Photos from the Beginning of November

making Candy Corn Slime

(ick)

it hardens pretty quickly... perfect for cutting with playdough scissors

the Montessori Teaching Clock

the Montessori Grammar Symbol nomenclature

writing our first main lesson book in Real Script!

students love our beautiful fountain pens

painting the Greater Prairie Chicken

Autumn leaves!!!

using leaves as play kitchen foods in our restaurant

our beautiful shaving cream marbled leaf craft

punching more maple leaves for us to dip and dye

we also marblized some larger pieces of paper

so that we could punch out teeny leaves later on

different shapes of the sassafras leaf

our experiment "How do Leaves Breathe?"

can you see the tiny bubbles?

RAKING is so much FUN!

** teamwork **

Can we build a leaf pile that reaches all the way up to the sky?

thank you to the older friends who came to help out

making knitting needles and starting the first stuffed animal project

Albus stops by to visit during lunch and recess

our collection of leaves for leaf rubbings

the beautiful new Filana block beeswax crayons

paraffin-free and made in the USA

and some plain shaving cream to play with, just for fun

our first Science experiments for temperature

and practicing reading a thermometer

our special guest, Chad Goodpastor, shows us glass rods and tubes
which he uses in lampworking

plus a marble using those colors which he made (and we got to keep)

a beautiful piece of glass art

the kids are absolutely fascinated by his profession
he was a wonderful special guest for our study of Temperature!

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Maths of Practical Life: Temperature

Our second Maths of Practical Life Measurement topic was Temperature.
(The first was Time and my notes for it are here). Reading a thermometer is a challenging new skill so I highly recommend practicing at home as well!

Thursday, November 8

• list situations where temperature matters (weather report, climate/biome, other planets, baking in an oven, proofing yeast, glassblowing, sickness/fever, car engine, making a baby bottle)
• brainstorm how a thermometer works... why does the line move?
  
  Total Immersion Red Alcohol Single-Scale Thermometer
  – 20 to 110 Degrees C
• discuss atoms, molecules, the three states of matter (particularly water), and expansion due to heat and contraction due to cold; act out expansion and contraction with our bodies
• explain the Fahrenheit and Celsius scales
• do Thermometer 1 activity from NEED EnergyWorks student packet
  (individually)
• explain temperature conversion formulas between Fahrenheit and Celsius (if you have older children who can solve them, I recommend these free math problems for extra practice)
• do Heat 1 activity from NEED EnergyWorks student packet
  (in pairs)
• review that Nature always seeks a balance; heat moves into colder areas and coolness move into hotter areas until there is equilibrium
• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for March 2019

  

Friday, November 9

• enjoy special presentation from a co-op parent, glass artist Chad Goodpastor, who told us how temperature plays a part in his work!

  He explained the difference between glassblowing and lampworking and showed us a video of each one, reviewed atoms and molecules (as well as the term "coefficiency of expansion") and the three states of matter (and the debate as to whether glass is a solid or a liquid), discussed some of the elements from the periodic table (especially borosilicate, since adding boron makes a tremendous difference in the strength of glass, and the use of metals to created colored glass), and shared a few examples of finished pieces for us to see and touch.

  Just yesterday I just purchased some new Pyrex beakers and stirrers (below) for our classroom science experiments, so I was very pleased to hear that borosilicate is the strongest glass on the planet! I was amazed to find that he keeps his two kilns at a constant temperature of 1100 degrees Fahrenheit and that the melting point of borosilicate is 2300 degrees Fahrenheit.


1000 mL Pyrex beaker


600 mL Pyrex beaker


glass stirring rod

• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for April 2019

  

BONUS TIME - Friday, November 9

• enjoy Penguin Day in our Science Club study of Birds (and this, coincidentally, had a lot to do with our study of Temperature):
  • read An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston

    

  • look at results of Ink Blot Penguin art project and discuss Penguin Camo
  • look at Antarctica Biome Puzzle and the extent of the ice shelf
  • watch March of the Penguins movie (80 minutes, rated G)

  

Monday, November 12

• do Reading Temperature Worksheet for more practice
  (in pairs)
• do Making a Thermometer Hands-On Activity for even more practice
  (individually)
• do Heat 3 activity from NEED EnergyWorks student packet
  (as a whole group)
• review the idea of equilibrium and explain what happened the time I tried to make the Heat 3 experiment results even better by adding HOT water instead of warm (and how & why that skewed the results)
• give students time to add Temperature to their MLB (the Thermometer Stamp from Montessori Services is very handy for this)
• do second step in flower artwork
• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for May 2019

  

Tuesday, November 13

• do "A Good Conductor" activity from Physics is Fun! A Sourcebook for Teachers, page 89 (wooden rod, copper rod, two strips of paper, tape, candle, matches)

  

• do variation on "A Good Conductor" activity with near-boiling water and a collection of spoons (wood, plastic, horn, sterling silver, stainless steel, iron)
• do "How Penguins Stay Warm" Blubber Demonstration
• use the thermometer to check the temperatures of the near-boiling water and the ice water; watch the red line move quickly up as it went in the hot water and quickly down as it went from hot to cold
• do third step in flower artwork; do second step in ladybug artwork
• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for June 2019

  

Thursday, November 15

• review conductors & insulators; look at lunchboxes and socks; discuss cotton clothing vs wool clothing on a cold wet day
• do Temperature Cup Lab
  (in pairs)
• give students time to add Conductors & Insulators to their MLB
• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for July 2019

  

Friday, November 16

• bake Basic Muffin recipe in metric to conclude Temperature and introduce units for Volume (ml, l) and Mass (g, kg)
• continue calendar making project and make art and write in numbers for August 2019

  

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!