As a former teacher of 11 years in public schools and now a homeschooling mom, Ken Robinson’s recent speech hits home on so many levels. In fact, consider watching his other speeches on TED too. Are you a “Mover?”
Thanks to A Nature Mom for posting it on her Facebook Page!
This week we turned our attention to some happy, good-for-you microbes!
We began with reviewing the concepts of germs from last week by cutting out and assembling this “You Might be a Germ If…” book. It gave my preschooler some cutting practice and my kindergartener some reading practice. It’s a short little mini-book that you can use to review some of the negative aspects of germs. Feel free to click the page to download a copy if you think you’d like to try it out with your kids.
We then switched gears to start discussing the properties of yeast. Yeast is an amazing little micro-organism that can live with or without oxygen. Today we use it in baking, cosmetics, and other areas of every day life. Even though we can’t really see yeast cells because they are so tiny, in science we can watch their growth through chemical reactions.
Using a science experiment from Bill Nye, take 4 water bottles and label each (yeast-warm water, yeast and sugar-warm water, yeast-cold water, yeast and sugar-cold water). Fill the bottles accordingly, place a balloon around the outer lip of each bottle, and place in a conducive spot. We kept our two warm bottles in the living room and the two cold ones in the refrigerator.
Beware, your husband may ask you about what’s in the fridge. I know my husband loves living in our house. I’m sure it gives him a plethora of conversation starters for work. Ha ha ha.
Check the experiments after 12 hours and again after 24 and you will be able to observe a chemical reaction taking place.
The balloon of the warm yeast and sugar water mixture will be filled with a mixture of carbon dioxide and ethanol. This reactions is what happens when conditions are just right to multiply.
As an extension, we decided to see how yeast works in our kitchen. We used a 30 Minute Pretzel recipe to smell yeast, taste it in the dough, and observe how our pretzel designs “puffed” as they rose right before baking.
While the pretzels cooked, it gave us some time to write a little. My daughters each wrote a recipe for their grandma to use (with my youngest dictating to me). Although neither seem to include the “real” recipe, it gave a chance for some non-fiction writing with a little organization. Feel free to click the image below to download if you think it’s something you could use with your own kids.
We took a little time with a little “J” Sound Sort, in which we sorted words between those that started with a J and those that started with a G. How confusing can the English language get having two different letters that make the same sound? Geesh! The activity was a hit because we have “J” sound names in our family. Outside of that it gave us a chance to talk about the different words, just for the exposure. If you think you could use this at home, feel free to download by clicking on the image.
One of our favorite activities of the week was blow-painting our own germs. I found this idea on Pinterest from Raising Sparks and think it’s adorable. This is really not scientific, but it was a lot of fun and allowed us to discuss how we shouldn’t share straws or blow in people’s faces. Not only that, but we had some wildly creative stories that stemmed from the pictures!
Finally, our germy apples from last week. I was a little disappointed that our apples didn’t brown more (thanks a lot Granny Smith), but as soon as the kids touched them, they exclaimed over how squishy the cut apples were. I love how doing this experiment can be connected to how our own human skin protects our bodies from germs and microbes breaking through.
Please don’t forget to head on over to The Usual Mayhem and STEMmom to see what they’ve been working on this week. And, if you’re interested in a variety of Montessori ideas for germs, please visit Every Star is Different, who shared with her current germ unit with me. You will find lots of fun ideas to add to your own studies!
*Oh yeah, want to know what the results were of our petri dishes? I am so glad we checked them throughout the week because we had a few microbes growing in several dishes, but the home computer petri was really icky! The computer got a nice cleaning. Unfortunately, I had an epic fail at the final results because I preheated my oven where I was storing the petri dishes…and totally forgot to remove the tray. I would like to say the brownies that I made were worth it, but I doubled the batch and doubled everything but the sugar. So I didn’t even lose the petri dishes for a good treat in return. {Sigh…}
They look a little melted, huh? So sad…We’ll have to give it another try. Be sure to check out the Kitchen Pantry Scientist to see some “real” results.
