This week started off rocky, but ended quite well. At the beginning of the week I was the only one that was well in the whole house. Paul had a gout attack. Lauren had a cold. Dallas was teething and had a cold (enough said), and Kristen started complaining about her head hurting and a stomach ache Monday afternoon. I didn't give it much thought (I know, bad parent award) because she was still playing outside and it just seemed like she would complain occasionally. But on Tuesday I could really tell she wasn't feeling well, so we had our first sick day of school this week. I'm still not sure what she had, but by Wednesday she was feeling much better. Dallas' teeth came in on Thursday so he was happy and therefore we were all happy.
We learned so much this week and there were times when the girls really wanted to be done with the lesson, but they kept at it. The memory verse for this week was:
"Then God said, 'Let there be air in the midst of the water.'" -Genesis 1:6
Kristen has all of her clouds on the string. Lauren is still working on hers.
We learned about air this week and how it is all around us even though we don't see it. We observed boiling water and talked about how we can see the steam, but then it disappears in the air. It is still there, we just can't see it.
We learned that there is air everywhere, even in water. We put water into a glass and let it sit for an hour and then went back to observe the bubbles (air) that was on the inside of the glass.
We did another experiment, well kind of an experiment, of where we observed air in a glass. We put a paper towel in it and put it in water with red food coloring.
We took the glass out and the paper towel was dry.
We then put it back in the water and tipped it to the side to let the air out, which made bubbles.
Then when we took the cup out the paper towel was wet.
Point: Air is all around us. (I think the kids mostly enjoyed playing in the water though).
The girls then got to play with balloons, one of the highlights of the week. They tried to blow them up, but just didn't have enough force to get them inflated. We talked about helium balloons and what makes them float while other balloons do not. We also talked about the wind and clouds. We learned about the three different types of clouds and went outside to observe them in the sky. We also made our own cloud, which was quite an experiment. The directions were very simple, or at least they would have been simple for most people. First you need condensation, so I took the label off of a water bottle (the directions didn't specify what size bottle). Then I rinsed it out and put warm water in it and the girls got to shake it up. Pretty simple so far.
Next you need dust particles, so the directions said to light a match and drop it into the bottle and put the top back on. I didn't realize how terrified I was of lighting a match. I suddenly had this fear that the match would burn my hand, then I would drop it and our house would catch on fire. I know....totally insane. I am not sure why I had this fear because I don't know anyone or know anyone who knows anyone that this has ever happened to. Lighting a match is a lot like playing with a Jack in the Box, you never know when it will ignite and that scares me even more. Then, when it does ignite the flame is really big. There were two very important things I learned while making a cloud.
1. My reflex after the match would ignite was to blow it out. This happened twice and it was like I couldn't even control myself.
2. Next time I will need more than 5 matches. I will need like two boxes or packs or whatever they come in.
So despite that match phobia, we did get to the next step which was pressure. I had to squeeze the bottle really hard and release it and voila.....we had a cloud (in a water bottle).
(Lauren wasn't impressed at all that I could make a cloud in a bottle)
Kristen is writing her name and learning how to write numbers from 1-19 from memory. Lauren is still learning her colors, although she has known most of them and her shapes too. Here are some pictures from this week.
Kristen very proud of her name writing
I made some file folder games this week...I think I am addicted to them. This was Kristen after she had put all of her numbers in order with very little help.
Trying to blow up balloons
Playing with balloons outside...who knew kids could have so much fun with balloons
Dallas enjoyed the balloons too! He was the official balloon holder when we were doing part of our lesson outside.
The girls making their creation books.
Isn't she cute with her pencil doing her worksheets
Lauren is doing so much better following directions. She is working very hard on staying in the lines.
The butterflys they made out of balloons
Their picnic. It was a great day for a picnic even though there was a skunk around somewhere trying to ruin it.
The beautiful flowers that Kristen picked for me!
