Easter Egg Experiment

We used our leftover Easter eggs to create an egg experiment to see if they could survive a drop from the second floor. We were able to wrap them any anything we wanted, or use cushioning of any kind to keep the eggs from breaking. We wrote down our predictions and then after the experiment we got to see if our predictions and conclusions were the same. We numbered the eggs and each person got a certain number of eggs to try and see how well they held up with their chosen materials during the drops. It was a fun experiment and our Easter eggs went to a good cause-Science!

A lot of them were wrapped in duct tape, tissue paper, electrical tape, twine, cardboard, and some newspaper.

And, then some were given parachutes, or even dropped inside a milk gallon filled with water. It was all about keeping the egg from breaking when it hit the ground. Things were getting tricky and competitive. 

A lot of the eggs landed pretty hard on the ground below, but we were surprised at home some of them fell compared to our hypotheses that they would fall in a different way. The parachute egg didn't fall the way we had planned and the parachute never opened, so that egg hit pretty hard on the ground. We just hoped the material it was wrapped in protected it.

The enclosed water egg hit the hardest, but hopes were high that the egg inside was protected by the water that surrounded it.

As we started opening the eggs and seeing which material and egg survived its poor downfall, we were surprised at the ones that hit hard on the ground not bring damaged. 

But, some poor eggs didn't survive their plummet. 

A few of the eggs were wrapped in plastic jello cups and all of those eggs seemed to have survived the drop. We determined that the plastic cup took the main impact with the ground and therefore protecting the eggs inside.

Remember the water enclosed egg, well it survived the drop, as well. The water actually did help keep it safe. Our hypotheses with some matched up, but with others we were surprised and definitely learned that water can be used as an absorbent. 

A classroom overhaul

We decided to completely overhaul the Red Snail Classroom.  It was not working for us and the clutter factor was getting way out of hand.  I've been on a mission to live more minimal over at South North South, so it didn't make any sense to not include our classroom in that mission.

Here is our classroom before.

 

 

 

Of course, if you notice, we have moved completely from the room in the back of the house to an actual spare bedroom in the front of the house.  We are still limited on space here, but it's a lot more room than we had before.

Classroom Update-Summer 2016

This summer in the Red Snail classroom has been crazy fun! We studied like mad for our state test to pass to seventh grade. I can't believe that seventh grade is already upon us, but I love how we've grown over the years with our homeschooling, and love even more how much Skylar has grown into such a great young man. Here's what we've been up to this summer, so far.

1. We learned about the waves and why the ocean is blue. We learned that the moon controls the tide and the ocean is blue because of light waves. We made a wave jar with water, vegetable oil, and food coloring and watched how waves are formed.

We created a wave jar with oil, water, and a bit of blue food coloring. The oil won't mix with the water and blue food coloring makes the waves really come alive in the jar.

2. We studied about the planets and made our own visual planet board to aid in our learning.

We made flaps on the visual to put specific information about each planet under the flaps.

3. We did some Kiwi Crates

First one was the Arcade Kiwi Crate

Second one was the Coral Reef Kiwi Crate

We made a floating squid and some jellyfish. We also learned about how important the coral reefs are to the ocean environment.

5. We got a new stamp for our book donations to the Free Little Libraries. We are excited to sit and stamp then donate them to others that can enjoy them. We are loving he little red snail at the top of the stamp. Special thanks to Rubber Stamps.net for working with us and creating such a great stamp that represents out classroom completely!

Before stamping...

After stamping and ready to donate.

This Free Little Library was near Eddyville, Oregon, and they gained a few extra books from the classroom. 

6. Getting ready for the class year.

The day before out class was about to start, we got up early to organize everything we needed for class in the morning. It was about 8:00 a.m. and the sun was greeting us through the classroom window.

My awesome seventh grader. I can't believe it!

First day of class was a slow start for us, but once we got going we were good to go!

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The first day of class we took it easy and did some catching up on last year's assignments that got pushed aside.

One of the assignments was learning about bugs

One of the other assignments we talked about was the history of Japan. We also got out folders for the year organized and prepared for the coming year of seventh grade!

Seventh grade, here we come!

Our class daily schedule is as follows:

Class starts at 8:35 a.m.

Lunch is taken at 12:35 p.m.

Class ends at 4:35 p.m.

The sign above our classroom door. This year is going to be a great year!