Dollygirl's Grade Seven: A Very Short Week (last update)

(Photo of Vezelay cathedral found here.)

Tuesday, what actually happened

Hymns:  Mennonite Hymnal #28, O God We Praise Thee, to the tune of Tallis' Ordinal

Discovering Mathematical Thought: "Estimation can provide the structure necessary before you even begin the process of trying to use computation to solve a math problem. Consider the following problem. A horse owner...[wants] to select a water tank that is adequate for the needs of the horses. In warm, but not hot conditions a horse may consume up to forty quarts of water per day. So a herd of five horses will need access to a minimum of about how many total gallons per day per day?"  And what if water tanks only come in 50-, 100-, and 200-gallon sizes--what size would you buy? (Work through some of the followup problems as well.)

Unexpected Nature Study By Nose:  The SPCA came to rescue an injured skunk stuck in a window well of the house next door. What always happens, happened.  You could smell it even in our house with the windows closed. [UPDATE: the skunk thing got way more complicated than expected...let's just say that the rescue mission was ultimately not successful.]

Church Volunteer Project:  Dollygirl and Mama Squirrel were not at all unhappy to leave the house for the rest of the morning to help with a library project at church.

Easy Grammar Plus:  we worked line-by-line on two pages as a preview of tomorrow's test

English Literature:  The Search for King Arthur, by Christopher Hibbert.  Section about the Round Table fad that started in the early thirteenth century.

Apologia General Science: Started Module 3, about experimental variables.

Unexpected need for chewing gum:  Five minutes into Module 3, Dollygirl realized we were lacking a vital ingredient for the experiments in that chapter.  Since Mr. Fixit was on his way out the door to drop off a package at the post office/pharmacy and then to pick up Ponytails from high school, she grabbed her jacket and the science book, promising to read the rest of it in the van.

Wednesday Plans

The Bronze Bow
Memory work
Balance Benders
Architecture Shown to the Children, Chapter IV, "Romanesque Architecture," postponed from Tuesday
French
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?
Grammar:  test on prepositions
Poems
The Sword and the Circle:  start "The Kitchen Knight"
Crafts time

Thursday Plans

The Bronze Bow
Ourselves: "Courage"
Memory work
Math--continue work on estimation
Science: continue Module 3
Architecture
Grammar
Plutarch's Life of Coriolanus
Poems and readalouds
Crafts time

Friday Plans for when Mom's Away:

The Accidental Voyage: finish chapter 4
Science: continue Module 3
Work on geography project.

Countdown to School: a closer look at the first science units

I like Donna Young's handy outlines for Apologia Science, and especially the vocabulary bookmarks (see "Bookmarks for Lesson Plan #2).  But I realized that, for the first few weeks, especially having an every-other-day science class, it would work better to figure out our own schedule.  So Donna Young gets the credit for the original of this plan, and Dr. Jay Wile gets the credit for  the actual content of General Science (I added the part about lab safety rules); but the rest of it is a Mama Squirrel plan.

This should take us partway into October.  "Days" refer to the first day we do science, the second day we do science, and so on (not the first day of school, second day of school).  After that, we will probably just use Donna Young's schedule for the rest of the term.

Science Outline, Weeks 1-6, using Modules 1-3 of Exploring Creation with General Science, 1st Edition.

