I follow a blog called Montessori Muddle. This blog is one that I'll be looking at a lot more in the near future. It showcases what's happening in the Montessori middle and high school.
I jumped on my blog today to browse around my list of blogs I follow and saw a post on Montessori Muddle with a link to this program:
http://www.radiolab.org/live/
Their link was for the podcast, but we decided to click on over to the video. It was great, and made me wish we had gone up to Seattle to see it. I didn't even know it was happening.
It's definitely worth a listen if you've got Upper El, middle or high school students.
Thank you for sharing it Montessori Muddle!!
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Elements: The Gifts That Keep Giving
Books are very special in our house. Sean has always had a full bookshelf, and as he has outgrown some of them, they've been replaced with books that are at his current level.
While he was at the public Montessori school there were book fairs several times a year. We attended all of them, and always came away with at least one book. And this is funny, in a way, because this is a kid who doesn't enjoy reading. Not novels, anyway.
It was at one of the final book fairs of the year that I found a couple of things I wanted to put back for his birthday. One was a book called, "The Elements." It's beautiful, and I just knew he'd love it. I also had already been thinking of doing homeschool again, and figured even if we didn't, this book would definitely be useful for years.
He opened it on his birthday last year and was overjoyed. It has been his go-to book for reading pleasure. I haven't asked him to do anything with it at all.
Last week he decided he would use it for the science part of his work plan, and came up with an activity on his own. He wanted to make a list of five elements off the top of his head, then look them up in the book and write down how they are used.
First he began by telling me that elements are so important, because without them we wouldn't be here. We need these elements in order to live, he said. Then he made his list of five, and started looking for them in the book to get information.
While he was working on that his math teacher arrived and made a comment about the book. "That's the one that comes with the cards, right?" he said. It didn't come with cards. I didn't know about the cards. He said he saw it in his Montessori Education Institute of the Pacific Northwest training. He described some of the information on the cards, and how they can be used, and I immediately got online to search for them. Found 'em. Ordered. Delivered on Thursday.
The cards are a companion for the book, in my opinion. Although I believe either could be used exclusively without the other. The book is gorgeous. Each element is represented by a color photo and some information about it. The periodic table is explained and in color as well.
The front of each card has a large color photo of the element, along with the number of the element, and on the back is detailed information.
I had Sean read the cover card, which provides a variety of ways to use the cards. He decided his first work would be to arrange the cards by melting point.
This work had him thinking. He wanted me to work with him, but all I did was hold up a card and say the name of the element, and he would take it and either predict the melting point, or just look on the back for it and place it on the floor. But he decided some of them would be a negative number, just based on what he knows about the element. I was genuinely intrigued with this work, and his explanations of why one element would have a negative melting point temperature while another would be a really high positive number melting point, so I provided the awe and wonder while he walked me through the work as he was doing it.
It also had him using math, and putting the numbers in order from lowest to highest melting point. We didn't get through all 118 of them yet. Unfortunately we work in the living room and couldn't leave all of the cards out over the weekend to come back to on Monday. We stacked the cards he already arranged, and put the others back in the box. I'm sure he'll come back to this work, and I am excited to see how he continues to use these cards in different ways.
If you are interested in "The Elements" book or cards, you can find them here and here. I bought the book at a Scholastic book fair, but got the box of cards from Amazon. I see there is also one called "Elements Vault." It looks great. We don't have that one. Yet.
While he was at the public Montessori school there were book fairs several times a year. We attended all of them, and always came away with at least one book. And this is funny, in a way, because this is a kid who doesn't enjoy reading. Not novels, anyway.
It was at one of the final book fairs of the year that I found a couple of things I wanted to put back for his birthday. One was a book called, "The Elements." It's beautiful, and I just knew he'd love it. I also had already been thinking of doing homeschool again, and figured even if we didn't, this book would definitely be useful for years.
He opened it on his birthday last year and was overjoyed. It has been his go-to book for reading pleasure. I haven't asked him to do anything with it at all.
Last week he decided he would use it for the science part of his work plan, and came up with an activity on his own. He wanted to make a list of five elements off the top of his head, then look them up in the book and write down how they are used.
First he began by telling me that elements are so important, because without them we wouldn't be here. We need these elements in order to live, he said. Then he made his list of five, and started looking for them in the book to get information.
While he was working on that his math teacher arrived and made a comment about the book. "That's the one that comes with the cards, right?" he said. It didn't come with cards. I didn't know about the cards. He said he saw it in his Montessori Education Institute of the Pacific Northwest training. He described some of the information on the cards, and how they can be used, and I immediately got online to search for them. Found 'em. Ordered. Delivered on Thursday.
The cards are a companion for the book, in my opinion. Although I believe either could be used exclusively without the other. The book is gorgeous. Each element is represented by a color photo and some information about it. The periodic table is explained and in color as well.
