Our lesson in science today is about the scientific method. We had a sizzling experiment that perhaps many of you are familiar with yet it did not fail to draw the oohs and aahs from my budding scientists ;-).
The lesson is found in this book by Richard and Debbie Lawrence entitled Properties of Matter which is part of the series God's Design for Life, a biblical approach to learning elementary science.
We did the yeast-sweetener and balloon experiment.
Our problem is to identify which sweetener is best used with yeast to make bread rise. The older two kids made their guesses which are surprisingly contradictory with each other. One vouching on the brown sugar, the other on the white one. Lil Ruffin couldn't make sense of it and only wonder why, but she went along quite well.
Here are the materials we needed: some basic kitchen and toy items with 3 pairs of helpful hands and 3 thinking minds. Ha ha!
1. Equal amounts of water were poured in 3 identical soda bottles. The bottles were labeled 1, 2 and 3
2. We added a teaspoon of dry yeast in each bottle.
3. The, we added two tablespoons of sweetener in bottles 2 and 3. We added white sugar in bottle 2 and brown sugar instead of molasses on bottle 3. As a control variable, we did not add any sweetener on bottle 1. Bottles 2 and 3 sizzled with bubbles and ssssh noise... lovely!
4. Each child swirled a bottle for 30 seconds.After that, we place balloons on the bottles mouths and secured it with tape.
5. Observe what happens after 15 minutes.
Oops, these are bottles 3, 1, and 2.
We measured them and waited again for 15 more minutes (30 minutes after).
And after 15 minutes more ( 45 minutes after).
And after 15 minutes (an hour after).
The bottles 1,2 and 3 in the right order.
After noting down the measurements and filling up the science laboratory sheets which you can download here, the children have come up with a conclusion, written them down and properly included their findings in their science binder-notebook.
After two days, the balloons drooped and gas pfffft nowhere... and the smell wasn't very loverly... ughh.
What we have learned about scientific method study:
1. Make observations and learn about it.
2. Identify the problem.
3. Formulate a hypothesis, a good guess.
4. Design a way to test your hypothesis through experimentation.
5. Check if your results support your hypothesis. make a conclusion.
This experiment helped us learn and apply the scientific method in a way that is easy to understand.
Try it!
_
Are you into lapbooks?
The Hands of a Child Black November Sales started yesterday and they are giving away big, BIG DISCOUNTS. So do not miss it. Actually, I am on my way there now, as a super member, I get BIGGER discounts and more...
Lil Ruffin, our three-year-old, learns that learning is fun with the family. How do I get to teach her with two older kids?
Here is our daily routine with her. It is not considered as a regular schedule but it varies much depending on what she wants to do for the day.
After breakfast, Vibrant Bea and Fuzzy complete their morning chores. Part of their daily chores is clearing away the dining table after meals and tidying up the kitchen. Then, they take turns practicing on the piano and taking a shower, it usually takes them an hour to do all these before we can finally get settled for our first lesson. Lil Ruffin and I have a bonding time while waiting for them. I read to her and we get to sit down with 4-5 books on our laps. Then, I would print out anything she chooses from her file folder on my desktop - these are downloaded freebies and printables suited for her - nothing formal or structured. She, then, decides if she wants to paint, cut or color the print out or all of these. Or she may skip that and play with clay, puzzles and blocks instead. She has a basket and a box in her desk where she can find all these interesting things she uses for her activities. She has a stack of colored old magazines we got from airlines and airports. She loves looking at the pictures and cutting them, pasting them on old notebooks and always , she would request me to pin up her "obra maestra" with a magnet on the fridge door. Of course, I would always gladly oblige.
She gets good with some educational video before lunch and an hour's nap after. When she wakes up, she plays with some toys and then plays some with neighborhood children when her sibling are done with their lessons so she can be accompanied by Vibrant Bea and Fuzzy.
I learned the hard way until I realized that if I give a lot of time for her in the morning before I attend to the older two, she is more cooperative and even takes an active part in our learning sessions later. Before, Lil Ruffin used to distract us because she also wish to vie for similar attention her siblings get. Often, she would scamper on everyone's lap, climb on shelves and tables and sing aloud while I am in the middle of a read-aloud. Now, with a productive headstart with her makes everything a lot better and sweeter for all of us.
I just couldn't miss this without taking a shot. She cut the printout unaided and started coloring the figure herself. She did the whole thing on the floor in the same room where we were studying. You see, I did mention about her desk, but she just loves to do things on the floor or the big couch in the living room.
As I have mentioned in my past entry Charlotte Mason for Pinoys 101 , narration can be easily adapted by families who are homeschooling the CM way.
