Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Amazing Art-Art of Design

Take a piece of paper and a colored pencil.
Draw a shape and then shapes within the shape. This is Rootbeer's design.
Color in all of the section with different colors-do not color the same color next to each other. Rootbeer wanted me to draw one for him. The one he is working on is "Star Gazer" also pictured below.
"Star Gazer" in progress. This project is to be worked on when ever you like. It is designed to be a no-rush project! It may take a day or several to complete. Most importantly, have FUN!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Science of Fun-Seeing Cells: Lab Skills-Microscopy

In this experiment we are going to observe human cheek cells and chromosomes under the microscope to reinforce the idea of the scale of DNA molecules. Human body cells are diploid; they contain two copies of each chromosomes. Extracting DNA from cheek cells yield just a very small amount of DNA. Individual strands of DNA are too small to be visible to the eye. One million threads of DNA fit onto the period at the end of a sentence using Times New Roman, font 12 in WORD. The reason why we are able to see DNA in this activity is that there are so many of them, clumped together. 
We will extract DNA from their own cheek cells. This is Rootbeer scraping cheek cells off for viewing. 1) We took a glass slide and placed a drop of water in the middle. 2) We scraped our cheek cells off and the mixed the together with the water on the slide.

We then placed the slides in the heater to dry.
The next step was preparing slides of cheek cells, stained with methylene blue.   We placed methylene blue on the slides, rinsed it off and placed them back in the heater to dry.  
Rootbeer placing the slides on the microscope for viewing. 
The final picture shows the cheek cells that we viewed. (methylene blue stains the nucleus) and the size of nucleus, chromosomes, and DNA. The blue die makes it able for us to see our cells under the microscope.                                                     Biology/Life Science-Extract your own DNA from cheek cells

The Science of Fun-Fingerprinting

Who stole the butter from the butter tub? Other visible human characteristics tend to change - fingerprints do not.  Barring injuries or surgery causing deep scarring, or diseases such as leprosy damaging the formative layers of friction ridge skin (injuries, scarring and diseases tend to exhibit telltale indicators of unnatural change), finger and palm print features have never been shown to move about or change their unit relationship throughout the life of a person. In this experiment we are going to use four fingerprint details, of three individuals, to see who was scooping in the butter dish.
The four details we can find on Tammy's fingerprints were, Lake, Ridge dot, Island, and Bifurcation.
The four details in Mr. Wilson's fingerprints were, Ridge dot, Ending ridge, Bifurcation, and Bridge.
The four details found in Rodger's fingerprints were Bifurcation, Hook, Island, and Bridge.
The details that were found on the butter dish were, Ridge dot, Ridge crossing, Bifurcation, Lake, and Island.
Finding the different parts of a fingerprint to use for comparison.
We can see by the table that Tammy's fingerprints had the most matches. Therefore, Tammy had her fingers in the butter dish!! The History of Fingerprints

Out-And-About-With our Homeschool CO-Op Group

Light Speed Ahead-Experiments with Light

This was an optical allusion, like a hologram. Rootbeer attempted to "pick-up" the pig. However, it was at the bottom of the mirrored dome, but appeared to be on the top. 
Discovering that the pig was on the bottom, after the cover was taken off.
Alcohol can make flames appear to have different colors.
This was a great demonstration of white light and optical illusions!

Out-And-About-With our Homeschool Co-op

Energizer Machine-Physics in Action=Newtons Laws of Motion
It takes a lot of strength to get started!
It was even harder to keep it going!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Math Mania-Lego Logic-Flying Hovercraft

Front View



Back view
Flying Lego Hovercraft

Side view of Lego House and Hovercraft garage.
Top view of house and garage.
Close-up view of living room, fireplace and TV.
Another close-up.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Fabulous Fitness-Ice Skating w/our homeschool group!

Second time for Ice Skating!
Here I Go!
See you Later!
Skating with Daddy by his side!
Taking a Break!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Science of Fun-Life in the Lab

Life in the Lab-Using Micro Organisms
We used bill bugs for this observation.....

Many people mistakenly think that pillbugs are insects but in fact, pillbugs are crustaceans as are lobsters, shrimp, and crabs. Both insects and crustaceans are classified in a larger group known as the arthropods. Arthropods are animals with exoskeletons and jointed appendages.

Rootbeer gathering four Pillbugs. 