The front of each card has a large color photo of the element, along with the number of the element, and on the back is detailed information.
I had Sean read the cover card, which provides a variety of ways to use the cards. He decided his first work would be to arrange the cards by melting point.
This work had him thinking. He wanted me to work with him, but all I did was hold up a card and say the name of the element, and he would take it and either predict the melting point, or just look on the back for it and place it on the floor. But he decided some of them would be a negative number, just based on what he knows about the element. I was genuinely intrigued with this work, and his explanations of why one element would have a negative melting point temperature while another would be a really high positive number melting point, so I provided the awe and wonder while he walked me through the work as he was doing it.
It also had him using math, and putting the numbers in order from lowest to highest melting point. We didn't get through all 118 of them yet. Unfortunately we work in the living room and couldn't leave all of the cards out over the weekend to come back to on Monday. We stacked the cards he already arranged, and put the others back in the box. I'm sure he'll come back to this work, and I am excited to see how he continues to use these cards in different ways.
If you are interested in "The Elements" book or cards, you can find them here and here. I bought the book at a Scholastic book fair, but got the box of cards from Amazon. I see there is also one called "Elements Vault." It looks great. We don't have that one. Yet.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
A step forward
While we were at the Pacific Science Center for the Visiting Scientist program a couple of months ago, Sean spoke to a psychologist who studies fonts and which ones are easier to read, and other ways we respond to font types.
He showed us several different experiments. He asked us to read a sentence written in two different fonts. He asked if there was one that looked like a feminine font. Sean gave him a blank stare. The man turned to me and asked if there was one that looked more feminine, and one did stand out to me, but I wanted to wait until Sean had a chance to answer.
I wasn't sure he understood the question, so I said, "Is there one that looks more girlish, or boyish, to you." He looked for a long time at each one and finally said, "No."
A volunteer at the center was standing with us as we were doing this exercise. He had been glancing at me while Sean was studying the fonts. We waited, and when Sean answered, "No." We both smiled.
I told the psychologist I believe Sean's reaction to this particular exercise was an example of progress in our society.
The volunteer said, "I think that is really awesome."
This is not to say that Sean doesn't recognize certain things as masculine and feminine, but in general he views activities as a matter of interest rather than a "girl" thing to do and a "boy" thing to do.
While we were at a family function, a family member was engaging in conversation with Sean about his activities. She asked him, "Are you going to take ballet?" She is in her late 70s, and to her it was a way to joke around, but he took it as a serious question, thought on it for a moment, and then said, "I don't know. Maybe."
He walked away and she said to Chuck and I that she was really just kidding, but it looked like he was considering it. We explained he is interested in everything, and he doesn't really view ballet as a girl activity.
Children become very focused on making sense of the world when they are around age 7, 8, 9 ish. The traditional roles of households and working world are very important to them. They sometimes say things that don't sound very Politically Correct. I've seen adults get offended when a child talks about their religion, for instance, and insists that everyone is supposed to go to church. In their minds if their family is going to church everyone is supposed to. Just like all mommies are supposed to do whatever their mommies do, and daddies are supposed to do what their daddy does. That is what makes sense.
But Sean has been in a diverse community, and a diverse household, and family. He went to school with transgendered kids, and kids of all faiths and backgrounds, ethnicities, and origins.
It's a big world out there. We don't all fit into a mold. Sean makes decisions for himself based on his interests, and not what others would expect him to choose. That is a beautiful thing, and I hope he will be able to follow his own path and not that of others as he gets older.
He showed us several different experiments. He asked us to read a sentence written in two different fonts. He asked if there was one that looked like a feminine font. Sean gave him a blank stare. The man turned to me and asked if there was one that looked more feminine, and one did stand out to me, but I wanted to wait until Sean had a chance to answer.
I wasn't sure he understood the question, so I said, "Is there one that looks more girlish, or boyish, to you." He looked for a long time at each one and finally said, "No."
A volunteer at the center was standing with us as we were doing this exercise. He had been glancing at me while Sean was studying the fonts. We waited, and when Sean answered, "No." We both smiled.
I told the psychologist I believe Sean's reaction to this particular exercise was an example of progress in our society.
The volunteer said, "I think that is really awesome."
This is not to say that Sean doesn't recognize certain things as masculine and feminine, but in general he views activities as a matter of interest rather than a "girl" thing to do and a "boy" thing to do.
While we were at a family function, a family member was engaging in conversation with Sean about his activities. She asked him, "Are you going to take ballet?" She is in her late 70s, and to her it was a way to joke around, but he took it as a serious question, thought on it for a moment, and then said, "I don't know. Maybe."
He walked away and she said to Chuck and I that she was really just kidding, but it looked like he was considering it. We explained he is interested in everything, and he doesn't really view ballet as a girl activity.
