Science Matters: Plants, Sounds, Seasons and Night Sky, a Weekly Reader publication articles

Recent articles from Science Matters: Plants, Sounds, Seasons and Night Sky, a Weekly Reader publication

Blue Jeans: Celebrate a Birthday! (PLANT MATTERS).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Blue jeans are almost 150 years old. Jeans are often called Levi's, named after Levi Strauss, who invented them. Strauss first make work pants out of canvas for California gold miners. Later, he used cotton denim that he dyed blue using dye...

The Story Of Weaving. (PLANT MATTERS).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Long, long ago, people discovered how to weave baskets from grasses. Later they used looms, or frames, to weave cloth from many different plants. The greatest change in making cloth happened in 1785 when a man named Edmund Cartwright invented...

Many Things Come From the Cotton Plant.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... The boll is the part of the cotton plant that contains the cotton fibers and seeds. The cotton fibers are used to make cloth. The seeds contain oil. Cottonseed oil is used to make salad oil, margarine, soaps, and cosmetics. The hulls, or outer...

How Does Cloth Get Its Color? (PLANT MATTERS).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... For many years, plants were used to dye, or color, cloth. During the early 1900s, scientists discovered how to use chemicals to make better and less expensive dyes. Today, most cloth is dyed using these newer chemical colors. Some people enjoy...

Amazing Cotton.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Try this experiment with a partner! * What to oh serve How much water can cotton absorb compared with other fabrics? * What You need * an 8- by 8-inch piece of cotton fabric * tongs * two measuring cups * an 8-...

Sounds of Music!(playing the kazoo)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... EDEN, New York-What musical instrument can everyone play? Some people who live in this small New York town have an answer-a kazoo! The only company in the world that makes metal kazoos is located in Eden. The company is called The One and...

How Does Sound Travel?(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Toss a stone into a still pond. What happens? A series of little waves travel outward in circles that grow larger and larger as they move farther and farther away from the center. If you could see sound moving through the air, it would look...

High Sounds And Low Sounds.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... When something vibrates slowly, it makes a low sound. Scientists say it has a low pitch. When something vibrates quickly, it has a high sound, or a high pitch. You can play high or low sounds on a guitar. If you want to play a high sound,...

Musical Pitch.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... You can make sounds many different ways. Remember do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do? As you sang the scale, did you hear the notes go higher? You can play a scale with bottles. You can control the sound of the notes by controlling the amount...

Musical Instruments. (Sound Matters!).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... String instruments have strings or wires. These instruments produce sound when you pluck or draw a bow across the strings. The pitch is changed by tightening or loosening the strings. Wind instruments produce sound when a tube of air...

Danger! Summer Sun.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... There are things you can do to protect yourself front the sun. Be sure to wear sunscreen when you are at the beach or playing outdoors in the sun. Wear a hat and clothing that will protect you from sunburn. Scientists say that children are...

What causes Day and Night?(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Earth spins, or rotates, on an imaginary line called its axis. It takes Earth 24 hours, or one day, to make one rotation. When your location, the place where you live on Earth, is facing toward the sun, it is day. When your location is...

Earth's Tilt brings a change in Seasons!(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... As Earth travels around the sun, it leans, or tilts. Sometimes it is leaning toward the sun and sometimes it is leaning away from the sun. The part of Earth that is tilting toward the sun is warm. It is summer. The part that is tilting away...

Color can be Cool.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... What kinds of clothing do you wear during the summer? winter? spring? fall? The color of the clothing you wear can make you feel hotter or colder. Try this experiment with a partner. Light colors reflect the sun's heat. Dark...

Orion, the Mighty Hunter.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Once upon a time, there was a man named Orion. He was a great hunter. One day, while Orion was chasing a bear, he was stung by a scorpion and died. The gods were all very sad. They liked Orion so much that they decided to put him in the sky as...

Using the Stars as a Map.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... People have always watched the stars. Even long ago, people kept notes on how the stars moved. After a while, they were able to use the stars as a sky map. The star they used most often is called Polaris. It is also called the North Star. This...

Learn About Constellations!(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Read about the constellations in column 1. Then look at the models in column 2. Connect the stars to draw these same constellations in column 3. Can you find each of these constellations in the maps of the sky on page 30? Story "READ" ...

The Changing Sky!(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Earth changes every season. So does what you see in the sky. The winter sky will look very different from the summer sky. Each season brings new constellations to the changing sky. Look at the chart below. Find the constellations in the maps of...

Word List.(Glossary)
January 1, 1993... absorb to soak up a liquid axis an imaginary straight line on which Earth spins boll the soft, white part of the cotton plant that contains the cotton fibers and seeds constellation a group of stars named to represent a person, an...

Series Overview.(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... When science is an important part of the curriculum, children are likely to become science-oriented, curious about the world in which they live, and fascinated by new technologies all around them. Students develop the skills of scientific...

Science Matters [TM], Grade Three. (Introduction)
January 1, 1993... This book begins with a unit that shows students the important role that plants play in their lives. Using blue jeans as an example of a finished product, students create thread from cotton balls, weave thread into cloth, and dye cotton using...

Skills Overview.(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Students learn to * model the cloth-making and coloring processes; * compare the absorbency of cotton with the absorbency of other fabrics, and record the results; * observe how sounds are made and how sound travels; * observe...

Suggested Monthly Plan.(teaching)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... By using timely topics to introduce concepts and teach corresponding skills, the Weekly Reader SCIENCE MATTERS series updates and enriches your science curriculum. Although each unit of study in SCIENCE MATTERS is only a few pages long, it is...

Classroom. (RESOURCES).(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Unit 1: Magnifying glass, cotton balls, ruler, scissors, pencil, paper, cardboard, yarn, glass bowls, mesh strainer, vegetables and berries, cotton fabric, two measuring cups, polyester fabric, spoon, tongs Unit 2: Cardboard tubes, wax...

Community. (RESOURCES).(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... To find free and inexpensive materials, ask students to bring in surplus items from home. Possible people to visit your class to talk about sound might include musicians from a local college, music society, or music store. To secure an...

Books to Enjoy. (RESOURCES).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Reserve one or more of these books at the library for the duration of the unit. Try to read aloud to the class two or more books per week. Encourage students to read some of the books on their own or with a book buddy. Cotton, Millicent E....

Read-Aloud Books. (RESOURCES).(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... From Cotton to Pants, Ali Mitgutsch, Carolrhoda, 1981 T-Shirt, H. Peeples, Calico Books, 1989 What People Wore: From Cavemen to Astronauts, Lisa Weil, Macmillan, 1988 The Hundred Dresses, Eleanor Estes, Harcourt/Voyager, 1974 ...

Unit 1: Plants in Your Life.(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Background Information Plants can be used for much more than making fabric. Scientists, studying chimpanzees in Africa, have learned that chimps eat certain plants when they are sick. Scientists watched a very sick female drag herself over...

Unit 2: Sounds.(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Background Information Wow your students with some "sound facts"! * Kids can hear higher-pitched sounds than adults can. * Babies can interpret the sounds of their parents' or primary caretakers' speech long before they can...

Units 3: Seasons.(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Background Information Doctors warn us that too much sun is dangerous! Share the sun-safety tips with students. Have students make posters illustrating one or more of the safety tips. Protect Yourself from the Sun's Harmful Rays ...

Unit 4: Nighty Sky.(science)(Brief Article)
January 1, 1993... Background Information The Milky Way is making news in the world of astronomy. Astronomers say the Milky Way galaxy may be swallowing two smaller galaxies. The Milky Way galaxy is made up of a large collection of stars (including our sun)...