LeConte Science Blog Feed

June 12, 2011

Have a fun filled and educational summer!!!

As the last week of this school year is upon us, I wanted to congratulate all students on an amazing school year!!! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did this year exploring, learning, and understanding the wonders of science. Take some time to sleep in and relax and keep that brain engaged. 5th graders-congratulations and I can't wait to hear about all your success in junior high and 4th graders-see you next year!

~Miss Klim =)

May 9, 2011

Upcoming Science Fair!!

Our Science Fair is Thursday May 26! Here is a list of activities that students should complete by the end of this week.

May 10 (5^th grade) or May 12 (4^th grade)

If you are working on an experiment science fair project

___ The question, hypothesis, materials, and procedure should be written

___ Give Miss Klim a list of materials you need to complete your experiment

___ Add your project on the science fair list

If you are working on a research science fair project

___ Give Miss Klim a list of materials you need to complete your experiment

___Write 10-15 SCIENTIFIC facts that you will include on you display board about your topic

___ Check out or bring in at least 1 book about your topic

April 25, 2011

Science the week of April 25-29

4th graders- Magnetism and Electricity: We are continuing to use our circuit bases with electromagnets this week. We will also learn how telegraphs work and create our own telegraph using the circuit bases.

5th graders- Science state testing review: This week we are focusing on the earth science unit in 4th grade. We will also spend the week before testing using the computers to review what we have learned this year by visiting links on the blog.

April 19, 2011

Science the week of April 18-April 22

4th graders- Magnetism and Electricity: We are continuing to use our circuit bases this week. We are integrating electromagnets into our lessons this week, learning how electromagnets bring electricity and magnetism together.

5th graders- Science state testing review: This week we are focusing on the life science unit in 4th grade. We will review vocabulary and experiments about food webs, habitats, and ecosystems.

April 11, 2011

Science the week of April 11-April 15

4th graders- Magnetism and Electricity: This week we are running motors using our circuit bases. We will continue to learn about the flow of electricity to light lightbulbs and run a motor. We will also start learning about series and parallel circuits

5th graders- Science state testing review: This week we are focusing on the physical science unit in 4th grade. We will review vocabulary and experiments about magnets, electricity, and electromagnets.

March 28, 2011

Science the week of Mar 28-April 1

4th graders- Magnetism and Electricity: This week we are starting to learn the basics of electricity. We will learn how to use wires and a battery to light a lightbulb. Students will be introduced to our circuit bases, a great safety tool we can use while connecting all electricity materials.


5th graders- Mixtures and Solutions: We are spending the week working on the laptops to learn more about the periodic table of elements, chemical reactions, atoms and molecules. We will be visiting many websites listed on the blog.

March 15, 2011

Science the week of Mar 14-18

4th graders- Magnetism and Electricity: This week we are spending time continuing to learn about magnets and their unique properties. We are learning about what types of metals are considered magnetic and how to create a temporary magnet. Students are also reviewing the scientific method for our upcoming science fair.


5th graders- Mixtures and Solutions: This week we are learning about a chemical reaction. We are making observations about what we can see happening that would suggest a chemical reaction has taken place. Students are also reviewing the scientific method for our upcoming science fair.

February 28, 2011

Science the week of Feb 28-March 4

This week in Science:

4th graders- Environments: This week we will take our unit test on Environments. Please remind your students of the upcoming test. Here is the Schedule:
LeConte: Thursday Mar 3

5th graders- Mixtures and Solutions: We are starting our first full week focusing on our new unit, mixtures and solutions. This week we will be learning what a mixture is and what a solution is. We will also be learning different techniques we can use to separate the mixtures and solutions that we have made.

February 7, 2011

Science the week of Feb 7-11

4th graders- Environments: This week we are continuing to take care of our terrariums. This week we will add 2 new animals to our habitat and make observations about what happens to our plants and current animals when we add our new residents.

5th graders- Living Systems: We are spending our last week on the unit working on our study guide for the Living Systems unit test. Students will be using their Science notebooks, textbooks, and each other to help them answer questions on the study guide. I will also be giving them the answers, so they can correct the study guide and take it home to study with all the correct answers. As of now, LeConte students will take the test on Tuesday Feb 15 and Washington students will take the test on Wednesday Feb 16

January 10, 2011

Science the week of Jan 10-14

This week in Science:

4th graders- Environments: This week we are planting in our terrariums and revisiting our water schedule. We are deciding if we should change how much we water depending on what our soil looks like. If plants are already growing by the end of the week, we will be using our terrarium maps to decide which of the 5 plants we planted they are.

5th graders- Living Systems: This week we are focusing on the similarities and differences between plant cells and human cells. Students are going to be able to design their own experiments using celery to look at how plants move nutrients through their system.

