Materials:

• Toy cars (Hot Wheels or Matchbox Cars are a good size)
• Small balls such as pom poms, ping pong balls or tennis balls
• Plastic drinking cup (especially fun if the top of the cup has a bigger diameter than the bottom!)
• A variety of materials such as:
  1. Paper towel or toilet paper tubes
  2. Pieces of stiff cardboard
  3. A book or two
  4. Wooden blocks
  5. Other household objects like empty tissue boxes, poster tubes, or even a chair might come in handy!
• An adult to play with you

What to do:

1. Think about how different objects move.  What part helps a car to roll?
2. Use your found materials to see if you can set up a ramp that allows your car to roll downhill.  For instance, you might prop a book or a stiff piece of cardboard on a stack of blocks or the rung of a chair.  
3. How fast does your car go?  How far?
4. Can you change your ramp to make your car go faster?  Go further?
5. What happens when you send one of your balls down the ramp?
6. What happens when you roll your plastic cup down the ramp?  Does it move in the same way as your cars or balls?  
7. Can you make a tunnel for your car or balls?  
8. What other materials could you use to make your ramp better?

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Every day, scientists are out in the field, conducting research and discovering ways to help protect our planet.聽Tune in this week to learn about the impact scientists have in our region.

Watch the series on or

Len Reitsma, PhD. Professor of Ecology, Plymouth State University

Monday, May 18, 2020

12:30pm

Len Reitsma earned his BS in Biology at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ in 1985 and his Ph.D. from Dartmouth in 1990. He has been a professor at Plymouth State University since 1992 teaching a variety of courses including ornithology, vertebrate zoology, tropical biology, conservation, ecology and current environmental issues. Len has worked with students and local teachers on an environmental education effort that reached all elementary school children in the last four summers. His bird research focuses on population ecology, most recently of the Canada warbler, and bird community responses to experimental timber harvest. He is an avid birdwatcher and has traveled with his wife, Denise, to many places around the world to see new birds.

Watch Len’s video

Luke Groff, Ph.D Herpetologist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

12:30pm

Luke is a wildlife biologist who works to conserve and recover endangered and threatened amphibians and reptiles. He has lived and worked in the Northeast, Northwest, Midwest, and Rocky Mountain regions. Luke has developed predictive models to identify potential habitats for rare species and guide on-the-ground surveys. He has investigated how habitat features and snowpack depth influence temperatures experienced by overwintering frogs. He has evaluated the importance of alternative amphibian breeding habitats in high-elevation landscapes where wetlands are limited. Luke began with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department last summer and has continued ongoing management and conservation efforts that benefit the state鈥檚 rare snake and turtle species. He is also responsible for managing wildlife habitat within some of Vermont鈥檚 Wildlife Management Areas.

Watch Luke’s video

Judy Rosovsky Vermont鈥檚 State Entomologist and Plant Regulatory Official

Ginger Nickerson, Vermont鈥檚 Urban & Community Forestry Program and Pest Education Coordinator

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

12:30pm

Have you ever wondered what an Entomologist does for a living? What about a Forest Pest Education Coordinator? Learn the answer to these questions and many more as Judy Rosovsky, Vermont鈥檚 State Entomologist and Plant Regulatory Official and Ginger Nickerson, Vermont鈥檚 Urban & Community Forestry Program and Pest Education Coordinator are interviewed in this 鈥淢eet a Scientist鈥� series. Learn about the Emerald Ash Borer, an invasive pest that has found its way into Vermont, what you can do to help report pests and take action in your community!

Watch Judy & Ginger’s video

Additional Resources:

Walter Opuszynski Forest Recreation Specialist Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation

Thursday, May 21, 2020

12:30pm

Walter has been working with recreation trails for over two decades. Previous roles include Trail Crew Leader for the Maine Conservation Corps, Trail Director for the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and owner of True to the Land Trails, LLC. His current role with the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (FPR) is focused on managing recreation resources on State Lands in Central Vermont. Efforts are focused on working with partners, volunteers and FPR staff to provide the public with safe, sustainable and enjoyable recreation experiences. Management activities involve supporting long range management plan development and implementation, procuring resource data via infrastructure assessments, user surveys, and trail usage data and managing grants and field projects.

