School Programs Guide 2011-2012
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First Grade
Our Rocky World: 2.01, 2.05
Get ready to sort a variety of rocks and minerals by their different properties. Students will discover how these earthy materials can be organized by their color, size, shape, and hardness. Explore the many amazing ways mankind uses rocks and minerals in everyday life.
Simply Soil: 2.03, 2.04, 2.05
Expect to get a little dirty as various soils are closelyexamined. The senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing are used in this program to identify an assortment of soil samples from different places. Learn the many components that combine to make our Earth’s soil so unique and useful.
Second Grade
Weather Watchers: 2.03, 2.04, 2.05
Be amazed by the many ways weather can be described and measured. Students will get familiarwith several tools that are used to determine temperature, wind speed, and precipitation. Understand how the sun’s energy affects the Earth’s land, air, and water.
States of Matter: 3.01, 3.04, 3.05
Realize that matter is everywhere around us and has special states. This program has demonstrations and various activities that develop an understanding of how to identify solids, liquids, and gases. See some interesting mixtures that can be created by combining an assortment of solids and liquids.
**Coming soon this Spring** "Sounds Fun"
Discover how sounds works by investigating various instruments.
Third Grade
Digging Deeper into Soil: 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04
Get a deeper understanding of soil and its manydistinguishing properties by delving into soil’s varied components: sand, silt, clay, and humus. This program offers experimentation in waterabsorption and activities that explain the formation of specific soils. Find out how soil has the amazing ability to support life and why it is such an important resource.
321 Blastoff!: 3.01, 3.02, 3.05, 3.06
Observe how light travels in the night sky during a tour of the solar system in our GeoDome immersive visualization environment. Students will observe the amazing movements of the stars, moons, and planets in a computer program with real pictures fromNASA. See how our amazing moon seems to change its shape from day to day and how the planets move around the sun as we fast forward time in space.
The Night Sky: 3.01, 3.02, 3.06
Join us in our Star Lab Planetarium as we learn about the glittering stars of the night sky. Students will locate intriguing constellations and understand why they appear to move across the sky. Be captivated by Greek legends of the “stellar heavens” and discover the many ways mankind has used stars across the ages.
Fourth Grade
Rocks and Minerals: 2.01, 2.03, 2.05, 2.07
Discover amazing facts about numerous rocks and minerals found in the Earth’s crust. During thislesson the unique formation of different rock types are discussed while students examine samples of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks. Acquire knowledge of how some rocks havegeological importance in various regions throughout North Carolina.
Elementary Electricity:3.03, 3.04, 3.05, 3.06, 3.08
Become intrigued by the parts of the light bulb that allow it to glow. Students will manipulate electric circuits to better understand how they work and why an assortment of materials can be either conductors or insulators of electricity. Be enlightened by the relationship between electricity and magnetism.
Fifth Grade
Discovering Meteorology: 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04
Investigate the many processes in the water cycle and why they affect the weather. In this lessonlearn about various clouds by building model cloudscapes and by manipulating the various aspects of a model weather map to explain predictable patterns of weather. Piece together how globalmovements in our atmosphere affect our local weather.
Earth’s Landforms: 2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.06
Unravel the mystery of how water, wind, and gravity have shaped the Earth’s surface for billions of years. Students will identify pictures of fascinating landforms and will build models to see how erosion forms andestablishes the diverse shapes of the earth’s crust. Uncover the remarkable way different climates can influence the look of the land.
Sixth Grade
Journey to the Solar System: 5.02, 5.03, 5.05
Journey through the solar system and learn whatmakes each planet unique in our GeoDome immersive visualization environment. The lesson will cover how the orbit of the sun and moon affect our lives on Earth by fast forwarding time during our spacetour. Discover where our solar system is nestled in the milky way and how our galaxy fits into the scheme of our universe.
