Home School Explorations Series (ages 8-10)

Spring 2012 Semester

For 3rd–5th graders (ages 8–10)

Mondays 11 am - 12 pm / 1 - 2 pm

Tuesdays 11 am - 12 pm

Classes begin the week of January 30 and end the week of April 30. There are no classes the week of March 12 for Explora Spring Break Camp.

Go with the Flow

1/30 or 1/31
What is Bernoulli’s Principle? Levitate balls and make an egg jump from one container to another to find out how airplanes fly and birds soar. The science of fluid dynamics is a great way to engage your students’ natural curiosities and connect them to the world.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard III, BM II, PS 3-3, 5-2

Water Filtration

2/6 or 2/7
Students experiment with a variety of filtering materials to filter water samples. Students test their samples before and after for turbidity, hardness and pH and find out how effective different filtration methods may be.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard III, BM II, PS 3-1 and Strand III, Standard I, BM I, PS
4-1 and Strand III, Standard I, BM I, PS 5-1

Water on the Move

2/13 or 2/14
How does water move through the soil? Students design, build and test aquifer models to track contaminants, water tables and well levels.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard III, BM II, PS 3-1 and Strand III, Standard I, BM I, PS 4-1
and Strand III, Standard I, BM I, PS 5-1

Creating Rhythm with Ordinary Objects

2/20 or 2/21
Sick of that pencil tapping the desk during your lesson? Channel your percussionists’ energy by converting everyday objects into musical instruments. Students explore how the tone and timbre of various instruments are related to the instruments’ composition, and use their newly created instruments to explore Latin rhythms.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM II, PS 4-3 and 5-3
Music: Standards 1, 3, 6 and 8
Art: Standard 6 and 8

Energy Transformers

2/27 or 2/28
During these energizing activities, participants explore the different forms of energy and how these forms are converted from one to another. Students will experiment with “Newton’s Cradles,” use pendulums to shoot baskets and build wind turbines that produce electricity.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM II, PS 3-3, 4-1,2, 5-3,4 and BM III, PS 4-2,4, 5-3,4

Discovering Triangles

3/5 or 3/6
It’s time to give triangles the attention they deserve! In this exploration students discover the different kinds of triangles and their importance. They also use triangles to build three-dimensional objects and begin to explore the perimeters and areas of these objects.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and BM III, PS 3-1,2,3, 4-1,3, 5-1,2,3,4
Math: Geometry Strand

Kaleidoscope Crazed

3/19 or 3/20
Explore the amazing properties of mirrors, lenses and light and discover all the wonderful images and colorful patterns you get when angles and symmetry come into play. Students design and build their own unique kaleidoscopes.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM II, PS 3-2

Crazy about Chromatography

3/26 or 3/27
Inside an ordinary black marker is a rainbow of color waiting to escape! Students investigate how paper chromatography is used to separate the components of mixtures, and test colored markers, food coloring and candy to see what unexpected colors each contains.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and BM III, PS 3-3 and Strand II, Standard I, BM I, PS 3-1,2, 4-1

Discovering Digital Art

4/2 or 4/3
Use computers and scanners to explore digital art by combining drawing, photography and collage to manipulate images and make digital prints.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II
Art: Standards 1, 3, 7 and 8

Exciting Electricity

4/9 or 4/10
Use batteries and wires to make bulbs light up, and explore open and closed circuits. Then make a gigantic complete circuit you won’t forget!
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM II, PS 4-4

Shocking Discoveries

4/16 or 4/17
Shock your students into learning with a simple touch of the Van de Graaff electricity generator! Energize their understanding of static electricity with this hair-raising class full of empowering experiments.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM I, PS 4-2 and BM II, PS 4-1,4, 5-3 and BM III, PS
4-1, 5-3

The Heat is On!

4/23 or 4/24
Are your students acting like hot little molecules? What else is new? We’ll use their natural tendencies, along with some dramatic experiments, to help them understand how molecules transfer heat through conduction, convection and radiation.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM I, PS 4-2, 5-3,6 and BM II, PS 3-3, 5-1,3

Mobiles: Twisted but Balanced

4/30 or 5/1
Explore balance, movement and design by constructing sculptures in the style of Alexander Calder’s mobiles. We compare and contrast symmetry and asymmetry in design and weight, and explore cause and effect by trying to balance weights and physically work out visual choices.
Science: Strand I, Standard I, BM I, II and Strand II, Standard I, BM III, PS 4-3, 4
Art: Standards 1, 3 and 8

For more information on this program, call (505) 224-8341, email reservations@explora.us, or visit www.explora.us.

Para español, llame al 224-8323.