Science

Seven experiments for Science Co-op

November 6, 2018 By Annette1 2 Comments

I’ve been teaching a science class this current co-op season. I had a couple of books that inspired me The Element in the Room and The Electric Pickle. Here are seven experiments for a co-op science class.

We discussed hydrogen and oxygen and learned to separate them with electrolysis.

We learned the iodine turns purple when it connects with a starch. This also gave us the opportunity to discuss diffusion.

We had a lot of fun playing around with mentos and pop. We got a lot of different pops, let the boys figure out an hypothesis, and test their ideas, their goal.. figure out why mentos reacted strongly with some pop but not with others. They got pretty close to figuring it out too! We ended up turning to the internet for the answers. It’s a combination nucleation and the the gum arabic and gelatin ingredients of the Mentos, combined with the potassium benzoate, sugar or (potentially) aspartame in diet sodas. The boys were shocked that the no sugar pepsi had the greatest reaction and had traced that down the aspartame. And my son had mentioned the bubbles that form on the mint mentos. We actually took two class periods to research this.

The boys were delighted to test out chip bags in the microwave. They excitedly showed them off to a homeschool mom who asked “did you do those in the oven?” They told her the microwave and she asked about sparks. We learned that two seconds in the microwave works fine. It was NOT my idea to do one with the contents still in it, but the boys thought it pretty cool. 🙂

Magnetic fun

One day we played around with magnets. I hadn’t anticipated this one but came prepared in case they were curious. I brought four different kinds of cereal and some milk. They floated the cereal and determined which ones had the most iron in them. Fruit loops of all things!!!!! Crushed them and discovered tiny amounts of iron filings. This was a total eye opener for them. Then of course, boys being boys, they played magnet hockey…in the process discovering north and south, and how magnets vary in strength.

Our last experiment was in discovering the joy of black snakes. Working with carbon was very exciting for these two lads. It was a windy day so we struggled getting things going and the bbq lighter was a bit of a challenge to use.

Since we are on vacation this week I didn’t actually plan an experiment for day six. I expect the lads will be too busy just setting things up and I always have stuff we can play around with. 🙂

Arty Facts: Our Bodies & Art Activities

October 31, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Are you doing a human body study and looking for art projects to enhance your learning adventures? Arty Facts is a wonderful book to enhance any study of the human body. Let me tell you about this excellant art book resource, entitled Our Bodies & Art Activities, that will nicely round out your studies.

What do you get:

21 Chapters with titles such as strong bones, taste buds, touch and feel, brainbox and sound catchers, the human body is discussed and art activities suggested for each area of the body.

This isn’t just an art book with a little bit of info, it’s also a science book with good information about the body. I found the text geared to grades three and up. There is much younger children could learn, but for reading independently, probably grade three as a minimum level.

Each page of learning comes with an accompanying art activity. There is a great range of activities from working with paper Mache, sewing, or drawing etc. You get to work with paper, glue, buttons, foil, shells, paint, sponges, sequins and more. Some of the crafts are “Salt Dough Fruit Basket”, “Textured Touch Art”, “Circuit Board Collage” and “Puffing Bellows”. I found that the crafts ranged in complexity, some being suitable for upper elementary students, and others for lower. Pick the crafts/art activities that match the level of your students.

You’ll notice that the list of needed supplies in done on a red sidebar with pictures and words. The instructions were clear making it very easy to teach. There is a materials guide at the close of the book which tells you what some of the materials are and what suitable alternatives could be used.

My thoughts:

I think this is a great book and makes me want to go out and gather a bunch of kids together. Then I can do art and learn about the body at the same time. This book is great for kinetic learners to cement learning. I was pleased they didn’t include the Robotic Hand which I often find in stem and art books about the human body.

Our Bodies & Art Activities
Editor: Ellen Rodger
Crabtree Publishing
48 pages, softcover,
Art, Kids Crafts, Human Body, Science
Series: Arty Facts.

The Element in the Room

October 27, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Did you know that I am teaching a science class? My goal was to base it solely in the periodic table, but I didn’t get the student numbers hoped for, so I’ve kinda turned it into a basic science class. We are still mostly doing the periodic table as the basis for our learning though, as elements make up EVERYTHING in the world you know? To that end, The Element in the Room, that I received as a review book from Raincoast Books has been immensely helpful.

From the Cover:

Did you know that without the ‘lead’ in your pencil, there would be no life on Earth? Or that diamonds and coal are both made from exactly the same thing? Or that the deadly ingredient used to make the most dangerous weapon in history can also be found in your bottled water?

