Nature Sculpture

A couple of weeks ago we joined our local HE group for some nature sculpting.
We went to a local wood and tasked the children with creating something out of nature - they came up with some beautiful works.

DD6 & DD4 joined a team to make a living den

it even had its own fireplace

DD8 made a dragon and a flower

another team made a larger dragon

and a ladder/den

and a lovely pattern

I seem to have lost the photo of the hedgehog (old tree stump stuck full of upright twigs)

It was a wonderful day and created great opportunities to explore nature and marvel at all the different coloured barks and plants we found.

States of Matter

Today we discussed some of the states of mater - solid, liquid and gas.

We started by having a discussion of the different states and what they mean (solid - the molecules are close together in a fixed position, it has a definite shape and volume and keeps its own shape etc)

we tried to push into a nail into a solid rock (hard to do)

then a liquid and then a gas (very easy to do)

Then it was time for the 3 part cards

and a quick sorting game.(cards and game came from Montessori print shop)

Next came a little activity to change the state of matter - we took ice cubes and melted them in a pan (changed from solid to liquid) then allowed the liquid to boil and turn into steam (gas)

we were able to discuss why this had happened (heat) which flowed nicely to what causes atoms to separate (providing them with energy - often in the form of heat) and followed up with 2 great examples.

First we took some solid coconut oil and scooped a small amount onto their arms where it turned immediately into a liquid oil and slid down their arms- they were quick to realise that this was because their bodies were warm.

but the next was their favourite - we took some ice lollies and told them they had to place a small amount on their tongues and to see what happens to the solid - their guess was correct, it melts because of your body heat changes the bonds.

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together :)

Tot activities and germ game.

DD2 has been working on pouring (water)

whisking

fine motor control - using a game the older girls have

and with mosaics

but her favourite by far has been our updated handwashing station. DD8 and DD6 were kind enough to demonstrate the importance of soap when washing hands.(I read about the glitter from a yahoo discussion group and it sounded too much fun to ignore)

First they used glitter glue to demonstrate that germs spread from you hands when you sneeze or cough

if you then touch something else the germs stick to that as well

so you need to wash your hands - but water is not enough, if you just wash with water the germs are still there and if you then dry your hands you leave germs on the towel

but if you wash with soap then water your hands become clean

They also used normal glitter to prove the 'catch it, bin it , kill it' - they placed glitter in the palm of their hands and fake sneezed to blow it around the room to prove the importance of catching it in a tissue to drop in the bin. They seemed quiet shocked at how far the glitter travelled.

I now have a beautiful sparkly school room to clean -yay : )

Grammar Work - Article and Adverb

DD6 worked on her articles today (you can read the full presentations here and here)

DD8 was learning about adverbs
I started by giving her a written instruction (march) but informed her she did it wrong - I gave her additional instruction (march backward) and once completed gave her additional instructions (forward / slowly)

I explained that the additional information that told her about the verb was called an adverb and introduced the symbol (orange sphere - round like the verb as it relates to the verb, but smaller and a different colour)

Once recorded in her language journal she got to play a great game of 'Do It' where she selected a verb and an adverb to act out.

Followed up by a couple of worsheets.

Compass work

DD6 & DD8 have been working on directions and using a compass.
We started with a great little compass cut and paste from The Learning Ark to learn all the cardinal points

Next we played with a floating compass to find out which directions their windows faced,

then we made a compass and achecked it worked using our floating compass as a guide

next they had a treasure hunt - they used a compass and followed directions (go NE 2 meters etc) to find the prize and finished with some 3 part cards from Montessori for everyone  for longitude and latitude.