Ocean Deep

We finished our ocean unit and we are getting ready for a 2 week break for vacation. We learned about the deep ocean from Planet Earth this week. It was interesting and kinda creepy! Here is a link to some amazing deep ocean photography and creature identification.
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Garrett did some research on submarines and wrote a great paper on them. I learned a lot from him!
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Tyler took on learning to draw sea urchins and finding out some facts about them.

When we get back, we'll be starting Plains from the Planet Earth. I'm looking forward to it, but I'll miss the ocean stuff!

Gramma's Walk

We just finished our unit on the Five in a Row book Gramma's Walk.

It is a story about a grandmother and her grandson going on a walk. The grandma is in a wheelchair and they go on walks in their imagination. It is very sweet! Their imaginary walk takes them to the beach, so it was the perfect ending to our ocean unit.

We talked a lot about our imaginations and went on a walk ourselves. It was definitely the most relaxing hike up a mountain with wild animals that I have ever taken.

We read several "go along" books. We really enjoyed reading Different, Just Like Me and talked about disabilities and how we are all alike in some ways, even if we are different.

We researched lighthouses and learned so much about them. We also learned how to draw them. This was a great book for learning about compound words, it is full of them! We played a matching game and also came up with as many compound words as we could think of.

We discussed our five senses and used this book Hello Ocean. It is a gorgeous book about experiencing the senses at the beach. Look at these paintings, they are like photos!

After we read it we did some testing of our senses. We did a blindfolded taste test with lemon juice, soy sauce, watermelon, mustard, and cinnamon. Then Riley and Cole took turns filling a bag with items for the other to touch and try to figure out what they were. They also did this with sounds. Fun!

We ended with making some seashell critters. Aren't they cute? Everyone in the family got in on this project, it was so much fun!

What a great book!

A science flop!

Sometimes your amazing lessons just don't work out! Today we were learning about venom and venomous sea animals. We did an experiment that I found here to learn about denaturing venom. Venom is a protein and can be coagulated so that it does not absorb. This is done with heat treatment. Here is the experiment and what I learned!

First you crack an egg into a bowl.

Remove the yolk. This leaves you with the white which is a protein, similar to the protein found in venom.

Put a little egg white on the back of someone's hand. Place a hot compress on top of it.

What was supposed to happen: The egg white was supposed to become a solid that could be peeled off, demonstrating how they denature venom.

What happened: Garrett ended up with a really hot, red hand covered in liquid egg whites!

We still got the idea of the experiment, and because of all the trial and error we used the word coagulate so much that I know at least they are familiar with that! If you want to try an experiment like this just cook your egg white a different way. Not as cool as it solidifying on your hand, but they'll get the point. Oh, and if you are going to put a lot of heat on someone's hand, don't use your high-pain-tolerate-kid, you may end up with second degree burns!

A little oceanography

This week we kicked off our Planet Earth study. We are going to be watching these amazing DVDs and following up with research, reading and activities.

We started with Shallow Seas. It was incredible. If you haven't seen any of these DVDs, check them out!

Here are some of the books we are using as we go through our ocean study.

I can't get this picture to turn, and I'm done trying. Oh, and everyone, meet my toes.

Since we are nowhere near an ocean, we took a trip with friends to an aquarium this week. We got to see some amazing things we have never seen before. I think everyone's favorite part of the aquarium was the stingray and shark petting tank.Most of the kids at the tank were able to use their hands only, and walk away dry...yeah, most...

Hey, look! Cole went with theme clothing. We totally did that on purpose.

Watching the shark feeding.

It was Homeschool Day and they had classes for the kids. The younger ones had a shark class and the older ones a pirate class. I got some pictures in the classes they attended, also. A really great one of Riley and Cole looking through a real shark's jaw, and one of Cole holding a shark tooth as big as his hand. And then my camera said "formatting error" and I fell on the floor and sobbed like a baby. Not really, but kinda, and now my pictures are gone, anyone know how to get them back?

Garrett, Tyler, and Riley's wrap-ups after the field trip.

A little "stained glass" ocean art.