Rocks & Fossils

Today we did Building Foundations of Science D-8 Vol 1.

After watching the Dinosaur Magic School Bus episode we learned about sediment and how dinosaur bone fossils are mold and cast formed. We made our own mudslide, let it settle, and as an after thought, Kingfisher stuck a desperate dinosaur in the middle... Later when I called him to do his journal he called out from within a pile of cushions on the couch, "sorry mom, I'm a fossil!" In other words, I was too late.

 

We looked at sandstone. We looked at how tiny clay particles that form shale can be by shaking up a bit of artist's clay in a jar of water.

We looked at limestone from our rock collection (fortunately labeled for us), and tested it and shells with vinegar for calcium properties. Shells fizzed a little, limestone OK, limestone tufa rock gave a more impressive response! (tufa; center above magnifying glass)

Then we watched these clips;

Fossil Rock Anthem  a music video parody, soo funny...

Dinosaur Days clip explaining fossil formation

Which prompted these science journal entries:

This is Kingfisher's (5 y/o) diagram of sediment with a dinosaur I drew for him. The caption he dictated reads; "Help! I'm sinking! What should I do? I'll just wait till I dry up then a paleontologist will dig me up-but that's terrible all my bones are going to get washed away!"

 

This is Mockingbird's diagram of how fossils are formed... see the Dinosaur Days clip for this girl's doppelgänger...

Our Muddy Mississip.

We don't get dirty enough. It's May, and I wanted to take advantage of having the outside to ourselves before school gets out for the summer and do a combined project.

So today for Geography we went to the vacant lot near our home (don't worry, I edited out the graffiti fence for our viewers) and made our own Mississippi.

First Mocking Bird Y2 and Bowery Bird Y4 did a plan, complete with smiley and sad faces, by looking at the maps in Minn of the Mississippi, a beautiful tale of a snapping turtle's journey along the Mississippi and life in general.

Then we took a bucket of water and some spades and dug in!

Canary is sitting about in Lake Itsaca, and Mocking Bird is stealing water from the "Hungry Gulf of Mexico." That's the Missouri River on the right, and Ohio River on the left of course. A gentle slope mimics the melting Minnesota snows...

She and Kingfisher scooped the water from the south and replenished the Northern Lakes to start it all over again. An impromptu water cycle application fit in here, then it started raining as if to drive the point home. After this we cleaned up and watched one of my favorite guys; Bill Nye's Water Cycle episode, where we all learned we are drinking in fact, dinosaur spit.

Here's a better view. We're going for the basics here. I think it was effective, eventually when, quizzed enoughMocking Bird what she was working she started saying "The Hungry Gulf of Mexico" with a look, instead of "...a big lake..."

And our other goal- to get dirty. But we could have gotten more...city kids...

Night Heron of the Morning

9am
Local Park
Spring has Sprung!

Such a noticeable difference in the sounds of the place now. Bird calls everywhere, getting worms, mating, building nests. No tropical jungle, but for here, a big difference. Just a week after the trees have blossomed.

So we go the wetland boardwalk, and at the beginning I see this white reflection. We creep up on this never before seen bird and watch it fly from the water to a tree and sit to watch us.

Mockingbird decided to name it a Blue Fisher even though we later learned it was a Black-capped Night Heron. I love that name, I must think of someone I can name that...it sounds so tidy yet mysterious.

Last time we went we saw the pond's muskrat for the first time swim the entire length of the pond.
It's just thrilling to me that a place you frequent weekly for three years can still hold so much to be discovered.

Charlotte Mason is like that for me. Layers and layers of knowledge and connections to be discovered. I think that is what I love most about her approach- letting the student discover it and make it their own. Not something introduced to you to the point that all mystery and personal investment is obliterated.

BFSU Vol 1 Thread D Lesson Links

D-1 Gravity: The Eath's Gravity; Horizontal & Vertical

D-2 Day and Night and the Earth's Rotation

D-3 Reading and Drawing Maps

D-4 Land Forms and Major Biomes of the Earth

D-5 Time and the Earth's Turning  you tube Day and Night and Earth's rotation

D-6 Seasonal Changes adn the Earth's Orbit

D-7 Gravity II; Rate of Fall; Weightlessness In Space, and Distinction Between Mass & Weight

D-8 Rocks & Fossils

D-9 Resources; Developing an Overview  Magic Schoolbus Holiday Special on recyclin- Hanukkah

BFSU Vol 1 Thread C Lesson Links

C-1 Concepts of Energy I; Making things Go

C-2 Sound, Vibrations, and Energy  Magic Schoolbus & the Haunted House on youtube

C-3 Concepts fo Energy II; Kinetic & Potential Energy

C-4 Concepts of Engergy III; Distinguishing Matter and Energy

C-5 Inertia

C-6 Friction Magic Schoolbus Plays Ball on youtube

C-7 Push Pushes Back

BFSU Vol 1 Thread A Lesson Links

Vol 1

Thread A: Nature of Matter

 A/B1  Organizing things into Categories

A-2 Solids, Liquids, and Gases    They Might Be Giants song

A-3 Air is a Substance

A-4 Matter I: Its Particulate Nature

A-5 Distinguishing Materials

A-5A Magnets and Magnetic Fields                 utube  bill nye 1/3 ,  2/3,  3/3

A-6  Matter II: Air Pressure and the Earths's Atmosphere

A-7 Air: A Mixture of Gasses (Mixures & Chemical Reactions)

A-8 Matter II: Evaporation & Condensation

A-9 Matter IV: Dissolving, Solutions, and Crystallization

A-10 Rocks, Minerals, Crystals, Dirt, and Soil      3 min intro video

Mockingbird on Science

Mocking bird's life cycle:
"First your a baby born, then child, then grown up, then you die, then zombie..."

Mockingbird getting dressed;
"I can't get this infertile shoe on!"

As you can see, science lessons are progressing nicely...