Watch Walter’s video

Robin Tindall, Engineer and the Environmental Stewardship Manager, Hypertherm

Friday, May 22, 2020

12:30pm

Robin Tindall serves as Hypertherm鈥檚 Environmental Stewardship Manager, integrating environmental stewardship along the entire value chain. Her efforts are central to Hypertherm鈥檚 mission of reducing the environmental impact of everything it does. Guided by an aggressive 2020 sustainability dashboard, Robin touches upon all aspects of the business beginning with product design, supply & operations, to end use & product end of life.  Robin鈥檚 team at Hypertherm has brought landfill waste down to just 1.25% today; electricity consumption is down 19% percent from 2010.

Watch Robin’s video here ( & ).

The post Science in the Community appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

Materials:

• Puppet show script (optional)
• Paper
• Scissors
• Crayons or markers
• Tape
• Popsicle sticks (or even just a stick from outside)
• A puppet theater – you can use a piece of furniture, or make one out of a large piece of cardboard.聽聽
• An adult to play with you

What to do:

1. Draw your animal characters on the paper and cut them out
2. Tape them onto the popsicle sticks so that you have your own puppets.聽聽
3. Get creative with your puppet theater.聽 Don鈥檛 have one at home? 聽 That鈥檚 ok!聽 Hiding behind a piece of furniture works just fine
4. Get an adult to read the script while you work the puppets.聽 Or have the adult do the whole show for you.
5. Have fun making your own puppet show script!

Singing Frog Puppet Show Script:

Storyline: Frog is singing all the time now during spring, and it is too loud for the other animals.

Characters: frog, bear, turtle, woodpecker, fox

Frog: (enters, hopping onto stage, takes big huge breath, starts belting out a song, loud and obnoxious)聽

Bear: (clomps on stage) Ugh! What is all that NOISE?!聽 Hey! HEY! (frog continues singing, unable to hear) HEEEYYY!聽 Stop singing! It鈥檚 too loud!!聽

Frog: (frog stops and looks at Bear) Sshh!聽 I鈥檓 busy.聽 I鈥檓 in the zone鈥� (takes a huge breath and starts singing again)

Bear: Oh it鈥檚 so loud!聽 (pokes nose at frog repeatedly until frog startles) I thought frogs said 鈥渞ibbit鈥� anyway.

Frog: Hey you鈥檙e messing up my groove!聽 I鈥檓 trying to concentrate, here!聽 I don鈥檛 say 鈥渞ibbit鈥� as you can clearly see.聽 Some frogs in California say ribbit, but not me.

Bear: What are you singing so loudly for?聽 You鈥檝e probably woken up the whole forest by now.聽聽

Frog: I鈥檓 singing to attract other frogs, of course.  I gotta look and sound my BEST.

How do I look?

Bear: You look a little green. But you鈥檙e a frog, so I guess that鈥檚 ok.

Frog:聽 Good.聽 Is it nice and wet too?聽聽

Bear: Let me see (touches frog).聽 Yup!聽 Sure is!聽 You are an amphibian for sure.聽 Wet skin and no hair.聽 Now I鈥檒l head on my way, but if you don鈥檛 mind singing a little more quietly鈥�.

Frog: Ok, sure thing.聽 (takes a huge breath and starts singing again)

Woodpecker: (enters): I heard you making lots of noise over here.

Frog: I was singing.

Woodpecker: You call that singing?聽 I thought you frogs all said 鈥渞ibit!鈥�

Frog: No we don鈥檛 say ribbit.聽 We make lots of other calls like trills and croaks.聽聽

Woodpecker: Well that鈥檚 cool.聽 I can make calls too.聽 Bird calls like this one.聽 (loudly and hysterically) 鈥淲hacka, wacka, whacka鈥︹��

Frog: (interrupts, annoyed)聽 Well that kind of hurt my ears,鈥︹��.. I mean鈥︹��.you have a lovely voice.聽 Very鈥eautiful鈥�

Woodpecker: Thanks.聽 I was just headed over to check on my babies in our tree hole.聽 They hatched from their eggs yesterday.

