Roller Coaster Physics for Kids!

                                        

Roller coasters are fast, fun, and exciting! They also involve a lot of Science-potential energy, kinetic energy, velocity, speed, friction, forces, gravity.....  Kids can learn about physics by building and testing  their own roller coaster. 

Materials needed

-foam insulating tubes (cut in half to make track)

-duct tape

-marble

-other recycled materials such as paper towel rolls for tunnels

-paper and pencil for planning

Sunshine (age9) adjusting her coaster so that her marble stays on
the track and makes the loop!

After designing and testing her rollercoaster, Sunshine wrote two paragraphs explaining how physics is involved in relation to her overall model and coasters in general.  She used her Science book, as well as information from websites to guide her with the writing component of this project.

                                         

Little man had to get in on the action as well!  I don't know what's cuter- the red long-johns or his attempt at getting that marble on the coaster? 

Resources:
How Roller Coasters Work
Hands-on Activity: Amusement Park Ride: Ups and Downs in Design
Roller Coaster Marbles: How Much Height to Loop the Loop?

Enjoy your weekend!

Jen

5 Fun Pattern Activities

Patterns can be found everywhere in our world including music, math, and art!  There are so many fun ways to share patterns with kids.  We discovered this wonderful book- Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris.  It was enjoyed by both my toddler and 2nd grader.  Fun and interactive! Bubble-bubble-pop...

1. Create colorful pattern fish using stickers, markers, or crayons.  Great creative thinking activity.

fish printable

2.  Using colored fish manipulatives or goldfish crackers, have your child create patterns.  AB pattern- yellow, red, yellow, red... or ABBA green, yellow, yellow, green. Our crafts N things used dappers to create fish patterns- awesome idea!

3. At education.com, I found the article Preschool Math: Exploring Patterns.  Many wonderful ideas!  One of my favorite is Movement Patterns- jump, skip, jump, skip..... What  a fun way to get moving and teach patterns at the same time!

4. Make a colored pasta or cereal(fruit loops) pattern necklace.

5.  This pattern snake activity caught my eye on Pinterest! (mess for less)

Happy Patterning with your little one!

Jen

Great Resource- Printables and More

One of the things that I love about the education blogging world is the willingness to share ideas!  So today I'm going to share a site that I came across this week that I think will benefit educators/parents. 

Kiz  Club

The story & props link features great books with manipulatives that you can use for a felt or magnet board.  I printed out the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree with letters to laminate for little man.

I hope that you enjoy this resource. Let me know if you find anything useful!

Jen

Acrostic Poetry for Learning

image source

 An acrostic poem is a type of poem that uses a word vertically relating to a particular topic or theme.  Each phrase of the poem should relate to the original word.

This type of poem is a great way to start beginning writing, because it can be simple or complex.  Here's an example of a simple acrostic poem for the name Sally.

Silly
Always smiling
Loves dogs
Likable
Young

Writing acrostic poetry can help students to think about new subject matter.  For example, my daughter wrote a poem about the Amazon River for Social Studies. What a creative way to learn!

The Amazon River

Amazingly long
Magnificent creatures
Animals by its side
Zig Zags through Brazil
Often Rains
Nile is slightly shorter

Radiant Water
Is the longest river in South America
Vacant is not in its vocabulary
Extraordinary People
Rarely Dry                                                   

By Sunshine (age 9)

My other daughter read a story about fireflies for Language Arts and was asked to write an acrostic poem about fireflies. She adores writing, so was excited to do this project.

Fireflies

Flashing green light

I think they are pretty

Raining all day, they think it's a pity

Everywhere they go, I see a light

Flashing so fiery, just like the night

Light glows like the moon

Yes, they are fireflies

By Peanut (age 7)

So what do you think- do I have two inspiring poets on my hands? Well, I thought I'd give it a shot with a different subject matter. So, presenting my Science poem about Magnets...

Magnets

Magnetic force
Attracts iron and steel
Greece-origin of word
Never without its magnetic field
Earth- a large magnet
Two poles, north and south

Create an Acrostic poem online at Read,Write, Think!
What type of poetry do your kids like to write? 

Jen

Creative Book Projects

Lately, I've been posting a plethora of Pre-K activities, so I thought it was time to throw in a couple of ideas for our older kiddos.  Of course, ideas can always be adapted for different levels with a little creativity!  Today I'm going to share Peanut's 2nd grade book project and Sunshine's 4th grade project.  I thought they did a great job!



