Introduce your class to ice and how it works and how it can be changed through heat and chemicals. Tell the class that you will lift a piece of ice from a cup of water with a string using science. Place the ice cube into the water and place the string onto the cube; then tell the class that you will add your magic dust. Sprinkle a little bit of salt onto the ice where the string is in contact. Count to 10 and lift the string, pulling up the ice. Explain to the class the magic dust was salt and that it melted the ice a little only to refreeze around the string.
Get the children ready for geology and volcanoes with a simple demonstration of a volcanic eruption. As you tell the class about volcanoes, attach a cylinder to a wood base. Build a mountain around the cylinder with clay, making the body of the volcano. Add a little bit of red food coloring and baking soda into the cylinder. Explain about the eruption and what's involved in the process. Pour vinegar into the cylinder, making the volcano erupt for the class.
Talk to the class about the sun and how the light can fade out colors of things. Have the class sit out in the sunlight and place pieces of dark construction paper on the ground. Have the class pick an object and place it on to the construction paper, now bring the class inside leaving the paper for a few hours. As the sun bleaches the paper, tell the class how it works and why. Have the class return to the papers and bring them back in to see that the sun has faded the paper, leaving a dark image of the object left behind.
Get the students excited about dinosaurs with an in-class dinosaur bone hunt. Collect and clean chicken bones in hot boiling water, dry them out completely and sand down any sharp edges or points. This project can also be done with plastic bones. Place the bones in the sandbox in the playground. Make sure you know where they are and how many so they all can be collected after the project. Tell your class they are now dinosaur bone hunters. Hand each one a large paintbrush and tell them to search the sand box for bones and bring them to you for study. As the children look for bones, tell them about different dinosaurs, where they have been found and how they have been discovered.