Frog: Well that鈥檚 pretty crazy.聽 Your babies come from eggs too, but they are in a hole in a tree.聽 We frogs lay eggs in the pond.

Woodpecker: Then shouldn鈥檛 you be near a pond instead of singing in the middle of the forest?聽 There are other animals here that might like to eat you.聽 Speaking of which, I see a fox sneaking up on you.聽 Watch out!聽 (exits)

Frog: A rock?聽 Yes, there are lots of rocks here.聽 I don鈥檛 know why the woodpecker got all frightened about a few silly rocks.

[Fox enters]

贵辞虫:听 Well hello Frog.聽 What a lovely voice you have.聽 I鈥檝e been listening to your singing all morning.

贵谤辞驳:听 Why thank you Fox.聽 That鈥檚 very kind of you to say.聽 All the other animals have been annoyed by my singing.聽 I don鈥檛 think they appreciate true country music.聽聽

贵辞虫:听 I鈥檓 sure they don鈥檛.聽 Nor do they truly appreciate how wonderful frogs are.聽 I have a particular fondness for frogs.聽 You have a beautiful voice, but your taste far exceeds the quality of your singing.

Frog: Wait.聽 Did you say taste?聽 How do you know what frogs taste like鈥︹�� wait, you don鈥檛 mean you want to EAT me? 聽 EEEEEEEEEK!

CHASE SCENE!

Frog: Well that was close!聽 Whew.聽 Maybe I鈥檒l sing just a little quieter this time.聽 (takes a huge breath and starts singing again)

罢耻谤迟濒别:听 (enters and taps frog to get his attention)

贵谤辞驳:听 Oh!聽 You startled me.聽 What鈥檆ha doin鈥� turtle?

Turtle:聽 That鈥檚 what I want to know about you.聽 What are you doing here in the forest?

贵谤辞驳:听 I鈥檓 singing so that I can attract other frogs

Turtle:聽 But all the other frogs are in the pond at this time of year.聽 You should go sing in the pond and then you would find lots of other frogs.聽 Besides, I鈥檓 not sure the other animals in the forest appreciate your singing quite as much as those of us who live in the pond.聽聽

贵谤辞驳:听 I kind of gathered that.聽 I guess I really do belong in the pond, don鈥檛 I.

Turtle:聽 Yes, you do. Come, let鈥檚 go.聽 Race you to the pond! 聽 [Both Exit]

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Bird Beaks - What can you eat?

• Birds by Kevin Henkes (optional)
• Images of bird beaks
• A spoon
• A pair of tweezers
• A cup
• An empty egg carton
• Items to represent food such as:
  • Grains of rice (tiny seeds)
  • Sunflower seeds (small seeds)
  • Dry beans (larger seeds)
  • A small amount of cooked spaghetti (worms)
  • Raisins (small insects)
  • You could also try corn kernels, pumpkin seeds, gummy worms, etc
• An adult to play with you

What to do:

1. Look at the different images of bird beaks.聽 Are all the beaks the same? In what ways are they similar?聽 Different?
2. What kinds of foods do you think these birds might eat?
3. Put some of the different 鈥榖ird food鈥� into the cells of your egg carton, one type per cell.聽 It鈥檚 ok if you don鈥檛 fill the whole egg carton
4. Choose a 鈥榖eak鈥� to start with (either the spoon or the tweezers)
5. Remember, birds don鈥檛 have hands!聽 See if you can use only your pretend beak to pick up a piece of food and place it in your cup.
6. Were you able to pick up every type of food using your spoon?聽 The pair of tweezers? Do you think birds are able to eat every kind of food with the beak they have, or not?
7. What was the hardest kind of food to pick up?聽 The easiest?
8. Which pretend beak did you like the best and why?
9. If you want, you can use other tools as pretend beaks, such as chopsticks, pliers, a bigger spoon, smaller tweezers, etc.聽 Get creative and have fun!