Children become very focused on making sense of the world when they are around age 7, 8, 9 ish. The traditional roles of households and working world are very important to them. They sometimes say things that don't sound very Politically Correct. I've seen adults get offended when a child talks about their religion, for instance, and insists that everyone is supposed to go to church. In their minds if their family is going to church everyone is supposed to. Just like all mommies are supposed to do whatever their mommies do, and daddies are supposed to do what their daddy does. That is what makes sense.
But Sean has been in a diverse community, and a diverse household, and family. He went to school with transgendered kids, and kids of all faiths and backgrounds, ethnicities, and origins.
It's a big world out there. We don't all fit into a mold. Sean makes decisions for himself based on his interests, and not what others would expect him to choose. That is a beautiful thing, and I hope he will be able to follow his own path and not that of others as he gets older.
Friday, December 13, 2013
DNA, NOAA, and more science
I'm a doer, and a person who loves to have experiences. I grew up in a small town, far away from anything cultural. When I got to college I made sure that I experienced as much of the arts and other activities and resources that I could.
It included taking my small children to campus productions, and even driving an hour to another state to see a play that I was certain would be great. "The Importance of Being Earnest" has remained one of my favs.
Now I live in an area that offers so much that I have difficult decisions to make, because we just can't do it all. If I could I would be a member of every museum and go to every production at the local play houses.
But we can't. And so this year we chose to become members of the Pacific Science Center, and we'll throw in a play or production throughout the year as well.
Because we paid for the membership I want to go as often as possible to PSC. Visiting Scientists is the reason I bought it. I knew that would make it worth our while to drive there once a month, at least.
On Saturday we took off for Seattle. We missed the last one, so I wanted to be sure we got to this one. Six tables were set up with different demonstrations. There was a morning session and afternoon session. We got there just as the afternoon presenters were setting up.
This event is so much fun, and so fascinating for me. I take Sean because he loves science, and I want him to have as much extra instruction as possible. But, really, I love it, too!!
The hands-on presentations included: DNA wrapping, NOAA scientist who explained the process of testing the atmosphere and water for pollutants world-wide, one who studies DNA and why some bacteria don't respond to antibiotics, testing for water levels in snow, type fonts and which ones are easier to read, and how children learn to read, and a scientist who is studying calorie restriction and the effects on aging.
It was all great fun to me, and Sean enjoyed all of it. He talked with each scientist and participated in each activity they offered to illustrate their studies. We spent about three hours there.
I want to go back soon so he can experience some other areas of the museum. It's huge, and when we do these Visiting Scientist days we don't have time to do much else.
We know how lucky we are to have such a great resource so close to us.
Thank you PSC!! We LOVE it!
It included taking my small children to campus productions, and even driving an hour to another state to see a play that I was certain would be great. "The Importance of Being Earnest" has remained one of my favs.
Now I live in an area that offers so much that I have difficult decisions to make, because we just can't do it all. If I could I would be a member of every museum and go to every production at the local play houses.
But we can't. And so this year we chose to become members of the Pacific Science Center, and we'll throw in a play or production throughout the year as well.
Because we paid for the membership I want to go as often as possible to PSC. Visiting Scientists is the reason I bought it. I knew that would make it worth our while to drive there once a month, at least.
On Saturday we took off for Seattle. We missed the last one, so I wanted to be sure we got to this one. Six tables were set up with different demonstrations. There was a morning session and afternoon session. We got there just as the afternoon presenters were setting up.
This event is so much fun, and so fascinating for me. I take Sean because he loves science, and I want him to have as much extra instruction as possible. But, really, I love it, too!!
.JPG) |
| This was the exercise in finding pattern differences in DNA to determine which strands respond to antibiotics. He really enjoyed this activity. |
The hands-on presentations included: DNA wrapping, NOAA scientist who explained the process of testing the atmosphere and water for pollutants world-wide, one who studies DNA and why some bacteria don't respond to antibiotics, testing for water levels in snow, type fonts and which ones are easier to read, and how children learn to read, and a scientist who is studying calorie restriction and the effects on aging.
It was all great fun to me, and Sean enjoyed all of it. He talked with each scientist and participated in each activity they offered to illustrate their studies. We spent about three hours there.
I want to go back soon so he can experience some other areas of the museum. It's huge, and when we do these Visiting Scientist days we don't have time to do much else.
We know how lucky we are to have such a great resource so close to us.
Thank you PSC!! We LOVE it!
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Research takes a turn, and it's a beautiful thing
I've been feeling like we're falling "behind" in a way. We are behind according to my lesson plan schedule, which only means just that.
We took a week off for our Disney World vacation. Then we took off a few days for Thanksgiving. (There was no way I could do any prep for homeschool and prep in the kitchen for hosting 12 guests.)
