Friday, April 20, 2012

Incredible Egg Geode Experiment

I want to thank http://littlemisshypothesis.blogspot.com/ she posted this weekly experiment of the week on her blog, It is an advertisement for the Steve Spangler Scientist website. There is a link to Steve's Website on her blog. My kids had fun exploring while learning her is the outcome of the Egg Geode that grew crystals.  We did this lesson and found out that
"Geodes are pockets of crystals that form in sedimentary and igneous rocks. They start as hollow spaces in rock that is porous enough for water to seep through. The water carries dissolved minerals, which are deposited in the open space, forming a lining of crystals. Most geodes contain quartz crystals, but they can also contain calcite, celestite, and other minerals. "
My son had Earth Science last school year and studied rocks so this was another great ad on to what was taught in the K-12 program, we love his teacher he has his year, she currently teaches a few levels of Science. I only hope that they can let us have her again when he moves up to 8th next fall. I have to admit between the two kids, it took two trials and errors.but that is what learning is about. I have to say that my ninth grader didn't put in a spoon over night like my son did his and his had crystals. He thinks that this was the variable that may have made it work for him. We are going to do it again, however they are going to separate the egg halves and place Epsom Salts in place of Alum like the kids did for this project, and  a spoon in one container and not the other container. I will get back to you when this happens. Again, if you would  like some really great ideas for Science you can either hop over to my blog pal at http://littlemisshypothesis.blogspot.com/ or the Steve Spangler site. Have a great day.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Cause and Effect Glyph

This is a Cause and Effect Glyph that my son who is in 7th did. He had a assignment in Composition class, it was also to to help him with making a presentation from being boring, he said.  The project represented here is a Critter cage, it is similar to those for fish, but used for small reptiles or animals. The black band on the top is on a brad and rotates to show his story of the Cause and Effect lesson of how "T" was home one day while mom and sister were running errands. "T" had the Bunny out and put it back in the cage, "he thought" and soon after saw the bunny hop by causing all sorts of mishaps in the house.
 Here is a close up of some extra Rabbits that were cut out using the Cricut and the 2010 special holiday Cartridge. "T" printed the "Cause" highlights and pasted them to the bunnies so he could do a presentation style. The original assignment said the children could do the notes on index cards, but we have a Cricut machine, and he like to use it when ever he gets an opportunity.

 Here "T" and I made some carrots for the Effect notes to go on, they are on a brad to keep them together.
My 9th grader has a real bunny and "T" thought it would be fun to do this project. Her bunny is fine, and was not left out of her cage, this is just used for a school lesson.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Learning about Meiosis mobile

One of the lessons for "T" Science was to make a Mobile.
It is hanging up in the back drop,
The project let him use craft materials which best represented
Chromosomes, Spindles, Spindle fibers and the division of cells.
 He was able to send the completed picture to his Online teacher to share
with the rest of the virtual class to set as a referrence for the others who needed a visual :) 
"T",  used pipe cleaners, party basket fill, ribbons, pom poms (top left),
Cricut and George cartridge to cut circles/letters to the same size, plastic wrap,
glue sticks, hot glue stick, ( adult supervision) and a hanger  


Friday, April 6, 2012

"T's" Science Fair Project for K-12 Virtual School

       We have a Cricut Machine and about 55 plus cartridges for it. So we decided to to cut out from the Chores Cartridge some little tooth brushes to add some decoration to the board. There are some large Ovals to represent Eggs under the word  EGGS to go with the theme. "T" had to do a Science Fair for his last Unit and lesson of the school year however, he loves Science already and will continue to do some lessons and visit some some of his favorite hands on science museums. We have a few blogs we follow regularly to gret some ideas from, and will continue to check in with his K-12 teacher on a regular basis as well. Plus, we have a great start to a Science center set up in our school area. "T" just became the keeper of 2 fish that have mickey mouse head prints on the tails. Congrats !

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Science & math with Gummy Worms and Gummy Bears, Rulers, and a variety of Water

Here T is measuring the W and L of the Gummy worm prior to placing in the water solution. He is recording the information on the chart we found on the Internet ( We would like to give credit to who ever made the chart, & Thank you, but it didn't have a source with it.
Ms. G also recorded the bears W and H and made their measurements info for the charts. She gave the hypothesis info and was ready to go on with her experiment. She has tap water, (we have well water) yuck!,
Bottle water, and salt water, than we added sugar water, not shown in picture.
Here you can see a set up for the two kids. We later added the container for Sugar water.
They were watching to see if any coloring would come off and then they were to see if the bears ( that was the first test) changed size or mass. they did change the water to a light pink after 30 minutes.
The worm test was the most change. They grew from 5 cm to 6 cm. and the red ones to a darker pink water. and green ones to lite green water, no change on yellow water. The Salt water face after eating the items, I saw on the kids was priceless:) Hey they wanted to try it! Yuck!
In the end they said this was one of the best times of the week they had, because they got to have Gummy worms during the school day!