The Solar System

The Solar System was a subject that we were going to do last summer, and then life got busy and mom got pregnant, and school started again, and it just didn't happen. Finally, here it is.

Pre-Lesson Knowledge:

Hannah: The sun is the biggest planet. Rockets go into outer space. Mars is red from all the iron.

Jupiter is the 2nd biggest planet (after the sun.)

Seth: The sun is bigger than the planets in space. The sun has gas.

We started with some basic vocabulary. What is a planet? What is the solar system? What is an orbit? Etc.

Then we discussed each planet in turn. We covered distinguishing characteristics, size, the mythological reasons for each planets name, and number of moons or rings. We also discussed whether or not life could exist on this planet based on temperature, air quality, etc. We discussed the dwarf planet status of Pluto, but didn't really go into the other dwarf planets too much.

We did a little experiment trying to recreate the swirly surface of Jupiter by putting milk in a pie plate, adding food coloring, and then dropping dish soap in. The kids thought this was VERY cool, and it was SO EASY!

At the end, I gave them a little quiz.

1. What other planet (besides Earth) could possibly sustain life?
2. What planet is closest to the sun?
3. What is the biggest planet?
4. Which has rings?
5. Which is hottest?
6. Which is coldest?
7. Which is not really a planet?
8. Which has most moons?
9. What is the circular path each planet follows called?
10. All planets revolve around what?

If I had it to do over again, I would go more into the other aspects of the solar system...comets, asteroids, asteroid belt, milky way, etc. But there is only so much time in a day.

Finally, we made our own solar system out of balls and clay. This was their favorite part. Seth had been begging all week. I bought the crayola modeling magic clay stuff. It was super easy to work with...doesn't get stuck in everything like clay can...and it mixes really well, so we could make our own colors. Hannah spent a lot of time on the Earth. I think she did a fabulous job! This was before she added the clouds...

Post-Lesson Knowledge:

Hannah: The sun is a star, not a planet. (glad we cleared that one up!) Pluto is not really a planet. Some planets are just made of gases, so you would just sink through them. Mercury is both freezing cold, and burning hot. Our atmosphere doesn't trap heat or cold, so we can live here...

Seth: The planets go around the sun. The sun is not a planet, it's a star. Mercury is closest to the Sun.

Just a little note. Between Seth saying "The Sun has gas," the repeated use of the word Uranus, and Seth's insistance that Venus is pronounced Wee-nus, I think this lesson was a young boys dream. Potty joke central...and all in the name of learning.

Next week? Turtles and Tortoises.

Rockets:

Seth has been itching to learn about rockets. I checked out a book called The Jumbo Book of Space...which is VERY cool and I will use it again for next weeks Solar System lesson.

The lesson sort of expanded from rockets to space vehicles in general. Here is what the kids knew at the beginning of the lesson:

Hannah: The space shuttle is kind of like the Vomit-tron at the fair. The rockets carry the space ship off the earth.

Seth: I saw a movie at preschool that had a spaceship with the jets and the spaceship came off the back and it was small then.

So we talked about how rockets worked...and how when the fuel burns off one section and it breaks off, etc. We talked about space shuttles, satelites and the space station. We talked about astronauts, space suits, and orbits. We talked about how the first rockets used gunpowder. Now they use fuel. We talked about how space shuttles piggy back on rockets and detach after they break through the atmosphere. We talked about the history of living things in space. We covered a time line of major events in space.

We did an experiment with balloons...seeing how the air escaping out of the balloon was much like the air released from rockets as the fuel burns. We launched a cup using a long balloon and a short balloon.

And at the end we colored and put together these rockets...left over from their space themed birthday party 3 birthdays ago. Can you guess which one is Hannah's?It has now been launched.

What they learned:

Hannah: People actually live up in space sometimes. The first rockets used gunpowder to launch. A space shuttle blew up and killed 7 people.

Seth: Rockets are launchers. The first living thing in space was a dog, and he died. A space station is a place where they live in space. Rockets use gas to take off.

Next week: The Solar System.

An Introduction, and Magnets

In an effort to prevent "Summer Brain Mush" syndrome...I have decided to reinstate summer school. We did this last year, and the kids had a lot of fun. They looked forward to it every week, and as soon as school got out this year, they started asking for it again.

I let them choose what they want to learn about. It's not so much about learning things they would otherwise learn at school...it's more about helping them to love to learn. We do cover the basics as well, but our main focus each week is on some random aspect of life that has them wondering a bit...

So...after talking to a couple of other moms who want to do the same thing...I decided to start this blog. If you want to contribute, feel free. E-mail me and I will add you to the contributors list. It's just a place to share what has worked...what didn't work...what you might want to try, etc.

Here's a little overview of what we do. We start with some basic stuff...working on letters, letter sounds, handwriting, sight words, etc for Seth...and sentence structure, analogy, creative writing, and handwriting practices for Hannah. Then we move on to a little math. Hannah gets National Geographic Kids magazine...so I have her pick something she learned from the magazine, and teach us about it. Then we start the subject for the week. First I ask them what they already know about that subject. I keep a notebook for each of them and write what they already know at the beginning of the lesson. Then we go through the information that I collected for the week. We read library books, look stuff up on the internet, etc. After the lesson, I ask them what they know again, and record it in their notebooks. If they have learned several new things from the lesson, they get a sticker. Finally, we conclude with some kind of project. Sometimes it's an art project, sometimes it's a science project. Sometimes it's both.

And so...here is our first week of Summer School.


Subject: Magnets.

What they knew:

Hannah: "You can make a magnet by taking a magnet and something that's not a magnet, but made of metal and rubbing it together to make it a magnet."
and
"Stuff sticks to them."

Seth: "If they're not made out of metal and special stuff inside, then they won't stick."
and
"If they have the special stuff inside then they will stick."

We talked about:

• what types of things are magnetic
• how magnets have poles
• how unlike poles attract and like poles repel each other
• how steel objects can be turned into magnets
• a magnet that is free to turn will ultimately line up with it's poles in a north south fashion
• how the earth itself is a magnet
• how the earth being a magnet causes compasses to work
• how the first magnetic materials were discovered
• common household items that use magnets
• different types of magnets

And we experimented:

We tied a bar magnet to a string and let it dangle. It lined up pointing north/south. We played with a bunch of different types of magnets, and watched the like poles push each other away, and unlike poles suck together. We put a bunch of items in a box and guessed which ones would be magnetic (i.e. toothpick, christmas light, paper clip, screws, pennies, plastic game pieces, etc.) They discovered that certain magnets were strong enough to stick together even with their lip in the middle of them. Oh joy.

PSA: No children were choked by magnets in the making of this blog post...

Then we painted:

We put a magnetic marble on top of a paper plate with some paint. Then we took our magnet wands and held them underneath the plate. The kids LOVED watching the marble move as if by magic. The marble would spin, but not roll, due to the pole attraction on one side, and it made for some cool splattering.

At the end, this is what they had learned:

Hannah: "Magnets are made from Iron, Nickel, Steel and Cobalt. They have poles. They can be different shapes. They have a magnetic field."

Seth: "They stick together. They can stick to only certain kinds of rock. Lights have wires that are magnetic. If it spins, it will stop pointing North."

Next week: Rocket ships, and other space exploration vehicles.