Click the button below to be brought back to the introductory post for this unit. We have one more Tuesday to go before we share our free planning resources. Enjoy!
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We just started integrating poetry into our Friday “Tea Times” this year and have explored a variety of poems and different poets. 
Come check out my post on So You Call Yourself a Homeschooler today to find out how you can make poetry part of your homeschool!
Sure, you buy a bag of bird seed from the store, but do birds like the whole mix or do they prefer one type of seed over the other?
After spending lots of time playing with our bird feeder, my 6 year old was interested in figuring out which type of bird seed our backyard birds liked most. I outlined our study below so you can try this at home too:
Materials:
You will need an egg carton, scissors, a large rock, and a bag of mixed bird seed (you will not use the whole bag).
Procedure:
Cut the top off a cardboard egg carton.
Grab a bag of bird seed from the store and get prepared for the hardest part.
Dump some of the bird seed out on a table or into a small bowl and sort each seed into a different section of the egg carton. This is a project! Our goal was to get a tablespoon of each seed. Celebrate your child’s amazing sorting skills! (As you can see, my daughter decided to add peanuts, just to see what would happen.)
Leave the bird seed outside in an area that has been visited by birds. Anchor the carton down with a rock to prevent it from taking flight.
Predict:
Have your child make a prediction, or educated guess as to which seed the birds will like the best. My daughter thought that the sunflower seeds would be eaten first because of their larger size.
Observe and Collect Data:
Check the bird seed daily to see what the birds have eaten. Don’t be surprised if it takes a few days. The birds have to discover this bird seed before it can be eaten. To collect data, my daughter took a daily picture of the bird seed. You could choose to record written data on a chart instead.
Results:
After several days of observations and collecting data, see if there are any results. Was one kind of bird seed eaten more than others? We noticed that the sunflower seeds of our experiment were scattered throughout the carton, the peanuts and the darkest brown seeds were gone, while the yellow seeds in the top middle were pretty much ignored. I wonder what your results will be!
Click the button below to go check out other “Spring Learning and Play” ideas hosted by Teach Beside Me. 
Monday
Teach Beside Me – Nature and Play – Royal Baloo – Life with Moore Babies
Tuesday
The Pleasantest Thing – Artchoo – Smiling like Sunshine – Preschool Powol Packets
Wednesday
Growing Green Fingered Kids – Inspiration Laboratories – Montessori Tidbits – Wildflower Ramblings
Thursday
Kitchen Counter Chronicles - No Doubt Learning – Sugar Aunts – Craft to Art – From a Country Road
Friday
Rainy Day Mum – Creative Playhouse – Scribble Doodle and Draw – True Aim Education
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Welcome to Week 1 of our collaborative thematic unit on germs and microbes! I’m happy you stopped by and hope you’ll be able to use some of these ideas we’ve gathered with your own children. This post contains affiliate links and lots of freebies. Don’t forget that at the end of the unit we’ll be sharing with you a GoogleDoc of free resources you can use for planning your own germ studies.
This week was a major introduction to Germs. We are a big fan of The Magic School Bus (you can view Inside Ralphie online) and I just introduced my kids to one of my favorite science TV personalities, Bill Nye, who has a germ-related video online. We spent a lot of time reading tons of books to give us some background knowledge and especially enjoyed Germs Make Me Sick. It was an easy read with lots of pictures for my preschooler and kindergartener. Billy Nye has a germ book out that includes tons of great experiments, and it was really helpful to view the magnified germs in the book Germs by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. We stumbled across that book at our local library and I highly recommend it for the photos.
To gauge our understanding, we looked at items on the following page and tried to choose all the areas where germs might be and what items combat them. Feel free to download a copy for your own kids by clicking the image below.
Then we set up our science experiments!
