Zombie started researching hot air balloons after reading "Five Weeks in a Balloon". He knew from his research that balloons used hot air to fly. Zombie wondered if he could try to make his own homemade balloon out of a plastic bag and test its flying with different temps of air. He followed the scientific method and carried out his experiment by testing plastic bags filled with hot air form a hair dryer, room temp air form a room fan and cold air form fanned air from the freezer. His hypothesis was proven when the bag with hot air from the hair dryer not only flew but also rose into the air!
The Princess did a presentation project on stars. Her presentation was based on the book "Around the Moon". We read this book as a family over the past month and Princess wanted to find out more about stars. In her projects she found out that stars can be three colors: red, white and blue. She also found out that the sun is a huge star! Mia had fun researching facts about stars online and watching space documentaries. She also enjoyed the craft aspect of the project which involved covering the board with black paper to simulate the night sky, cutting out colored stars and finding a picture of a big bright sun. In the store, she also found these neat stars that blinked with lights and she helped me figure out how to adhere them onto her project using rubber cement. Princess was afraid to actually present her project, this was the first time we had met with the home school group, so I helped her by asking her questions based on her project and facts she learned about stars.She loved learning about constellations and we tried finding some in the sky. Princess thought it was fun to make our own pictures in the sky using stars :)
We have read (and seen the movies) for "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and Squidward knew that he wanted to do a project based on this Jules Verne book for the Science Fair. Since Squidward was a toddler, he has been fascinated by rocks and has quite the collection of rocks and minerals. His family around the States has sent him rocks to add to his collection. He knew that he wanted to show off his collection for the Science Fair. Squidward worked very hard at classifying and naming the rocks he chose for the project. He then researched them online and in his rock and mineral field guide so that he could write a few facts about them to present on his project. I was so impressed by his hard wok, especially considering how he did a majority of the work on his own. He was definitely proud of his project and even stood up and spoke in front of everyone in the homeschool group to present his project. Squidward does not like public speaking so this was quite a feat for him! He chose to first paint his project board a beautiful gold shimmery colour because he said it reminded him of Pyrite (fool's gold). He then tried to group his rocks together- different onyx in the onyx, different quartz with the quartz group, etc. He then figured out how to best put them on the board so that the description would fit and everything would look good. Last, he super glue everything on the board. His favourite rock that he displayed was bornite or "peacock rock". Over the summer, Squid had the chance to see peacock rock that was bigger then him when we visited Arizona! He loved showing off his collection and hard work to his new friends and I was so very proud of him!
We are exited to get back to a "normal" school week. Zombie Boy is working hard on a huge Social Studies Thematic unit about the history of the U.S. from discovery to present day. Currently he is at the George Washington time frame. Squidward is focusing on how to type correctly and without looking at the keyboard. He will be playing many keyboarding games to help him along. Princess and I will be focusing on reading. She is coming along so well and I am super proud of her progress as a "kindergartner". In addition to studying phonics, she will get to play many reading and ABC games. We are also goignt o be coming up with something speacial to do to celebrate Earth Day. Here in Japan the holiday was actually on Saturday but we always try to come up with a special way to change our lives or the way we do things o help better the Earth and try to actually make it a life change rather than just focus on that one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment