biological compounds

Braeden recently did another lab for Biology. He was testing different substances to see whether or not they contained starch. It was very cool...and he even looked kind of mad scientist-ish.

shrimpin'

Braeden had his frist science lab the other day. It was pretty cool. He had to grow shrimp. He was sent a bag full of shrimp eggs. They looked like dirt. He had to put them in a jar full of water, stir them around every few hours and wait for a few days for them to hatch. So, we waited. And on the 3rd day they still looked like dirt. But, this was also the day Braeden was to do his case study. So he put them under the microcope and it was awesome. Seriously. They had arms and legs or tentacles or whaever. We were all amazed...at least I was.

I think I am going to enjoy Braeden doing his Biology at home as much as he is...

MUAHAHAHAHA

Today I was a mad scientist for the 5th graders at Joshua's school. They had a science day with lots of fun halloweenish experiments. My task was to make the gooey goo with the kids. The kids loved it and me. :)

The gooey goo is so easy to make and a great Halloween activity. All you need is:
4 oz. Elmer's glue
3/4 c. water
3/4 tsp. borax
food coloring (optional)
In a bowl mix together glue and 1/4c. water. In separate bowl mix together remaining water, borax and food coloring.  Stirring constantly, add the mixtures together and there you have it...gooey goo.

We had a huantingly good time. MUAHAHAHA!!!

disturbing?

My usual question to my kids everyday when they get home from school is "Did anything exciting happen at school today?" Yesterday instead of asking Braeden if anything exciting happened I asked him if anything disturbing happened.

His response, "Just Science class"

This made me laugh......They have been learning about the human body and reproduction.

Grossology

On Friday Joshua and I went on a really gross field trip. In Frisco there is a Sci-Tech Discovery Center where Grossology is now on tour. Most the time we are trying to teach our kids when it is the appropriate place to burp or toot or whatever...and to use their manners. Well at this place it is very acceptable to talk about all of our bodily functions...in fact they want you to. The kids thought it was great as we learned about throw-up, poop, toots, blisters, burps, snot, boogers, and every other gross bodily function that is part of the human body.

Did you know that your small intestines is 20 ft. long?
- or that on average we burp 15 times a day
- or that E. Coli is good in the body but bad out of the body
- or that we swallow 1 liter of snot every day
These are just a few of the fun facts that we learned. We also got to help dissect a cow eyeball, and see how our stomach digests food...it was pretty gross to say the least.

Joshua with a giant pair of kidneys

His homemade blister....ewww!

We walked through a gigantic nose. These are some lovely nose hairs.


Noses come in all shapes and sizes. I don't know what Joshua is doing in this picture....silly kid.

Dissecting cow eyeballs. Another interesting fact that we learned is that cows have night vision and all cows have brown eyes.

A giant game of operation..Joshua with part of the intestines

This is Nigel...he constantly has snot dripping out of his nose.
The boys loved this station. They got to make farting noises over and over and over again.
This is the skin wall. Their were hair follicles that the kids could climb on like a climbing wall. We were running out of time so we just took a quick snap shot. The kids were really tired at this point and ready to have lunch. I don't know how they could even think about food after all the disgusting things we had seen and learned.
Joshua's group ready to head back to school.....it was a really gross day!

Popsicle Meltdown

Braeden did his science project on popscicles. He was testing to see which color melted the fastest. His hypothesis was that the darker colored popscicles would melt quicker because dark colors attract heat. He found that they all melt at the same rate. It was an easy project but lots of fun for him to do. I forgot to get a picture of his completed board but here are some of the pictures that Cary took while they were running their tests.

Battery Power

Braeden had to do a science project for three science grades. If it would have been an option we wouldn't have done it.....to much work! He decided to test batteries. He chose Duracell, Energizer, and Rayovac. He used 3 identical flashlights and checked them every 30 minutes. Two flashlights went out at the same time so he had to retest. He checked them every 15 minutes until they started dimming and them every 5 after that. He found that the Rayovac battery was the stinkiest. Energizer and Duracell lasted a long time but Duracell came out on top. I guess the Energizer bunny doesn't keep going and going and going.