Day	Assignments and Experiments
1	Read the beginning of the book, notes and introduction. Read handouts for lab safety (school and home). Creatively present the importance of using equipment and materials safely.  Your choice of format: comic, poster, song, drama script.  Due in two days. ***Vocabulary: Learn these terms: science, papyrus, spontaneous generation, counter-example, hypothesis, theory, scientific law, experimental variable, control, blind studies, double-blind studies, subjective/objective data; any other vocabulary listed on the bookmarks for Modules 1-3.  Use drills and games on Quizlet.com to practice vocabulary (whenever appropriate).
2	Read textbook pages 1-3, The First Inklings of Science. Read pages 4-8, True science begins to emerge. Be able to identify (briefly) significant events / people in science history.  Make a timeline to illustrate this, as you study the chapter.  You may want to just keep notes now, then set up the timeline later.  It must be done neatly, on good paper, and not just in pencil.  Illustrations or cutouts will make it more visually effective.
3	Know the acceptable format for lab reports for this class.  Carry out the simple experiments from these chapters, as practice for later lab work.  Experiment 1.1: Density in Nature. Experiment 1.2: Atomic motion
4	(Pages) 8-12 Three other notable Greek scientists 12-16 Be able to tell what happened to science during the Dark Ages. What changed this situation? Experiment 1.3: a chemical reaction
5	16-19 Science begins to pick up speed again 19-23 The Renaissance Experiment 1.4: mapping the paths of the planets (optional)
6	23-25 The Era of Newton 25-26 The Enlightenment and the industrial revolution
7	27-29 The rest of the 19th century 29-31 Modern science 31 Summing it up.   Homework: do the study questions for module 1.
8	Write test for module 1.  Completed timeline to be handed in with test.
9	Module 2: Read Introduction;  What science is not. Experiment 2.1: how weight affects speed Experiment 2.2: more about weight and speed
10	Read 40-44 : The Scientific Method.  Be able to describe the scientific method verbally or with a diagram.  What is it used for?  Why is it important?  Experiment 2.3: the broken flashlight
11	Read 45-48 Failures of the scientific method Read 49-55 The Limitations of science; Science and Christianity.  Homework: do the study questions for module 2.
12	Write test for module 2
13	Experiment 3.1: a floating egg? Experiment 3.2: which boat will move? Experiment 3.3: what does soap do to water?, part 1 Experiment 3.4: what does soap do to water, part 2
14	Complete lab reports for experiments done previously. Read pages 59-69, From Introduction; stop at “Recognizing experimental variables when they are not obvious.”  Do the “On Your Own” questions.
15	Read 70-73, Recognizing experimental variables when they are not obvious Read 73-76, Interpreting the results of experiments: study  the chart in fig. 1.1 Homework: do the study questions for module 3.
16	Write test for module 3.

Life of a Primrose, Part Three (Natural History Lesson)

Text is from Fairy-Land of Science, by Arabella B. Buckley.

Tell what you have learned so far about germination.  How are the sprouting beans doing?  What do the roots look like?  How long do you think it will take for the original bean to be used up?  Imagine that the primrose seed has been planted in soil, and that its roots are now developed enough for it to take in food from the ground. 

And now the plant can no longer afford to be idle and live on prepared food. It must work for itself. Until now it has been taking in the same kind of food that you and I do; for we too find many seeds very pleasant to eat and useful to nourish us. But now this store is exhausted. Upon what then is the plant to live? It is cleverer than we are in this, for while we cannot live unless we have food which has once been alive, plants can feed upon gases and water and mineral matter only. Think over the substances you can eat or drink, and you will find they are nearly all made of things which have been alive: meat, vegetables, bread, beer, wine, milk; all these are made from living matter, and though you do take in such things as water and salt, and even iron and phosphorus, these would be quite useless if you did not eat and drink prepared food which your body can work into living matter.

But the plant, as soon as it has roots and leaves, begins to make living matter out of matter that has never been alive. Through all the little hairs of its roots it sucks in water, and in this water are dissolved more or less of the salts of ammonia, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, lime, magnesia, and even silica, or flint. In all kinds of earth there is some iron, and we shall see presently that this is very important to the plant.

 Here's a science experiment for you to try. Take a glass of water, and put a straw in it. Put your mouth on the straw, but don't do anything else. How much of a drink did you get? Why didn't the water just come up through the straw? Of course you have to suck on the straw to make the water rise. Well, since plants can't suck water from the ground in that way, how can the water get up into the plant? Today we are going to do an experiment to show how osmosis works. 

Suppose, then, that our primrose has begun to drink in water at its roots. How is it to get this water up into the stem and leaves, seeing that the whole plant is made of closed bags or cells? It does it in a very curious way, which you can prove for yourselves. Whenever two fluids, one thicker than the other, such as treacle (molasses, syrup) and water for example, are only separated by a skin or any porous substance, they will always mix, the thinner one oozing through the skin into the thicker one. This is called osmosis.

At this point in the book, the teacher proposes an experiment involving a piece of bladder and some treacle, neither of which we have. However, The Little Giant Book of Science Experiments, by H.J. Press, suggests a similar experiment (“#253, Rising Sap”) that uses a carrot and other more easily obtainable supplies; you can read the directions on Google Books. 

Now, the saps and juices of plants are thicker than water, so, directly the water enters the cells at the root it oozes up into the cells above, and mixes with the sap. Then the matter in those cells becomes thinner than in the cells above, so it too oozes up, and in this way cell by cell the water is pumped up into the leaves.

Narration to follow ("explain osmosis").

You may also want to check out this article:  "Osmosis Experiments with Gummy Bears."