CHRISTEPHI

If you have a little girl, it's likely you've read a Fancy Nancy book or two.  Miss M received a copy of Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La! It's Beauty Day  (affiliate link) from her auntie and absolutely loves it!  She's been pouring over it for weeks and begging to have a Spa Day.  We decided that in honor of our last week day off before starting second grade, we'd have a special Spa Day! Fantastique Face Mask Mash half a ripe banana in a small bowl.  Add in about half a teaspoon of honey. Mash the mixture some and put it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.   Miss M had begged for this.  She even got out the ingredients for me.  But one look at that slimy, banana scented goop and she had an instant change of heart!  She let me apply it to her in spite of her wails of protest and cackling laughter. Little Guy's response was: "I'm ugly! I'm ugly!" until I wiped it all off of him. Marvelous Manicure The next or...

We are nearing the end of Calvert 1st grade, so we decided to knock out the last two chapters in our science book with a dedicated Science Week!  So far we have explored  position and force  and  simple machines and magnets .  Then we started investigating the different types of energy: first heat and then sound . It's the last day of Science Week!  Just as heat and sound are types of energy, so is light!   Light is the form of energy that allows us to see. Some materials let a lot of light pass through them. Other materials block out light completely.  Miss M tried a few materials to see what lets light through and what doesn't. Plastic wrap, waxed paper, aluminum foil, an empty paper towel tube, and a rubber band. First she covered one end of the tube with plastic wrap and tried looking through it. She could see light!  Then she removed the plastic and covered the end of the tube with waxed paper.  She could se...

We are nearing the end of Calvert 1st grade, so we decided to knock out the last two chapters in our science book with a dedicated Science Week!  So far we have explored  position and force  and  simple machines and magnets .  Then we started investigating the different types of energy, beginning with heat . See also  Day 5 . Welcome to day four of Science Week!  Yesterday we learned about heat, one of the forms of energy.  Today we investigated another type of energy: sound.   Sound is a form of energy that is made when an object vibrates.  The bigger the vibrations, the louder the sound: like a thunder clap!  The smaller the vibrations, the softer the sound: like the sound of a marker swiping across a piece of paper. To experience sound, we made a simple musical instrument with a plastic bowl and some rubber bands. Carefully stretch a rubber band around a bowl or box. Miss M strummed the rubber bands and listened to t...

We are nearing the end of Calvert 1st grade, so we decided to knock out the last two chapters in our science book with a dedicated Science Week!  So far we have explored  position and force  and simple machines and magnets .  See also  Day 4  and  Day 5 . Welcome to Science Week day three!  The rest of the week we will be learning about different types of energy.  Our activity today involves energy and heat . Energy is the force makes things work or change.  Heat is energy that makes things warm.  Today we filled a mug with steaming hot water.  We filled another mug with ice-cold water.  Heat can be measured with a thermometer.  It was fun putting the thermometer in the hot water and watching the red line shoot up!  Our water was very, very hot!  It was over 140 degrees Fahrenheit!  If you do this experiment, please be careful not to get burned. Once we recorded the temperature of th...

We are nearing the end of Calvert 1st grade, so we decided to knock out the last two chapters in our science book with a dedicated Science Week!  See also  Day 2 ,  Day 3 ,  Day 4 , and  Day 5 . Welcome to the first day of Science Week!  Today's topics are: Position and Force .  Position is the place where something is located.  We took turns hiding this little magician's assistant in the other room to demonstrate position and to practice using words to describe position.   Under , beside , right , left , near , and far are some of the words that help us tell someone the position of things. Next we learned that motion is a change in an object's position.  A ball's position can be changed by rolling it across the floor.  We raced bouncy balls and timed them to see how long it took them to travel two meters. Racing bouncy balls Any time we get to use the stop watch is a good day in Miss M's mind!  Force is th...

That spandex-clad snarky teenager with radio-active blood affectionately known as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man is very popular with both Miss M and Little Guy.  So when I asked Little Guy if he wanted to build a web in the kitchen today, he was ecstatic!  All it takes is a table and chairs and a spool of kite string. We’ve done this activity before (where did all these spools of kite string come from anyway?), but this time Miss M was able to do all the “webbing” herself. The results are magical! An airy suspended web for the kids to play in (and over and under and around and through).  They’ve been at it for over an hour already with nary a word of disagreement or squabble. They even decided to eat their lunch in their “web kitchen in the real kitchen.”  Of course, they invited some plush friends to join them. The best part?  Hubby is planning to take us all out to dinner tonight, so I don’t have to dismantle their web before supper tim...