Northrup

When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher, Mrs. Northrup, used to let us do math with raisins and colorful marshmallows. We got to add up a whole bunch....and then subtract them in various increments, eating the treats along the way.

Chocolate chip math seemed to be a winner (winner chicken dinner).

Glitter...always good...forever stuck in the crevices of my wood floring....

I think the pictures tell the story.

Milky Way

The recent trouble with Blogger has involved the system spontaneously posting incomplete entries (I am sure I hit some odd combo of keys without knowing it) AND it not allowing me to edit.

Thus, my blog sucks.

So, when you finish reading this, just scroll to the post below.

Gee whiz.

Lesson today involved the solar system. I focused on just a few key notes:

1. Our solar system in located on an arm of the galaxy the Milky Way.

2. The Sun is the "center" of our solar system and the planets revolve around the sun. Earth takes 365 days which makes a year. Jupiter (for comparison) takes 11+ years.

3. Earth rotates on its axis which takes 24 hours, thus day and night (we discussed this at length, because our lesson was born from Alya's inquiry this morning as to why the sun came up again, which, we have discussed ad nauseum, but, a little hands on demonstrations with our solar system model surely helped).

Sure, we discussed other things, but we kept it simple because most of the lesson was the kids rotating and revolving the planets and getting a feel for what happens in space.

The kids practiced some writing today (rest assured this is injected into every lesson) and worked some educational puzzles. We are doing a lot of tracing and mazes and fun things to work on holding the pencil properly AND writing in general.

We finished up with one of their library books, which, mentions that Great Wall. I love when I can find a way to tie something that seems unrelated into our lesson. I adore the picture of Ben having his snack between hands on time and writing time.

We wrapped the morning with some superhero play and the two are watching their post lunch cartoons while I post.

Later!

Alya not only protests "school", she protests being photographed at school. The problem is her delivery. I can tell she wants to do the lessons, she just acts dramatic because she can. So, I try to take liberties with the camera, but she WILL NOT let me get a good photo of her. We'vedone the pink, black, and purple ensembles for dance now and no pictures. Sad...the purple ensemble involved pink leg warmers.



I had to interrupt Ben's furniture project. Is it just me, or do everyone else's kids just play with the components of their toys? I am not sure my kids have ever played with a playset per it's constructed intention. It is always a piece from this and a thing from there and thise random block, and voila, hours of enjoyment.

H2O

The ducks pictures are coming. That camera is still being held hostage.

I wanted our Friday lesson to focus on water....so, we tried 3 different experiments. (Note, we had guests for this one who didn't mind being photographed, but their names won't be mentioned here since this is a public blog).

Project number 1: Soda bottle TORNADO!

You will need:

an empty 2 liter soda bottle with a tight fitting cap
water
glitter
funnel

Fill your bottle almost full with water.

I passed the bottle to each child and allowed them to each use the funnel to pour generous amounts of glitter into the bottle. It takes a while for the glitter to settle, but this project works much better while the glitter is still bunched on top of the water.

Tightly cap the bottle and, holding the bottle between both hands, shake the bottle in a rotating motion vigorously. When you put the bottle down, you will be able to see a "tornado" in the middle where the water spins and sucks the glitter to the middle.

Centrifugal and centripital force can be discussed here. Our resident doctor helped on that :) It was lovely to have other adults available to add information for the kids.







Project number 2: Emulsions!

You will need:

room temperature milk
cups
food coloring
liquid soap

The pictures for this project involve a bowl. We found that cups work far better, however, use what you have on hand. The fat content of the milk may have made the container a moot point. I'll address that further in a moment.

Allow the kids to put drops of food coloring onto the milk. They will remain suspended. Slowly drop liquid soap into the drops of food coloring. The soap will react with the coloring in an amazing way as the soap breaks the surface tension of the milk. I have seen this referred to as "tie dye" milk. All I know is it was super cool.

Things I learned later: It is best to use milk with a higher fat content (more fat molecules are available to bond with the soap molecules for a better effect) AND it is better to use as many colors as possible to create the greatest affect. This can be a segue for molecular bonding if you want...as you add more soap and more reactions occur you can address the fat molecules in the milk that had been previously left unpartnered.

