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Materials:

Writing and coloring materials

Notebook

Magnifying glass

Graph paper

Take a hike through your back yard and collect as many different kinds
of leaves as you can. Spread them out on a table, and in your notebook, record the following:

• Basic sketch of each leaf
• Color: Compare the top and bottom surfaces
• Vein pattern: is there a central vein?
• Leaf edge: is it smooth or serrated?
• Other details: wax, hairs, thickness

Trace each leaf onto graph paper and count the squares to calculate each leaf’s surface area. Which is your biggest leaf?

Leaf ANATOMY

The veins you see in your leaf are “pipes” that carry substances throughout the plant. XYLEM carries water from the roots to every leaf. PHLOEM carries food produced in the leaves to the roots. The cells in leaves have special organelles called CHLOROPLASTS that produce food.    

Leaf PHYSIOLOGY

Leaf tissue is packed with cells that produce food. This process is called PHOTOSYNTHESIS.  Plants absorb light energy and use it to fuel many chemical reactions that convert water and carbon dioxide into food.
A by-product of photosynthesis is oxygen gas.

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BUILD a tornado bottle

Materials: Two transparent 1-liter bottles (the kind used for club soda or seltzer work well)

DIY method: Parent help, drill with a ½” drill bit, painter’s caulk, and duct tape.

Non-DIY method: Parents can order a “tornado bottle connector” online. 

Instructions: Empty the 1-liter bottles, rinse them, and fill one of them about ¾ full. 

DIY method: Take both bottle caps and drill holes in the center of each cap, making sure the holes line up. Put the caps together, top to top, and seal the sides of the hole with caulk so water from one bottle will flow through the caps into the other bottle. Duct tape the two caps together.

Screw the DIY cap or the purchased connector to the bottle filled ¾ with water, making sure the cap is secure. Then turn the empty bottle upside down and secure it to the other end of the DIY cap/connector. 

Carefully pick up your assembled tornado bottle, set it upside down so that the empty bottle is sitting on the surface, and give it a circular shake to start the vortex. Make the vortex more visible by adding a few pinches of glitter or pepper, or a few drops of dish soap to your tornado bottle!

The SCIENCE of Tornadoes

Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how tornadoes form, but we DO know they are formed inside of thunderstorms. When a storm combines a spinning horizontal air current that collides with an updraft, the spinning air current tilts upward and rotates around a vertical axis. Warm air close to the ground moves up into the funnel, and the funnel gets longer. When the funnel touches the ground, it becomes a tornado.

Tornado SAFETY

A tornado WATCH means there is a thunderstorm close by and the weather is perfect for tornado formation, but the meteorologists haven’t spotted any tornadoes yet. It means you should make sure you’re prepared to take cover if a WARNING is issued. A tornado WARNING means the meteorologists have spotted an actual tornado, either on the ground or on radar. Find shelter in the middle of buildings, away from doors and windows. If you’re outside, lie flat in a low spot like a ravine, and use your arms to protect your head. 

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Materials:

• 4 or 5 beans (ex. lima or northern)
• Transparent glass or plastic jar with a lid
• Paper towels

Instructions:

Fold a paper towel so it wraps around the inner surface of the jar.  Dampen the paper towel and put it in the jar, pressing the towel up against the sides of the jar.  Slide beans in between the jar and the paper towel so you can see them.  Leave space between each of the beans.  Cover the jar and watch your beans germinate!

Start SEEDS in a re-purposed container

Materials:

• Seeds
• Butter container or similar tub, washed and rinsed clean
• Drill
• Spray bottle with water
• Compost

Ask your parents to drill several holes in the bottom of the container so that it can drain.  Fill the container with compost, not quite to the top of the container.  Sprinkle the seeds on top of the compost, and spray the seeds and soil well.  Cover until the seeds germinate, then uncover and expose to sunlight.  Transplant them into individual pots and then into the garden as they grow. 

SEED Structure

A seed has a tough covering called the seed coat.  Inside is a tiny plant called the embryo, along with food for the embryo.  Water and oxygen can cross the seed coat so the embryo can grow. 

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DIRECTIONS to make swinging platform

Materials:

Wood or plastic platform, about 30cmx30cm

Twine

Plastic cups to hold water

Optional:  nonslip drawer liner

Tools:

Drill and ¼” drill bit

Optional:  Hot glue gun with hot glue sticks

Drill a hole in each corner of the platform, about a centimeter inward from the edges.

Thread a long string of twine through the holes in a way that the twine crisscrosses to support the platform underneath it.   Make the twine long enough so that you can hold the twine and suspend the platform in the air.

Optional:  Hot glue a piece of nonslip drawer liner to the platform.

SWING your cups round and round!

Fill the cups with water to about the halfway mark.  If you are not confident about swinging platform with cups of water, you can put rubber balls in the cups and do a few practice rounds!

Don’t hesitate into your swing, and do a few in a row!  When you are ready to stop the platform, slowly let it swing like a pendulum until it slows down and you can gently come to a stop. 

CENTRIFUGAL force, explained

The platform’s speed and direction are constantly changing as it swings in a vertical circle.  The force of gravity speeds the platform up on the way down and slows the platform down on the way up.  The tension in the twine keeps the platform from flying off tangent to its circular path.  The combined forces of gravity and tension are what we call centripetal force, and what the platform and cups experience is called centrifugal force.  Likewise, when you go around a rollercoaster loop, the force of gravity combines with the normal force of the rollercoaster track to keep you in your seat, and that feeling of being pushed into your seat or the sides of the compartment is called centrifugal force. 

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