Make a Jelly Bean Dichotomous Key!

 It’s one thing to follow a dichotomous key; it’s another to make your own.  The last time I taught Biology for Co-op, my kids created Dichotomous Keys from buttons.  Paul asked me if I had anymore candy labs.  It occurred to me he could create a dichotomous key himself with Jelly Belly jelly beans.  What’s the point?  By making a key, the child learns how to classify and the underlying assumptions or characteristics  involved in creating a key.  Paul worked with Pop-pop.  

GLOBE 2021 Virtual Science Symposium and the International Science and Engineering Fair

 Are you looking for more rigor?  A research project?  GLOBE offers an International Virtual Science Symposium.  GLOBE is an international science program—really more of an environmental program.  GLOBE is sponsored by NASA is the U.S.  It’s an international program.  I took part in the HISTA Science Symposium.  A symposium is similar to the  International Science and Engineering Fair.  When I taught in WV, kids who belonged to HISTA participated in both the Symposium and in Science Fair, usually with the same project, making a few adjustments.  

I like Science Fair.  I made all of my kids participate because of the exposure to research, experimentation, presentations, and creating a backboard—similar to a poster project at the college level.  I’ve judged numerous science fairs.  It can be a pain for home-school kids to participate—but not impossible.  Your best bet is to contact the coordinator for the regional science fair.  When I tried to enter home-school kids in local science fair competitions, they were blocked.  However, I explained the issues by email to the regional coordinator and she entered my kids there.  The problem with Regional Fairs is the competition is fierce.  Usually, the kids won at their respective schools are come from Governor’s schools.  Because of my experience, the home-school kids from my Co-op had solid projects; they did feel intimidated by the competition.  

Both Symposium or Science Fair are programs you consider.  Make sure your child has a passion for the project she selects.  Look at past winners.  It will give you a feel for the level of rigor necessary.  Go for it!

Ecological Organization

 Ecology has Levels of Organization.  I use plastic cups to help kids understand the levels of organization. I first saw the idea on Pinterest.  Here is the original pin, shown below and my plastic set of cups.  This pin is for Anatomy.   I don’t spend loads of time on the idea of levels of organization; I just like for kids to see the whole picture.

Happy Mole Day!

 Today is Mole Day!  A mole of a substance, such as Carbon,  has 6.02 x 10 23 atoms.  So, 10/23 or October 23rd is Mole Day, much like 3/14 or March 14th is National Pi Day. because pi is 3.14.  Do you want to celebrate Mole Day?  My kids are making moles.  I sent home bags with felt, fiberfill, and patterns in their Chem kits.  A friend is judging the moles for a grand prize of a bag of tootsie-mole-pops.  Here are Mole Day jokes—largely about Avogadro.  Amedeo Avogadro first proposed the idea that equal volumes of substances must have equal numbers of atoms.  6.02 x 10 23 is called Avogadro’s number.  I love to buy Mole Day temporary tattoos for the kids, supply  puzzles, and serve chips and guacamole.  Here are even more ideas—such as banners, cards, and t-shirts.  Happy Mole Day!

The Great Courses

 Good Will has a number of sets of DVDs from The Great Courses.  These are terrific deals.  Warning!  I bought and watched the Chemistry DVD set; it was dry.  Did you know some cable companies offer The Great Courses.  If you bid, be sure to check shipping and handling!  Don’t forget to compare the prices on eBay and Amazon. BTW The Great Courses website is having a sale.

More Ecology Activities

Update: Good Will has dinosaurs!

