If you look carefully at the second photo, you can see that the negatively charged balloon is attracting Mikro's positively charged hair... (and if you have sharper eyes than me, you might be able to read Mikro's growth chart markings on the wall next to him...) Afterwards, we read some more Jan Brett.
Anyway, that was yesterday. Today we read our snowflake book, and a book about the winter solstice. Mikro looked at salt crystals with a magnifying glass, and found out that each individual crystal is clear, but lumped together, they appear white because they refect the light, rather than absorbing it. Salt crystals are cubes. Snow crystals, however, are hexagonal. That's why snowflakes are 6 sided. (Thanks for the book recommendation to Anet at Purple Squirrel Homeschool!)
We followed the book's directions for folding and cutting snowflakes.
And we went sledding again. Mikro really got the hang of it and was zooming. He had a wonderful time.
Now I'm off to get groceries, and hoping I'll be able to back into my driveway, which is bordered on both sides by 5 foot plus walls of snow... Kevin may end up shovelling some more before the night is over. I'd rather stay home, but he wants to go...
4 comments:
I love that with homeschooling we can do science or any other subject anytime we'd like:)
Sometimes Noah is much more in a learning mode after 6pm than at any other time of day. Go with the flow is our motto:)
Your snowflakes turned out great!
I never thought much about a snowflakes until that book. Now we're always checking them out when they fall on us. You can really see some amazing snowflake designs with the naked eye.
Have you read Snowflake Bentley? Great book. Love your snowflakes.
Kathi Still trying to figure out science for my 3rd grader.
Mikro and I are total night owls. We get a lot of work done in the evenings (which frees up the daylight for having fun outdoors!)
We haven't had any new snowfall since reading the book, but we are looking forward to next time for observing the flakes. Someone told me if you put a piece of black construction paper in the freezer, it makes a really good backdrop for looking at them, and helps keep them from melting so fast since it's cold. Mikro has this Eyeclops microscope thingee, that I will have to dig out, which takes pictures and would be perfect for snowflakes.... Thanks for putting me on to the book, Anet!
Hi, Kathi! I know we have Snowflake Bentley on a shelf somewhere. Thanks for reminding me. Going to have to pull that one out too!
You might like Aurora Lipper's Supercharged Science. She's a NASA rocket scientist (or was, earlier), and she is nothing if not *enthusiastic* in bringing science to kids. The experiments use pretty common materials for the most part, and there are lots of videos that introduce the topic and demo the experiments. She has free teleseminars every once in a whiel, and usually there's a try it for a month deal that goes along with. And there's a summer science e-camp, full of experiments. We like it. It's really good for visual, hands-on learners. We haven't done it as often as I would like, because we run round to much, and have a zillion other things going, but it is a good program. The K-8 program doesn't have as much written material for the kids to read over as the 9-12 program, and I do wish there was a bit more meat there, but it is easy enough to supplement at the library, or with the ridiculous book collection we have here...
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