A Unit Study About Water

Our study on water began with a fascination with water towers and why we had them.  The boys and I played "I Spy" with all the water towers on our trip to Ohio.  Andrew had the idea that we could learn about them, so I took the opportunity.

[caption id="attachment_3178" align="aligncenter" width="180" caption="Click here for a good website on explaining water towers!"][/caption]

Learn more about them here where it includes this video clip from YouTube...



We did an experiment to show how pressure plays a big part in our water system.  We used a milk jug and designed it a little to be our water tower.  We poked three holes in it...one at the top, one in the middle and one toward the bottom.  We taped them off with duct tape.  Then we filled our tower with water and removed the tape one hole at at time.  They had a fun time doing that!



But because there wasn't a whole to do with just water towers, we enjoyed learn about water in general and how it important it is in our daily lives.

A great book we read was All About Water.  So we talked (or had a refresher) on the water cycle.  This book is also great for talking about the different properties of water.  There are all kinds of fun and simple things to do with that.  A few things we did from this book were:

Froze and boiled water.

Breathed on a mirror to show how our bodies contain water.

Cooked some apple and some cucumber on low heat to see how water evaporates from them...and talked about how much foods contain water.

Other books we read that were around the house:

Water Everywhere

Usborne's How Things Work

Discoveries How Things Work

Down Comes the Rain

We watched The Magic School Bus: Wet All Over based on the book.  There has been plenty of time this week to enjoy this water cycle God created!

We did a science experiment on removing salt from salt water.  Andrew really enjoyed watching this happen in the sun.  And it worked!!

We also read our All About Magnifying Glasses book, which tied into the water theme rather nicely.  I love this "Do It Yourself" set of books purchased from Half Price Books.  We did all kinds of fun experiments, including this little magnifying glass made with a paper clip and water to form a convex lens.

I think we actually did every experiment in this book!  They really liked it!

So a fun summer unit study!