https://sdzwildlifeexplorers.org/stories

Did you know that dinosaurs are related to birds? Or that the biggest dinosaurs had hollow bones?

Spark your thinking!

1.  Set up your Early Enrichment Mini Spark recording page: #69: Dinosaur Facts

2. Dinosaurs are a group of reptiles that have lived on Earth for about 245 million years. In 1842, the English naturalist Sir Richard Owen coined the term Dinosauria, derived from the Greek deinos, meaning “fearfully great,” and sauros, meaning “lizard.” Dinosaur fossils have been found on all seven continents! Record the bolded information on your recording page.

3. There are all kinds of fun facts about dinosaurs! And, there are so many types of dinosaurs scientists are learning about! Choose a dinosaur read about at National Geographic Kids. Record the name of the dinosaur and 5 facts from the article.

4. Watch and learn fun facts about dinosaurs. At the end of the video there is a review. Pause the video and  write the answers on your recording page then unpause your video and check your answer.

5. Share your Early Enrichment Mini Spark recording page with your teacher or EY Coordinator.

Did you that there are two digital badges about dinosaurs? Check them out at the EY website.

For this Early Enrichment Mini Spark challenge, create your best snow person/people or creatures. No snow required.

1. Set up your Early Enrichment Mini Spark recording page: 68: SNOW + ENGINEERING = FUN

2. Learn about the engineering behind snow building. Record 5 details on your recording sheet.

3.  Watch these kids creating on snow people that are built out of paper, tape, plastic bags, and newspaper. Did you like the final project? Explain why or why not.

4. Build a snow creature. You can build it out of snow if you are doing the mini spark while there is snow on the ground, or you can build it out of materials. Do not buy anything, use materials you have around the classroom or your house.  If you build your snow creature out of materials, if doesn’t have to be as big as the examples in the video unless you want it to be.

5. Take a picture of your project ½ way through and then at the end. Add your pictures to your recording page.

6. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Spring is in the air! Learn about the blooming power of flowers and then do a hands-on activity creating a blooming flower and card to give to someone special.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your early enrichment mini spark recording page: #67: Flower Power

2. Watch this Mystery Science video about how flowers bloom. Record 3 things you learned on your recording page.

3.  Gather needed materials to complete the activity.

• Crayons
• Scissors
• Dot Stickers or Tape
• Plastic Paper Plate or Bowl

4.  In this activity, you will make a colorful paper flower and a greeting card that they can give to any special person in their life. When placed in water, the paper flower will unfold, appearing to move and bloom in front of your eyes! You may want to use this as a Mother’s Day activity, but you choose who will receive the card, so it can be for anyone special.

5. Print this template single sided. Ask your teacher for help if needed.

6. Follow the step-by-step instructions on the paper.

7. Once your flowers are complete add them to the card.

8. When you give your card, explain that you will need to your place the flowers in water and you can watch them bloom together!

Extension: You can see for yourself how water moves inside a plant. Fill a glass with water and add a few drops of red or blue food coloring. Place a white flower in the glass. Wait a few hours and watch to see what happens. Look closely at the flower petals. What do you notice? Repeat this experiment, but use a stalk of celery or a lettuce leaf. What do you predict will happen?

9. Share your STEAM mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

This summer was HOT!! There were even stories about eggs frying on a sidewalk. This makes you think….what ordinary items might melt in the sun? Do an experiment to find out.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your early enrichment mini spark recording page: #66: What Melts in the Sun?

2. Ask your parent or guardians permission first before you start.

Experiment steps

1. Set up your recording page with three columns and 12 rows.

2. Put a title at the top of each column

Object           Do you think it will melt?               Did it melt?

3. Find a muffin tin.

4. FInd 12 ordinary household items that make you ask….”Does this melt in the sun?”

5. Take a picture of your tin. Add it to your recording page.

5. Write those items down on your recording sheet.

6. Decide if you think the item will melt. Write YES or NO for each item.

7. Choose a day where the temperature is at least 85 degrees.

8. Put your muffin tin with the items in the full sun and wait at least 20 minutes.

9. I know it’s hard to wait 20 minutes, but you can do it!!! After the 20 minutes is up, go check on your results!

10. Fill in the column with the results of your experiment.

11. Take a picture of the tin and the items. Add it to your recording page.

12. Now, for the most important step:  CLEAN UP AND PUT THINGS BACK!

3. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator. We can’t wait to see it!