Using an activity from the 
We also started working our way through our Germ Scientific Notebook provided by STEMmom. We stapled my 6 year old’s journal into a germ lapbook that will contain all of our other activities. Then, I made my preschooler generic notebook pages to cut into her own (very basic) lapbook. This is super basic, but feel free to click the image to download the sheet. I wanted her to have a part in guessing what germs looked like before we began our studies and I’m excited to see what she draws after!
We began with an experiment to see how skin protects us from germs. To do this, we learned how to use a peeler and peeled a few sections from two apples (one for each of my kids). We also used a control apple without a broken peel. My kids spent some time rubbing their fingers around all of their peeled sections and then again on the control apple. Their prediction is that the peeled apples will turn brown because they don’t have skin to protect them. We’ll keep you posted.
Additionally, we did a hand-washing experiment and timed how many seconds it took for water to remove dirt on our hands. We learned that it took a lot longer than anticipated! We also learned that soap helped clean our hands even after we had let the water do its job.
To go along with our current math lessons right now, we played a game of symmetry. We placed blue painters tape on the ground and worked to find the symmetrical matches to the yellow cards. This was similar to the domino game we played last week. Feel free to download the cards by clicking one of the images below.
We play a LOT of math games in our house, so in staying with the germ theme we’re taking a break from regular dominoes and dice and using germy ones this month instead. They are great for adding and subtracting games, number line games, and more. If you’d like a copy, feel free to click one of the images below to download the whole set. The dominoes are 9-9 dotted and there are two kinds of dice to choose from: the kind you can cut out and place in photo dice (or attach to a large cube) and a foldable template.
Stop by STEMmom and The Usual Mayhem to see what they are sharing with you this week and click the button below to go to my main introductory post. Stay tuned for next Tuesday’s post on Science and Language Arts activities revolving around germs.
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What do you think of when you think about germs – maybe something that makes you sick? Well, think again! I have something that will put a smile on your face. I’m excited to bring to you a collaborative K-1 unit on Germs and Microbes! This unit contains things you can use for free to plan your own germy unit. For the next 3 weeks STEMmom, The Usual Mayhem, and I will be posting a range of thematic ideas to help you teach your children about these powerful, invisible beings.
Over the next 3 weeks, I will be inking this introductory post with the activities I am sharing:
Week 1: Science Experiment Preparation and Math Activities
Week 2: Science Experiments and Reading/Writing Activities
Week 3: Science Experiments, Games, and the Arts
End of Unit: Free Google Doc of resources you can help with your own unit planning
Of course, don’t forget to check out my friends Darci, of STEMmom and Erin over at The Usual Mayhem to see what fun they’ve been up to during this unit!
Throughout the unit, at any time, feel free to click the image below to be brought back to this post containing the resources for this unit! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s “Week 1” post where I’ll be sharing some science experiments and math activities!
I don’t know about your kids, but mine LOVE to be in the kitchen. Whether it’s measuring, stirring, or snitching here and there, they enjoy helping out! Aside from the every day assistance that I get, I take the time to schedule in a specific time for “cooking class” each week. During this time I work with one of my daughters individually as they learn how to prepare a snack for the day.
Each of my daughters has her own half inch binder. On the front is a cover, as seen below, and on the inside is a cooking record. The cooking record helps us remember when and what we’ve made. We’ve revisited our record several times to help “remember” some of the recipes we’ve tried. Behind the record sheet I place in several copies of recipes I’ve found that would be fun (and easy) to try out. My girls love looking through those to see what’s ahead. Sometimes, if I have my camera handy, I’ll take a picture of their creations to place in a clear sheet protector that’s included in the back of the binder.
One of our favorite resources for finding kid cook books is the local Friends of the Library Book Sale but I’ve also printed many simple recipes off of the Internet that have been kid-friendly.
We’ve used the ebook “Little Kids…Cook” by Scholastic at Teacher’s Express (bought during the $1 sale) and Kids Cooking Activities for free kid-friendly (non-reader) recipes.
