Hydrogen Powered Car

Absolute Zero

This video (from Nova) was about people making things very cold.  I liked the Bose-Einstein condensate the best. It's amazing how it could defy gravity.  I think that if a man grabbed another man's hand and then put on a ring of Bose-Einstein condensate, they would both freeze. 

Giants

I watched a video on the computer about giants and this is a link to them.  I was most amazed at how big the people were.  One was even taller than the ceiling in my house. I was also amazed that their bodies changed so much because of their enormous growth. 

How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

I found a wonderful post on The Simple Dollar about making your own liquid laundry detergent and thought that I would give it a try.  It turned out wonderfully, but it didn't start off so well.  I started the water boiling on the stove while I helped Joshua shred the soap.  I looked up and out of the corner of my eye I saw flames!  I had caught my hot pads on fire by turning on the wrong burner.  Keith was sick and was soaking in the tub trying to feel better when I yelled out, "I'm on fire!"  I have no idea why I said that, but it came out.  I quickly poured some water on the hot pads, turned off the burner and all was safe.  Joshua told me, "Wow, that's the first fire we had."  I took this as an opportunity to "teach" the kids what to do in case of a fire. :) Ahh, teachable moments...

Science Center Trip

We were in St. Louis for an eye appointment, so we took the opportunity to go to the the St. Louis Science Center for the day. We hadn't been there for a while. It was a beautiful day and we were able to play and learn outside as well as inside. We got to see two science shows. The first was the Science of "Peeps" (the marshmallow candy). They did a lot of different things to the peeps and compared the end result to the control peep. The boys were amazed at what the liquid nitrogen did to the peep and then they got to feel the floor after the instructor poured some on the floor. Dry and cold...very unexpected.

Joshua got to volunteer in the second science demonstration about Carbon Monoxide. He turned the crank to make electricity for light bulbs. They compared different types of light bulbs. Joshua did such a great job ;) that they gave him a compact florescent bulb to take home. He is currently using it in his room. He was disappointed that we had "the wrong kind of light bulb" in his closet. He is going to help us be Green one light at a time! :)

St. Louis Zoo...Free, Hands-On Education!

The boys and I went to the zoo this afternoon and had a terrific time, as always.  I cannot speak high enough praise for the St. Louis Zoo.  We focused on insects, primates, apes, and reptiles on this trip.  The boys on a sculpture outside of the Insectarium.

Resting for a bit outside:)

  The "begged" me to take their picture with this statue.  They loved the snakes, especially the Burmese Python. 

On the gorilla statue before the real thing.

Ahh...brotherly love...with sun in your eyes.

Ready to go home????

Joshua learned about endangered animals on this trip and tried to figure out if each animal we saw was endangered or threatened.  He deciphered the map for us and we took our time reading along the way. 

It's All Relative

The kids were pretending to be scientists today and calling themselves Dr. Einstein, Professor Einstein, and Baby Einstein.  I asked them if they knew who Einstein was and they knew that he was a scientist.  This started us on a quest to find out some more information.  We discovered a         nice article for kids about Einstein and the theory of relativity.  Joshua really seemed to latch onto the example of an infinitely tall building in which you are in the elevator  falling.  It doesn't feel like you are falling at all, but if people saw you from the outside, they would see you falling.  If you saw them, they would look like they are flying up.

Caterpillar Investigation

We found a caterpillar and observed (played with) it. :)

This Little Piggy Went to Market...This Little Piggy Stayed Home

Joshua helped with unloading hogs from the truck with Grandpa K yesterday.  Joshua and Brian were in charge of counting pigs as they passed the empty pen they were in.  (Quite challenging for a 6 and 4 year old!)  *Pigs do not cooperate:) 

Cicadas...Cicadas...Everywhere!

Joshua and Brian found an abandoned shell of a molted cicada.  This started us on a quest to find out more information on the cicada.  The boys made observations and measurements.  We made a page for Joshua's Science Journal.  We even folded an origami cicada!

  This is what Joshua wrote for the journal page. "The male cicada is the only one that can sing, because it has tymbals.  The males also have a square shape to their abdomen.  If they lay their eggs in trees, they can damage them.  All bugs (insects) have three parts of their body: head, thorax, and abdomen.  Periodical cicadas dig tunnels in the ground and come out every 13 or 17 years when it gets warmer (usually in May)." 

Charts

Joshua watched the premier of Sid the Science Kid today.  He learned about charts and then decided to make some on his own..  He decided to make a chart using library books.  He chose to see if the books contained four things: animals, people, plants, or anything else.  He made some interesting observations from looking at the data.  All of the books have some other things in them.  Most of the library books have people and animals. 

Book Narrations

I See a Leaf

Kate and Jill gave Miss Hill one leaf, but Jack gave her a thousand and three.

Storm Chaser

You should never worry when there is a storm.

A storm chaser is a vehicle that tracks where the storm is, so that other people will know where the storm is.

Red, White, and Blue

The colors of the American flag are red, white, and blue, just like the title. Just like apples are red, blueberries are blue, and the White House is white. The sky is white and blue. Baseballs are white and red. Jeans are blue, as we all know.

Joshua read these books by himself. This is his summary of the books.

Experiments with Grandma

  Grandma K did some experiments with Joshua and Brian the last time we visited.  

They were investigating what would happen to raisins in soda.  Would they sink or float? 

They also got to see how many drops of water would fit onto a penny.                

CD Player Demolition!

The boys had a great afternoon taking apart our broken cd player. All three of them got in on the action. It was quite the learning experience! Joshua got to learn how to use tools and what parts needed to come off first in order to take it apart.