Donna, fix this page
Science for Children in Grades 4-6
During this 3 year period, your children will study basically the same topics they covered earlier but in more depth. See Science Outline to get an idea of what to cover. It only goes to 5th grade though, sorry about that. :) There is also a list below.
Initial ideas for this age group
Humans: During this time start with the things you can see, such as the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, etc and learn the names of the parts, draw them too. After that, each year go into more depth such as skeleton, circulatory, organs, revisit the senses..... This is also the time to talk about reproduction in humans, plants, and animals.
Animals, bugs, plants: Learn their different parts too. How they breathe, eat, (who eats, gets eaten, and who makes their own food) and so on. Study live specimens if you can. Grow some plants. Look at things through a magnifying glass. This is the earth worm, ant farm, tadpole-to-frog, caterpillar-to-butterfly period --- try to do most of them.
Bird observations should become a more refined. Study the stars too, make drawings and notes in a journal. Choose a native tree, identify it, learn how to identify that particular kind of tree during each of the four seasons.
During the last year, work on refining lab techniques: Care of equipment, how to use equipment, how to clean and put away. How to make notes during an experiment, how to: make charts, make graphs, make drawings, and write a few sentences about results...
Sample topics for this age group
These are listed in no particular order
|-Plants and Seeds Structure
-Insects and Reptiles
-Food Chains, (producers, consumers, decomposers)
-Human physiology systems
-Classification of living things
-Algae and fungi
-Properties and Uses of Light (speed and direction, reflection, refraction, lasers, the color spectrum)
-Basics of Oceans (tides, waves, current, geography of floor - ridges, trenches, life)
-Fresh water & the water cycle
- The Universe
-Electricity and uses
|-Uses Measuring Devices, Graphing
-Techniques of Observation and Experimentation
-Machines and How They Work
-Graph obtained data, using millimeters, centimeters, meters
-Use of Microscope
-Elements and compounds
-Sound, light, and heat
-Magnetic and electric interactions
The books and software titles below have resources to meet some of the needs for this age group. Many resources will be found in the World Book CD-ROMs -- diagrams of human, bug, and plant parts as well as some multimedia resources.
You don't need all of these, be selective!
Be selective when investing in nature guide books. TIP: Get guide books that are for your area. It is annoying to wade through trees of China when you are trying to find the tree in your backyard. The handiest books to OWN are tree and bird guides.
We really enjoyed using TOPS Learning Systems #32 Electricity.. Lab uses aluminum foil instead of wire. I recommend that you buy some battery holders, alligator clips, switches, and thin coated wire because the foil gets HOT. These things can be found at Radio Shack or a similar store.Favorite