Images of Bird Beaks

Black-capped Chickadee	Great Blue Heron
American Robin	Mallard Duck

Images from Cornell Lab of Ornithology鈥檚 website.聽 Check it out to learn more about these amazing birds!

The post Bird Beaks appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

Materials:

Rainbow in a Jar

• 3 glass jars (wide mouth quart jars preferred)
• Food coloring (1 or 2 colors)
• Cold tap water
• Hot water
• Crushed ice聽
• An adult to help

Colored Ice Cubes

• Food coloring (3 colors)
• Ice cube trays
• Tongs
• Water
• A plastic tub, dish pan or other similar container
• Paper and crayons (optional)
• An adult to help

Fill, Pour and Play

• Fill, Pour and PlayKitchen sink
• Water
• Various containers (plastic yogurt cups, measuring cups, ladles, etc)
• Funnel (optional)
• A towel
• An adult to play with you

What to do: Rainbow in a Jar

1. 聽Ask an adult to help you fill one jar with cold tap water, one jar with hot water, and one jar with crushed ice.聽 Tip:聽 Water heated on the stove or in an electric kettle til almost boiling works best.聽 Just be careful not to touch the jar after the hot water is poured in!
2. Carefully add a drop of food coloring (you can use two separate colors if you want) into the jar of cold tap water and hot water.
3. Watch carefully.聽 What is happening in each jar?聽 Does the color move in the same way in each?聽 Is one moving faster than the other? Does the color reach the bottom of the jars at the same time?聽 What else do you notice?
4. What do you think will happen when you add food coloring to the jar of crushed ice?聽 Will it be more like the jar of cold water or hot water? Why?
5. Test it out!聽 What happened?

What to do: Colored Ice Cubes

1. Ask an adult to help you put two drops of food coloring in a cell of an ice cube tray.聽 Repeat with other colors. You really only need two or three ice cubes of each color.
2. Put your ice cube tray in the freezer and wait to continue until your ice cubes are frozen
3. Pour some water into your dish tub or other large flat glass or plastic container
4. Using tongs, carefully place your colored ice cubes into your tub of water.聽 Make sure to place them slowly, without dropping or splashing. Try not to jiggle your tub or the table!
5. Look carefully and watch what happens.聽 What do you notice? What is happening to the ice cubes?聽 What patterns do you notice in the colors? What changes over time?
6. Use your paper and crayons to record what you see.聽 Try to use accurate colors.
7. Help your adult wash out the ice cube tray to get rid of any leftover food coloring!

What to do: Fill, Pour and Play

1. Ask an adult to help you collect your containers and partially fill the kitchen sink with water.聽 Alternatively, you can do this activity outside using a large plastic dish pan or other large container
2. Use your different containers to pour water from one into another.聽 Does each container hold the same amount of water?
3. How slowly and carefully can you pour the water?
4. What happens if you use a funnel?聽 Does it make it easier or harder to fill a container?
5. Are some containers easier to pour from than others? Why might that be?
6. Can you pour from two containers at once, one in each hand?
7. What other fun things can you do with pouring, dumping, and filling?

The post Water and Ice Investigations appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

• Rainbow stew recipe (see below)
• 3 bowls
• Red, yellow and blue food coloring
• A spoon
• A cooking pot
• A stove
• Two heavy duty ziploc bags
• Duct tape (optional)
• An adult to help out!

