Letter No. 3 Week No. 1: Chapter 1, Section 5: Tools, Measurement, and Safety

Question of the Day: What do we measure?

The heart of science is measurement.

Erik Brynjolfsson Check out this link to see some of the largest things in the world. I like #2 the best. Here are some fun ways to practice measuring:

Mak e B r owni e s Onlin e P r actic e Build a Blu eb i r d H ous e W e should do this in class! Fly Pap er Ai r plan e s! In case we don’t get to it, give it a try at home! Make a list of EVERYTHING that can be measured!

Can you even measure that list?

You’ve been working FAST, SHARP, SMART, and you’ve been PAYING ATTENTION this week. Now it’s time to get to practice measuring, organizing, and preparing your experiment that you will present to the class.

Try this: Determine your human body ratios.

Why do we do this? Being organized makes life easier. When life is easier, it’s more interesting. Measuring is a way we organize things. Can you imagine what it would be like if we never measured our ingredients, or the sizes of clothes, or if we never measured how fast we were traveling? I think it would be a pretty messed up crazy world. We do this too because when we learn things we feel good about ourselves and the more we learn, the more choices we’ll have in life.

HOMEWORK FOR THE DAY: Today, you should gather all of your

materials for your experiment. Get enough to practice with at home and to

share in class. Practice with your partner. Take pictures and post them to

your blog. Have you started a blog? If you haven’t, don’t worry. You can print a

picture and put it in your composition book. If you don’t have a camera, you

can draw a picture instead! Record the process.

Tell your story.

One last thing. What you are going to share in

class is not an experiment. You are doing an

activity. There is a difference. Since we didn’t

include variables (or maybe you did) the activity

became an activity and is not an experiment.

You’re going fast this week! You’re being smart, sharp, and you’re paying attention!

Isn’t it EXCITING?Have fun!

Ms. Weatherhead