Inspire a Child: End of Year

Whoa! Swoosh! The school year is over.... or not :)

Each summer the school year ends and I go through grandchildren withdrawal. They get busy with the "fun things" and "my school day" gathers dust.

This summer, inspired by the Extravaganza in May at the PACT center, I decided to have summer cooking classes.

Mr. O's initial response was was overly dramatic (if you knew him it is ... just they way he processes things.)

Anyway, after learning they would be no real reading and he would be able to help choose what we will be creating and it would be more like a day with Grandma he acquiesced and is quite happy to be having Home Ec class in the summer.

Our first class will be Peanut butter cookies, the second pizza. I will be posting the recipes and the pics here.

Cooking classes are such a fun way to apply math and organizational skills.

To tie up the past few lessons:

We learned much to do about telescopes.

First Telescopes

Newton's Reflecting telescope

Two of Galileos first telescope's

Optical Telescopes

kson #KTE900114EQ

GALILEO FS-720DX 720mm x 80mm
Astro/ Terrestrial Telescope

Radio Telescopes

Parkes 64m telescope

Image from Merriam Dictionary

Space Exploration:
Landing on the Moon

Space Station

Galaxies:
pic source
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art-90846/In-the-1920s-Edwin-Hubble-separated-galaxies-into-four-general

Spiral galaxy: a bright middle and two or more curved arms of stars.
Barred spiral galaxy: a central bar of stars with an arm at each end.
Elliptical galaxy: round and oval with sometimes red stars. Irregular galaxy
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/galaxys.htm

Stars:
Life:

When a star begins to die, it becomes either a red giant or a supergiant, depending on the star's mass.
When a star runs out of fuel, it will turn into a white dwarf, a neutron star, or a black hole.
A white dwarf is the hot blue-white core of a star that remains after its outer layers have expanded and floated off into space.
A neutron star is the little, dense remains of a star that had a high- mass after a supernova.
A black hole is an object whose gravity is so strong that not anything, not even light, is able to get away.
When the reactions in a star can't make enough heat to support the star against its own gravity, the star will no longer be able to continue, and it will collapse.

Birth; Nursery

Death
(violent death of a heavyweight star)

Sun:

Phases of the Moon

Inner Planets

Outer Planets

Asteroid Belt that separates the inner and outer planets

Fourth dimension
We briefly discussed the 4th dimension

More information are astronomy for children
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/stars.htm

Kit 36 Experiment 6
Method:
1. Tie a 17” long piece of string to the end of a ruler
2. Tie a metal washer to the other end of the string
3. Hold the ruler firmly (so that it does not move) against a refrigerator, door frame or cabinet (anything that has a free edge.
4. Now pull the washer toward you and let go.
5. Count how many times it swings in 60 secs. It might be easier to only count for 30 seconds and then multiply the number of swings by 2. One swing is when the string moves one way, so when the washer comes back to you it is two swings.
6. Record your data in the table
7. Now pull the washer further toward you. (i.e start it swinging from a higher point) and let it go.
8. Again count how many times the washer swings in 60 secs and record your observations in the table.
9. Add another washer by attaching it to the hanging washer and repeat steps 4-8. (The washers re magnetic so you do not need to tie it to the washer. )
10. Repeat the above experiment (steps 4-9 with 29.5” and 39” pieces of string.

Results:

Length of String	1 washer from height 1	1washers from height 2	2 washers from height 1	2 washers from height 2
17”	102	102	112	102
29.5”	62	62	64	68
39”	54	54	56	52

Conclusion:

The number of swings was independent of the weight of the washers (magnets) or how the string traveled (height released). The number of the swings did depend on the length of the string. The shorter the string (pendulum) the more quickly it moved back and forth.

Galileo invented the first pendulum clock (which was the precursor to the grandfather clock).

When a string is 39 inches long it takes one second for a swing, therefore a 39 inch stringcan be used to time accurately.
60 swings equals one minute.
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We also made 2 sets of note card flip books.
One for stars and one for planets
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This was our solar system project