Spigot Science

A Choral Reading

By David Cochran
This is the start of a choral reading. You can read it in many different ways and add many new verses. One way to read it is to have one group read the refrain, the repeated boldfaced lines. Other groups or individuals could then say the verses.

Refrain

Millions and billions and trillions of cells,
So small we cannot see them

Made of atoms and molecules
The building blocks of life

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Definitions are really important. We can use a word meaning one thing, while someone else might under-stand it to have a completely different meaning. The word cell is a word with many meanings, but with a common thread. It refers to a single, contained unit. You can see all the definitions of cell in the Merriam Webster dictionary online....READ MORE

The microscope is an instrument we use to look at objects such as cells that are too small to be seen with the human eye. Three people from the Netherlands are often given credit for inventing the microscope in 1590—Hans Lippershey, Sacharias Jansen, and Hans Jenssen. They were all eyeglass makers who experimented with lenses to see small objects.

There was a great interest in magnifying things in the Renaissance (1300s-1600s). During that time, scientists studied the things all around them using lenses and created inventions that we still use today like the microscope.  Anton van Leeuwenhoek is often said to be the inventor of the microscope, but he just improved it. He was among the first to use microscopes to discover new things such as blood cells and protozoa (one-celled animals)...
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Summer is a great time to relax and unwind. For many kids it can also be a time of alternating between high activity and extreme boredom. TV, social media, and video games fill some of the void, but many upper elementary and middle school kids are itching to do something more.
  
Many schools offer lists of ideas for reading and writing activities to ward off the summer doldrums and keep learning alive.
    
We, at Spigot Science, would be remiss if we didn’t suggest some ideas that might help kids stay connected with science.
1.  Go to the local library and participate in their summer reading program. Some libraries offer science programs, too. You could download Spigot Science book reviews from the Library
Connection to focus on specific science topics. Keep a record of what you read and what you learn.

2.  Prepare a science fair project just for fun. The Spigot Science Library Connection suggests some good books for science fair ideas. The experiments done in the summer just may provide a head start on next year’s science fair.

3.  Go outside and take a lot of digital pictures. Look at them and see if you see a theme. Go back outdoors and take pictures related to the theme. Put these pictures together in your favorite multimedia program and share your digital story with others.

4.  Take a field trip to a science museum or zoo. There may even be a workshop for you to participate in.

5.  Record the things that interest you with a digital camera. Summarize what you learn in a slide show, video, or poster. If you have the space, plant a small garden or create a vegetable garden in pots. Tend the garden and watch it grow. Observe the stages plants grow through. Enjoy the harvest.

Check out Spigot Science at; http://www.spigotscience.com

to Each Other

By Florence Roberts,

PhD, RN

For your brain to function, nerve cells called neu-rons, must "talk" to each other. But they talk with chemi-cals, not words. Let’s ask Nate Neuron how neurons "talk."

Nate Neuron"Hi, I’m Nate Neuron. I have a big belly called a cell body.It makes chemicals, generates energy, stores my genes (which carry inherited information), and, in gen-eral, keeps me alive. Attached all around my cell body are branches, like tiny trees, called dendrites. On one side of the cell body is a special long extension called an axon. We’ll meet them both, but let’s meet Denny Den-drite first." READ MORE...