This week we learned about Eli Whitney and his invention of the cotton gin. I purchased some cotton bolls from etsy seller Pattie's Passion so the kids would be able to see what they're like hands-on. Our teacher's manual had recommended flattening out cotton balls and glueing construction paper "seeds" to them for this lesson, but I wanted to show them the real thing. Pattie kindly included a few extra in my order!!
The kids loved this! And Miss M really "got" the point too. She kept saying to me, "Mama! Imagine how hard it would be to do this all. day. long. With no air conditioning! You'd get so tired! These seeds are hard to get out! My fingers are tired already!" (Yes, she speaks in exclamations.) Little Guy gave it a try as well. He didn't have as much to say about it and was content to do one or two before going back to his cars in the other room.
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Cotton seeds still stuck in their cotton. |
We had two science experiments this week! The first was to put some milk in two small jars and let them sit for a while: one in a cool place and one in a warm place.
The milk in the warm place soured quickly, but the milk in the cool place remained sweet. Miss M learned that bacteria causes the milk to sour and it grows more quickly in a warm environment.
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The tag reads: Science "Expierement" Do Not Drink |
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Supplies for a simple cell model. |
This was a big hit too! Miss M loved squishing the jello around in the baggie and telling everyone what all the parts represented. Little Guy just liked eating the jello and grapes!
It was a busy week and we were glad when the weekend arrived. We look forward to starting afresh on Monday!
Our adventures from previous weeks:
What a great way to keep track of the highlights of your school year!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm having fun documenting our journey and hopefully someone out there will be encouraged and/or inspired by what we do!
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