Lesson adapted from: https://frugalfun4boys.com/simple-science-experiment-for-kids-what-melts-in-the-sun/

Watch this video and practice all of your letters.

What do you know about earthquakes?  Let’s find out!

1. Earthquakes usually happen at the edge of tectonic plates.

• Tectonic plates are the outer layer of the Earth.
• They are made of rock and are constantly moving.

2. Earthquakes occur when the plates get stuck, but keep trying to move!

• The tectonic plates are constantly moving but sometimes they get stuck.
• When they get stuck, pressure builds up and the plates will suddenly move.

3. Before an earthquake, foreshocks might occur!

• Foreshocks can be one or more small earthquakes which happen in the lead up to a bigger one, which is known as the main shock.
• Scientists can often use these to predict big earthquakes.

4. After an earthquake, aftershocks are likely to happen.

• An aftershock is one or more small earthquakes after the main one has occurred.
• This is because of the Earth’s crust adjusting to the effect of the main earthquake.
• They can be very dangerous as buildings might already have damage to them from the large earthquake and so it can often cause them to fall.

5. The shock waves that travel through the ground are called seismic waves.

• They are very strong at the centre of the earthquake.
• The waves travel to the surface and this is when the ground shakes and destruction happens.

6. Scientists use the Moment Magnitude scale to measure how strong an earthquake is.

• This scale measures the energy that is released by the earthquake which makes it very accurate.
• In the past, scientists used something called the Richter scale which measured the size of the seismic waves, however, this wasn’t as accurate as it could have been.

7. The place where an earthquake starts is called the hypocenter.

• An earthquake has to start somewhere!
• It is always under ground, below the Earth’s surface.

8. The ground above where an earthquake starts is called the epicenter.

• The epicenter of an earthquake is on the ground directly above the hypocenter.
• The difference between them is the hypocenter is under the ground and the epicenter is above the ground.

9. The strongest ever earthquake was in Chile, in the year 1960.

• It was a 9.5 on the Moment magnitude scale which is very, very high.
• The earthquake lasted for 10 whole minutes.

10. Japan is the country where most earthquakes occur.

• This is because Japan is within something known as ‘The Pacific Ring of Fire’.
• This is on the edge of the Pacific Ocean and is where there is a tectonic plate edge.
• Other countries that are affected are Philippines, United States, Chile and more.

Which of these 10 facts surprised you the most?

What is a comet?

Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun.

Scientists believe that comets are made up of material left over from when the Sun and the planets were formed. They think that about 100,000 million comets orbit the Sun. Some comets orbit the Sun like planets. Their orbits take them very close to and very far away from the Sun.

As of 2014 there are 5,253 known comets, a number that is steadily increasing as they are discovered. However, this represents only a tiny fraction of the total potential comet population, as the number of comet-like bodies in the outer Solar System is estimated to be one trillion. That’s a LOT!

Learn more about comets by watching the video below.

Go to this link to learn more about comets by reading a small article and then answer the question at the bottom.

Did you get it right?

Almost 70 miles west of Key West lies Dry Tortugas National Park. This 100-square mile park is mostly open water with seven small islands.  You can only get there by boat or seaplane! The park is known all over the world as the home of magnificent Fort Jefferson, beautiful blue waters, lots of coral reefs and marine life, and the tons of bird life that visit the area!

Click the link below to go on a virtual field trip to this amazing place!

https://artsandculture.withgoogle.com/en-us/national-parks-service/dry-tortugas/near-little-africa-tour

Once there, click the “Play” button. Make sure you have headphones so you can listen to the narrator! Click and drag to explore! Dive the Windjammer Shipwreck! Swim through a coral reef!

Comment below: What was your favorite part of this field trip?

Click HERE if you want to learn even more!