Our Environment

This week we started a thematic environment unit. Throughout this unit the students will be exploring air, water, soil, energy, clouds, wind, helping the environment, and the 3 R's (reduce, reuse, recycle). We will also be doing a book study on The Lorax. 

On Monday, we learned about air. The students remembered that air is a gas...It takes up space and is invisible! We brainstormed everything we already know about air. 

1. We breathe air.

2. We can blow air out and make things move.

3.  It helps us fly kites.

4. We can see the wind blowing air against trees and grass.

5. You can sometimes feel air.

6. Air can fill balloons. 

7. Plants add oxygen to the air. (We need to take care of plants as they keep the air healthy). 

8. Air is a NEED...all living things need it to live. 

Then, we discussed if air is always the same. This brought us back to what we learned in our matter unit. In our matter unit, we learned that air sometimes contains water vapour and sometimes it doesn't. The moisture in the air is called humidity. Other gases mix with air, some we can see and some we can't (smoke, smog). Is air always the same temperature? Sometimes air is very cold and sometimes it is hot. We did a quick experiment to show that all the air in the classroom is NOT the same temperature. We used a thermometer to test the temperature at the floor and the ceiling. We saw that the temperature was warmer at the ceiling. This is because warm air rises. 

On Tuesday, we reviewed the 3 states of matter. Then, we learned about wind and weather. What is wind? Can you make wind? We reviewed that warm air rises. If warm air outdoors is rising very quickly, as it sometimes does, the cooler air rushes in to take its place. This causes wind. 

After, we learned about clouds. We learned that cumulous clouds have a flat base and a puffy top. We often see cumulous clouds on sunny days. Cumulonimbus clouds are very large. The puffy tops go very high in the sky. The base may be very dark in colour. Often rain and lightning come from these clouds. Stratus clouds are like a gray blanket. They are usually low in the sky. Cirrus clouds are very high in the air. They are thin and wispy. Precipitation falls from clouds (rain, snow, sleet and hail). 

On Thursday, we learned about "wild" winds. First, we brained stormed a list of different storms (hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, floods). Then we watched a few brain pop videos on thunderstorms, tornados and hurricanes!