Magnetism

ATTRACTIVE: Yesterday at Value Village, I spied a great "Project Kit for Kids Magnetic Kit" for just $1.99. I gave it a quick once over and thought it looked intact, so we bought it, of course. CJ asks about magnets on a rather regular basis.

This morning, we started on Page 1 of the kit's accompanying book, with "What are magnets?" After getting that question answered, we learned about some common products that use magnets (speakers, motors, computer disks and recording tapes). Then, we were ready for our first experiment.

I had the kids draw a "T" graph on a piece of paper, write "magnetic" at the very top, and "yes" and "no" atop the T's two columns. We gathered a few objects from the kit and our junk drawer, and the kids experimented with what was and wasn't magnetic. I was happy to hear the kids spontaneously predicting what would and would not be attracted to their magnets. They recorded their results on the T chart. During this experiment (for instance, when trying to pick up a penny) they learned that not all metals are attracted to a magnet.

We also experimented a bit with magnetic force. The magnets the kids were using were decent sized and had a pretty good pull. I asked them to get their magnet as close to a paperclip as possible - close enough to feel the pull, but try not to have the magnet suck up the clip. They had loads of fun with that. CJ figured out that if he used both hands, he could control the situation better.Our next experiment involved creating a magnetic chain. I asked the kids to each line up four paperclips on the countertop, end to end, making sure they were touching one another. I asked them if they thought their magnet would pick up one, two, three or all four of them. They made their guesses and then we gave it a go. They were each able to make a three paperclip chain work. Our last experiment of the day was making a magnetic sculpture. Its base was a magnet, on it was a bolt, and then the kids stuck all the paperclips they had onto the bolt. We called it quits at that point, though the kids were begging to continue. I think it's good to leave them wanting more. ;)

SAY WHAT?!: Around midday we made a Fred Meyer run for supplies for our lil Civil War/Apple Cup football party tomorrow. Rick went with the kids and me.

When we got to the dairy section, CJ spied a fellow shopper and struck up a conversation. "Excuse me, Old Man," Rick and I thought we heard him say.

CRINGE! CRINGE!! That's right, double cringe, because it's not too cool to call someone old, and this old man happened to be an old woman. :0 But the horse was out of the barn, and so we stood there wondering where this was going. CJ had honed in on a full color advertisement the shopper had draped across her cart. "What is that?" CJ asked pointing to one photo.

The Old "Man" actually seemed happy to have the engagement and responded, "It's an avocado."

CJ asked, "That's a seed in the middle, right?"

The shopper smiled and said, "Yes it is. You're very smart."

CJ then shared, "We tried to grow one from the seed and it didn't work."

At that the Old "Man" smiled warmly and actually thanked CJ for stopping to talk to her.

Meanwhile, Rick and I were turning purple. As soon as we could, we pulled over to the deserted dried beans aisle and I talked to CJ about his conversation. I started with, "There's nothing wrong with asking a stranger a question, but pretty much no one likes to be called 'old', so don't do that, OK?" He got it. Then I started in on the other matter. I said, "And you said, excuse me MAN and ..." at that point CJ cut me off.

"I said 'Excuse me old ma'am," he corrected. At that I started laughing. Here Rick and I had been mortified thinking CJ had called her a him, and instead, he'd actually used the very polite 'ma'am.' Too funny. We ran into the Old Ma'am later in the store and she thanked CJ again for talking to her. Go figure. :)

WHAT CHARACTERS: Before we were officially on the MPA clock (ha ha) the kids watched an "On Demand" version of Snow White this morning. It was about an hour long, definitely not the Disney version, and pretty horrible, IMHO.

However, we were able to salvage it as a teachable moment. Because it was so different from the Disney version that is so pervasive (the gold standard of Snow White, if you will), we were able to talk about plot differences. I also focused on how the characters were different. The most notable difference was the seven dwarves. In the story we watched today, they were all named Joe and all quite spunky (no Sleepy or Dopey here).

From there, we hopped onto BrainPop Jr., where we found a video in their "reading and writing' section about characters. The kids watched it (twice), and afterward we did the related activity, which was creating a couple of trading cards of a character. On the front, the kids had to draw the characters' pictures, on the reverse they listed several characteristics (adjectives) about each character. CJ's cards were Mario and ??? (apparently a mystery man, whom he described as tuff, buff, and ruff). Annabelle designed cards for Dino Dude (smart, armord, good, preistoric, tail) and Dora (adventurous, educational, Spanish, smart, young).

FLATLANDS: This afternoon, I told Christian I wanted to go on a (relatively) long, flat run. So, we went for a nice run down to the Port's Terminal 91.

It wasn't particularly warm, but it was sunny and not windy, so we couldn't complain. There wasn't much beach, either, but the kids made the most of what was there.

PARTING PICTURE: Annabelle presented this acrostic poem to me last night, using M-O-M as the prompts.


I didn't have the heart to tell her "awesome" doesn't start with an O. ;)

I swear, what I love about it most is that she pictured us at "Value Villige." I'm glad she sees shopping there as big positive. I think that means I'm doing something right.:)