These little creatures have it all figured out. In this mini spark, learn more about how insects breathe without lungs.

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #9: How Do Insects Breathe?

2. Check out this Newsela article called “How Insects Breathe” to start building your background information about this topic. Record 2 details from each of the sections on your recording sheet.

3. Watch this video. On your recording sheet, add 5 facts from the video.

4. This short article about ants will give you an idea about how oxygen circulates in insects and humans breathe differently.  Take 5 notes on your recording sheet.

5. What is interesting about the way pill bugs breathe? Look over this page about pill bugs to find the answer. Record your response on your recording page.

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

Check out the Bug Breathing Badge at the EY website.

Below Zero Temperatures = Science Experiments!When it is cold outside you can LEARN! Check out these Cold Weather Science Experiments and figure out if it’s real or a myth!  Don’t forget to share your results!

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #8: Cold Weather Science Experiments

2. Look over this list of experiments. On your recording sheet write the title of the project you will do and  what you will need to gather for the experiment.

1. Freezing Soap Bubbles: Head outside with some bubble solution and blow some bubbles!  NOTE:  Try heating up the bubble solution in the microwave beforehand.  You can make your own bubble solution with 2 cups of water, half a cup of dish soap, and 2 teaspoons sugar.
2. Banana Hammer: Hang a banana outside for a few hours and it will freeze solid-solid enough for you to be able to hammer actual nails with it.
3. Make An Ice Thrower: Fill a Super Soaker with boiling water and then shoot it out into the cold.  When very hot water meets very cold air, the water vaporizes, turning it into ice crystals…essentially, homemade snow.  Don’t have a Super Soaker, just use the pot you boiled the water in.
4. Freeze-Fry An Egg: Don’t actually eat it, but leave a frying pan outside for about 15 minutes and then crack an egg into it.  What happens?
5. Instant Freeze Water – Bottle Slam

If you want to go read more about your experiment this is the link to the original site.

3. Gather your materials and add a picture to your recording sheet.

4. Complete the experiment. On your recording sheet write down what you did and the results.  Don’t forget to take pictures.

5. Make a pic collage with all of the information from your project.

6. Share your science mini spark recording page and your project with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Marie Curie is famous for discovering two important radioactive elements called radium and polonium. She was a pioneer in studying radioactivity, which is the energy released by certain materials. Marie Curie was also the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, receiving awards in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry in 1911 for her amazing work.

Spark your thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #6: Marie Curie

2.  Read this article about Marie Curie.  Make a 5 question quiz to go along with the article. Include an answer key.

3. Watch this video. Take detailed notes on your recording page while watching.  Include at least 8 pieces of information in your notes.

4. Choose 2 of these questions to answer with at least 3 thoughtful sentences. Remind your teacher that the answer key can be found in the science mini spark folder.

• Describe Marie Curie’s early life and the challenges she faced in pursuing her education.
• What motivated Marie Curie to enroll in the Floating University, and what was its significance?
• What were the key discoveries made by Marie Curie in her research on radiation?
• How did Marie Curie’s work during World War I change medical practices?
•  In what ways did Marie Curie’s discoveries influence the field of science, particularly in medicine and physics?
• Reflect on the personal cost Marie Curie faced as a result of her research. What can we learn from her story?

5. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

After spending some time at the playground, soccer field, or in the backyard, it can be easy to see the dirt on our hands. What you can’t see are the invisible-to-your-eye germs that accumulate on your hands throughout the day. To see the effect those germs have, give this this eye-opening experiment a try.

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #5: Hand Hygiene Experiment

2. Read this whole page. On your recording page write down your plans the supplies you will need.

• Three slices of bread (the kind from a bakery or homemade works best — the fewer preservatives the better)
• Three resealable bags
• tongs (optional)
• Dirty hands

3. Gather your supplies and take a picture. Add it to your recording page.

4.  Label each of the three bags:

• • Control
  • Dirty
  • Clean

5.  Place one slice of bread in the “control” bag without touching it.  You can use clean tongs, or turn the resealable bag inside out and use it like a glove to get the slice inside.  Seal the bag.

6. Remove a second slice of bread and touch the bread with unwashed hands.  Place the bread in the bag and seal it.

7. Wash your hands with soap and water.

8. Take a third slice of bread and touch the bread with her freshly-washed hands.  Place the bread in the bag and seal it.