Side note: Blue food coloring seemed to react the best. We couldn't figure that one out.









Project number 3: Emulsions revisited :)

You will need:

a clear glass
oil
water
food coloring
liquid soap

The kids got a huge kick out of this...the adults did as well. We let them watch the oil turn into droplets in the water and float to the surface. We discussed that oil and water don't mix. If you want to get into a polarity discussion, you can, but kids between 2 and 5 are probably not there yet.

We added drops of food coloring which sat on the surface of the oil briefly, then slowly penetrated the oil. As they began to drop out of the oil, we dropped in some soap to break the surface tension again and got more swirls and movement in the liquids.





This was a great opportunity to discuss ducks (funny we'd had a duck visit that week and one of the adults thought to bring this up) and the way the oils in their feathers repel water. We did not address the more significant (in regards to flotation) factors of bouyancy, uropygial glands or hollow bones (although the topics were touched on). I guess this is an excuse for more water projects another day!

Then the kids killed a bunch of apples and bowls full of Nutella and peanut butter.

Enjoy your projects! More next week!

Red

Emily has my Nikon and Adam has the Cybershot.

That means you will have to wait on pictures from the bird lesson and our visit to feed the ducks, geese, and pigeons.

I need reccomendations for good puzzle books. One of the kids' worksheets today was a "find what is wrong" with this picture. We did a kind of lazy/fun lesson day with no writing or anything too structured.

We practiced coloring inside the lines (which I'll also share info on soon..CAMERAS).

Coming up Friday....water related science projects...glitter tornado AND emulsions AKA color swirls!

Corpse

Until we get the hang of a schedule, I fear lessons may just occur when we can get to them. Buckle down, woman. Get a hold of your kids. I hear you. I know what you just said to yourself. Here are my excuses:

1. This is the kids' last year to be home. I plan to put fun first.
1.a. I realize that I set the precedent for all future "things" now. Making fun a
numero uno priority might be an atrocity in your mind. My house, my rules.

2. My workouts are a priority to me. Couple that with the fact that the kids feel the gym is a treat, and we have morning workouts when we should be doing lessons.

3. Apparently, my children are not...ahem....conditioned.....errr...to giving me their undivided attention longer than about 40 minutes (thus, school, to learn how to do that...voila! imagine that).

4. I have the upmost respect for you folks who teach and manage a household. When DO you do lesson plans?

That said, Ben and Alya took great joy in completing their personal info in the front of their new workbooks. Thanks Gramma and Grampa. These books are FANTASTIC!!! They include a melange of worksheets for letters, numbers, mazes, games, math, activities, etc. Basically, it is PreK in a book. I have other materials, but these workbooks are the creme de la creme!





So funny, that tongue hanging out of that mouth!

Our curriculum today was as follows:

First, we worked on our letter A(a) with tracing and independent writing worksheets.





Second, we did a maze worksheet.

Third we did a germ experiment. Let me preface the pictures with some info. Our topic this week is the human body. Pros: There is a lot of information to cover and I have experience with the topic. Con: There is a lot of information to cover.

I am a firm believer in using every experience every day as a learning opportunity. Now, I don't mean that I freakishly hover over my children and ask them to read every sign we see or define every event we encounter (there are parents out there who do this and I HATE YOU...just in case you were wondering....your kids hate you too). What I DO mean is that we talked about nutrition and digestion at each meal today (so far) and will continue to do so all week. When I see an opportunity to discuss the body, I'll do it. I won't yell at my children in the produce section of Kroger to translate squash to Spanish so that the lone soul in the bakery might hear and think I am fabulous and my kids are geniuses. You know those parents. It has happened to you. Boo crazy parents. Boo. Lighten up. (Yeah that's coming from me.)

I never said this blog was going to be light.

Germs.

Soooo, as I was saying, one of our physical projects was to consider transmission of germs (the kids get a secondary lesson in cleanliness, two birds, one stone).

