4th Grade Science + Fire Safety

Fire Safety

Custom class at our local nature center on fire safety in the outdoors. Topics included what was needed for a successful fire (tinder, kindling, fire starters), types of fire structure, fire safety for yourself and the environment (how you should act around a fire, where to build a fire, how to keep the fire contained), and safely putting out a fire.

Fire Safety Mind Map:

Tour of our local fire station including safety tips, a firefighter uniform demonstration, and a real distress call that allowed us to see this station in action.

Science Club w/Galileo

Landon participated in weekly science club sessions online with kids from all over the world, led by a knowledgeable facilitator. Some topics covered this year were forensics, water study, aliens, geology (earthquakes and volcanoes), “What is life?”, and many more.

Science Club Highlights for Week 4 of Water Study:

Birds – The Good and the Beautiful Unit Study

Curriculum outline and resources

Dissecting an owl pellet
Finding evidence of a small songbird

SCAMPER – Creative Thinking Activity – Given a set of parameters and conditions, Landon created a new bird species called the Dragon Bird.

“Preening” feather activity
“Which beak is best?” experiment

Geology – The Good and the Beautiful Unit Study

Curriculum Outline and Resources

Landon’s fossil collection that he dug up himself and organized from the Devonian Period (about 380 million years ago).

Acellus Online Learning

Sample lessons and quiz scores shown below in screenshots:

Lessons 1-12

Lessons 67-82

Lessons 124-138

Nature Journaling, Observations, and Experiments

Measuring up with snakeskin at our local nature center
Landon used vinegar to extract calcium from a chicken bone!
Hiking in bull moose territory! RMNP
Helping tag Monarch Butterflies prior to their long migration to the mountains of Mexico.
Using beeswax to coat and preserve fall leaves.
Nature journaling (with mud!)
Landon earns his Junior Ranger badge at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, CO.
A study in polarized light.
Nature journaling
Helping make apple pie

NASA + Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL

Our visit included, but was not limited to:

  • Heroes + Legends: Space Pioneers
  • Apollo/Saturn V Center
    • Saturn V Rocket
    • Apollo 8 + The Firing Room
    • Path to the Moon (Apollo missions 7-10)
    • Apollo Treasures Gallery (Including a real Apollo spacecraft and Alan Shepard’s spacesuit)
  • The real Space Shuttle Atlantis
  • The 9-ton Kugel Ball
  • The Rocket Garden
Touching a moon rock
At the Apollo/Saturn V Center