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saintanneshs
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 5:19pm | IP Logged
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Since I'm always here gathering unit ideas, I thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of what we will be starting off our school year with. With the baby coming, we'll be getting started a little earlier than usual. Our first unit will be in August and will be about Light and Color (Physical Science in August).
Here's what we will be reading:
Look At Your Eyes by Paul Showers
My Five Senses by Aliki
Through Grandpa's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan
Extraordinary Eyes: How Animals See the World by Sandra Sinclair
Eyes and Ears by Seymour Simon
Sun Up, Sun Down by Gail Gibbons
The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
Fireflies! by Julie Brinkloe
Grandmother Bryant's Pocket by J. Martin
My Mirror by Kay Davies and Wendy Oldfield
Hello, Harvest Moon by Ralph Fletcher
Mirror Magic by Seymour Simon
Pepe the Lamplighter by Elisa Bartone
Bear Shadow by Frank Ash
Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni
A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
The Sun's Day by Mordicai Gerstein
Here's a bit of what we will be looking for on our nature walks (These are a few "planned" things to observe/notice. We'll make lots of unplanned stops too, I'm sure!):
-shadows
-sunlight on water (the effects in our pond)
-sunlight through different objects
-heat from the sun (cool pool water in am vs. warm in afternoon)
-fireflies (at night)
Here's what we'll be making, discussing, drawing, etc:
-paper mache model of an eye
-eye diagram (we'll look at it for reference)
-coloring eyes in self-portrait
-watching pupils expand & contract in response to light
-discuss sources of light (sun, fire, electric, lightning, flashlight, match, etc.)
-build a campfire
-fire safety (review, practice our exit, change batteries in smoke detectors)
-drawing fireflies in our nature NB
-reading about fireflies in A.B.C.'s Handbook of Nature
-Free play with mirrors & objects
-paint/create a kaleidoscope
-flashlight free play (at different times of day)
-shadow puppets
-looking through colored plates & overlaying the plates
-fingerpaint mixing of white icing & food coloring (color mixtures)
-science experiment to determine which kinds of objects are transparent, translucent, or opaque
-playing tricks on our eyes (called successive contrast...It's when you look for a few minutes at a shape in certain colors, say an American flag colored in with black and green stripes, black stars on an orange background, instead of the colors we're used to. After staring at this image for one minute, we focus on a white piece of paper and the after-image has the same shape as the original flag, but now with the right colors: red, white and blue, the complementary colors of black, green and orange
It sounds really long and complicated, but Thursdays are our "Science" days, so our day will be broken up with picture books, some activities at the table, some on the floor or around the house, and some outside. Over the course of a month, I think it's do-able, keeping in mind that everyone is participating and our goal is to learn and do, not check off everything listed above! 
Some of my ideas came from the Light section in Primarily Physics: Investigations in Sound, Light & Heat Energy by the AIMS Education Foundation (grades K-3). Lakeshorelearning.com has both a Color& Light Experiment Kit for $39.95 and the individual components needed for our experiments (mirrors & color paddles) for $12.50 and $14.50. They even have a really nice looking take-apart model of the eye for $49.95 but I think we will be making due with diagrams in our books (to help us make the paper mache model).
The only thing I've spent any money on so far (and hope to keep it that way) is a nice little Color & Light kit I found at the local teacher's store which has enough small materials for "21 science projects." The kit was $12 or so and I took a big chance on it because it came sealed and other than the diagram on the box, there wasn't anything else to go by. But, it actually turned out to be a very good buy because it has everything we need, including a few things I hadn't planned to buy, such as a prism and instruction booklet for making so many experiments/projects-- even a periscope! It doesn't look like much, but the petite card-file-type box makes it easy to store and has saved me from finding space for one more set of science tools!
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Kristine
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Leonie
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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Kristine, it sounds like a lot of fun! Love your reading list...
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Leonie in Sydney
Living Without School
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 22 2006 at 8:30pm | IP Logged
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That sounds like so much fun! Wow!
Don't forget to play "I spy"! 
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Dawn
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 5:55am | IP Logged
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Kristine, thank you so much for posting all these wonderful ideas!  I'm printing this one out! 
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Dawn, mum to 3 boys 
By Sun and Candlelight
The Nature Corner
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MaryM
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 9:00am | IP Logged
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This sounds fantastic. What great ideas!
A wonderful simple science book with lots of hands-on activites for this topic is Sound & Light.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Taffy
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 9:39am | IP Logged
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This looks awesome! This one will be printed out! 
Thanks for posting this Kristine!
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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
Susan's Soliloquy
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momwise
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 11:48am | IP Logged
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saintanneshs wrote:
-fingerpaint mixing of white icing & food coloring (color mixtures)
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You might want to try this Vanilla Wafer Color Wheel. We did it for a color theory unit and it was a great hit. Make sure you take pictures, the color wheel turns out really cool looking.
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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saintanneshs
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 12:48pm | IP Logged
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Mary, That resource book looks really neat. I wonder if I can find it (or others like it) at our library...??
Thanks, Gwen! I printed out the instructions for the Vanilla Wafer Color Wheel...my boys LOOOOVE edible projects!
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Kristine
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Meredith
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 2:49pm | IP Logged
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Dawn wrote:
| Kristine, thank you so much for posting all these wonderful ideas! I'm printing this one out! |
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ME TOO!!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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materdei7
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| Posted: July 23 2006 at 10:41pm | IP Logged
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OHHHHH MY! This is great! We are starting up early Aug.
as well. This unit will be printed up ASAP! Thank you,Kristine!
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Kathleen, mother of five on earth, three in heaven.
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Light & Color (a unit for my little guys)