For this project you will need:

glitter glue
a colorful cup (a different color than your glitter)
a colorful napkin (ditto)

I asked the children to wash their hands and dry them. We'd had a brief discussion about germs beforehand. I asked if they had a lot of germs on their hands, and they said, "No." We squeezed glitter glue into our hands and rubbed it in. We pretended the glitter was germs and we held our cups, etc., and watched how easily the germs were transferred to everything.








Clean up!

Fourth, the children had asked to talk about the brain, so I incorporated that today too.

I had them close their eyes and I ran a pipe cleaner through their hands. I had them guess what they were touching. You could use almost anything for this. I also had them balance on one foot. From these two quick experiments, we had a discussion about the brain and how it gets messages.

I like to use books during our lessons and have acquired several that I use regularly (those little children's dictionaries they sell in Marshalls rock)! I have a plethora of books including the old Snoopy encyclopedias. I simply mark the sections of the materials I want to cover and have it available.

Finally, the kids drew pictures of their "bodies". Alya's is pretty straight forward. I think the absence of a core in its entirety (thus existing with no organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, etc.) is amazing.



Ben, interestingly, was wearing his "father's slippers" and had an odd object growing from his head (which is an art interest [things growing out of heads] he shares with his father). Also, he had a lollipop in his hand and the big X means "NO LOLLIPOPS". So Ben not only drew his body but he tried to make a social statement as well.



Ben said our brains are dead. That would make us all corpses. I think he has a very distorted perception of reality.

I'm always open to project ideas and fun ways to learn. Feel free to comment!

VOLCANOES

Before we begin:

1. I am not a certified educator. I am a stay at home mom. My husband, who is a qualified educator, is not involved in my lesson plans, and, therefore, can not be held responisble for anything where I legitimately earn an 'F'.

2. Should you choose to duplicate our lessons or activities at home, you do so at your own risk.

3. You agree, by reading this, to fully hold me harmless should you decide to educate your children at home.


I will periodically record for you, via post, lessons we do so that you may, if you want, do them in your home. This first lesson idea actually came to me via my neighbor. We all learn from one another. This blog seeks to further that goal of being a community built on sharing and learning.

VOLCANOES!

Materials you will need:

1 paper cup (any size, but a large one will work best)
tin foil
clay or playdoh
vinegar
baking soda
food coloring
baking sheet

Step 1:

Construct a "volcano" by folding foil over the mouth of your cup and bunching it at the bottom. Place your volcano on a baking sheet.

Step 2:

Roll out clay or playdoh (is that a trademark name? is that going to be my error numero uno?) and cover your volcano gently. You can add trees and other things if you want to be cute about it. In the real world, just getting the 2 4 year olds to roll out the clay was enough to make me want to punch myself in the face, thus the odd semi-covered volcano. Exhibit A:



Ben covered his ears and Alya left the room, because, although I explained it was noiseless, they were convinced the "interruption" (what they called the eruption) would be loud.

Step 3:

Put several teaspoons of baking soda into your volcano. In a separate cup combine vinegar and food coloring (we started with red and the changed to other colors for the 29th and 46th eruptions....I like to exaggerate).

Step 4:

Pour vinegar mixture into cup slowly enough that you can see the reaction begin to happen. You can add more vinegar mixture and baking soda for more eruptions. Be ready, your regular kid will want to do it all day! Your oddly paranoid kid will flit in and out of the room screaching and flailing about spastically. The truth is what it is. I love Alya, I just don't understand Alya. The one time I tried to forcibly hold her against her will to watch an eruption, I felt bad, and let her go before Ben poured the vinegar.



Step 5:

Make it educational. We discussed dormant volcanoes:



Active volcanoes:



We talked about magma (I got under the kitchen table) and lava (I jumped out from under the table and up into the air!). We discussed plate shifts and the creation of mountains and volcanoes and talked a bit about the forces that cause the volcanoes to erupt.




Remember to keep it uber fun....CLAY TIME is PLAY TIME. Alya asked for a cat:







Ben said he made a "dead crab" to chase Alya's cat.

Keep it fun folks!

More lessons after Labor Day!