Caterpillars in the Snow

Wow, what a kooky winter we are having here in the Mitten state!! We've only had about 3 snowfalls all season! We're taking full advantage of sledding opportunities with each short round of winter, but I think the unusual temperatures and overall lack of snow has more than just humans scratching their heads. The bugs are puzzled too! Back in January, the kids and I found a little caterpillar crawling along our back porch, wondering where to go next! "He must be confused," the kids concluded... to be honest, so am I! :)
Ironically, my friend Lori just recently shared this great link with me for fun caterpillar activities and cute snacks--just what we need to get by as we wait for the real spring to start in a few more weeks! Very Hungry Caterpillar activities






Also, you can check out the unit study I made last year on butterflies: Awesome Butterfly Moments.

Impression 5 Science Center makes lasting impact

Our homeschool group had a fabulous field trip to the Impression 5 Science Center last week. They have a special Magic School Bus Weather exhibit that was a huge hit with my kids, along with their other great exhibits and areas, like the water room, nature, body systems and the light room where the kids could freeze their shadows. We spent the entire day-- it was filled with fun, hands-on education. They also lined up some workshops for our group on the 5 senses, magnets, and static electricity. It was definitely worth the trip, there was a ton of stuff for every age to explore together. Two very big thumbs up!


























^laughing out loud. e, I love you so much. excellent.

Lessons from Natural Disasters

Current events, geography, weather phenomenons, community outreach, compassion, writing and spelling... we worked it all in today as we surrounded our lessons around the devastating tornado that ripped through Missouri last night, killing 90 and destroying a town. Weather websites had the recent natural disaster in photos. The American Red Cross issued this statement on their Disaster Alert Page, "Jasper County Animal Control is now on site at the Joplin MO Shelter to help accommodate the pets of those who are in need of shelter due to the storms that stuck the Joplin area tonight."
In addition to our donation to the Red Cross, we decided on a unique way to give back during this tragedy. I always feel helpless during times like this, wishing I could do something to help, not knowing what. The statement about the Animal Shelter inspired an idea for me. The kids and I put together an animal relief kit, with blankets, dog and cat food, pet shampoo, toys and various helpful items and shipped them off this afternoon to the Joplin Humane Society to help with any homeless animals they may be sheltering after this storm.


My daughter wrote the card herself, giving her the daily penmanship, grammar and spelling practice she needed. (And she drew pictures for the animals, too--bonus art!) In addition, we studied where Missouri was in comparison to Michigan.

We visited some kids weather websites, including this great one: Weather Wiz Kids. We made a tornado in a jar for science and read a variety of books about tornadoes and weather at the library later in the afternoon.

Making the tornado was super easy with stuff we had on hand and the kids enjoyed it.

All you need:
clear canning jar
liquid soap
vinegar
water

Fill the jar about three-quarters full of water. Add a teaspoon of the liquid soap and a teaspoon of vinegar into the jar. Tighten the lid and swirl the jar in a circular motion. The liquid will form a small tornado.





To see other weather related lessons we've done this year, check out my post about our Weather Wheel, which has great links included.

Hot Chocolate Lessons

Sometimes, you need to have hot chocolate just-for-the-heck-of-it. Making hot chocolate memories through the simple act of drinking hot cocoa on a cold winter's day or returning inside from playing and sledding in the snow is a childhood rite of passage! So, while you need nothing more than to simply drink and enjoy hot chocolate, here are some ideas and resources if you felt like turning one of many cocoa days into something a little more.

Winter Time Poem
by Mary Ryer
Icy fingers, icy toes,
Bright red cheeks and bright red nose.
Watch the snowflakes as they fall,
Try so hard to count them all.
Build a snowman way up high,
See if he can touch the sky.
Snow forts, snowballs, angels, too,
In the snow, so white and new.
Slip and slide and skate so fast.
Wintertime is here at last.

