Thursday, September 23, 2010

M4 - Summer


This post is LONG overdue, thanks to all the busyness of summer.  But we are back on track with M4 now – only we’re taking two weeks to get through Motion, Matter, Mitosis, and Me.

Here is the summer edition:

Motion
Pitch

The roof of the schoolhouse got finished, so we learned how a steep-pitched roof is more difficult to walk on than flat ground!
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Matter
Clouds

We discussed the whole evaporation process and demonstrated how clouds (cotton balls) drop water onto the land.
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Mitosis
Snakes

Summer is the perfect time to study life outdoors!  We  studied ladybugs and beetles in a bug jar…
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…found fuzzy, floaty things everywhere, as well as lots of green stuff…
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…put queen anne’s lace into food-colored water with grandma’s help – this worked WAY better than white carnations!…
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…and discovered a snake skin in our garden!
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Since we had also heard much ado about snakes when a bull snake was discovered at the cousins’ house down the road, we decided to focus on snakes for this post.
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We read Rattlesnake Rules by Conrad J. Storad (a REAL favorite here!) and Snakes and Lizards by Daniel Moreton.

And then we made some rattlesnakes!  Just draw a spiral on a paper plate with a head and a rattle in the middle, and then staple two plates together, leaving an opening to fill with dried beans before finishing! 
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A great rattle – and lots of fun!  Esmé repeated the project several times over the summer on her own initiative.
And Me
Sweat

In honor of summer, we focused on skin and sweat!  We discussed the article “Sweating Is The Pits!” as well as info we read in What is a Bellybutton? Time Life for Children.

Then we colored this skin page.

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That's it for this post. We've got another M4 post coming up as soon as I have time to get through photos...

3 comments:

Lora @ my blessed life said...

Looks like you've been having lots of fun in your homeschool! I love how you explore your own space where you live.

Pamela said...

I have soooooo many things I could say in response to things on this post ...
but I'll not bore you

ha ha.

What a blessed kid to get to have so much fun learning.

Kelly said...

Queen Anns Lace turned out so pretty! All we have seen lately around here is Stink Bugs (gross!) and the invasion of Ants: itty bitty ones, small ones, big ones! Good Grief! ;) Hopefully the rain the next couple of days will help. It has been really dry here. The leaves will start to change with all this rain as well!
Have a great week!