Absolutely everything in the universe is made up of just 92 elements! And from aluminum to zinc, many of these atomic ingredients can be found in your very own home.

This funny and fascinating guide to the elements is bursting with brilliant facts about the ingredients that make up everything around us. Join the great scientific sleuth Sherlock Ohms as he explores the elements hiding in your home, and help his enquiries with explosive scientific experiments.

Ohms’ investigation will sort the isotopes from the allotropes, put the Able into Periodic Table, and electrify your electrons! Along the way, Atomic Comics show you the savvy scientists who discovered the elements and their extraordinary effects.

What you get:

Quite frankly, you get a delightfully informative book all about the periodic table. You start off learning the basics of what makes up an atom, what an electrical charge is, and building up from there. It does touch on the “big bang theory” as many science books are apt to do. Through talking about the stars and the how they fuse elements we are led into the periodic table.

As you can see, the elements are broken down into colour zone with what type they are labeled. Understanding that there are more than 100 elements leads to the question of how do they combine, so that explanation is given just before we delve into the world of the different elements in the room.

Each of the elements is discussed, some as part of a page grouping, others getting a page of their own and yet others spreading over two pages). In each case we are told where we can find the element in the world around us, the colour, how safe it is and it’s general use.

A sense of humour is evident through the pages. The author evidently enjoys science and wants to help the younger generation enjoy is as well. This is seen not only in the comics, but in the language and illustrations used.

The somewhat oversized book closes with the question…how many more elements will be discovered as scientists continue to make new ones. Will they be as unstable as the ones created thus far? Will one of today’s readers be the one to discover it?

To help the reader understand new terminology a glossary is provided at the close of the book.

My Thoughts:

What a delightfully informative book. There are several different ways to approach it.

You could read the comics all the way through from start to finish so you get the whole story at once.
Or you could learn about the specific element you are interested in
Learning the elements in their groupings
Checking them out by what state they are in etc.

In my co-op class we used it as a go-to for quick answers and for stimulating our thinking. We then took that knowledge to the internet to learn more details. One of the things I really appreciated was being told where we can find these elements in everyday life. It was an excellent Start here book for the 13 and 14 year olds I’ve been teaching. The comics weren’t just for fun, but to help us learn more of the history behind different elements being discovered. It’s led me to want to know about the Curie’s.

I disliked that the big bang theory as exactly that wasn’t introduced as the theory it is rather than being presented as fact, and… we can’t know that this theory is true. Evidence might point that way, but we still can’t know the truth. A theory should be taught as a theory, especially to impressionable young minds.

Combining The Element in the Room with The Electric Pickle has been a good combination for my co-op class. The boys are asking excellent questions as we do science.

The Element in the Room
Mike Barfield
Illustrator: Lauren Humphrey
Laurence King
Hardcover, 64 pages, 7 and up
Science, chemistry, periodic table

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Where to buy Amazon.

Seeing Science

October 25, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Imagine a book that walks you through different branches of science, giving you not just a cursory glimpse into them, but a solid one, that touches on the different branches within that area of science? Enter in Seeing Science by Iris Gottlieb. Her goal is to stoke the readers interest into science using art and illustrative language.

From the cover:

Science is really beautiful. With original illustrations that deftly explain the strange-but-true world of science, Seeing Science offers a curated ride through the great mysteries of the universe. Artist and lay scientist Iris Gottlieb explains among other things: neap tides, naked mole rats, whale falls, the human heart, the Uncertainty Principle, the ten dimensions of string theory, and how glaciers are like Snickers bars. With quirky visual metaphors and concise factual explanations, she offers just the right amount of information to stoke the curious mind with a desire to know more about the life forces that animate both the smallest cell and the biggest black hole. Seeing Science illustrates, explicates, and celebrates the marvels of science as only art can.

What you get:

Written with a sense humour and every day language, Iris Gottlieb brings us into her world as she talks about science. We learn interesting tidbits about the author as she expresses her keen interest in the different fields of science.

Three main sections of the book: Life science, earth science and physical science. Each of these sections is further divided into subsections of the field. For instance physical science covers astronomy, chemistry and physics.

Pages filled with lots of information. Some was very familiar to me, other information gave insights otherwise unknown. She did a good job of explaining the different areas covered, giving good coverage to the different aspects of evolution and explaining what specific terms means. Not just linking them the evolution but showing a broader picture.

Copious illustrations fill the pages. Some in full colour, others in monochrome. All illustrations were well-detailed and furthered the message of the text.

