Straws and Air Pressure ~ Science Sunday

Question of the Week…

Items we used for this experiment:

~ two straws

~ water

~ glass

Predictions and Experiment…

Each of the kids made a prediction about what would happen when we put one straw in the cup, one straw out of the cup and then tried to suck the water up through the straw. Would the water come up through the straw faster, make bubbles, go up one and down the other, or do nothing at all?

Each of the kids took turns and had a very hard time getting any water to travel up the straw, but they were determined to try!

 

The Nutshell Reason…

Air moves from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. When you suck on a straw in a glass of water, the air pressure in your mouth decreases and the water is forced up through the straw {from an area of higher pressure to the lower pressure}.

With two straws, one not being inside the glass, air travels up the second straw into your mouth and the pressure inside your mouth is about equal to the pressure outside…and the water won’t travel up the straw.

After the Experiment…

We had to keep trying! The kids all took turns trying to get the water up the straw. Many giggles and much fun from something super simple!

Resource: How to Do Science Experiments with Children is available from Amazon and you can also check it out {and do some of the experiments} using Google Docs! The experiments use easy-to-find objects and also include record sheets for kids to fill out with their predictions and experiment results. Each experiment also includes teaching tips and explanations…which are rather handy! :)

Don't forget to check out some other great science ideas at Science Sunday hosted by Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom.

 

Preschool Corner ~ Lowercase Letter Crafts u - z

This week I’m sharing the last of the lowercase alphabet letter crafts that Cindy and I have been sharing over at Totally Tots. Click on the picture to visit the post about that craft, where you will find supply lists and directions for each of the crafts.

If you’ve missed any of the past crafts, you can find all of the uppercase letter crafts here on Totally Tots and the full set of lowercase letter crafts here on Totally Tots. 

            

  

   

Stories & Books To Go Along

More Preschool Links:

• ABC Printables
• Color and Shape Printables
• Preschool Packs: Policemen, fireman and more!
• Learning Songs
• Math and Counting Printables
• Phonics and Reading Printables
• Science Printables
• Preschool Corner Guidelines
• Preschool Planning Pages
• Preschool Resources Main Page

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! The updated guidelines can be found here if you need them.

 

Groundhog Day Syndrome ~ Homeschool Village

This week, the panel over at The Homeschool Village is talking about refreshing your homeschool day when you start to feel like every day looks the same {i.e. the Groundhog Day syndrome}. You know ~ when mundane and repetition set in and you wonder HOW to change things up.

Having a routine is great, but what do you do to ‘mix it up’ and keep things from becoming ho-hum? Be sure to stop over The Homeschool Village and see what the other moms on the panel are doing to keep things fresh and exciting in their homeschool day…read more here.

Doctor and Nurses Preschool Pack

We’ll be working on our Doctor and Nurse Preschool Pack soon, so I’ll have lots more to go along with the printables, but I just couldn’t wait to share it! We’ll be using the book Going to the Doctor by Anne Civardi along with several other great books.

Here’s a look inside the Doctor Preschool Pack:

• Name tag strip for front of lapbook or folder if you store your preschool pack
• Story summary sheet for one of your favorite books
• Verse printable for Proverbs 17:22 ~ “A cheerful heart ...”
• Doctor words
• Shadow matching
• Tracing sheets
• Medicine bottle size sequencing
• Letters to spell the words doctor, nurse and Band-Aid
• Cast Colors ~ trace the color word
• Find the letter M’s worksheet
• Beginning sound word cards
• Letter D and N word tracing sheets
• “My Doctor Helps Me” song and printable

   

 

You can see more pictures and download the pdf file on my Doctor Preschool Pack page.

Some of the books and things we’ll be using when we learn…

 

Little Leaps of Love Challenge

Starting February 1st I’ll be hosting a month-long challenge at No Ordinary Moments called Little Leaps of Love. Find out more about the challenge {and the prizes} here.

Quit Humming! ~ Science Sunday

Question of the Week…

Items we used for this experiment:

~ hands, ears, eyes, noses and mouths

Predictions and Experiment…

Each of the kids made a prediction about what would make a person stop humming: covering his eyes, covering his ears, covering his mouth, or pinching his nose shut. We recorded our guesses {even Kaleb played along with us} and started the experiment.

Kaleb started humming and Daddy came up to him and began trying all of the options {with many giggles}.

 

The one way that he stopped humming? Plugging his nose!

 

The Nutshell Reason…

Air travels up over the vocal chords and comes out through our noses. When the nose is pinched shut, the air is unable to escape {because our mouths are shut and humming} and the air stops traveling over the vocal chords ~ and the humming stops!

After the Experiment…

While the kids drew pictures of what had happened during our experiment, Daddy was busy helping Kaleb draw a picture for his recording sheet. Since he was the one pinching Kaleb’s nose, he made sure to add in {and exaggerate} his muscles…much to the kid’s delight. :)

 

Resource: How to Do Science Experiments with Children is available from Amazon and you can also check it out {and do some of the experiments} using Google Docs! The experiments use easy-to-find objects and also include record sheets for kids to fill out with their predictions and experiment results. Each experiment also includes teaching tips and explanations…which are rather handy! :)

Don't forget to check out some other great science ideas at Science Sunday hosted by Ticia at Adventures in Mommydom.

 

Out of Touch…

For the next little bit, my internet connection and time on the computer will be limited. My hubby and I are going to be enjoying a MUCH needed break away together ~ without the kids!

I do have blog posts scheduled for the upcoming week, but if you email me, leave a comment or don’t hear back from me ~ know I’m not ignoring you! I’m just having fun and focusing on a wonderful man. :)

Have a great week!

Education Cubes Membership Winner!

Congratulations to Stacey!! She was the winner of the membership to Education Cubes.

Don’t forget that the Education Cubes membership is on special for $10 until the end of January 2011, so grab a set of the photo stacking cubes and join in the fun before the special ends!

Preschool Corner ~ Bits and Pieces

Although we’ve been doing bits and pieces of things this week, we {again} haven’t done any structured or theme-focused learning.

Unless you count Mommy trying to keep it simple because we’re selling a house, showing a house and moving soon a ‘theme-focus’. :)

There have been a LOT of fort-building this week, pretend play, playdough, Education Cubes, Construct-it building, and whatever else we could squeeze in.

Zachary helped Kaleb work some on his letters in his Kumon workbook {mainly to avoid doing his own work ~ ahem}

 

He was SO excited to work on ‘curvey’ letters too!

We practiced writing letters on our chalkboard using a q-tip dipped in water {love that his little mouth hangs open while he is concentrating}.

We also made letters with playdough…and then spent lots of time getting it out from under fingernails {someone is a little picky}.

We also had fun with a little humming experiment ~ you’ll have to tune in Sunday to see why we were plugging Kaleb’s nose!

AND, before I forget…

Keeping Us Occupied This Week

More Preschool Links:

• ABC Printables
• Color and Shape Printables
• Preschool Packs: Policemen, fireman and more!
• Learning Songs
• Math and Counting Printables
• Phonics and Reading Printables
• Science Printables
• Preschool Corner Guidelines
• Preschool Planning Pages
• Preschool Resources Main Page

Ready to Link Up?

Share what you are doing with your kids! Please link your exact blog post to the Mr. Linky below and link back here too! The updated guidelines can be found here if you need them.