

I can be

Color changes: dark to light, light to dark --> differentiates seasons during 1 year (1 ring)

1. We learn science through inquiry.

2. We learn science by collaboration.

3. We learn science over time.

F O C U S I N G Q U E S T I O N S

. What experiences, if any, have you had with planting seeds, indoors or outside?

. What do you think it means to be “alive”?

. What is the point of a class science exploration that takes days or weeks to complete?

.How does working with a partner or small group affect your learning experience?

.What is your reaction when you encounter earthworms? Have you ever handled a worm?

Practical animals

for the classroom

"During the elementary

grades, children build

understanding of

biological concepts

through direct

experience with living

things, their life cycles,

and their habitats."

—NATIONAL SCIENCE

EDUCATION STANDARDS

-Students in the 3rd grade class at Linda Vista sparked with excitement on the first day of school after seeing aquarium tanks in their new classroom. They were eager to find out what the aquariums were for, and found that they were going to raise craw fish for science studies later in the year. The students were very eager about new life additions to their classroom.

Owl Pellets

Owls eat things whole or in big chunks, which come from their digestive system

BARF!!!!!

Rodents, bones, fur, hair, dirt, skulls, teeth

*Owl Pellet dissect Apps*