My son, being the ant focused lad that he is, was delighted that part of this book was given over to the world of ants. She did a nice job of giving a bit of a run down on ants but “she didn’t say a whole lot mom! There’s so much more to say!” but hey… if talking a generic science book you can’t say EVERYTHING there is to say about one portion of it. 🙂

My Thoughts:

I was pleasantly surprised to not see a big push for evolutionary theory, though different methods of how species evolve were explained. There are some evolutionary ideas presented but not like it was the only thing. I can’t say I agree with the evolutionary ideas that were presented, but it wasn’t a heavy overload in my opinion.

You do need to be aware of she does use some inappropriate language, but not an over abundance, more like a slip of the tongue. You may wish to preview the book if offering to children younger than 13.

There were so many areas where the information presented was just fascinating. Trees are way more interesting than I would have thought. Pigeons served in World War 1 (cool fact to remember for my son). Did you know the magnetic north is not always in the same place?

A highly interesting book that is sure to please the science minded among us and just may spur on an interest in those not quite sure. Definitely a book to leave laying around.

Seeing Science: An Illustrated Guide to the Wonders of the Universe
Iris Gottlieb
Chronicle Books
Hardcover, 152 pages,
Science, Chemistry, Biology
life science, earth science, physical science

Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Click on image below to go to Amazon.

World’s Strangest….

October 20, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

There are times, dear readers, I wish you could be a fly on the wall when certain books come into the house. Normally my lad couldn’t really care as he knows I’ll tell him what I think once I’ve looked through them. BUT the books I have for you today grabbed his interest from the time they fell out of the package. Lonely Planet kids has four books in the series World’s Strangest. We have predators, ocean beasts, places and creepy-crawlies. Can you guess, dear readers, which one he gravitated to?

YES You are totally correct. Creepy-Crawlies is it. Why… well you know … ANTS. Ants were mentioned in a book AND they were ACCURATE!!! He was delighted and then found the quizzes… can I tell you something… IF YOU ARE TIRED>>> DO NOT LET YOU CHILDREN QUIZ you… unless you want them chortling with glee when you flub up. 🙂 It was okay though…I got him back later by quizzing him on Ocean beasts… which had him grabbing up the book and learning more for himself. FUN! Who wouldn’t want books like this in your house? 🙂

What you get:

Each book is laid out in the same manner. The Top 40 as ranked by Lonely Planet experts are talked about. Five strangest and then a quiz. Loads of colourful pictures and interesting tidbits. Each book closes with a glossary.

Let me walk you through

Each book is divided into four sections, each with their own quiz.

Each place or creature is given a two page spread with bright, highly engaging, full-colour images. Bold text to help draw in the eye.

As you can see, each place or creature comes with a strangeometer score. 40 creatures or places in each book. Each quiz asks 10 questions, not in the order they are presented in the book. The answers are provided upside down in fine print.

The books I received are:

Ocean beasts: weird and wonderful creatures from the deep
Places: weird and wonderful corners of the Earth
Predators: weird and wonderful carnivorous animals
Creepy-crawlies: weird and wonderful hair-raising bugs

Each one was a treasure trove of 40 places or animals that are just odd, interesting, or wonderful. Places like Christmas Island and the underwater post office. Animals such as the trumpetfish, leafy seadragon, or japanese spider crab. How about the cobra lily, trapdoor spider, exploding ant, or artic fox? Interesting and sometimes obscure facts are brought to light, sure to delight your children from age 6 and up.

My Thoughts:

In case you couldn’t tell, I really like these four books. I am tempted to use them to create small unit studies to help your student delve into the world’s strangest all the more. 🙂 (If only I could find the time). The bright images with factoids make these books a delightful addition to your science library. I urge you to check them out today.

World’s Strangest ocean beasts
World’s Strangest places
World’s Strangest predators
World’s Strangest creepy-crawlies

Lonely Planet Kids
80 pages, 6-8 years,
Science, Geography, Biology, Elementary

Pruning and Moving Fruit Trees

October 9, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

My brother was a total sweetheart. Remember I got the hedge down but we had this stumps sitting in the way? With no chainsaw at hand I didn’t know how to get them out other than let them rot out (takes about six years) or maybe use an ax (uh no) … this was strongly discouraged by my mom-in-law who said that was bear of a method. Anyways, my brother says “sure, I’ll lend a hand” so I am indebted to him for his kindness. I’ve told him when he’s ready for hostas to come and get the ones he wants. 🙂

The two boys (after hearing gramma says “I’m going to get changed and move those logs”, got grins on their faces and hurried to beat her to the punch. You should have heard them chortle when gramma came out to them all mow. “YOU BOYS! I needed something to do!” Honestly, I laughed to… the look on her face was priceless and the boys… Just fun!

