EARTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT - primarily looks at the weather, its effects on different creatures and on a range of energy sources.
In EARTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT the further related activities include:
1. SEASONS - Make a seasonal calendar with your child to show the four seasons and the events and festivities within each season. Take a large piece of card and divide it into 4 section with a marker pen. Label the sections Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn and then ask your child to draw a picture of an appropriate scene for the season. Then write in the square all the Birthdays and festivities that fall in each section. For example, Christmas is in Winter, Easter in Spring, My Birthday in Summer and so on. Hang the calendar up on a wall so you can refer to it on a regular basis.
2. WEATHER FORECASTS - An easy way to learn about the different types of weather is to study the weather forecasts in the newspapers or Television. The symbols a child will begin to recognise are those for rain, snow, sunshine, clouds and the temperature circles. You can easily simulate a weather forecast by making some replica symbols and sticking some Velcro or tacky rubber behind the symbols and then sticking them on a large map of the UK. Most children will love to dress up as if they were on television, and they can have a go at predicting the weather, and then see if they were right.
3. RAIN GAUGE - One of the early things children learn to appreciate in Science is the many uses of rain. They begin to see that not only is it fun to splash in puddles, and get wet, but it also makes things grow and feeds thirsty animals. When rain falls continuously for a morning , as tiny droplets of water, it is sometimes difficult for a child to comprehend how much water has actually fallen. A simple rain gauge will tell a child exactly how much water has fallen. Take an old plastic squash bottle and cut the top off it. Mark with permanent pen the sides of the bottle in one inch increments up to 5 inches. Dig a hole in the ground in an open space with no overhanging trees or nearby buildings, and bury the bottle, leaving the top uncovered.
When you return after a designated period of time, the bottle can be unearthed and the water that has fallen measured.
4. ADVERTISING AND WEATHER - A good way for your child to recognise the different types of weather we experience around the world is to look through magazine advertisements with them to see what people advertise through the use of weather. Some examples will be:
Sunshine - a holiday, sun oil, a safari, a swimming pool, a cool drink
Snow - a skiing holiday, Christmas, central heating, warm food like porridge, a mountain rescue service.
Rain - A warm drink, double glazing, a fireplace, waterproof clothes, Anti skid tyres.
.. you may be surprised by how many examples of weather being used in this way you can find.
You can either cut out a picture from an advert and try to ask your child what it might be advertising, or you could ask your child what weather conditions they would construct for an advertisement for, say, a simulated coal fireplace - and why would they choose that weather type.
5. THE PATH OF THE SUN IN THE DAY. Children at the very beginning of the Science curriculum need to understand that the sun travels a predetermined path during the course of the day and that the moon changes its shape over the course of a month. The course of the sun is an easier principle to demonstrate, as a child can quite easily construct a small sun dial in the garden, with a post in the ground and a piece of card beneath, and watch as the sun moves the shadow around the surrounding area of the dial. Alternatively you can also ask your child to think about what side of the house the sun comes up over in the mornings and where is it when they go to sleep, and does this happen in the same way every day that you can see the sun?
6. SHADOWS - The best way to illustrate the principles of light and dark, and the effect of light on a solid or transparent object, is to play around with finger shadows. Experiment with your hands over a light source onto a wall and quite quickly you will achieve a rabbit with some ears that waggle, and a bird that can fly. Now move your hands closer and then further away from the light source, and see how the size of the shadow changes. Children can learn a lot about this subject by playing around with their shadows in the garden, making a shadow monster, or a long thin shadow and then a tiny lilt one. The principles to teach here are that light can not pass through some materials and when this happens a shadow is formed.
