Posted by Cindy on February 28, 2008
Yep, you read right – I said Thanksgiving. This was one to-do that just didn’t make the cut during the busy holiday season. But, we had all the materials (and time) the other day and it really doesn’t have to be a Thanksgiving experiment….
Remember the Science Projects for Holidays Throughout the Year book? This is another fun math and science activity found in it.
To sum up the experiment, we compared unpopped kernels to popped kernels in volume and characteristics. We made hypotheses as to what makes popcorn pop. Then it was time for a demonstration. We poured about a 1/2 cup of water in a glass bottle and placed a deflated balloon over the bottle top. The bottle was carefully placed in a pot of slightly boiling water. As the water in the bottle began to boil, the air the the bottle was heated. Hot air expands, which made our balloon expand. This is the same sort of principle that makes popcorn pop. Little bits of water and air are inside an unpopped corn kernels. When they are heated and the pressure builds inside the kernel, POP goes the corn.
We then talked about whether or not kernels that had been crushed with a hammer could pop. After deciding they probably couldn’t, I cut holes in our balloon and we heated the water and air inside the bottle again. The balloon wasn’t able to inflate because air pressure wasn’t allowed to build up. Therefore, a broken corn kernel can’t pop because no pressure builds up.
Late last year, I Tivo’d a popcorn documentary on the History Channel that was the perfect afternoon viewing. Of course, we ate popcorn!
Posted by Cindy on February 27, 2008
I just wanted to share what a hit this math activity was last week.
Using the information sheets that the website provides, the kids had to fill out a chart to show how many presidents have come from which states. Then, they used graph paper to create a bar graph to show the information from the chart. Fun activity!
Posted by Cindy on February 26, 2008
Not a great picture (that new camera is coming one of these days), but it gives you the idea. They load up the 20 pound 14 month old into a baby doll stroller and whiz around the house as fast as they can. They’ve only overturned him once so far! He belly laughs the entire time, even when they turned him over. Well, he isn’t belly laughing when they go so fast that his fat little cheeks pull back like a cartoon, but he never stops smiling. 
When he’s had enough, it’s his turn to take over. My walls have suffered greatly from his driving.
Posted by Cindy on February 22, 2008
I’m trying to keep up with my promise to show you what some of our unconventional math lessons look like around here. Today I want to share how I plan a math lesson around a piece of literature. It’s really very easy!
Like most everything I do, I grab a pencil and a pad of paper before I do anything else because I’m always writing notes. If I don’t write something down as it pops in my head, it’s usually gone – never to return again!
So with pen and paper in hand, I grab a math book and quickly read through it. I jot down math concepts and activity ideas that jump out at me. The more you do it, the easier ideas start jumping out at you, I promise. Sometimes, I’ll only write a couple of ideas – which means one day’s worth of lessons is all we’ll do before that book goes back on the shelf (or back to the library.) If a lot of ideas are written, I might plan a few days worth of lessons around the book.
If NOTHING pops out at me, but I really like the book, I’ll do one of two things:
1. We’ll just read the book together for fun – no math strings attached.
2. I’ll do a quick google search to see if any good lessons are floating around in cyberspace just waiting for me to grab.
This week we read Sir Cumference and the Isle of Immeter. I found a worksheet in my geometry folder that sent Mahayla on a hunt through the house measuring the perimeter, area and volume of various objects.
Caleb and I pulled out the one-inch tiles and measured the perimeter and area of things around the school room. After a while, he tried his hand at measuring the length and width of the objects with the tiles, then multiplying the numbers to find the area. Finally, he had to use a ruler to find the perimeter and area of many things.
Not only did this simple little lesson create excitement, but it allowed the kids to practice measurement, perimeter, area, volume, mental addition & multiplication and more complex math formulas such as 2l + 2w=p, l x w=a and l x w x h=v. I could’ve done the same sort of teaching from the textbook, but I’m rather sure this lesson will stick a little better!
A couple weeks ago, I forced gave the moms at co-op the opportunity to try their hands at this process and they were VERY GOOD at it!! Here is a great list of math ideas they came up with on many various math titles. The activities are in no particular order – some will be appropriate for little ones, while others will be appropriate for jr. high. I just asked the moms to pick a book and try to think of ideas that would be good for their own children.
The cute math clip art came from Philip Martin.
Posted by Cindy on February 21, 2008
As we entered the second half of our Medieval history unit, I realized I hadn’t taken much time this summer to pre-plan our earth science unit. So, I’ve been busily searching my shelves, my files and the internet to see what I can find. These are the resources I found that I’ll pull from….
Primarily Earth (I LOVE these AIMS units. They are so full of meaningful math and science activities. Most of the time, there are great graphs and/or data sheets to go along with the activities, too.)
Rocks and Soil by Teacher Created Materials
Considering God’s Creation (the part pertaining to earth science)
Earth Science for Every Kid by Janice Van Cleave
Weather by Teacher Created Materials
Water Precious Water by AIMS
Awesome Rocks and Soil Links!
Water Cycle Video
Science Vocabulary Hangman
Earth’s Resources
Earth’s Features
Atmospheric Cycles
Engaging Science
Droplet and the Water Cycle
