Solar System Model

 Are you teaching Astronomy or a unit of Earth Science?  Good Will online has a new listing, a Hubbard Solar System Model.  You can paint your own model, too.  Once in a while I teach Earth Science, too.  Instead of making models of solar systems, my kids create a model of the relative distance of the planets from the sun, Paper Tape Solar System.  Amazon sells adding machine paper tape.  Check the local Staples or Office Max for adding machine tape, too.  By all means, have the kids research the distances of each planet from the sun.  

Apologia Chemistry: Moles

 Module 5 introduces the mole concept, one of the toughest topics in chemistry.  Texas Gateways has some great mole, molar mass, conversions, and mole video—all online resources.  These worksheets all have answer keys—which are usually well edited.  My Co-op Chemistry class will be doing mole activities, calculations, and labs for the next two weeks.  I schedule extra tutorial sessions to explain calculations and conversions.  I made up a slideshow with the links, labs, worksheets, and quizzes.  Moles wring me dry—appropriate for a cold day in January.

OSMO

Did you get a bunch of ads for  OSMO in your social media feed?  If you thought it might be an interesting sciency toy for your kids, Good Will has this listing for an OSMO starter kit.  Do a search on Good Will online.  There are several listings.  I buy used sets of interesting kits from Good Will frequently, such as a Britannica VR Science Kit.  I have a few of these kits in my basement.  We’ve just been too busy juggling home-school, guitar lessons, Art, etc to field test many kits.  Below are five of the kits in the queue.  Paul and my husband, Rob, like the Neo/Sci kits; we’re working through those first. Good Will is my default for bargains like the OSMO kits—which we are NOT buying.  Our little household loathes tangrams.

Apologia Chemistry: Mole of Money

 Money is always an interesting topic and can help kids understand the mole concept.  Here is a problem (and answer) asking, ‘How much money, dollars, does one mole of pennies represent?”  Coins are alloys.  Here are coin specifications from the U.S. Mint if you want to extend the mole concept to the percent composition.  Here are the exact amounts of moles of zinc and copper in a post 1982 penny.  Your kids can do the same calculations for any coin.  Here is an article from Chemmatters, “ The Captivating Chemistry of Cash”, to round out your lesson.  These types of calculations make great quizzes.  Each teen in your Co-op can have a different coin. Yes, my class is going to do this quiz as soon as they have a better grasp of moles.

Apologia Chemistry: Mole Quiz #2

 My kids are are learning remotely.  I quiz them fairly frequently and had an idea for hands-on Mole Quiz. In the second quiz, the kids will determine the number of moles in the 30.0 g sample of new or zinc pennies below.  This is one way to reduce cheating.  In fact, each kid can receive a different mass of new, zinc pennies for the quiz.  

Used Graphing Calculators

 I buy used graphing calculators for our math and science Co-op classes—usually from Good Will.  I bid on calculators which operate.  Below are images of calculators to avoid: weird blotches, faint lines, etc.  the first shot has a dark screen.  This one is fine.  You can toggle to adjust the screen brightness.  Before you bid, watch out for damage.

Apologia Chemistry: Hydrate Lab

My kids are going to to a hydrate lab, or percent composition.  Hydrates are compounds with water loosely bound in the compound.  If you gently heat a hydrate, water is removed.  Scroll down this web page for the Quick Lab, Percent Composition, a hydrate lab, for the lab I use.  There are teacher notes with sample data next to the lab instructions.  (Here is a virtual lab.). For the hydrate lab, kids put a few grams of one hydrate in a test tube and gently heat the salt.  A tea candle works to heat the hydrate.  Remind the child to keep his face away from the steam emitted. Move the test tube back and forth as it is heated.   Calcium chloride and copper II sulfate are good hydrates to use for this lab.  Weigh the test tube, too.  Sometimes it can be hard to remove the salt from the test tube after heating the salt.  I made a slideshow with the instructions, sample data, calculations, and a video.

Apologia Chemistry: Hands-on Mole Quiz #1

Module 5 is all about the mole.  Okay, there is some information about types of reactions, too.  Here is an idea for a hands-on mole quiz.  How many moles are in an empty soda can?  The kids need to weigh the empty can, determine the element, aluminum, its atomic weight, and convert the mass of one empty can into moles.  You could do this quiz with a sample of NaCl, too.  Here is the slideshow I plan to share with my kids tomorrow.

 

Science Bingo!

Once in awhile it’s fun to insert a game into science, especially if you have a group.  My Chemistry Co-op class makes elements cards which is also a game. I have commercial chemistry games I received as gifts, pictured below.  The easiest game to make and play is Bingo.  Here is a bingo card generator.  Here is an example of Elements Bingo, complete with cards.  You can use Bingo for vocabulary review.  Give the kids a list of terms to write on their blank bingo cards.  Remind them to write them in different places on the card—or everyone will yell Bingo! at the same time.  Ask me how I know.  There are loads of bingo patterns.  I usually play cover-all, four corners, or postage stamp to enliven the game.  Yes, you need prizes, such as candy, or snack packets.  Bingo is a fun way to review.

Apologia Chemistry: Weigh a Mole

 My Chemistry Co-op class is weighing moles.  I asked them to weigh water, baking soda, table salt, Epsom salts, aluminum foil, and nails.  The kids need the chemical formulas and molar mass.  This lab is similar.  Want more ideas?  Weigh a mole of pennies.  Pennies older than 1982 are copper and those newer than 1982 are zinc.  Below are examples.

Apologia Chemistry: How Many Moles Lab

 My Chemistry Co-op class is weighing moles of substances as a lab.  Next the kids are going to determine the number of moles in a specific quantity from their Chem kits: paper clips, three iron nails, two steel washers, three 2000 pennies, 5 grams of calcium chloride, etc.  The kids have small quantities of a bunch of chemicals and objects in themChem kits.  I want them to determine the number of moles in say five grams of copper II sulfate.  Once again, the kids need to determine the formula, calculate the molar mass, and convert the mass of the chemical, copper II sulfate into moles.  It’s a hands-on method to teach the mole concept.  An example is below.