Pillbugs are classified in a group of crustaceans known as isopods. There are about 4000 species of identified isopods. Most isopods live in marine habitats, some live in fresh water, and a few like pillbugs live on land.
Rootbeer placing the bugs under the microscope for observation.

Pillbugs are 5 to 15 mm long and have three body regions; head, thorax, and abdomen. Most of the pillbug's exoskeleton consists of shield-like plates. The body is flattened laterally. Each of the seven pairs of legs is identical. There is one pair of antenna and one pair of compound eyes.


Observing the activity and body parts of our bill bugs.

After our observation we touched them with the soft part of a paint brush to see which ones were Rollers or Hikers....Roller is a term used to describe a pillbug that rolls up in a ball. Hiker is a term used to describe a pillbug that runs when disturbed. All of ours were Hikers. 

Futher experimentation also showed that they prefer dark places over light.


http://outreach.mcb.harvard.edu/teachers/Summer05/ElizabethMick/PillbugBehavior.pdf     

The Science of Fun-Blood Typing

Transfusion Confusion-Blood Typing
Learning how to test blood to figure out a person's blood type...
These facts are crucial in knowing what type of blood a person would need for a blood transfusion or surgery.
Mixing serum with the synthetic "blood" to see what type it is.
After mixing the "blood" and serum together we observed to see what happened to the blood in the wells.
We learned that this person has blood type B because it clumped together. Further into our experiment, we also checked the Rh factor and found out that this persons "blood" tested positive for the RH factor, making them B+.

Without knowing the correct blood type, it is very dangerous to perform surgery or give a blood transfusion. In most cases it would be life threatening to receive the wrong type of blood. Only certain types of blood can be given to a person depending on the type of blood they have. Therefore, it is very important to know what your blood type is....
 













The Science of Fun-Lab Tools:Micropipet

Moving Microliters-Lab Tools: Micropipet
Learning how to use a micropipet to measure microliters of liquid..
Estimating what we think 10 Microliters will look like.
Rootbeer attaching the tip to his Micropipet.
Using the dial to measure the correct amount of liquid to move.  

Micropipets are important lab tools. They are used for many lab tests, especially for DNA testing for crime scene  investigations.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Life-Words to live by

Two things I cherish and hold close to my heart;First, the memories of my grandma Vi. I follow her motto: "learn somethingnew everyday!" Second, the life path I have taken, clearly summarized bymy favorite poem The Road Not Taken; "Two roads diverged in a wood, andI... I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all thedifference." Robert Lee Frost.

       With these two things in mind, I am choosing tolearning something new everyday for myself, and everyday through the eyes of mychild, who has become my teacher! I also remember to continue to take the roadless traveled!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Perfect Poetry-First Readings and Interpretations

Reading and Interpreting Poems
 Favorite Poems Old and New
selected by Helen Farris
Our first poetry study day-We read 5 poems from our book:
My Family and I
1)The Cupboard-Walter de la Mare
pg. 42
2) Animal Crackers-Christopher Morley pg. 43
3) A Popcorn Song-Nancy Byrd Turner pg. 45

My Almanac
1) White Fields-James Stephens pg. 66
2) Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening-Robert Frost pg. 67

Rootbeer's Favorite: White Fields by James Stephens

1. In the wintertime we go
Walking in the fields of snow;

Where there is no grass at all;
Where the top of every wall,

Every fence and every tree,
Is as white as white can be.

2. Pointing out the way we came,
Every one of them the same.

All across the field there be
Prints in silver filigree;

And our mothers always know,
By the footprints in the snow,
Where it is the children go.


His reason for liking it was that he liked how the snow made the footprints easy for mother to find her children.

My long-time Favorite: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

 Whose woods these are I think I know.   
His house is in the village though;   
He will not see me stopping here   
To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   
To stop without a farmhouse near   
Between the woods and frozen lake   
The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   
To ask if there is some mistake.   
The only other sound’s the sweep   
Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep.
My reason is simply this, my older sister used to recite it to me when I was a little girl-A wonderfully
unforgettable memory!!



Perfect Poetry-Rootbeer's First Poem!



 The little Fruit Bat
“Twinkle, twinkle little bat. Let me see were your at!
If I see you in the sky, then maybe I can say hi,and if I can say hi, then maybe I can give you an apple pie!
Twinkle, twinkle little bat, let me see were your at!