Another great resource is Creative Classroom Cooking which I found as a free pdf download. (search on yahoo: rainbowhorizons.com “Creative Classroom Cooking” pdf). It offers simple snacks for kids to make and teaches basic cooking skills, such as measurement. Cooking with Kids also has some other great resources.
I love the time I get to spend one-on-one with my girls. Not only is there anticipation for our cooking days, but I think it helps build confidence in the kitchen and gives my girls a sense of pride as they prepare something that their sister will be sharing for snack.
Feel free to click the images if you would like to download it for use in your own homeschool.
…And if that’s too girlie, here’s one I made for all of you with boys:
I realize that not all people have these skin tones, so if you would like to use this for your family, email me your preference and I can change the graphic to a skin tone that suits you better.
I’m always on the lookout for great sites with recipes for kids to make. Please let me know of any others out there that are favorites!
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Last month we had a great time with our Poppins Book Nook wizards theme and this month we’re continuing the fun with one of my favorite themes – a Prehistoric/Dinosaur theme. It’s so hard for me to narrow down a book!
This virtual book club takes place each month and includes a different theme. A wide range of books and activities will be shared by several bloggers, including myself.
Here’s a look at the themes to come:
Come join the fun!
Pick out a book around this month’s theme (Prehistoric/Dinosaurs), read it with your children (any age!), and do an activity that is homeschool-related. Crafts, recipes, games, reports…or anything else fun is welcome!
Stop back here the last Monday of the month to see what book and activity I have chosen and what other families have chosen as well. If you’d like to share your activities the linky will be opening May 27th. You will have 3 weeks from that date to share your post with others.
Check out the web sites of these bloggers who are participating:
Are you planning to join in with a dinosaur-related book? See you at the end of the month!
I thought I’d share a quick game that we’ve been playing in our house lately. We call it The Game of Symmetry, but it was really just adapted from a game in our math curriculum (RightStart).
Symmetry is when 2 sides of an object are balanced; they are a mirror reflection of each other. We’ve been practicing with letters, numbers and shapes, but today we made it a 2-player game using the back sides of Dominoes.
Place a piece of blue painters tape on the ground and build a design on the right side of the painters tape.
Your child builds the reflected design on the left side of the painters tape.
If your child has a hard time determining what the reflection would look like, feel free to put a mirror along the painters tape (line of symmetry) so your child can clearly see the reflection to help build the image.
Experiment with different design combinations and take turns being the person who creates the initial (right-sided) image.
When you are done, add to the fun by turning the Dominoes right-side up for a real game of dominoes…or teach your kids how to stack dominoes up to form a line that reacts to the “domino effect” where one will topple into the other all the way down a line. We had some sneaky fun placing a line of Dominoes by the front door, so when Daddy came home and opened the front door, the dominoes began to topple!
Have your kids played with Dominoes? If not, try some Domino fun in your house!
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Did you hear that the Great Gatsby is coming out in the movies soon? I’m really excited about it because when I read the book for my Junior English class, I did not get the book. Symbolism – what? Now that I’ve had a few more life experiences, hopefully I’ll be able to make some more connections to the characters and the time period. I’m looking forward to going back and reading the book before watching the movie because hey, the book is always better than the movie, right?
I’ve made New Year’s Resolutions in the past and now I’m making a Mid-year Resolution to read at least one classic per month. Sure it means waking up before the kids to read for a half hour…or instituting a stricter “Quiet Time,” but I’m at the point that I need to take some time to focus on something “adult” and broaden my literary experiences at the same time.
For the past few months I’ve been involved in the Classics Book Club for Grownups on CurrClick. I’ve been pleased to even read some authors I’ve never heard of, such as George MacDonald. I went on my own to read “The Princess and the Goblin” after the “Sir Gibbie” selection. As an added bonus, it’s nice that many of the classics can be downloaded to my Kindle for free.
This month we’re on to reading short stories, so it’s a great month to join!
Check out The Ultimate Reading List – Classics that Endure that was provided in the class. Outside of the club, I’m going to start making my way through the list, come join in!