Created by Peanut- age 7

 Storybook Diorama: After reading Heroes of the Vegetable Patch, my daughter created this diorama.  It includes one of the scenes from the story and the characters present.  Below is an image of the book and stuffed aimals that can be purchased with the book.  Both can be found at IKEA.  Adorable!  We have the broccoli character.

Sunshine read Night of the Twisters and then created a movie poster- see below.....



Created by Sunshine- age 9

Movie Marque Poster:  Here is another creative way to share a book report. Using information from the book- create a movie poster to persuade others!

Looking for even more creative book report ideas....
Ten Great Creative Book Reports from Minds in Bloom
Fresh Ideas for Creative Book Reports from Education World

What fun project ideas have you been doing with your kids?  Share, share, share!  Don't be shy-Iove hearing from my readers!

Jen

Snowman Glyphs

Do you need a fun way to teach your child how to follow directions?  Well, glyphs are a perfect way to teach this important skill.  A glyph is a pictoral way to show data.  The snowman glyph below is a fun activity to do as a family.  Collect data, create your snowman, and then compare!


Snowman Glyph





Here is another glyph activity from my daughter's 2nd grade cyber-teacher...
Snowman Pattern

Using the Snowman printout above-Follow these directions to make your snowman.
 

•If you were born in the months January, February, March or April you will color the scarf pointed to the left.
•If you were born in the months, May, June, July or August, you will color the scarf pointing straight down.
•If you were born in the months September, October, November or December you will color the scarf pointed to the right.

•If you are a boy, color the snowman's scarf red.
•If you are a girl, color the snowman's scarf blue.

•If your last name begins with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G or H you will color the Top Hat.
•If your last name begins with the letters I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P or Q you will color the Knitted Hat.
•If your last name begins with the letters R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y or Z you will color the Stocking Cap.

•If you are are girl, color your hat Red with Blue Stripes.
•If you are a boy, color your hat Yellow with Black Stripes.

•If you like to build snowmen, color the nose Orange.
•If you do not like to build snowmen, color the nose Purple.

•If you like Hot Cocoa, draw arms on your snowman.
•If you don't like Hot Cocoa, draw a flower on your snowman.

Peanut's snowman....


This activity can be adapted for younger children with simple directions and less detail. 

Hope you enjoy your day!
Jen

Write a Turkey Tale!



image- source


As you stuff the turkey and prepare the Thanksgiving goodies, why not give your kids a fun activity to keep them entertained?  Here are 10 creative story starters for your kiddos or they can create their own ideas!



1. The turkeys were restless the week before Thanksgiving

2. Once upon a time, there was a turkey who never...

3. On Thanksgiving, my family...

4. There were turkeys feathers everywhere, but no turkey in the barn...

5. My favorite Thanksgiving memory is..

6. On the first Thanksgiving, the children were playing in the woods when..

7. My grandmother was cooking the turkey when all of a sudden..

8. The turkey dressed as a pilgrim and cleverly fooled the people.

9.  Thanksgiving morning, I looked out the window and saw...

10. The Thanksgiving parade was so much fun, we saw....

Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your families!
Many blessings,
Jen

The Runaway Pumpkin

Watch out for a runaway pumpkin!  I've never seen a pumpkin quite this big, but I have been surprised by a few that I've seen in the media.  This fun story by Kevin Lewis is about a very huge pumpkin that is on the loose.   

And just for fun, I searched on line for record breaking pumpkins.  Something fun to share with the kids as well after reading the story.  Below are a couple of my finds.....



Okay, maybe the story is realistic fiction.  That is one big pumpkin!



Oh my- yummy!



More pumpkin book fun...

The Magic Pumpkin

or maybe just some Halloween fun...

Creative Halloween Crafts

Enjoy this wonderful Autumn day!

Jen

Vocabulary Dictionary

Hello!  Just wanted to share a great resource that my 7 year old is using for school.  I thought that this would be great for homeschoolers or for kids who need enrichment in vocabulary development. 

Vocabulary Dictionary

Things have been crazy lately, so pardon my lack of posts!  Lots of learning and fun, but not much time for blogging these days.

Jen

Cave Paintings

For a recent art lesson, Sunshine learned about primitive art.  I don't think she realized that art started so long ago! One of the caves that she toured online was the Lascaux from France. The above photo is from this cave.  If you are interested in learning more, tour the cave below!

Tour a cave in France!

Next, Sunshine collected items in nature to create her own art.  Using flowers, dirt, leaves, and rocks, she experimented with these earthly items to make art.  The dandelions and the dirt worked the best out of all of the items she collected.  She mixed the dirt with water to make paint. 

