Last Day of School

We had our last day of school today.

And fulfilling a request of my 7 year old, we had it on his birthday.

So today was pretty much a two-fold celebration: A child turning seven and One hundred eighty days of school complete.

You can check out my son's birthday celebration here.

Update: Praying Mantis Project

I am really disappointed with our Praying Mantis science project.  We ordered the Praying Mantis's to arrive on March 22. 

March 22, the day they arrive

The pamphlet said to allow 2-8 weeks for them to hatch.  On May 17, it marked 8 weeks. 

May 17, the last day they were supposed to hatch

In that time we managed to harvest a bounty of fruit flies.  And they managed to escape and make their way all through our house.  But thanks to a friend, I know how to get rid of them.  Thanks Amy!!

Plenty of fresh fruit went rotten and stunk up our kitchen.  And for what?  Apparently, for them to go outside and fend for themselves.

May 18, the egg sacs find a new home.  Good luck and rid my garden of pests little guys!!

The pamphlet did say that if they didn't hatch, to put them in the refrigerator overnight and then bring them back out, but to be honest with you . . . I'm sick to death of having them sitting on my counter.  The kids have lost interest in them and so have I.  So instead, I just put them in my garden.  I'm hoping they hatch and survive and keep the insects at bay.  If they don't hatch, well, I guess I spent $25 (including shipping) to have weird looking egg sacs, rotten fruit and fruit flies in my kitchen for two months.  =)

Space Shot

I was finally able to upload the video of
K going on the Space Shot ride at the US Space & Rocket Center.

You can hear C scream, "You're gonna die!" after he gets shot up.

When I asked him how he felt, he responded, "I couldn't breathe!"
As soon as he got off the ride though, he wanted to do it again.
He quickly called up his dad and told him all about it.
When describing the ride to dad, he used the simile, "It was as fast as fire ants!!"
That caused many bystanders to chuckle.
(They are fast though!)

Aww, my little adrenaline junky.
I think he'd do just fine at Cedar Point. =)

U.S. Space & Rocket Center - Huntsville, AL

Today, we went to Huntsville's U.S. Space & Rocket Center.

Huntsville, AL is home to NASA's headquarters.

It seemed the perfect field trip to go on since our theme for Science the last week has been about Space.

We hopped in the car early this morning and took that short 120 mile trip to Space fun and education.

The Saturn V went from one end of the building to the other.

The Saturn's thrusters had an immense amount of power.  We were able to experience what it felt like when all five thrusters were going at one time.  It pretty much shook our insides and made us go deaf. =)

Under the thrusters...Ignore the nose shot.  At least I didn't have any boogies hanging out. ha!

This sign hung by the Saturn.  After experiencing it, I understood.

Ready for take off in T - ...

Next to an actual Moon Rock

The pod the astronauts landed in the ocean after going to the moon.

This is part of the brains of the Saturn V Rocket

Ready to feel G-Forces and the feeling of taking off in flight.  This was his first time on a ride like this.

 The next post will be a video of him riding it.

And the younger version of the Space Shot is whiplash in a ride-form. :)

The cutest astronauts I've ever seen.

More cuteness.

Sitting in the Space Shuttle command seat

Showing off her handiwork

He made a circuit!

Showing off his coloring

Another completed circuit

In the command center of a space shuttle

Holding on for dear life.  It's gonna be a looong ride. =)

Another cutie by the Space Shuttle

Waiting patiently for a ride on "A Mission to Mars".  It was great fun!!

Two zonked out kids...I'd say this was a good fun-filled day.

Celebrate Space Day

 McWane Science Center was having their "Celebrate Space Day" today.

I was so excited when I saw it posted on Facebook.

And how awesome is it that we just started studying Space this week in school?

It couldn't have come at a better time!

All ready to learn more about Space

  The first class was on the planets.

We sat on the bleachers and watched a video sphere as Mr. Ben talked about each planet.

He asked the kids many questions about each of the planets.

I was so proud of my kiddos.

They answered many of the questions correctly.

And here I didn't think they were listening to me as I reading to them this past week. ha!

(And for good reason...sometimes they roll around the floor, talk or play while I read.  I didn't realize they were actually absorbing information too!)

Next we went to the Space Food class.

We learned all about Space food and even got to taste it!

Water is too heavy and expensive to fly, so they have to be wise with it.

They freeze dry the food and take only a limited amount of water with them.

We learned that they recycle water on the Space Shuttle.

Some of the ways they recycle water is not for the queasy.