Story Problems
You have ______ marshmallows in your hot cocoa. You add ______ more. Now how many marshmallows are in your hot cocoa?

Caleb had ______marshmallows in his hot cocoa. ______ melted away. Now how many marshmallows are left in Caleb's hot cocoa?

You have ______ cups of hot cocoa in a teapot. If you share the cocoa with ______ friends, how many cups will be left?

Unit Study Links
This website is awesome, and here's an extensive, free unit study on Chocolate for a wide grade range, check it out! http://www.homeschoolshare.com/chocolate.php

And this one is fantastic, too! http://mrsmcgowan.com/projects/chocolate/resources.html

January
January
Now is here --
A fine new start
For a whole new year.
The snow comes down
In the dark of night.
When we awake
The world is white.
In January
When there's snow,
We get our sleds
And away we go.

Here's a link to a cool video for making your own homemade marshmallows! We haven't done it yet, but it looks like fun!

To see more weather studies we do, see my post, Weather Wheel.

Weather Wheel

One of my kindergartner's favorite daily routine lessons is her weather wheel. Every morning she loves checking outside to see the weather and adjusting her weather wheel accordingly. As the weather changes throughout the day, she loves going over and changing it. (Even if we are out and about and it starts raining, she will announce, "I'd better change my weather wheel when we get home!")
Some days we'll do a craft related to the weather of the day. Just simple things like drawing a sun, cutting raindrops out of blue construction paper, or gluing down cotton balls for clouds. There are lots of fun weather songs you can sing, such as "You are my sunshine" or "It's raining, it's pouring", and here's a fun one for the weather wheel:

Weather Song
(to the tune of "Oh My Darling")
What’s the weather?
What’s the weather?
What’s the weather, everyone?
Is it windy?
Is it cloudy?
Is there rain?
Or is there sun?

Weather Helper, Weather Helper
What's the weather outside?
Go and look out the window,
Tell us what you see outside.
What's the weather?
What's the weather?
What's the weather tell everyone.
Is it windy? Is it cloudy? Is there rain? or is there sun?


Books and sites related to weather we enjoy:

"It Looked Like Split Milk" by Charles Shaw is a great cloudy day book, but don't just leave it to the book--get outside with the kids, lay in the grass, and find your OWN shapes in the clouds! This activity is especially fun when there are cumulus clouds (the big, "fluffy" kind... although you can also use this as an opportunity to teach why clouds appear fluffy from air evaporation!).
The Sesame Street website has a fun Elmo game for toddlers and preschoolers where the kids can make shapes with clouds. (Elmo cloud game)

Speaking of the water cycle, there is an awesome site I found that has free lesson plans and worksheets to learn the process. The Water Cycle
Easy activities to demonstrate the water cycle to kids who typically learn better with hands-on activities are simple things like making and melting ice cubes and watching steam form in the bathroom from the hot shower.

"Come on, Rain!" by Karen Hesse is filled with vivid language imagery and wonderful illustrations. There's a wonderfully narrated video you could watch, too. For a great rain science activity, collect some rain water in a jar and compare it to a jar of tap water. If you pour them each over a coffee filter, you won't believe what comes out of the rain water. Let your kids hypothesize why the rain water is dirty, even the youngest of kids will have insightful answers!

"Thundercakes" by Patricia Polacco, is a wonderful book, where a little girl overcomes her fear of Michigan Thunderstorms with the help of her grandmother. The accompanying website has fantastic follow-up discussion questions and activities directly related to this book. Check it out!!
Thundercakes

Windsocks and kite flying are great ways to discuss wind direction and pressure. PBS has a handy Benjamin Franklin make-a-kite site you can use (Kite). And here's a link to a great free episode of Magic School Bus about air pressure: MSB Air Pressure
And another free episode of Magic School Bus about rainbows: MSB Rainbows

You can find a TON of weather related teaching resources for all different ages at the scholastic site! (Scholastic Weather Studies)