Show & Tell: Adventures Week 11

Yesterday we wrapped up Week 11 of our school year.  Since our curriculum is written for a 34-week school year, we're pretty much 1/3 of the way to third grade.  (Fingers in ears) la la la la la la la la!  I refuse to believe that one of my children is old enough to be that close to third grade.  Third grade!  Where has the time gone?!

In history this week, we learned more about George Washington.  Two weeks ago, we learned about his youth and his military career as it related to the Revolutionary War.  This week we learned that he became the first president of the United States of America.  Here's the notebook page Hannah made for her U.S. Notebook:

We made Johnny Cakes for breakfast one day, which was very common in George Washington's time.

Here's Hannah spooning the batter into the skillet.

Behold . . . the finished product.  Looks like fried fish, huh?

Hannah thought they tasted good, which surprised me because she didn't like the hasty pudding last week and they have the same basic ingredients.  Go figure!

Millie, however, tasted a small bite and decided to enjoy a banana for breakfast instead.  :)

Oh, and this week we also heard Hannah's latest joke again and again and again and again and . . . well, you get the idea. 

Question:  What do you get when you cross George Washington and animal feed?
Answer:  The "fodder" of our country!

(I'm ashamed to admit that I learned a new word from this.  I had no idea what "fodder" was!)

Because it was such a light week history-wise, Hannah was able to go back and read some of the "fun" George Washington books that she just didn't have time for a couple of weeks ago.

I stumbled across these Blast to the Past books at the Library & Educational Services web site over the summer, and I'm so glad I decided to give them a try.  Several of the books I bought are just too much for a 2nd grader, but these seem to be just right.

The highlight of the week, for me, was definitely Bible.  I once heard the saying, "The New is in the Old contained, and the Old is in the New explained," and it really changed the way I read Scripture.  I now love to search for the crimson thread of Christ interwoven throughout the entire Bible.  I mean love to!  I repeatedly stand in awe of God's master plan every time I find the New Testament hidden in the Old or the Old Testament revealed in the New, and I walk away more confident than ever of the authority of Scripture. 

Well, this week we focused on Jesus as the Living Water again, and one of the passages we read was Exodus 17:1-6, when Moses struck the rock to get water for the Israelites when they were in the desert.  Maybe it was because we just finished looking at Jesus as the Rock, but I don't think I've ever fully made this connection before.  The Israelites were in the desert, ready to die if they didn't get some water.  They had to have it to live!  The only way for them to get it was to go to the rock!  Wow, wow, wow!!!  Do you see that parallel?!  We are walking through our own wilderness, ready to die if our spirits don't get some Living Water.  We have to have it to live.  The only way for us to get it is to go to the Rock!  I love God's Word!!!  It would have been fun for me to discover that anytime, anywhere, with anyone; but the fact that God chose to reveal it to me while I was studying the Bible with my child, and she saw my excitement over His Word . . . oh, what a priceless, treasured moment!

We continued studying water in science this week, focusing on evaporation and hydration and dehydration.  (Please note:  It might look like an awful lot of science for one week, but remember we didn't finish it all last week, so some of this is leftovers!)

The girls did three experiments to help them understand evaporation.  The first experiment showed that water has to be able to get into the air in order to evaporate.

We put one dishcloth in a plastic bag and one on a saucer so the air could get to it.

The next day, we checked to see what happened.  The one in the plastic bag was still wet because the water couldn't get to the air.

The one that was just placed on a saucer was nearly dry.

Here's Hannah comparing them.

The second experiment showed that only water evaporates, not the things that are mixed with it.

First we added salt to some warm water.

Hannah tasted it.

Yep, it's salty all right!

We checked it after an hour and found tiny droplets of water that had evaporated.

Hannah tasted the droplets of water and discovered—thankfully—that they didn't taste salty.  Only the water had evaporated; the salt had stayed behind.

Our third experiment basically demonstrated the same thing, only in a slightly more appetizing way.  :)

First we mixed sugar and water.  Then we poured some of the mixture onto foil-lined saucers and added a drop of food coloring to each.

After three days, the water had evaporated, but the food coloring and sugar were still there.

The result was a yummy treat of colored sugar crystals!

Then we looked at hydration and dehydration and did four experiments to help us along with our understanding.  Our first experiment was to see what would happen if we hydrated a bowl full of beans.

We filled our container to the top with beans, then we added water until it was filled completely to the rim.  We put the lid on and left it until the next day.  Supposedly the beans would soak up so much water that it would force the lid of our container to pop off.

This was three days later.  We had major bulging on the bottom . . .

. . . and major bulging on the top, but no lid explosion.  When I finally took the lid off, I saw that the beans had soaked up all of the water.  My guess is that if we put a few less beans in, we could fit more water in, and the beans could soak up all the water and make the lid pop off.  Maybe we'll declare a redo.  Maybe.  But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.  ;)

Our next experiment was to see what happens when water is added to sugar.

We built a small tower of sugar cubes on a saucer and poured water around the base.  You can see how the sugar soaked the water right up.

However, the water dissolved the sugar, so the tower ended up tumbling down.

Our next experiment showed that sugar soaks up water so well that it can actually dry foods out.

We sliced a cucumber and sprinkled a little sugar on it.



After only ten minutes, there was already a puddle of water on the cucumber because the sugar drew the water out of it.  So that's how Kimpaw makes his fruit salad so syrup-y!

Our last experiment is still in the works.  We put a dried piece of bread in one plastic bag and a damp piece of bread in another.  The damp piece should grow mold more quickly, but so far neither of them have.  Darn preservatives!  But we did put all of this information about dehydration and rehydration together to discuss that the reason explorers often take dried food with them when they go on an adventure is because it stays good for a longer time.

I finally remembered to get some Pre-K pics this week.  Every morning, Millie starts off her school time with the number of the day and her calendar activities.  Here she is demonstrating her "Months of the Year" song (to the tune of "Ten Little Indians") and her "Days of the Week" song (to the tune of "Clementine").  I hope this works.  I couldn't get it to upload through Blogger, so I'm trying You Tube for the first time.  Fingers crossed . . .

Her letter of the week was "O," so she also added a new verse to her vowel song.  I should have recorded this as a video.  Maybe another week . . .

Hannah decided to host Pout Fest 2010 when she saw that I was making a video of Millie but not her, so I told her I'd record her reciting her poem for you.  (Remember the placemat idea?  It actually worked! We didn't read it faithfully at every meal—heck, we didn't even read it faithfully every day—but apparently we did it often enough that it stuck.)  I apologize in advance for the sound issues.  When I zoomed in and out, I accidentally covered the microphone on the camera.  Oops!

Next week we take a break from history to focus on the first 13 states.  I'm definitely curious to see how the state studies go, but honestly I think I'm really gonna miss all the history!  It's been so fun to relearn a lot of it while teaching it to the girls.

Since Kris is out of town this week, Jamie is hosting the WeeklyWrap-Up.  Go check it out for loads of inspiration and great ideas!