BUT gramma needed a job so I set her and the boys to digging holes for me. I marked them off with a big X and gave them general dimensions. My son learned accuracy with an axe (needed for cutting through roots), and continued community with a non-native English speaker. My visiting son learned new words like hole, bush, axe, “x marks the spot”, pruner, shovel and more. Gramma learned to ASK for the best shovel and to accept help from two eager boys (this is hard for her).

The lad asked questions like “Why are the holes so far apart? Why do they need to be so deep? How do you know how much to prune them back?” and other such questions. It was good to take the time to help him learn. It’s fun you know? The holes were 5-6 feet apart so they have room to grow and I can mow around them. They needed to be bigger and wider then the rootball of the plant you were putting in so the plants roots have soft soil to grow in so they can reestablish themselves. And see below for how I knew how much to cut them back. 🙂

I headed off to trim my gooseberry bush. When my brother was here he walked me around our property and said “cut this one down to here, cut this one here, cut this one back hard, and so forth”. I listened intently and cut the bushes after he left. He’s more brutal than I am comfortable with but… I did way more than I normally would. I still have some trepidation about it all though. 🙂

Look at the piles of stuff though eh?

In between our work done we had our thanksgiving meal. It was very good. Mashed potatoes, chicken, biscuits, cranberry sauce, rhubarb sauce, beets, and peas. Gramma brought dessert of pumpkin pie and orea dessert.

Even though everyone just wanted to rest I had a burn inside me to get those bushes moved so I left the gang in the house, watching TV and chatting, while I disappeared to the backyard. My 13 year old attempted to say “Mom, you don’t have to do this” but I put him off saying “I want to be out here working, I want to muck about in dirt and with shovels”. Appeased he headed back in the house saying “Call me if you need me for anything”.

Lessons I learned. Goji bushes are SUPER easy to move! OH MY! Gramma said it was super easy to prune back too! (I told her how much to cut off). Gooseberry bushes prolificate (we have two babies to find homes for) and very hard to prune with all the thorns they possess. They come out easily enough once you get past the roots. Black currants have spindly roots, which you just have to follow (wet soil is a huge boon in this).

I trimmed back the Rose of Sharon and moved it to a spot where I could mow all around it. I really like this bush as it’s white with red centres in the flowers. Very striking. I discovered it was growing on a slant so when I replanted it I tilted it before I tamped down the dirt. The lad held it steady for me.

Once I had them all in, I gave them all very thorough watering. Plants love water and it helps them not to be stressed if they get a good watering after they are moved around. I remember as a child watching my dad (who loved planting trees) carry out buckets of rinse water from the milking machines to pour over the trees he’d planted.

Who Owns These Bones?

September 15, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Do you remember I reviewed a book about Roadkill? I have a fantastic book to go along with that one! Anyways, the book I have today with called Who Owns These Bones? It has been a pleasure to review this book.

From the back

“Welcome to the secret world of skeletons! From the largest elephant to the smallest mouse, each animal is different, and that goes for their bones, too!

Meet a whole host of amazing skeletons and learn about what makes each one unique, from how to tell a gorilla from a human, to how to recognize a turtle just from its skull.

Lift the flaps to discover each skeleton’s animal owner, and find out amazing anatomy facts along the way! Can you work out Who Owns These Bones?”

The finer details:

40 pages fill out the space between the sturdy hardcovers, while finding simple illustrations in shades of white, black, grey and orange.

A variety of activities fill the pages with the bulk of them being lift-the-flap. Do you see all the information that dots the pages? This is no wee kids book of bones…this book is meant to delight and educate. Answers are always provided, sometimes on the back of a flap or on the bottom of a page.

My Thoughts:

This informative book would be an excellent addition to a course about bones, fossils or perhaps with a Dinosaur book or two. 🙂 Mind, it would also be an interesting add-along if you were doing a course with Northwest Treasures. Bones are an important part of understanding how animals are put together, this book is just filled with them. I wasn’t keen the evolutionary stuff but once we got past that paragraph or two the book just focused on bones. Bones, cartilage, exoskeletons, teeth, horns, fingers and toes, and all parts in-between. Bones, bones and more bones, and along with it lots of learning to be done. This book could fit into a lot of different studies it is just that good. I urge you to give it a gander. 🙂

Who Owns These Bones?
Henri Cap, Raphael Martin, Renaud Vigourt
Laurence King
Hardcover, 40 pages, Ages 7-11
Paleontology, Science, Archaeology
Reviewed for Raincoast Books.

Science