Leaves, Australia, and Explorers of the World

Neutron Science
We started on the topic of leaves – what’s their function in the summer? what’s happening to them now in the fall? why the color? The kids made some insightful observations at a variety of leaves that were collected and made comments regarding shape, size, texture, and more! Then we did some leaf rubbings with white paper and wide, flat crayons to see more detail of leaves. We’ll continue with more leaf discovery next week!
One of the topics of discussion was the “green stuff” in the leaves. There is a fun project you can do at home for further discovery of chlorophyll and the colored sugars in leaves. I did this experiment at home with the kids and I offer two tips, it is helpful to smash the leaves as directed and give yourself more time for the experiment to work itself out if needed…Enjoy!!http://www.howweelearn.com/science-experiments-for-kids/
Magic Muons
The Muons joined forces with the Electrons this week in order to assist them with their scientific and confectionary lollipop-making experiment. They have also recently started an email group in order to continue brainstorming ideas for the Co-op economy project, and even came up with some potential designs for the official Co-op “dollar”. The Muons also acquired our first ever course “textbook” as well, entitled “How to Be and Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum”, by Keri Smith. The Muons will be using these books to catalog their ideas, dreams, and ambitions, as well as to provide a foundational structure for some further artistic and philosophical discussions and explorations.
Quark Unit Studies
The Quarks learned about the continent of Australia this week. After the continent march and song, they colored Australia on their globes, placed native animal stickers on their maps, and we read “Tiddalick the Frog” (an Australian Folk story) while snacking on apple varieties that are native to Australia. They wrapped up class by coloring details from the story to add to their “passports”.