OveR The CuCkoO's Nest: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Light - Week 4

I was NOT on top of things with my camera, today. Can we have a re-shoot? You up for giving the lesson again, Theresa? ;)

First, we took the kids outside to trace their shadows. Everyone's shadows were REAL tall.

With the help of the Magic School Bus/Youtube, Theresa gave a lesson all about how light reflects, is absorbed, or can pass-through. She's so tech-savvy. Had her laptop hooked up to the TV. Yah for youtube! Then we broke up into groups and predicted how different objects would react to light. Let light though, let a little light through, or block the light? The kids glued their guesses onto their worksheets.

Testing out our predictions:

We then did some fun with mirrors and light reflection.

After our snack and a little more Magic School Bus, we went outside to see how our shadows changed. Did everyone shrink? What happened to our shadows?

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Light - Week 3

This week, it was my turn to do a "light" lesson so I did decided to do an art lesson about the color wheel. First, we read "A Book About Color" which is a perfect book for young children about colors and how they relate to one another. Then, we broke the kids up into groups of two, gave each group a box of crayons, and had them create a color wheel.

Next, we got the paints out. Each kid got only the three primary colors and from those colors, they had to paint a color wheel. The older kids had 12 spots on their papers to fill, the younger ones only had 6. They learned how to make secondary and tertiary colors. After they dried, we added a cover that showed the complementary and analogous colors. It connects with a brad so that they can spin it around.

Then we read another book called, "Hello, Red Fox". You stare at a picture for 10 seconds and then look at a white page. Your eyes then will see the same picture but in the complementary color. There were only a few kids that were able to do this successfully.

We looked at this book for a little, too. It has several shades of each color and we discussed what made the colors different.

Snack time. I made them frozen rainbow pudding pops. Several ended up in the sink. Apparently, not many were fans of frozen vanilla pudding.

Homework time. I gave all the kids coloring sheets with the same image twice. On the first half, they were to paint/color the object any color, but the background had to be the complementary color. On the 2nd half, they were to paint/color the object the SAME color, but the background was to be the analogous colors. This one is Caedon's. Time to pull out those color wheels.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Light - Week 2

This year, we'll have month long themes based on each day of Creation. This month's theme is "Let there be Light".

Brandy started off today lesson reading this very clever book. Every page is black but has braille and texture. Kids had to use their sense of touch to "see" the pages of this book.

Next up, Brandy did a "taste the color" experiment. The kids had to close their eyes and taste her surprise foods and name the color they tasted.

Then we did a true science experiment. We had lemons, pennies, zinc wires, and copper wires. Zane really worked hard on making a slit in this lemon.

I have no idea what Christian is saying in the picture, maybe, "Why are we using plastic knives to cut?" haha Safety first, Christian.

In one of the slits, the kids slid in a copper penny.

In the other slit, they added zinc wire.

The moms added the copper wire to connect the lemons, wires, pennies, and finally the little light.

Our first set didn't work, but try, try again.

The second set of lemons worked. WE HAD LIGHT!

And God saw that it was good.

It was a small flickering light, but it was a light.

A review page of what we learned.

Zane's:

Our homework is to see if we can make a spark with a mint. It may or may not work, but at least we'll have nice smelling breath afterwards.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Treasure Chest

Kids, be ready to be on your best behavior at our cuckcoo co-op. Each week, we'll have a spy mom - maybe we should call her the pirate mom - who'll be watching for kids that go over and above to listen, answer questions, help the little ones, and however else the pirate mom deems worthy to earn a punch in their punch card.

You can also earn a punch for any presentations you give or extra homework you complete. When you've earned 5 punches in your punch card, you get to pick a $1 prize from our prize box.

So be ready. We'll be watching.

~Wendy~

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Our "Opening Olympics"

To kick off our 2012 school year, Brandy arranged a morning at the park that took home the gold! Honoring the Olympic Games, the kids learned about (and participated in) pint-sized versions of the most challenging sports--from the Long and High Jumps, to the ever-popular Relay Race (and much more fun in between). We all walked away confident that we're raising Olympians :o)