Rainbow Stew Recipe

• 2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
• 陆 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups cold water

Adapted from Mudpies to Magnets: A Preschool Science Curriculum by Robert A. Williams, Robert E. Rockwell and Elizabeth A. Sherwood

1. Ask an adult to help you!
2. Combine sugar and cornstarch in pot and stir
3. Slowly add the cold water and stir
4. Heat until it thickens and turns clear, stirring constantly
5. Cool
6. Divide into the three bowls and add one color of food coloring to each bowl, and stir.  Add as much food coloring as needed to achieve desired intensity
7. Add half of each of the three colors into each ziploc bag, making sure to keep the colors separate at this point
8. Seal bags, and tape closed if desired
9. Now it鈥檚 time to play, discover and investigate!  Two bags allows adult and child to investigate together.
10. What colors can you make?  Can you make a whole rainbow?
11. Work slowly and carefully so that you can enjoy each color before it turns brown.
12. If you want to save it to play with another day, keep it in the fridge so that it won鈥檛 spoil.

The post Rainbow Stew appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

Materials:

• A stick about 2 feet long, a dowel or even a wooden spoon with a long handle
• A piece of string, 2-3 feet long
• Scissors
• Tape
• Paper clips
• A small magnet
• Magazines to cut out or blank paper and markers or crayons.  Ideally one piece of paper is a bit stiffer, such as card stock
• An adult to help out!

What to do:

1. Get an adult to help you
2. Look at the owl chart and decide which owl you want to be
3. Find a picture of that owl in a magazine, or even better, draw your own on the piece of card stock and cut it out!
4. Look at the owl chart and figure out what kind of food your owl eats.  
5. Find a picture of that animal in a magazine, or even better, draw your own and cut it out!  Note:  You may want to make at least two of each animal so you have more food to catch!  Make sure your animals aren鈥檛 too big so that your owl has an easier time catching them.
6. Using tape, attach a paperclip to the back of each of your small animals, but not your owl
7. Using tape, attach the magnet to the back of the owl
8. Tie one end of the string to one end of your stick.  Securely tape the other end to the front of your owl.  It should look like you鈥檝e made a fishing pole, with your owl and magnet serving as the hook!
9. Spread your animals out on the floor, face up.  See if you can have your owl swoop down and 鈥榗atch鈥� it鈥檚 dinner!
10. Troubleshooting tips:  Check to see that your magnet is strong enough to lift the paper animals.  Try a stronger magnet, or make your animals smaller.  

For more information about owls:

• To meet some of the resident owls and other birds at 黑料不打烊, visit our
• To meet an owl in one of our previous FaceBook Live events, vist

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a lot of information on their

The post Hungry Owl appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

听&补尘辫;听听痴颈诲别辞

Premier at 12:30pm, Monday, April 6

Video aligned to 4th grade Next Generation Science Standards; activity suitable for grades 3-5

In this video, you’ll learn how to set up an experiment at home that will help explain the relationship between balanced and unbalanced forces while using materials at home.  You will also be able to make predictions about future motion of a pendulum based upon patterns observed while doing an experiment. The video will include simple instructions on how to set up the experiment and how to collect data.

Post a video reflecting on what happened in your experiment and tag us on

The post Video Investigation: Pendulums appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

Engineering Design Read Aloud Books:

Materials:

• These are some examples of each state of matter that you can use for your toy:

• Paper to make a plan
• Pencil

What to do:

• Follow the Engineering Design steps to plan, test and revise your toy

• Take a picture of your 鈥淭hree States of Matter Toy鈥� and share it with your teacher!

The post Engineering Design: Design a Toy appeared first on 黑料不打烊.

States of Matter Read Aloud Book:

Materials:

• Ice cubes
• Pan
• Stove
• Oven mitt
• Spoon
• An adult to help you

What to do:

1. Place some ice cubes into the pan on the stovetop.  
   • What state of matter are the ice cubes in?
2. Next turn on the stove and every now and then,  stir the ice cubes. Be sure you are safe and have an adult help you.  Wear your oven mitt to protect your hand as you stir.
3. Observe as your ice cubes start to melt. 
   • What state of matter are they now?
4. Something else will start to happen to your ice cubes after they have melted.  
   • What is happening?  
   • What do you see moving from the pan towards your ceiling?  
   • What state of matter is this?
5. Draw a picture to show what happens to the ice cubes as they change.

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