Sifting Through Science

Set up a  Using "Junk Boxes" from Math Their Way math activities, students can complete free exploration activities to investigate properties of objects. All the tiny objects that your child has brought home from nature walks or as presents for you can now be put to use! A Junk Box is series of collections of 25-50 items (each less than 1" so that a child can hold five or six comfortably in his closed hand.) that are separated into different plastic or cardboard boxes: buttons, seed pods, lids from jars, nuts, pits from fruit, slices of tree branches, ceramic tiles, small toy animals, bottle caps, small polished rocks, old keys, acorn tops, beech nuts, eucalyptus buttons, tiny pine cones, shells, Indian corn kernels, rosehips, beans, river rocks, nuts and bolts, old erasers, small sticks, etc. You will need at least 16 or more. 

SINK OR FLOAT:

In advance make a piece of paper that has two columns labeled "Sink" and "Float". Even better if you can laminate this so it doesn't get wet. Now you can encourage your student to investigate whether these materials will sink or float. You can introduce the activity by asking him predict (or hypothesize) if a certain item will sink or float and then allow him to test it. You can even ask them to explain - why do you think it will float?

Next, the child puts each item into a small bowl of water and determines if the item sinks or floats. Then he can put the item into the sink or float category. Keep a small towel nearby for clean up.

Afterwards, he can write or draw the categories in his science journal.

MAGNETIC OR NON-MAGNETIC

For the second activity, make a piece of paper that has two columns labeled "Magnetic" and "Non-Magnetic". 

Use the Junk Boxes without the bowl of water but with the addition of a large magnet. Now they can make their own discoveries and record them in his science journal.

SEPARATING A MIXTURE

Next, show the student a bowl of a mixture of dried beans and sand, and a sifter, Invite the child to experiment with separating the mixture, indicating that he could use the sifter. 

Lastly, students are given a mixture of sand, salt, wax chips and paper clips and they have to reason how to separate the materials using the knowledge they have gain through the last lessons, using the same tools and techniques.