Stalactites and Stalagmites - create your own

As part of our Geography topic, we are now doing Stalactites and Stalagmites we use this book as our base



(click on pictures)

This is the experiment we are doing from the book



You need 2 jars, a small plate or saucer, washing soda ( we bought ours from Wilkinsons), string, and warm water.




First mix the washing soda with the warm water in the jars, we had put the string in already.



Then put the jars with the saucer/plate in the middle between the jars on a sunny windowsill, it needs to be a warm place.






Then you WAIT !!!

A friend did this experiment and it didn't work the first time, she felt it was because it wasn't put in the right place by a sunny windowsill, we put about 5 - 6 tablespoons in each jar of the washing soda, if our experiment fails, we will probably need to add more. I will keep you all updated on how this one works.

About Stalactites and Stalagmites how can you remember the difference?

www.jimloy.com/geology/stalac.htm


http://www.geocities.com/bunyankids/caves/titemite.htm


http://memorymentor.com/blog/mental-tips-tricks/stalagmite-or-stalagtite/

Jam Tarts - a lesson in rolling pastry

Although we have baked many cakes, I realised I had never made jam tarts with the kids. So when my dad came visiting, I got him to help the kids make them.

Now first off I have to admit to having bought ready made pastry (it was buy one get one free - I couldn't resist)but the main lesson was about rolling pastry, so I wasn't too worried. My dad made sure they did it well, telling them not to handle it too much, as it doesn't want to get too warm.

Rolling out, to just the right thickness


I couldn't find my pastry cutters so we improvised using plastic cups


Putting the filling in



Before the oven


All cooked - you will see there is less than in the tray, once on the plate, they were being gobbled up. Soon there was an empty plate.



It was a big hit, although they must make their own pastry, we shall do that hopefully soon.
The only downside was that I'm watching what I eat, and these were rather irresistible, so perhaps not too many pastry sessions ;-)

The last couple of days, have been doing the usual Basics subjects, maths for Tom, we are using at the moment as our base, CGP's 4B we also use other books and resources, but I like to follow one main book so I know where we are and if any particular area needs working on, plus hopefully I wont miss much out.
Today he has just started a book called Using Maths - solve a crime
(click on pictures)


The book says for ages 8 - 12
The principle is to use use Maths in 'real life' settings. So far so good, Tom has seen a direct link for how useful Maths can be.
Tom and Annie have both done read alouds, some spelling, writing, and science. They have socialised and played with friends over here too.

Almost forgot, lots of Education City too.
You will have noticed, that I'm using names rather than initials, as I had showed my dad my blog, he thought they needed names (not real) so here they are Ruth is the youngest. I'm not sure if I'll keep up with names as initials are so much quicker ...lol!

Transpiration

As part of our Geography, we are working through this book

(click on pictures)


We are using it as a starting point and then adding to it as needed. This week in the discussion of transpiration, the books experiment was to make a bottle garden, but we wanted to do something a little easier, so used an experiment from another book called Amazing Planet Earth - isbn 1843092026 (sorry Amazon doesn't seem to stock it - I bought it from Borders for £4.99)Apparently it's an Australian book view it *here*

This involved getting a couple of plants



Wrapping them in clear plastic bags, (I used the plastic sheets you put A4 paper into binders with)and sealing the bottom with cellotape.




Then we put the plants on a sunny window sill for about 3 hours - you will notice that the plastic is clear.



After about 3 hours, you can see that the leaves of the plants are transpiring, where they give off water into the atmosphere - look carefully and you can see that the plastic has steamed up.


If left long enough in a sunny spot, the water turns to droplets, falling back down on the plants.


This is part of our water cycle project, the children drew the process, and will label photos to go into their Geography folders.