Bringing the Heat- Hallie Heat!

This week the boys and girls settled into class quickly and were ready to work hard!  We started our day by meeting our newest Quirkle, Hallie Heat.  From Hallie and her friends, we learned that dark colored clothing captures the sun's heat, while light colored clothing reflects the heat.  We also learned that heat rises and cold falls.  Ask your child to share his/her Quirkles science log, to tell you about his/her hypothesis and about our experiment shown below.

This week, we had our first Brown Bag Luncheon.  Our speaker, Sally Cook, is from the Children's Center for the Visually Inpaired, CCVI.  She share information on different types of visual impairments and allowed the students and parents to try on different goggles that simulated many of these impairments.  She also passed around children's books that were in Braille and ones with raised lines and textures.  At the end of our luncheon, Mrs. Cook used a Braille type writer and typed each child's name in Braille.  She was a very interesting speaker!

After lunch, we started our individual Exploratory tasks.  The newer students are on their knowledge level task (reading and watching a video) to learn more about their center topic.  The rest of the students continued working on their projects. Ask your child about his/her current center and task.

In the computer lab, the boys and girls continued to explore Microsoft Power Point.  They learned to insert a shape, resize it and move it around the slide.  The students also learned to format the shapes fill color.

Understanding the basic tools and functions of this program will transfer in the application of other Microsoft products and web based slide show applications.  Power Point is a good slide show program, but it is also great for digital story telling, book reports, posters, and even holiday cards.  Primary students soak up the functions with minimal instruction.  When my own children lost their "computer gaming privileges" for one offense or another, they would always say, "But can we still do Power Point?"

If you have Power Point available on a home computer, consider allowing your child to practice.

Another busy, but fun day!  Have a great week!

Could States of Matter Be Any More Fun?

This week we added a new 1st grade student.  She is going to fit in great with our group!  We started our day working individually in the TOPS Math program.

We had a tremendously fun day Monday!  We have been waiting for the exciting arrival of our favorite Quirkle, Gilbert Gas.

My first graders that were with me last year said, "I remember him.   I loved those experiments."   Thanks to Steven Spangler Science and a Google search or two, I was able to find new and even more exciting experiments that teach the states of matter.  We discussed the different forms water can take.

The students easily shared what they knew about the water cycle.  They knew water was a liquid and when it it frozen, it forms ice which is a solid.  They knew water evaporates when it is heated and becomes steam or water vapor, a gas.  A few students knew clouds were made of water vapor and when the clouds are too full of moisture, the gas changes to liquid in the form of rain.

I wanted to explore the states of matter with something with which they are unfamiliar.  Dry ice was perfect.  We learned dry ice is a solid and that it is the frozen form of carbon dioxide.  We discussed carbon dioxide freezes at -109 degrees Fahrenheit so we needed to protect our skin from it by using gloves or tongs to handle the ice.  The students also learned dry ice sublimates and goes from solid straight to a gas.  Check out some of our experiments in the video and slide show below.

The students continued to explore Microsoft Power Point during our computer lab time.

It was a busy but really fun day!  Boys and girls, what was your favorite experiment?