Sledding

We had just enough snow left in the field across from our home to go sledding this past weekend. I have been having so much fun taking Grace, Jack and Eve sledding during the week and it was extra special having Bob with us over the weekend!

Sink or Float?

I filled a bin of water for Eve and placed a variety of objects in it for Eve to experiment with the concept of sink and float. Eve had a great time exploring the objects and this was a fun language activity too!

Eve had fun locating the objects that sunk to the bottom of the water bin.

Eve also had fun splashing the water!

Before I really knew what was happening, Eve had climbed right into the water bin! I guess she was a little curious to see if she would sink or float. Eve and I laughed together as she sunk right down to the bottom of the bin!!!!!

Exploring the Properties of Magnets

One morning earlier this week I presented Jack with a glass filled with water and several paperclips. I told Jack that he could show Grace and Eve a very exciting trick of removing the paperclips from the glass without ever touching them. This lead into a great discussion all about magnets and how they work! Jack learned how magnets attract objects made with iron and that they have two poles, a north and a south pole. Through several experiments, Jack discovered that magnets can pull through gases, like air, but they can also pull through solids and liquids. Jack did many hands-on activities to explore magnetic fields and also to explore the properties of magnets.

After showing Jack how he could remove the paper clips from a glass of water without ever touching them, I filled a bin full of water (to further demonstrate how magnets can pull through liquid) and placed magnetic and non-magnetic items in it. Jack had a great time discovering which of the items were magnetic.

After lots of time to experiment and play, we removed the items from the water bin and Jack did a great job sorting the magnetic versus the non-magnetic objects...

Yay, Jack!!!!

Dancing Raisins Science Experiment!

I drink a lot of seltzer water and Grace and Jack have been asking many questions recently about all of the bubbles in my water. We discussed how the bubbles are made from dissolving a gas called carbon dioxide. I thought it would be fun to conduct the classic dancing raisin experiment to demonstrate just what all of those carbon dioxide bubbles can do!

We hurried home right after Grace' ballet class this morning to do our dancing raisin experiment. Since I have been talking about making raisins dance with my seltzer water with Grace, Jack and Eve for the past few days, they were quite excited and very ready to finally conduct this experiment!

To conduct our experiment Grace and Jack placed several raisins at the bottom of their glasses. Eve excitedly watched with me nearby. I think Eve definitely sensed all of the excitement in the room with all of her squealing and clapping! Grace and Jack poured seltzer water into their glasses and were amazed to see their raisins start dancing!

Grace, Jack and Eve learned the science behind this experiment: Raisins sink in water because they are more dense. Since seltzer water contains dissolved carbon dioxide gas, those

bubbles attach themselves on the irregular surfaces of the raisins and make it float. When the bubbles pop, the dense raisins sink to the bottom again. This up and down motion caused by the bubbles make the raisin appear to be dancing!

Later this afternoon we tried the experiment again but with a few changes. This time we created our own carbon dioxide bubbles of gas by combining vinegar (acetic acid) with baking soda. The raisins REALLY danced when we created our own bubbles. We also tried the experiment using blueberries and discussed why our experiment worked with raisins but not with the blueberries -- it is because raisins are wrinkly and the carbon dioxide bubbles have places to attach to.

This was a great afternoon for us. Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures of Jack and Eve doing more science related experiments and activities!

Learning About the Scientific Method

We started a week long science experiment yesterday. I placed an egg inside of a glass filled with vinegar. We will be observing what happens to the egg throughout the week. My goal was to keep this science experiment simple so that we could focus on the terminology associated with the scientific method and discuss each step of the process. I asked Grace and Jack what they thought would happen to the egg throughout the week. They each came up with some great ideas. We then talked about how each idea or guess is called a hypothesis. We also talked about what they were seeing happening to the egg inside of the glass or their observations. We immediately noticed bubbles collecting around the egg shell. I explained to Grace and Jack that this was a sign that a chemical reaction was taking place. They were both so excited that they began clapping their hands! We will be collecting and recording data throughout the week on the changes that we notice until the end result. I'll post pictures of what happens to our egg at the end of the week!

Grace and Jack came up with many great hypotheses about what would happen to the egg, however, I must admit that my favorite one was as follows:

"I think that the egg will turn into a truck tomorrow. (Long pause). No, I think it will turn into an excavator!" This was followed by a big smile and a bit of a twinkle in this childs' eyes. Can you guess who came up with this one?!!!!! :)

O is for Olive

O is for olive.

Eve and Jack used glittery green paint mixed with some brown paint to make green olives for uppercase and lowercase O's. Eve loves to paint and she had fun with this letter. Eve can identify the letter O and she makes her hands go around in a circle whenever she sees this letter!

A Gymnastics Birthday Party!

Last weekend we went to Massachusetts to attend cousin Rose & Kimberlee's gymnastics birthday party. We all had a great time! It was so much fun. It was also so nice to see everyone again. In the picture above, Grace is standing with the two birthday girls!

Cousin Rose turned 7 on December 15th. Jack and Rose share the same birthday!

Cousin Kimberlee turned 4 on November 2. Kimberlee's birthday is exactly one month before Grace's!

Gracie!!!!

Jack-a-roo!

Kimberlee and Eve

Thank you to Auntie Allison, Uncle Steve, Rose and Kimberlee for such a fun-filled party!

Typewriter

Here is one of Grace's favorite things -- her typewriter! Maddy and Poppy surprised Grace with this typewriter for her birthday last month and since that time I have loved hearing every clackety clack of the keys, every ringing of the bell at the end of the margin and Grace's voice (loud and proud!) after she reads what she has typed. I know that Maddy and Poppy searched high and low and everywhere in-between for this typewriter. Thank you! It has brought us all great joy. It also reminds me of simpler times. There is an English novelist who writes all of his books on a manual typewriter rather than a computer and he puts it best:

"I think the computer user does their thinking on the screen, and the non-computer user is compelled to do a lot more thinking in the head."

By the way, did you know that there is software available that adds typewriter sounds to your computer keyboard? It is designed to make the process of typing more interesting, to reduce stress and to help promote rhythmic typing.