9. Take all three sealed bags and put them in a cool, dry place.

10. Look at the bread daily and write down your observations, but do not take the bread out of the bags. In a few days, mold should start to appear.

11. Record the answers to these questions on your recording sheet.

• What slice of bread gets moldy first?
• Which grows the most mold?
• Which grows the least?
• If mold starts to appear, take a ruler and measure it and record your observations.
• Draw a picture of the bread each day, or keep a photo diary by taking pictures of the bread each day to watch the changes over time.

12. REMINDERS

You should wash your hands before, during, and after preparing food. Also wash before you eat, after using the restroom, after blowing your nose, after touching animals, and any time your hands appear dirty.

How Do I Wash? The scrubbing part of washing your hands is important. It’s the combination of the friction of rubbing your hands together along with the soap that really gets them clean. Take your time and sing or hum the Happy Birthday song twice.  If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Make sure it’s at least 60 percent alcohol. Rub the sanitizer all over your hands just like if you were scrubbing your hands with soap and water. Then allow the sanitizer to dry.

13. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Source: https://www.mottchildren.org/posts/camp-little-victors/dirty-hands

Oil-eating bacteria, also called oleophilic bacteria or oil-degrading microbes, are tiny living things that eat oil for food. These bacteria can break down different kinds of oil, like oils from plants and animals, as well as oil from gasoline and other products. When these bacteria digest oil, they get energy to grow and release carbon dioxide and water as waste.

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page:#4: Bacteria That Eats Oil

2. Watch this video about an oil spill, and how we try to clean it up using bacteria. Take 5 notes from the video on your recording page.

3. Make a section on your recording page for each of these headings.

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion

4. Read this article, How can we find oil-eating bacteria to clean up the sea? to learn more about this topic. For each of the sections, write down what you learned on your recording sheet.

5. Answer three of these questions on your recording sheet

• Why is it bad when crude oil gets into the environment?
• Why do conventional methods of cleaning up oil spills present us with a problem?
• What is a better alternative to conventional clean-up methods?
• What does a higher intensity of the red color of Nile Red say about the oil-eating ability of the bacteria in the new test?

6. Create a chatter pic to show what you learned.

 Make the main character a bacteria. You can draw it or find a picture. Choose two of the questions from step 5 to anwer in your Chatter Pic

Chatter Pic STEP BY STEP!

Step 1 – Find Chatter pic in Mosyle.

Step 2 – Take a picture or get one from the gallery in your device. You can also make a drawing and take a picture of it!

Step 3 – Draw a line on the object to create a mouth.

Step 4 – Record your voice! Remember you only have 30 seconds.

Step 5 – Add stickers if necessary or desired.

Step 6 – Save your project into the camera roll.

8. Share your science mini spark recording page and your chatter pic with your teacher/EY coordinator.

The oldest glue in the world is over 8,000 years old and comes from a cave near the Dead Sea. Today, we have enough types of tape and glue to build and repair almost anything. But what gives glue and tape their stickiness? And is one stronger than the other?

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #3: Glue or Tape?

2. Watch this video. Record at least 10 science words that you hear.

3. This is a vocabulary rich video. Create a mini dictionary with at least 8 terms and definitions to go along with the video.

4. Choose one project to complete

• Write a short speech from the point of view of tape or glue explaining why it is better than the other.
• Who invented Scotch Tape? Do some research to answer this question. Use at least 5 sentences.
• Why would you want to use duct tape to hold a chain of bowling balls together instead of glue? Explain this using 5 sentences.
• Make a list of all of the the types of tapes and glues that you know about. try to come up with at least 15. Don’t forget those made by nature.

5. Share your science mini spark recording page with your teacher/EY coordinator.

Source: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/which-is-stronger-glue-or-tape-elizabeth-cox#digdeeper

Ever wonder how glass is made? It’s like making a giant cookie: you mix sandy quartz with some lime and a sprinkle of sodium bicarbonate, then bake it in a super hot oven until it turns into a shiny, crunchy treat—just don’t eat it!

Spark you thinking!

1. Set up your science mini spark recording page: #1: How Glass is Made

2. Watch a video about glass from Mystery Doug. Take a 5 notes on your recording page as you watch.

3. Watch this animated step video about glass from Mocomi.

4. Draw a picture timeline or use pic collage showing several of the different glass making processes that were shown in the video. Include at least 3 science words in your visual.

5. Share your science mini spark recording page and your chatter pic with your teacher/EY coordinator.

source: https://mocomi.com/how-is-glass-made/