December 13, 2010

Science the week of Dec 13-17

This week in Science:

4th graders- Environments: We are spending our last week learning about food chains and food webs. We will be working on a food web poster this week, where we combine all the new vocabulary we have learned over the past few weeks including producer, consumer, omnivore, etc. onto one diagram.

5th graders- Living Systems: We are continuing our learning about circulatory systems from last week. We are also learning about the digestive system this week. We will spend time on the computers at interactive websites where we can see how our circulatory and digestion systems work.

December 7, 2010

Science the week of Dec 6-10

4th graders- Environments: We are continuing our lesson on food chains and food webs this week. We will learn the definitions of herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore, spend some time on the computers viewing interactive food webs, and start on a food web poster project.

5th graders- Living Systems: We are starting our new unit, Living Systems this week. We are learning about cells and similarities and differences we have with other multicellular organisms. We are also starting to learn about the circulatory system, which we will continue next week. LeConte students will also take their Water Planet test this week.

November 29, 2010

Science the week of Nov 29-Dec 3

4th graders- Environments: We are starting our new unit this week called Environments. This week we are learning about an ecosystem and how animals and plants need each other to survive. We are also starting to learn about food chains and good webs.

5th graders- Water Planet: This week we are continuing to study for our Water Planet unit test. LeConte students will take the test next week on Tuesday.

November 22, 2010

Upcoming 5th grade Science Test

5th graders will take their unit test on our Water Planet unit in the next few weeks.

Study guides go home Tuesday Nov 30
Test is on Tuesday Dec 7

Please make sure you are reviewing your study guide for at least 20 minutes each day! Remember, if you know all the information on the study guide, you will do VERY WELL on the test.

November 15, 2010

Upcoming 4th Grade Test on November 23

4th graders- Solid Earth: We are spending this week preparing for our upcoming test on Solid Earth by working on a study guide. Students will take the study guide home on Thursday November 18 to prepare for the test next week. Please make sure students are reviewing their study guide every night for at least 20 minutes. The testing schedule is listed below

4th grade test schedule:
Ms. Cross and Mr. Henderson's classes:
Tuesday November 23

October 25, 2010

Science the Week of Oct 25- Oct 29

This week in Science:

4th graders- Solid Earth: We are learning how weathering and erosion can affect rocks on our planet. We will also be learning about how changes in the rocks can change the topography.

5th graders- Water Planet: This week we are learning about pressure in the atmosphere and how that pressure is related to changes in the weather. We will also be starting to learn what weather is and important weather vocabulary.

October 19, 2010

Science the Week of Oct 18- Oct 22

This week in Science:

4th graders- Solid Earth: We are finishing up our lesson about the rock cycle by playing the rock cycle game. We will start learning about how weathering and erosion affects rocks.

5th graders- Water Planet: We are spending the week learning how the sun heats our planet and the drastic temperature change we can see whither in the shade or in the sun.

October 4, 2010

Science the Week of Oct 4- Oct 8

This week in Science:

4th graders- Solid Earth: This week we are using the minerals property table we learned about last week to help us identify new minerals. We are completing hardness tests, scratch tests, and looking at the color and luster to help us identify each new mineral.

5th graders- Water Planet: We are learning all about water! We are first learning about how much and what kind of water is on our planet and we will then learn all about the water cycle and see how water is moved throughout the planet. We will be using the wireless cart to visit interactive water cycle websites on this blog.

September 28, 2010

Science the Week of Sept 27-Oct 1

4th graders- Solid Earth: This week we are learning how to identify minerals using the mineral properties table and how rocks are made of many minerals. We will use different tools to help us learn each category on the mineral properties table.

5th graders- Water Planet: We will finish learning about evaporation and move onto condensation. We will also make a math connection while learning about surface area and how surface area can change the evaporation rate.

September 21, 2010

Science The Week of Sept 20-24

4th graders- Solid Earth: We will finish up our scratch test with minerals and identify them using the minerals property table and the information we have gained from the scratch test. We will then use vinegar to test if a particular mineral is found in several different rocks

5th graders- Water Planet: We are wrapping up our lesson about the solar system and starting a new lesson about evaporation. Students will learn what evaporation is and will get the opportunity to see it first hand in our own evaporation experiment.

Don't forget!

Coastal Cleanup Day is Saturday September 25, 2010

This is a great yearly event that helps keep our beautiful beaches clean and prevents pollution from entering our waters and hurting marine life and our marine ecosystem.
Events will be taking place all over the bay area.

Here is Berkeley there is a cleanup at Shorebird Park Nature Center. Please register first, so staff will know how many supplies to bring. You can register at www.cityofberkeley.info/marina

For more information about Coastal Cleanup Day, please check out there website at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html

*My Science students receive extra credit for attending!!*