So, we'll just leave it at that.

Although we've been reassured that the water in the Space Shuttle, after it goes through the filter, is cleaner than our water here on Earth.

Since all the food is freeze dried, all you have to do is add water, and Presto! Dinner time!

Mr. Ben made us Mac-N-Cheese, Peas & Carrots, Corn, Spicy Rice, Space Smores and Apple Pie without the crust.

C was very excited about tasting the once freeze dried Mac-N-Cheese.  Her face lets you know how it tasted.

Gv loved the Spicy Rice.  Course, that boy loves just about all food, freeze dried or not!

Ks favorite was the corn.  He kept on asking for more.

The apple pie was much more palatable for her taste.

Gt loved the smores.  His fave.

Our third activity was going into a mobile planetarium.

(Mobile in the sense that they can tear it down and set it up anywhere...Not that it was actually moving.)

=)

We all really enjoyed that.

And had fun learning about other stars and galaxies.

Plus we learned how to find Polaris (The North Star).

After 3 hours of learning about Space,

We took some time to just play.

The boys ready to take flight.

I've never seen such intense Putt-Putting before.  These boys play hardcore.

Playing with the scale.  I think they were measuring play food.  The thing of it was, they were actually in the construction zone.  I think they were supposed to be measuring 'boulders'.  Oh well.

Gt working the crane, with cauliflower behind him.

Our next field trip is going to be next week (hopefully).

We are going to go to NASAs Space & Science Center up in Huntsville.

And thanks to our McWance membership, we get in to the Space Center for free!

Higher Level of Learning

I asked the kids to do their phonics papers while Matt & I finished salting the pool.

Gv came out and told me he needed help.

I told him to bring me his book, and I'd help him.

I was up on the deck dumping the last of the salt.

I knew he had come back so, I looked around to find him.  

And this is what I saw...

I guess he feels he can think more clearly up there???

Well, at least he was doing his phonics like I asked.

The crystal clear water of the pool is mighty tempting.

He asked if he could finish his school in the pool.

As fun and interesting as that would be,

I told him no.

Why Is The Sky Blue?

For a fun Science Trivia, I posted the question: "Why is the sky blue?" on fb yesterday.  

Some fb friends replied, "Because God made it that way."  Well, they are right in that He did make the sky.   In Genesis 1:6 it says that 'God divided the waters from the waters' (sky), but it does not add, "...and He made it blue." =)

Other friends, said that it was caused by the reflection of our oceans in the atmosphere.

This was my thought on it, too. 

But, my personal beef with that answer was, then why didn't the sky have less of a blue look over large areas of land? 

It may be a silly question since 3/4 of the earth is covered in water, but it made sense to me that it would look the bluest over the oceans and turn a more muddy blue over the center of a large chunk of land.  

I know the Earth is a sphere, so it would reflect differently than if it was flat, plus there are the Great Lakes and other large bodies of water all over the continents, blah, blah, blah.

But it still made me wonder if that was the reason.

And although the guess of water being reflected into the atmosphere is widely known as the correct response to this question, it's not the reason.  But there is a hint of truth to it.

So, Why is the sky blue???
The quick answer: It has to do with sunlight, dust particles, water vapor and color separation.
Color what? you ask...
Since sunlight is made up of a bunch of different colors, when it makes it to Earth's atmosphere, the colors separate and bounce off of the particles of dust and water vapor.  The colors get dispersed all over, but the color blue is scattered more than any of the other colors.  Because there is very little light to disperse the colors, the sky is not blue at night.  Instead, you see the blackness of space.  (You do have the moon reflecting light and light pollution at night, so it has a little hint of deep navy blue to it at times).


So, Why is space black?
It falls under the same reasoning as why the sky is blue.  In space there are no dust particles or water vapors.  Light travels through space, but there is nothing for the light to bounce off of and disperse colors in space. 

Since I'm throwing out little fun facts,
Here is one more...

Can you hear in space?
No!  You need air for sound to travel.  An astronaut could be banging on a set of drums while in space and he'd never hear it.  Crazy!  The only reason they can hear while in space is because of the air in their spacesuits/spaceship.

_______________________________________________________________

Okay, no more trivia questions. . . for today.  =)

To all my fb participants: Good guesses!  I would have said the same thing before I read about it to the kids. Thanks for playing!

We found out the answers to these questions on pp 4-6 in the book Eye Wonder Space.  

It is written by Simon Holland and published by DK Publishing. Copyright 2001.