Lesson 11 Rocks and Soils: How Well Do Different Soils Drain? Part I

We are going to play in the dirt again today!

Materials needed:

  • soil samples from yesterday
  • a paper cup for each soil sample
  • a pencil
  • colored pencils
  • a paper plate
  • something from which you can pour water easily (a water bottle, a liquid measuring cup, a dish with a pour spout, etc.)
  • water
  • your science journal

 

Poke a hole in the bottom of each of the paper cups that you’ll be using with the tip of your pencil. Don’t make it too big. Then pour a different soil sample into each of the paper cups. You are going to be testing the drainage of soils today in a very simple at-home lab!



visual Visual

soils: sandy, loam, clay

 

soils alt tag.docx Download soils alt tag.docx

 

 

Assignment

Science Journal Entry:

Place your paper cups of soil on the paper plate. If they don’t all fit onto one plate, you can always find another. Pour roughly the same amount of water into each cup of soil. Now answer the following questions below in your science journal:

  1. Draw the before and after of each soil sample cup in your journal. Jot down notes of what you observe for each one.
  2. Notice at how quickly (or not quickly) the water moved through each soil. Do you feel that this made it easier to identify what kind of soil was in each sample? Why or why not? (You can look at the digital poster to help you answer this question)
  3. Label each of your illustrations of soil samples with what kind of soil you believe each one is.

 

 

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