The Earth

We started off by rolling some playdough into a ball and poking a pencil through for to show the North and the South Poles.

Then we used playdough to discuss the core, the mantle and the crust of the Earth.

Yea for Science Class today :)

Space and Planets

We are studying Earth Science this year in school and are starting with the solar system. The curriculum we are using is the Mr. Q Earth Science. So far, I love it. We are two chapters in, but the chapters are short enough to read to Sterling (1st grade) and hopefully, he'll be able to read them on his own soon! They are written clearly and seem interesting enough to keep his attention.
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These are some of the enrichment activities we are doing with space and planets at home.

Solar System Scavenger Hunt
Socks in Space -- PBSkids.org game
To The Moon -- printable game board with space trivia

Getting Outside: ABC Nature Book

I want to be outside on a day like today!! This is a fun, educational activity to do OUTSIDE when the weather is great. Ahh, I need to wake up a little bit, get off the computer and get the kids moving:)

Make an ABC Nature Book | Activities | Education.com

Carnations

In science group we are talking about plants (parts of a plant, i.e. roots, stem, leaves) and as an experiment we put white carnations in food coloring and water to see that the stem sucks up the water for the plant. It took about 12 hours to see a result from this, but it's science "magic":) Jett has especially loved the flowers.

The Moon

We talked about the moon in science group yesterday. I had a plastic ball globe and a golf ball we used as the moon to talk about orbit.  Then we talked about how the moon is not a light source. We learned different phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, full) and put together a worksheet. We talked about the surface of the moon: it has mountains, valleys, craters, etc. All the info and the worksheet came from this website. We finished up with a moon snack: pb&j sandwiches cut into full moons, quarter moons, crescent moons and gibbous moons with a biscuit cutter.

Did you know that the footprints left by the boots of the Apollo astronauts with be visible on the moon for over 10 billion years because there is no erosion on the moon? Interesting fact I picked up yesterday. I guess I never thought about it before:)

Science project

Yesterday, we had a science project playdate at our house. I've been wanting to get such a group together for a while now, but all our friends are so busy. We had fun with a short experiment and then the boys got to play with their friends. I got the experiment from a book that I think is completely awesome: Mudpies to Magnets.

Actually, I think our particular experiment yesterday was from its sequel MORE Mudpies to Magnets, but whatever, both are great. They have short science experiments that use mostly household items.

Like yesterday, we did a little experiment that involved water, cooking oil and food coloring. Of course I didn't take pictures because that would mean that I was actually on top of everything. But, maybe we'll do it again and I'll take some pictures. Who am I kidding? That's not me . . . . but it is the me that I dream of being. Doing things and documenting them.