Light Energy Word Search & Activities

Word searches are a great way to introduce or review science vocabulary with students in grades 3-5.

Light Energy Word Search Puzzle

This light energy word search puzzle is great to use with elementary school students as they explore the physical science topic of light energy!

Light Energy Word Search Puzzle

This worksheet is easy to use at home or in the classroom. The words run horizontal and vertical. It is No Prep for the teacher just Print and Go!  An answer key is provided!

You can print out copies for your student(s). They can use pencils, crayons, markers, or highlighters to complete the word search.

FREE LIGHT ENERGY PUZZLE

If you prefer, you can use the Light Word Search in a center. You can put the printable in a plastic sleeve and the students can use dry erase markers to find all the vocabulary words! 

Use the free science pages on my website to download the worksheets.  https://www.LearningWorkroom.com

Teaching about LIGHT can be a lot of fun! 

If you would like some fun science ideas, activities, and experiments for teaching about LIGHT, I have gathered some of those activities together to make it easy for you to access the ideas.

Click on the link below to go to the page here on my blog!

Learning Ideas - Grades K-8: Search results for light (learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com)

The Science of Light


If you are interested in more free physical science word searches for your students, click the link below.

Learning Ideas - Grades K-8: 4 Free Physical Science Word Search Puzzles: Matter, Magnetism, Electricity, & Sound (learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com)

SCIENCE WORD SEARCH PUZZLES

Have fun teaching science!

15 Fun Resources for Teaching about Sound Energy

Do you need some fun resources to teach about Sound Energy to kids?

This is a fun science topic that kids usually like a lot!!! They have to make NOISE! I mean they have to make lots of "SOUNDS" to really investigate and explore this topic!

Here's a collection of activities, experiments, ideas, puzzles, resources,  videos, and other links to help you.

Just click on any or all of the links below the picture that sound interesting to you! :)

Sound Energy Word Search Puzzle
http://www.learningworkroom.com/Free_Science_Worksheets.html

What Causes Sound???
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-does-sound-travel.html

Sound Energy Book and Video
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/ears-and-hearing-video.html

Sound Activity: Can you identify the sound?
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/can-you-identify-sound.html

Bill Nye Video
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/sound-video.html

Sound Activity: Does sound travel through solids?
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-do-we-do-all-day-toddler-drawing.html

Make a Wind Instrument
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/making-wind-instrument.html

Make String Instruments
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-string-instrument.html

Make a Guitar
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-guitar.html

Make a Percussion Instrument
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-percussion-instrument.html

Intensity and Pitch
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/sound-intensity-and-pitch.html

Slinky Demonstration: How does sound travel?
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-does-sound-travel_19.html

Sound and Light Energy Venn Diagram
http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/light-waves-and-sound-waves-comparison.html

Sound Energy Crossword Puzzle
http://www.learningworkroom.com/

LOTS more ideas on my Sound Energy Pinterest Board  :)
http://www.pinterest.com/marcia_murphy22/sound-unit/

Have fun with sound!

 

Hands-On Science - Investigating Electricity

Last week, I did a post on investigating Static Electricity. If you missed that post you can view it here.

Current Electricity

For today, I put together some posts with activities to help you teach about Current Electricity: Electric Circuits, Series Circuits, and Parallel Circuits. These are the lessons where the students will get to light those mini-light bulbs.

Besides using the supplies usually found in the science kits, everyone should wear safety goggles and safety gloves. The kids love to put on the safety equipment. It makes them feel like real scientists and that these will be very special lessons!  :)

To go to each blog post, just click on the links below.


Creating an Electric Circuit

http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/01/creating-electric-circuit.html

Creating a Series Circuit

http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/01/series-circuit.html

Creating a Parallel Circuit

http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/01/parallel-circuit.html


Have fun with Science!

 

Science of Light Video and Word Search Puzzle

Yesterday's post was a collection of fun LIGHT ideas, activities, and experiments that you can use to teach kids about light. If you missed the post, you can click here.

For today, I have 2 links. The first will take you to Bill Nye's video on LIGHT.

Have you been watching Dancing with the Stars? Bill Nye is one of the dancers this season.  (A dancing scientist - how cool!!!) I heard that after his performance last week, he got 3 million hits on his facebook page!!! WOW, way to go Bill! :)

The second link will take you to my website, where I store LOTS of my free worksheets. You will be able to download a free Light Energy Worksheet.

Bill Nye - Light Video

http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/bill-nye-video-light-and-color.html


Light Energy Word Search Puzzle

http://www.learningworkroom.com/Free_Science_Worksheets.html


Have fun with science!

 

The Science of Light - 7 Fun Activities

Teaching about LIGHT can be a lot of fun!

Back in February of 2011, I spent the month posting some fun science ideas, activities, and experiments for teaching about LIGHT.

In today's post, I have gathered some of those activities to make it easy for you to access some of the ideas.



The Science of Light


To read some or all of blog posts just click on the links below. You can also click on the picture to go to a post that is an introduction to Light.


What Causes Shadows?  http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-causes-shadows.html

Light Reflection  http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/reflected-light.html

Light Absorption http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/light-video.html

What happens when light hits an object? http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/transparent-translucent-and-opaque.html

Light Refraction http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/refraction.html

Does light travel in a straight line?  http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/does-light-travel-in-straight-line.html

Prisms http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/02/using-prism-to-view-rainbow.html


There are more activities here on my blog plus I have a Pinterest page all about Light and Color . To visit my Pinterest page, just click on the link below.

http://www.pinterest.com/marcia_murphy22/light-and-color/


Have fun with science!

