States of Matter

Welcome back!

Our class has moved on to studying states of matter. Your child has been learning about how matter changes and under what circumstances.

Scholastic has a wonderful website on the states of matter! Here, you can find a cartoon video on the states of matter as well as a song to remember about them. This would be a great tool to help your child remember these!

BBC offers a website to allow students to watch what happens when heat is added to or taken away from different states of matter. Be sure to check it out here. Please note that temperatures are in Celsius.

There are two websites that allow your child to view molecules during different states of matter. This website allows your child to change the state of matter and see what happens. A side picture shows the molecules. The second website shows molecules in their natural setting. Please note that we do not use the book mentioned in the website, but it does offer some great animations.

States of matter are a great topic of discussion at any time of year, but the weather is getting colder and many states of matter can be seen in nature.

Until next time,
Mrs. Greene

Butterfly, Flutter by

Glad to have you back!

We have moved on to studying about the pattern of change that takes place during metamorphosis, or the cycle of life of a butterfly.

This link is a video of the life of a Monarch butterfly. Be sure to watch for Monarch butterflies in our area who migrate between August and the first frost.

Can you and your child put the life cycle of a butterfly in order? This website has a game where you can do just that! For an easy game, read the clues which associate with each picture. For more of a challenge, cover the clues and work off the pictures alone.

Using materials around the house, (and reusing instead of trashing) you can create a butterfly life cycle. For instructions, click here.

Would you like to have beautiful butterflies in your garden? The entire life cycle of a butterfly could take place year after year in your own yard. Here is a website with great information about plants that attract butterflies along with which type of plant attracts which butterfly.

We would love to see you in our classroom over the next few weeks as our butterflies go through their life cycle right in our classroom!

Until next time,
Mrs. Greene

The "Dirt" on Soil

Welcome Back Families!

Our class is currently looking at soil and it's properties. We have done experiments on several different types and compositions of soil. What type of soil is in your back yard? Is it different than soil in your front yard? Compare the soil in your flower bed or garden to that of potted plants. What do you notice?

What is the difference between dirt and soil? This website has information to answer this question. It also has information on organisms that make their homes in the Earth. You can also microscopically explore the soil with your child.

This website has information about the different properties of soil. It is a great website with a lot of information with language which is easy to understand.

Soil can also be a lot of fun to explore and eat! Well, perhaps eating soil isn't safe, but creating Dirt Pudding is a tasty learning tool. The recipe can be found by clicking here.

Until next time,
Mrs. Greene

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Dear Families,

Thank you for stopping by our class blog! We are currently working to minimize our addition to the landfills by learning about and practicing recycling. We are reusing materials when possible.

We have created bird feeders for the outside of our classroom by reusing household items. You can create the same bird feeder using the directions here.

Many people do not understand what happens when you recycle. To find more information about what happens to recycled materials, check here. This website is a fun way to see what happens to materials that you can drop off at recycling bins located outside of Wal-Mart stores in Amarillo.

The more experience your student can get with recyclable materials, the better. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosts a game entitled Recycle City. To play this game, click here. Another great game is Recycle Fun. Please note that this site is hosted out of the United Kingdom and dialect may differ slightly.

Finally, there is a great deal of information about Recycling for the Home at this website. To continue our classroom recycling efforts at home would be amazing for your child.

If you have any other ideas, comments, or questions about recycling, please feel free to leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time,
Mrs. Greene