Inside the Collections: Paleontology and the Big Bone Room

Mikro, Kev and I have been in the Big Bone Room shown in the video above! We took a Behind the Scenes in Paleontology tour at AMNH when Mikro was about 4 years old. We were lucky to get in back then, because there is a minimum age (10) requirement that we didn't know about. Kev had to agree to carry Mikro (until he pointed out photos of Roy Chapman Andrews and started identifying fossils, at which point they let him down and answered a slew of questions!)

This year's tour was completely different, and involved the preparator's lab (which was also on the first tour, but had different fossils), and invertebrate paleontology and microfossils. (The first tour we saw vertebrates (mammals and fish) as well as the Big Bone Room.

I highly recommend this event for anyone with a paleontology obsessed kid like Mikro!

Escher Inspired Tessellations

Mikro's subject for the History Fair, in case anyone has not guessed, was Maurits Cornelius Escher. Our entire household loves his artwork, and Mikro has been glancing through Escher books with us for ages. In all that time, it never occurred to me that, rather than just appreciate Escher's ingenious patterns, it might be possible to learn to make some of our own. And I'm an artist! (But I generally don't think of myself as someone who is incredibly technical or precise, or overly mathematical, even though homeschooling my son has done more to repair my relationship with math than all the formal schooling I ever had, including an A in college calculus. Trying to teach it has required me to really understand it, on a level not before required for passing math tests. And that has been tremendously empowering for me, and really good for my kid, who loves math, but hates "boring arithmetic"... But I digress...) But the history fair and Mikro's burgeoning interest in patterns and tessellations caused me to surf around to see what was out there in the way of how to's.

Here are some how to tessellate resources to check out:







And here is a documentary about Escher's life and art:



And now here is my attempt at a photo tutorial (Please forgive the awful font.):









Now comes the really fun part. Stare at that shape you created and figure out what it reminds you of... Mikro saw cardinals. Then add detail to your individual tiles and color in as you like....



Mikro was very proud of his piece, and I just love how those cute little birds turned out!



You know I had to try one! My shape reminded me of sting rays.



I like Mikro's better!

Happy Holi!

We've been studying Ancient India, and decided to celebrate Holi, a holiday that commemorates the triumph of good over evil and marks the beginning of spring. We had fun with the traditional throwing of the colors.





To learn more about Holi, Mikro recommends;





I am cooking up vegetable pakora and making thandi, and we are watching some videos about India.





Edited to add: Yum!!!!



And again to link to this cool slideshow of Holi celebration images from around NYC and the world.

Mathtacular! Review

Just wanted to pass along a math resource that we are really enjoying here: Mathtacular! DVDs. Mikro is really enjoying them. They start right at the beginning, with counting, and go up from there. The 4th volume is intended for grades 4-6. Everything is presented in a very concrete way, using manipulatives and games, and with humor.

I'm trying to make sure the basics are really cemented into Mikro's head, and he still has the occasional hiccup with regrouping... This has been a good review and jumping off point for playing with manipulatives.

After about 45 minutes of watching, Mikro turned to me and said "Math isn't work, it's fun!" Best reaction I've gotten to anything math related other than Dreambox, which he really likes. There are also some printables on the discs, but I haven't looked through them yet... and we are only part way through the first disc. So far, though, this is a keeper!



Sonlight has a bundle deal going right now for the first 3 DVDS or for all 4 DVDs, with a level 4 workbook and answer key. They are much cheaper than I've seen them elsewhere. (I didn't get anything free or a commission or any other benefit from Sonlight or Mathtacular or anyone else for posting this review. I just bought the DVDs and found them to be worth sharing!)

History as Music Video

Kev sent me another very cool link-- there is an entire YouTube Channel featuring music videos produced by two teachers and spanning just about all eras of history. They did an amazing job! There's Ancient Greece, Egypt, Rome & China, as well as the French Revolution, Agincourt, the Battle of Hastings and the Bubonic Plague, just to mention a few.

Definitely preview them first, if you have younger or sensitive kids!

Here are a couple of the ancient history ones to give you an idea...







Enjoy!

Windblown Woodpecker

I am used to seeing birds flock to the feeders before a storm to chow down while the getting's good, but I rarely see anyone at the feeder in a real downpour. Today, we have a deluge. There are streams running in the streets. And there was an incredibly persistent red bellied woodpecker, who ignored my suet feeder in favor of doing things the hard way... I was afraid he would be blown off the tree! Here's a video I shot. You can see his poor feathers getting blown around.



I'm glad today was a stay-at-home day. Traveling in this would not be fun; and it seems NYC may have gotten hit worse than we did!

YouTube Science

Chemistry on You Tube: A Mostly Musical Melange


They Might Be Giants: Meet the Elements:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0zION8xjbM





Versions of Tom Lehrer's Elements Song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssaUusY6hWM





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM-wSKFBpo





Oh, So Elementary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAmdttSzx5I





118 Elements in 18 minutes (and the rest of their videos!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFsdbLFHgY8






History of the Periodic Table Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PejaN0us2ro




History of the Periodic Table Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecEq3ac7-vI





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****Preview this one, parents-- maybe reserve for older kids... Dating and PDAs (across the spectrum of possible orientations) as a metaphor for chemical bonding... May be offensive to some...****


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCmrfZcZnlE





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Chemical Bonding Song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNBzyM6TcK8
Sorry, not able to embed this one...

Chemical Bonds for Dummies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6o-eqGUBCY






For more advanced study:
Chemistry at Khan Academy, starting off with Atoms:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSQlwWGT8M






Chemistry Music Videos-- a series of them, starting with this one, describing the scientific method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPaGOHwv7mQ

and this one on the periodic table:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PSzSTilu_s

Unfortunately, not able to be embedded. Definitely worth a look at these! They are available for purchase, with a bunch of related material here: http://markrosengarten.com/chemvids.html

And to make our sometimes overbearing government happy: I have no affiliation with the creator of this material and have received no money or property in exchange for suggesting his materials. I just like good science songs and try to pass them along when I can.

Enjoy!

A Reminder for My Little Perfectionist

Mikro is a wonderful, brilliant kid, but... He's a bit of a perfectionist. And sometimes that leads to him balking at trying something new, because he isn't sure he'll do it to his exacting standards. He tends to sit back and watch for a while and think things through before being willing to explore something new. I've spent a lot of time telling him that there is nothing bad about making mistakes. It's how we learn. I even bought him a book about inventions and scientific discoveries that were "mistakes" to try to reinforce this concept. So I was happy to show him this video, called "Failure: The Secret to Success," from Honda's web site:



We found it because Honda is sponsoring National Geographic Channel's Great Migrations web site. Yesterday we participated in a virtual assembly about Great White Sharks, which will be posted to the website soon, for anyone who missed it. There are lots of educational resources-- videos, lesson plans, worksheets, etc. And the assembly was also linked to the very awesome Jason Project which has free curriculum materials about energy, geology, weather, and ecology. Very interesting sites, and a "something new" that Mikro has enthusiastically embraced.

Video: Heron Catching a Meal

Here's a short video I shot on Friday: Great Blue Heron grabs a bite to eat:

World Science Festival 2010-- A Video Snapshot

Amazing video on Numbers in Nature

Someone on a math list I am on posted this awesome video, which is so good it must be shared. Enjoy!