To our family, narration is probably one of our more engaging "indoor" activities yet is not confined to our home. We also have witnessed narration-at-work in the car, during field trips, in our leisurely walks and while shopping! It is now quite a natural and spontaneous thing for the children to narrate back what they have read, heard, seen or experienced. Sometimes, they would even talk at the same time drowning each other voices, I would have let them simmer down and take turns telling us their recent finds. These are wonderful to sometimes crazy moments, ha!
No, we do not have so perfect. We went through a slow grind and still go through it yet less frequent. During our transition from written quizzes and long tests to oral narration, we had a most difficult process of trying to learn the ropes. But that paid off after they have found their niche and felt more comfortable honing their skills around it. Narration enhances the communication and analytical skills of a child. It also allows for organization of logical flow of thoughts before expressing them verbally, either in oral or written form.
In the past, I always had guide questions with me yet it had been awkward asking them at first what they learned from what I have recently read aloud. What are the right questions to ask so as not to preempt the answers? Are the questions too easy? Should it only facilitate and motivate them to think?
Too often, I wouldn't be satisfied by the very little details they would say about a chapter or lesson. I felt like they didn't understand anything. My husband would help by asking them what the best part of the book, movie, trip or play they like best. It seemed better without a written script of questions, the children were more comfortable and spontaneous. This method built up their confidence in narrating orally. Now, they are narrating more from the reads and experience without being prompted.
We have employed the use of various forms of narration. These forms were applied at one time or another. We also stretched our imagination a bit and combined the use of two or several forms in many topics of study. Here are the forms of narration we have already done.
There are more, I am sure. Other forms of narration can be found in this list by The Parker Family . I will post more about each form we have used in future blog entries.
Well, it is just like storytelling. But, the children get to tell the story back to you as you listen =). Allow me to say, we do still have lots of room for improvement but it is going great.
Just a brief post about our Japan project which I failed to insert yesterday because of so many going-ons in this household.
Anyway, we just want to show you how it turned out.
It is a pretty mix-match of our fave narration methods. It has lap-notes and a central mindmap if you notice. The map of Japan is the nucleus.
The timeline is not yet attached. We plan to glue it at the bottom length of the poster in a different color... it requires more time to complete, we realized. But then we are satisfied to say that this is almost it.
We had fun studying Japan and putting these together... I say we because I pretty much delved into collecting photos, printing and laying out the pictures for the minibooks. But the research, writing, drawing, cutting, pasting, coloring and other stuff are mainly Vibrant Bea's and Fuzzy's work.
Today, we tried to focus on what we have been attempting to finish for the past two weeks. Yes'm, you read it right, two weeks have gone and we should have completed Sonlight Core 5 - Eastern Hemisphere study of Japan but so many things have diverted us from the flow of things.. or is it just me, the mom, who thinks we are very late in accomplishing this. My children seem unabashed by how time is ticking so fast and the calendar pages flying off the wall so quickly every day. They are faring better than me with all this relocation and short vacation fuss these remaining months. To M-E, tis starting to get S-T-R-E-S-S-F-U-L. I am just glad it isn't showing...yet!
Enough of that blah.
So, it is just Japan today and I hope I am not sounding too un-CM-like ;-) - more like unit-sy study. It is a very interesting way to learn, too!
For Japan, we have ...
1. Read-aloud the books The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Patterson and Commodore Perry in the Land os Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg.
2. Done a poster map (an all-in-one lap-note, timeline, mind map poster), as our narration activity. You won't believe it we managed to come up with a hybrid of all the fun stuff we enjoy doing together.
3. Indulged in 200g Sakura Mix to get the taste of Japan while keeping busy hands and minds busy,.. it is hard to keep the young ones from munching, especially Fuzzy. They love "nori" best of all.
4. Eaten california maki, sashimi, beef and chicken katsudon at the food court using chopsticks called "hashi" or "otemoto"..but would love a real good Japanese bento at Nihon-Bashi, one of the few Japanese resto here in Colombo. Get your wallet ready, DH.
hashi Wikimedia under GFDL
5. Exchanged email with my brother who lived in Japan for 18 years but is now working for UN in Sudan.
6. Been trying to schedule a interview-chat for my kids with their cousin who is now in Japan working for a big camera company, a fave brand for me =).
7. Folded dozens and dozens of origami of animals, toys, boxes using this book and lots of download ideas from the web, of course.
Lil Ruffin proud of her origami collection made by the Dynamic Duo
8. Bought really expensive paper for kimono origami as Vibrant Bea gets over-enthused about paper kimonos and dolls.
9. Scoured the World Book and World Wide Web for anything Japan.