 

Snowflake Craft Activities and Books

Have you had snow yet this year?

Here in New England, we had a light dusting the other night. It made everything look so beautiful especially the trees!

This really is the time of year to start thinking of making some snowflake crafts with the kids.

Here are 3 different snowflake craft activities that the kids might like to try.

Snowflake Crafts

The first is made with paper or coffee filters. The second is made with cotton swabs, glitter, and glue. The 3rd snowflake is made with toilet paper rolls and pipe cleaners.

To get the complete list of supplies and directions for each of the 3 snowflakes above, just click on the appropriate link below.

Paper Snowflake ~ http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/10/symmetry-and-snowflakes.html

Cotton Swabs Snowflake ~ http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/11/cotton-swab-snowflakes.html

TP Roll Snowflake  ~ http://learningideasgradesk-8.blogspot.com/2011/11/snowflake-craft-activity.html

Before or after crafting, the kids might enjoy reading or listening to a story. There are LOTS of great kids' books that have a fun snow theme. Two of my very favorites are shown below. Check for them at your local library. :)

You can also read my post about Robert Frost's book, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, here. 

Have fun crafting!

Glitter Glue Spider Web Craft Activity

This craft activity can be used when learning about arachnids (spiders, etc.) as part of an animal study or can be used as a Halloween Activity!

Materials

• construction paper
• white crayon, white chalk, white pencil or regular school pencil
• glitter glue

Directions

• Have students sketch a spider web on a  piece of dark construction paper with a white crayon or piece of chalk.
• If using light colored paper, students may use a regular school pencil.
• Choose glitter glue in a different color(s) than the paper.
• Trace the web design with the glitter glue.
• Let the glue dry.
• If desired have students add a toy spider or student-made spider to their picture.

If you would like directions for the egg carton spider shown above click here.

If you would like to learn more about spiders and other arachnids click here.

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Starfish Craft Activity

Materials

• starfish
• hand lens
• sandpaper (pkg. of 12 sheets {different grits} purchased at Dollar Tree)
• protective eyewear (recommended when using sandpaper)
• pencil
• scissors
• crayons
• white or light colored  paper

Directions

• Have students observe a starfish with a hand lens.
• Have students use their senses to describe the starfish's observable characteristics.
• Discuss the texture of a starfish (rough, bumpy, scratchy, etc.)
• Have students put on protective eyewear then observe and feel different textures of sandpaper.
• Discuss that sandpaper has different grits. Can they feel the differences? Can they describe the differences? Which grit feels the most like the starfish?
• Have students trace one or several starfish onto sandpaper.
• Have students cut out the starfish.
• Compare the sandpaper starfish to the real specimens. How are they alike? How are they different?
• Create crayon rubbings. Place the sandpaper starfish under a piece of white or light colored paper and rub over them with the sides of a crayon(s).
• Have fun!

Have students read some good books about starfish.

        

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Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt

Simple Machines are found everywhere. This post will be about looking for simple (and complex machines) in the home or classroom and integrating science with math.

First review the 6 different simple machines. (wheel, lever, pulley, inclined plane, screw, wedge)

Have the kids list the 6 simple machines then go on a scavenger hunt to find as many as they can. Clipboards work well and kids love to use them.

Here are some examples.

 Stapler - lever, wedge

 Hole Punch - lever, wedge

Light Bulb - the base is a screw

Spoon - wedge

Doorknob - wheel and axle

Egg Beater - wheel and axle, gears, wedge

Window Shade - pulley

Wall Light Switch - lever

Can Opener - wheel and axle, gears, lever, wedge

Stairs - inclined plane

Step Stool - inclined plane

Bottle Cap - screw

Door Hinge - lever

The students should mark a tally for each machine found.

When they are finished have the kids create a tally chart or frequency chart of their data (information).

Tally Chart

Frequency Chart

(Younger students can fill in a chart with their teacher.)

Next the children could graph their results using paper, pencils, rulers, crayons, etc. or they could use an online graphing program.
An easy online website for children to use is Kids' Zone-Create a Graph.

Graph made at the Kids Zone Website

Older students could use the Microsoft Excel Program to create their graphs.

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Using a Store Flyer to Identify Simple and Compound Machines

Here is a picture of a newspaper flyer that came with this past Sunday's newspaper. The same or similar flyers are usually given out at the stores.

You can use the flyer from this store (which happens to be my husband's favorite store) or from another home improvement warehouse or hardware store to help kids practice identifying and categorizing simple and compound machines.

Have the students flip through the pages and identify simple and compound machines.

Next students could cut out and sort the pictures into simple and compound machines. Then they could be resorted into the 6 simple machine categories (wheel, lever, pulley, inclined plane, screw, wedge). Some pictures can be glued and labeled in their science notebooks.

Students could create a poster or posters with the pictures and label the simple machines.

Here are some pictures that were in this week's store flyer.

The base of a light bulb is a screw.

These doorknobs are wheels and axles.

These door handles are levers.

The ladder is an inclined plane.

The screw-on cap is a screw.

The steps are an inclined plane.

The drill and drill bits are screws.

The drills are screws and the saw is a wedge.

Lots of wheels and axles here on these compound machines plus levers, inclined planes, screws, and wedges.

More wheels and axles plus levers, inclined planes, screws, and wedges.

Still more wheels!

So .... the cost for this activity is basicly FREE if you have paper, pencils, scissors, and glue on hand. Plus, I like the fact that we're recycling! 

Inside back cover of the flyer ...... Yes, it's great to RECYCLE!

Have fun!