We've started a unit about winter and snow...and hoping for some significant snow ourselves.
I decided to help the kids make borax snowflakes.
First you need to cut a pipe cleaner into three equal parts. Bend into a 6 sided "snowflake". Tie a string to the pipecleaners and the other side of the string to a pencil.
Make sure the edges of the pipecleaners don't touch the bottom or sides of the jar.
You now need Borax and boiling water.
Add 2 cups of boiling water to the jar...stir in 6 tbls of borax.
Stir....not all the borax will dissolve--it is a super saturated solution.
Put your "snowflakes" into the jars...wait 24 hours.
The next day we had crystals everywhere.
We were careful not to shake the jar as we carried them to the table.
We have been learning all about the birds this past week. We have studied the art of Audubon and we have been on the lookout for our own native birds.
The origami passenger pigeon above is made with a template from "Fold The Flock" This site tells all about the extinction of the passenger pigeon and also has some very cool videos.
I made the kids a chart of all the birds we see in this area....I found the original printout at Jimmie's Collage. I have since added many, many more birds to our list. I simply look up images of the particular birds on google images, cut and paste them to a document and then print them out.
I have to say, the kids are becoming experts in identifying birds.
We have many resources that we are using...I will get to them in the next few days.
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Pinterest has been my go to guide for all things crafty and birdy!
I found a few different terracotta diy birdbath. I'm combining two different birdbaths. One idea is from My-CreativiT. The other element...a jeweled and grouted bowl....if from Happiness is Homemade.
Laura and Kimberly did the most work on our project....
They painted yesterday and Kimmy is almost clean today.
We sealed the whole project with a heavy duty outdoor sealant.
We used Goop heavyduty glue outside to keep the fumes at bay. We need to leave about 48 hours to set completely, and then we will be using grout to finish it off.
After drying the flower off and then cutting off the blossom...Luke discovered water dripping out of the cut end of the stem.
Things are almost all melted outside and our plants are just starting to poke their heads out of the ground....but over at Mom and Dad's the daffodils are in full bloom...
It's time for our tradition plant unit.
We have been busy planting seeds indoors, in ziploc bags and soon we will begin our bean pole teepee.
After discovering flowing water from the stem, Luke carefully removed the outside of the stem...he found the veins which were holding the water.
Kimmy, digging into her flower, or second flower....or third flower.
We found all the parts of the daffodil blossom. Ovary is above.
Actually are they just seeds or do we call them eggs at this point?
We dissected our flowers on black construction paper. This really helped us "see" the individual parts of the flower...especially the pollen.
We have put this visual up on our learning wall....Happy Spring Homeschooling everyone.
Thanks to the laws of inertia and some centripetal motion, the hex nut flips up on its edge and spins around the inside of the balloon. and you get a screaming balloon! The unique shape of the hex nut vibrates the walls of the balloon to produce a wonderfully annoying sound.
Thanks Steve Spangler Science
We received these two excavating kits in the mail this past week, and Kim and Luke have been very eager to start working on them. In fact, I told them they could open them on Saturday...well, I was awakened at 8 am with news that the kitchen table was all ready to start their projects.
Mark and Grace did kits like this years ago and loved them, so I knew they would be a hit with Kim and Luke.
This kit contained 9 hidded crystals to discover and a little pouch to keep them in. There is also a guide to included so you can find out what kind of gems you have found.
These aren't tidy activity kits...in fact, I found this next to Kimberly on the bench.
It was a gorgeous day outside and smart daughter Becky wondered why I didn't have the kids do this on the picnic table...Duh!!! That would have been too easy.
It took several hours for both kids to uncover all the secrets.
We have finished out first quarter of 3rd grade, which means we have finished up the health section of science for the year and have moved on to "real science".
This is our type of schooling...good books, notebooking and experiments. It's very hands on and the kids love it. (So do I) We do tend to be pretty science geeky around here, so once we get started on a subject we generally go all out.
Today, after reading the first 2 pages of the book Forces and Motion, the kids did their note booking page,
This led to watching Bill Nye the Science Guy on Youtube...not just about forces and motion but we also watched gravity. (we do get sucked into more and more and more in the science department.
We then found some experiments to do. (I said we really get into science....today it lasted about 2 hours-after only reading 2 pages from the first book)
The law of inertia, Isaac Newton’s First Law of Motion, states that an object tends to stay at rest or in straight line motion if no outside force acts upon that object. It can also be described as the resistance of any object to change in its motion. Using inertia, we can drop a penny into a cup without touching it.
Next we removed a coin from the bottom of a pile of coins without disturbing the coins on top.
From Steve Spangler:
How Does It Work?
The key to safely removing a coin from from the bottom of a stack comes from friction and inertia. Inertia comes from Newton's first law of motion, stating that an object in motion (or at rest) tends to stay in motion (or at rest). This means that the balanced coins wants to stay in their stacked position, in the spot they are stacked. However, when you attempt to remove the bottom coin, you apply an outside force that causes the stack of coins to topple over.
This is where friction becomes a factor. There is friction between the bottom coin and stack above it. There is so much friction that the bottom coin brings the next coin with it, that coin drags the next coin, and so on. To overcome the amount of friction, you swing the knife at the bottom of the stack. This process is fast-moving, but there is plenty of force to remove the bottom coin. The amount of force applied to the coin is enough that the friction isn’t allowed to tip the tower over. Instead, the tower drops, almost perfectly, into the spot that it was before.
We did this experiment about 4 years ago, and today we revisited it with Kim and Luke.
We got this kit from Steve Spangler, but you can do it with just things around the house.
That's what we did 4 years ago. You can see that post here.
Put cooking oil into a thin container...a 16 ounce soda bottle could work for this. Fill it about 3/4 full of oil. Add water to the container, filling until you are about an inch from the top. (if you fill it to the top, you will have a giant oily mess.
We can see the water is more dense than the oil. The water fall to the bottom of the test tube.
You don't need these. You can just add about ten drops of food coloring to the mixture. (You will need Alka-selter to make the reaction if you use this option.)
Carbon dioxide is released from the fizzing color tablet or the Alka Seltzer. The carbon dioxide caused the colored water to rise to the top of the test tube. When the carbon dioxide reaches the surface, the bubbles pop, causing the colored water to return to the bottom of the test tube.
A beautiful display of science fun.
I got a kick out of this. Kim discovered that she could hear the popping of the carbon dioxide. She shared this discovery with Luke.
Placing the lids on the test tubes the reactions stopped. (The gas could no longer escape the tube)
We now waiting for a bunch of kids to get home from soccer so we can show them our science lesson.