I think a variety of berries would have worked out well for prettier colors- blues and pinks. This concept can also be combined with using natural elements to die eggs.  We did this at Easter one year, but I think for an experiment, it could be done anytime of year!

Enjoy,

Jen

Nature Around the Neighborhood

For Peanut's Science assignment yesterday, she had to take a nature hike around the neighborhood. With bag in hand and her siblings, she trekked around looking for rocks, bark, grass, leaves, flowers, nuts, etc. 
 

Oh no, little brother found a stick!

 Here are some suggestion for taking your own Science Hike....
-encourage your child to talk about what they see and hear in their surroundings
-give time for observations and questions
-set everything on a table and discuss discoveries
-set out art tools and let your child make a collage or add drawings to a nature journal

Enjoy your weekend!

Jen

You Can Name 100 Trucks!

 Little Man's new love..... You Can Name 100 Trucks!

Recently, we checked this out of our local library.  Little man hasn't been able to put it down.  It has pages of different trucks on it- 100 to be exact.  They are pictured in different scenes and labeled.  He'll sit by himself on the coach and look at it.  He calls them car-cars, even though they are trucks.  At one time he did call them trucks, but now everything with wheels is a car-car now.  He'll flip through the book and chatter- "big car-car...... red car-car..."  Then he'll hand me the book, so that I can tell him the actual names of the trucks as he points at them. 

I thought I'd share this book, being it has been such a hit with him.  Maybe you have a truck lover at home, too.  While I was searching for a pic of this book, I noticed that there were more books in this series.

 



We'll have to check out these two book next trip to the library!

I hope you enjoy your day,

Jen

Star Fish Art

Last week, I posted about a book that we enjoyed titled Star of the Sea.  I didn't get a chance to post photos of the art project that was integrated with the literature, so I thought I'd share our finished creations today.

The book....

The art process....

The final product....

Artist: Sunshine- age 9

Artist: Peanut-age 7



 A little messy, but so much fun! 

Jen

For those who missed my last post, here is the links for instructions....

Our thanks goes out to Superheroes and Princesses, who shared the idea of marbled painting with shaving cream. Her children made a reading mural after painting fish. We painted starfish for our activity. I cut them out after drawing them on old Manila folders. The kids made backgrounds on poster board for their sea stars, too. So much fun!


Be sure to visit Superheroes and Princesses for more detailed instructions. She has a link to another blog that featured fall leaves with this same method of painting- very cool!

Fun IKEA finds!

Oh, today was such a busy day!  The kids were up bright and early riding their bikes, playing in puddles, observing construction, and painting rocks! Little man even managed to fit in some water play time as well.  Later in the day, Sunshine decided to go hiking with her father in the woods.  They were setting up a ground blind to spy on wildlife.  Peanut asked if I'd take her to Ikea, even though I was tired, I let her twist my arm!  So it was me, Peanut, and Little Man for a night out at Ikea.  First we ate in the cafe- free for the kids- (bonus!) and then Sunshine played while Little Man and I shopped.  I was happy to find a couple of neat items for the kiddos!




For little man! Only 5.99!

 



And for the big girls.....

Pyslla Beads



Shapes for the beads!

After the girls create, next we put wax paper over the beads and iron.  The beads stick together and then come off of the shape. Now they can keep their creation- very cool!

And by the way, the rug at the top of the post- will be going in our learning room- woo hoo!  Once I go back to Ikea and buy it, that is. (very affordable in my opinion- did my research)  I also wanted to show Sunshine first and she loves it, too.  The mouse and bear remind me of story book characters. 

Find any neat and enriching toys for your kids lately? Be sure to share your fun finds.

Jen




Star of the Sea and Activity

Star of the Sea- my fabulous find from yesterday at our local library! 

Filled with a lot of cool facts about sea stars, kids can learn as they follow the day in the life of a starfish.  Peanut and I enjoyed reading this book together. She loves non-fiction and had fun sharing even more facts that she already knew about starfish and other sea creatures.  After reading, Star of the Sea by Janet Halfmann, we decided to do a fun craft. 

Our thanks goes out to Superheroes and Princesses, who shared the idea of marbled painting with shaving cream. Her children made a reading mural after painting fish.   We painted starfish for our activity.  I cut them out after drawing them on old Manila folders. The kids made backgrounds on poster board for their sea stars, too. So much fun!

Be sure to visit Superheroes and Princesses for more detailed instructions.  She has a link to another blog that featured fall leaves with this same method of painting- very cool!

Visit this meme for more literature based ideas!

What literature activities are you doing this week?  Be sure to link your post in the comments section and I'll stop by to check them out.

Take Care,

Jen