 I like Hans-on activities.  Ecology is one of those units with loads of activities.  Two of my favorites are Lynx eats Hare and Mark Recapture with beans or with White Beans.  Hands-on labs take time to read over, print, and prep.  The time is an investment.  When I teach Mark and Recapture, I use a box of plastic dinosaurs and rubber bands.  The kids pull out a handful of dinosaurs, tag them with rubber bands, and return them to the box, releasing them into the general population of dinosaurs.  Then, kids grab a handful of dinosaurs and count the number of banded vs. unbanded three times.  We use these averages to compute  an estimate of the total dinosaur population.  We can even calculate the percent error.  After the dinosaur demo, the kids do the bean mark and recapture lab and make calculations.  The Lynx eats Hare demonstrates how predators and prey are interdependent.  Invest the time doing these labs.  The kids will come away with a greater understanding. Below is my box of dinosaurs. Dollar Tree, one of my favorite science stores, has dinosaurs.

Food Webs

Where do you begin when you teach food webs?  First, start with food chains. An example of a food chain is grass——mouse——owl.  Grass is a producer, which a mouse eats, which in turn is eaten by the owl.  This activity uses graphic cards to sort into food chains.  Use these same cards and create a food web with producers at the bottom, herbivores in the middle, and carnivores at the top.  Do this activity next.  Sort the pictures first into food chains, and then into a food web.  Now, try these food webs.  This activity also has the student sorting the organisms using a simplified Ecological Pyramid.  Essentially, the child puts the cards into three categories: producers, herbivores, and carnivores, or trophic levels.  Food webs are ordered by tropic levels, too.  Here is a good article about food webs.  One source of confusion is the way tropic levels can be labeled.  Some food webs divide organisms into producers or consumers.    Producers are sometimes called primary consumers; herbivores are called primary consumers.   Carnivores can be grouped as secondary or tertiary consumers.  Yes, this makes things confusing.  Feel free to group organisms into producers, herbivores, and carnivores.

National Chemistry Week

Are you familiar with National Chemistry week?  Yes, it’s a thing.  This year’s theme is Sticking with Chemistry.  Here’s the cool aspect of NCW: labs.  Okay the Post-it Note and Testing Tape Stickiness are a little lame.  However, Making Glue at Home is promising.  You probably have all of the materials.  I like the test with popsicle test between home-made glue and commercial glue.  It’s not going to replace slime; it is genuinely science.  Take a look.

Family Science: Can we blow something up?

 Let’s blow things up!  Start by blowing up Ivory soap in the microwave for one or two minutes.  Other brands do not have as much air and do not blow up.  Try a few travel size bars anyway as part of the science investigation.  Next, blow up Peeps or Marshmallows in the microwave.  Mix baking soda and vinegar in baggies to explode.  Our family favorite is exploding Alka-Seltzer canisters.  Yes, you can blow things up—just not grapes.

Classification

Classification goes along with dichotomous keys.  Here is classification activity with cards to sort.  Here Is a mini dichotomous key to use to sort the cards into kingdoms.  Here is more information about each kingdom to help sort, too.  We do many extra activities as we study science.  Projects like these help the kids study the information in the chapter and reinforces concepts.  Spend a little time helping your child understand how organisms are organized into groups.  BTW I generally use a five kingdom model.  I explain the Six Kingdoms model, which divides replaces Monera with Eubacteria and Archaebacteria.  But, my focus is teaching the organization system.  Period.

Grades for Science

 My kids email me their tests, labs, and data.  I save the emails in a folder in Gmail.  I wait to move the emailed work into a folder after I post grades to Google Classroom.  Some of the kids post their work directly to Google Classroom.  Often, I take a screenshot, email it to myself, and then save it in a folder in Gmail.  Why?  Families need records for online schools, the more examples, grades, and evidence of work and labs completed the better.  No, I am NOT OCD.   One kid tossed most of her work after I submitted her grades to the school. What a nightmare it was finding enough work samples for the school’s requirements.  Sometimes, kids challenge missing work.  I open the Gmail folder with copies of every one of the child’s email work submissions and take another screenshot to email along with the missing assignments.  It’s easy to confuse assignments.  This process reduces conflict.  A photo or scan saves headaches.  I’ve been putting graded work for Paul, ten, into Google Slides to submit to an online school for quarterly grades.  Take a look.