I was ready to dive back into homeschool yesterday and pound it out, but Sean got sick and spent yesterday lounging until his math instructor arrived.
So today I was determined to get him back in the groove of work plans, materials, and pencils and paper. But he slept most of the day again, and I wasn't feeling well either.
When he finally got up I went over the schedule for the week with him and said since he has chosen Thursday as our science day he needed to do some research ahead of time. I wanted him to look up information on Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. He was free to use the computer today because we couldn't get to the library, since we were both not feeling well.
I've found some wonderful science projects for him to choose from, but before we begin those I want him to understand the science behind them. I've got nine science projects printed off and they include some work on friction and gravity, and how light travels.
He pulled out his note cards and was getting information about Isaac Newton, then something happened and he left the room. I was busy looking through photos of our trip to Florida. He came over and spotted a picture of a spider that we took at Disney World. As we were walking along one of the bridges he spied it on its web suspended between two tall bushes. I almost couldn't see it. He wanted a picture of it so bad, but it wasn't showing up well in the picture until I positioned the camera so that the background was the sky. We both had worked hard to get a good picture of it. It was different than any spiders we have seen here, and had spikes on it's back.
That picture sparked his interest and he wanted to try to find out what kind of spider it is. And that led to another page with a different spider called a Yellow Sac Spider. He decided he wanted to do a report on venomous spiders. He worked for quite some time writing down all of the information about the Yellow Sac Spider on his note cards, and presented his information to Chuck when he arrived home from work.
As he was doing his research, he was reading some of it out loud to me. He came across the words necrotic lesion. I asked what does that mean? Sounding as genuine as possible. He gave a guess, and I said can you click on the magnifying glass in the corner of the screen and type in dictionary. Then type in that word for me, necrotic. He did it, and read off what it said. Then on his own he typed in lesion. And he put those meanings together and realized that would be one horrible spider bite. (On top of that it is associated with MRSA.)
It turns out we have those spiders in the Pacific Northwest.
So, although he didn't get the Isaac Newton work finished today, I decided to follow the child, and let him work on something that has been his passion for a long time. He does love arachnids. I was reminded of how engrossed in his work he will get when it is something he has chosen.
This work gave him some new vocabulary words, and he practiced writing a report and presenting it.
But we will get to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. I just have to find a way to get him to choose the work.
We took a week off for our Disney World vacation. Then we took off a few days for Thanksgiving. (There was no way I could do any prep for homeschool and prep in the kitchen for hosting 12 guests.)
I was ready to dive back into homeschool yesterday and pound it out, but Sean got sick and spent yesterday lounging until his math instructor arrived.
So today I was determined to get him back in the groove of work plans, materials, and pencils and paper. But he slept most of the day again, and I wasn't feeling well either.
When he finally got up I went over the schedule for the week with him and said since he has chosen Thursday as our science day he needed to do some research ahead of time. I wanted him to look up information on Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. He was free to use the computer today because we couldn't get to the library, since we were both not feeling well.
I've found some wonderful science projects for him to choose from, but before we begin those I want him to understand the science behind them. I've got nine science projects printed off and they include some work on friction and gravity, and how light travels.
He pulled out his note cards and was getting information about Isaac Newton, then something happened and he left the room. I was busy looking through photos of our trip to Florida. He came over and spotted a picture of a spider that we took at Disney World. As we were walking along one of the bridges he spied it on its web suspended between two tall bushes. I almost couldn't see it. He wanted a picture of it so bad, but it wasn't showing up well in the picture until I positioned the camera so that the background was the sky. We both had worked hard to get a good picture of it. It was different than any spiders we have seen here, and had spikes on it's back.
That picture sparked his interest and he wanted to try to find out what kind of spider it is. And that led to another page with a different spider called a Yellow Sac Spider. He decided he wanted to do a report on venomous spiders. He worked for quite some time writing down all of the information about the Yellow Sac Spider on his note cards, and presented his information to Chuck when he arrived home from work.
As he was doing his research, he was reading some of it out loud to me. He came across the words necrotic lesion. I asked what does that mean? Sounding as genuine as possible. He gave a guess, and I said can you click on the magnifying glass in the corner of the screen and type in dictionary. Then type in that word for me, necrotic. He did it, and read off what it said. Then on his own he typed in lesion. And he put those meanings together and realized that would be one horrible spider bite. (On top of that it is associated with MRSA.)
It turns out we have those spiders in the Pacific Northwest.
So, although he didn't get the Isaac Newton work finished today, I decided to follow the child, and let him work on something that has been his passion for a long time. He does love arachnids. I was reminded of how engrossed in his work he will get when it is something he has chosen.
This work gave him some new vocabulary words, and he practiced writing a report and presenting it.
But we will get to Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. I just have to find a way to get him to choose the work.
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