Science, North and South

CHANGING COLOR: Breaking news to report from the MPA campus. Six months since we planted the seeds, we finally have our FIRST non-green tomato.

I'm not going to go so far as to call it full on pick me! red yet, but we're just thrilled it's changed color at all. Every other tomato we have (probably a dozen) is still more watermelon rind colored. And we continue to get new blossoms on the vine. (Hey, maybe we'll have red and green tomatoes for Christmas!)

We're looking forward to harvesting the lone glory. You can be sure there will be a short ceremony and photos. Stay tuned.

SCIENCE, SEATAC STYLE: By 9:15 this a.m. we were on the road to Burien/Seatac for our weekly science class in the Highline School District.

I was afraid that we'd have to drop this class because we are now officially enrolled as Shoreline students. A couple of days ago I sent an email to the Highline director to let her know, but she encouraged us to continue to attend as guests. Nice. :)

On the half hour drive down there, we did math on a Magnadoodle. I'd write a problem, one of the kids would solve it, and the other kid would check their math. It was a good use of our time. We were a couple of minutes early, so we read a book we got at HEE yesterday, "Bats at the Library." (Author Brian Lies' Web site has some wonderful ideas for additional activities to go with the book.)

Before we entered the building, I reviewed (mostly for CJ's ears) just how important it was to a) listen and b)follow every single step - with a sense of urgency, so as not to fall behind and miss the directions for the next step. It seemed to help. CJ wasn't the first to hop up and go retrieve or return supplies when the time came, but he did do everything pretty much when asked, as asked. Yay for CJ.

Today's lesson was about buoyancy. The kids got to experiment with various objects (blocks, balls, clips, chalk) and see. That kept them busy for a good 40 minutes. The last 20 minutes of class the kids read a story about a trip to a recycling plant. (Their homework this week is answering questions about the story.)
The Highline science teacher has such a pleasant style. She's conversational, a story teller, and sprinkles in life gems along the way. For instance, when talking about sinking or floating, she told the kids how important it is to learn how to swim. And when talking about recycling, urging kids to shop at Value Village and garage sales for toys and clothing. Good stuff!

NEXT STOP, NORTH: After a stop at Costco for supplies and lunch, we hopped on I-5 and made our way through Seattle to Shoreline for science class number 2.

We were a few minutes early, so we hit the library again and the kids found some books to keep them busy. We went into the room a couple of minutes early to introduce ourselves. The (very organized) teacher already had notebooks made up for the kids. There will be weekly homework/experiments, which is welcome.

Today, the instructor started class by using some woodworking tools/implements (a saw, a planer, some sandpaper), creating sawdust and shavings. The kids would be using both in the lab work today.

They moved from desk tables to lab tables. There, they experimented with sawdust and shavings in water, They saw that it all floated initially, until they started getting waterlogged. The small particles sank first.

The next phase of the experiment was looking at a cube of particle board and then making particle board out of sawdust and a paste made from corn starch. As soon as I saw/heard that I thought (but didn't say), "Hoo boy, Mr. Tactile is not going to like this. ..."

Unfortunately, I was right. He wanted nothing to do with mixing that by hand, but not doing it was not an option. He eventually made some lame attempts at it, but was begging to wash his hands about 8 seconds into it. Bummer. I made him stick it out for awhile, but he didn't really complete the assignment. Not the best way to start in that class, I'd say. :/

And while CJ wasn't a complete space case, he wasn't as "on" as he was this a.m. when it came to following directions. Part of that could be the new surroundings - the class is twice as big and moved about twice as fast. (The teacher did tell me that she had to cover two units in one week this week, so the pace was probably a bit faster than usual.) All this said, it was a really neat class, and once CJ and Annabelle get down with the routine there (they've missed the first 3 or 4 units or so), I think they'll be fine.

At the end of class the kids recorded words they'd learned today in a "word bank" in their notebooks, which I thought was a great idea. Overall, I was super impressed with the class content and the extraordinarily organized instructor.

SUGAR PARADE: On our way back from Shoreline we stopped at an amazing little store called Home Cake Decorating Supply. It's a small shop, packed floor to ceiling with everything cake-y you can imagine. The aisles are so narrow, it's one way traffic only, and the place is maze like. I warned the kids before we went in what it was going to be like and how they were going to have to be.

When we got home this afternoon we undertook a big kitchen project - getting started on Rick's 25th birthday cake and cookies. I had the kids help measure ingredients and mix things up. Tomorrow it's going to be a whole lot of fondant. Things are gonna get messy!