Science Activity - What's that Taste?

We've been focusing on the senses that past few weeks for our science activities.  So far we have covered touch, smell, and now this week taste.  The inspiration for this taste activity came from my friend Kristina over at School Time Snippets.  She did this activity as part of a Five in a Row lesson on the book Lentil.  Kristina blogs about all their Five in a Row adventures (and more!) which I always find inspiring!  If you're not familiar with her blog, check it out!   Later I also found this post from Raising the Cameron Clan and use a lot of their ideas too, so check that one out as well if this sounds fun to you!

So here is what we did...

First I gathered our supplies.  Into Dixie Cups went lemon juice, vanilla extract, and sugar water and salt water that I made.

I touched each of the Q-tips to different parts of Trevor's tongue and asked him where he felt the taste the strongest.  Then he colored on that part of the tongue.  I guess there are certain parts of the tongue that have the particular taste buds for the four different types of taste, but Trevor's tongue must be special because his was pretty much opposite ;)

Here are some fun pictures I captured.  I don't remember which face was for which taste...except I'm pretty sure that the one he is sucking on was the sugar water =)

Of course this turned into a dumping activity for Mackenzie...this girl is obsessed!

Happy Tasting!

Good Books Copywork - bed, top, he you

download

 Well, this week's installment of Good Books Copywork is going to be the last.  You can read my thoughts on why over on this post.  I am currently working on I just finished writing an eBook of copywork to be used with McGuffey's Eclectic Primer.  (Come check it out!  You get a page for each of the 52 lessons in the primer for just $1.00!) This version of the primer is free to use and you can find it at Project Gutenburg where you can download it and print it out if you desire.  We have started using this (along with the copywork I have put together) and I am excited to see the results as we progress through the book! 

Ok, now back to the point of this post...the spelling/writing words for this week are 'bed' 'top' 'he' and 'you.'   In case it is your first time visiting, let me explain what these pages are... I am putting together copywork pages for each of the spelling words we are learning this year.  These sheets are a marriage of two resources, The Writing Road to Reading and the 1000 Good Books  list at Classical Christian Homeschooling.  The spelling words are taken in order from the Writing Road to Reading and I have paired each one with a sentence from one of the books on the 1000 Good Books list.


 Previous weeks copywork packs:

• me, do, and, go
• at, on, a, it 
• is, she, can, see
• run, the, in, so 
• no, now, man, ten

This week's copywork pack:

• bed, top, he, you

Happy Writing!

Lesson Plan - Week 14

Add caption

Posts Detailing Activities From This Week:

• Good Books Copywork - bed, top, he, you
• Taste Experiment
• Visiting our favorite summer spot

It took us two weeks to get through this lesson plan.  I guess we were out and about a little too much or something, no biggie =)

We finished up what I wanted to cover in Child's Book of Character Building the week before, and I hadn't thought ahead enough to have another book ready, so we just took the week off and reviewed past memory verses instead of doing a new one.  I guess I originally had thought that I would make up lessons to go with the other character traits that I wanted to cover, but honestly I don't feel like working on that at the moment, so I preferred getting another book.  I went ahead and ordered Wisdom and the Millers: Proverbs for Children to read through next.  Have any of you read through that with your children?  I got a few positive reviews from other people and it is listed at Simply Charlotte Mason under personal development to read after Child's Book of Character Building, so I thought I'd give it a try.  I'd love to know if you have an opinion on it!

For writing, I've been going back and forth in my head about my Good Books Copywork pages.  I am torn as whether or not to continue them.  I have thoroughly enjoyed using them, and I think they have been effective, but as Trevor is reading more and more words I really would like him to start reading sentences now.  The sentences on the Good Books Copywork pages I have made were designed for him to practice writing,  not reading though (I chose short manageable sentences for writing, but that words are not necessarily simple to read), so I'm thinking of moving to a reader and making copywork for him from there.  It would be far less work for me, since the sentences would be straight from that day's lesson, but I hate to stop in the middle of something without finishing, so I'm torn.  If we go to a reader, I think we would start with The Original McGuffey's Eclectic Primer.  If anyone has used any McGuffey books, I'd love to hear what you experience was like.  So I guess I'm leaning toward still introducing new spelling words like usual from Writing Road to Reading and using their method for teaching reading, but starting McGuffey as a reader and making copywork from there.  If any of you more experienced mommies happens to have any suggest on the matter, I'd love to hear it =)

Happy Learning!

Book Revew: A is for Adam

 A Is for Adam, by Ken and Mally Ham, is a book that we have owned for a few years because it was recommended by the 1000 Good Books list that I enjoy, but I recently discovered that Master Books came out with a new version complete with talking points, extra activities, etc. to go with each page.  The text of the book is essentially the same, they have just added these extra things to make it super friendly for teaching your children.  I was very excited when I got the chance to review this new edition courtesy of New Leaf Publishing Group.

A is for Adam is essentially a poem broken down into 26 parts (one for each letter of the alphabet) that takes the reader from the creation of Adam to the return of Christ.   It is quite detailed describing the first few chapters of Genesis, hits some points in the rest of Genesis and then zooms right to Christ.  The theology is good, teaching that a sacrifice is needed for our sin and that sacrifice is Christ!

What is neat about this book is that it sits up like a triangle so your child can look at the picture and text while you look at the other side which has the text again along with all the extras.  Each page has a short, simple commentary on the stanza, sentences for your child to repeat (for better Biblical understanding), questions to ask you child (for comprehension), a key point for your child to remember, other suggested activities to do with your child, and then a quick review.

This book is generally geared for children, but what is neat is that they add a section at the back that gives a more detailed commentary on each of the pages from the beginning, connecting them to other parts of the Bible where appropriate.  This enables you to use this with all of your children at once, which any homeschool mom can appreciate! 

This book could definitely serve as a Bible curriculum for your homeschool if you are teaching the first parts of the Bible and want to make sure that you show how the beginning is related to the end and that Christ is the thread that weaves it all together!  I definitely recommend this book, and encourage you to check it out if you are looking for something to aid in teaching this part of the Bible to you children.

Happy Reading!

Science Activity - What's That Smell?

Our Sid the Science Kid activity for this week was called "What's that Smell?"  We recently explored our sense of  touch, and coming up I'll share our exploration of taste, but for this week we are exploring with our noses!

First I gathered up our supplies.  I filled bowls with cinnamon, honey, peanut butter, and pickle juice.  I also gabbed a tube of toothpaste and a bottle of tea tree essential oil.

Then I blind folded the kids.  Mackenzie had a hard time keeping hers on =)

Then I took each item, one at a time, and waved it in front of their noses.  Trevor correctly guessed the cinnamon, pickle juice, and honey.  He thought the peanut butter was oatmeal, but that was understandable because I have put peanut butter in his oatmeal before.  He peeked when I put the toothpaste in front of his nose, and the wasn't sue about the tea tree oil.  I think Mackenzie peeked for all of them =)

Then the kids got to take their blind folds off and explore the food items with their other senses to see if they guessed right!  Mostly they just wanted to eat the honey.

Then Trevor had a great idea...he wondered what would happen if we mixed all the items together.  So we mixed the food items (minus the pickle juice!) and they enjoyed eating it.  He also wanted to know what would happen if we heated it up (he thought it would get softer), so I put the concoction in the microwave for a few seconds and sure enough it got a little softer!

Mostly Mackenzie just wanted to drink the pickle juice...yuck!

If this activity sounds fun to you and your kids, check out this and other Sid the Science Kid episodes!

Have you done any experiments with your senses or other fun science activities with your children?  I'd love to hear about it!



Happy Exploring!

 

I link up to: