Elements and Atoms

After exploring the Periodic Table we decided to delve in a little deeper and explore what exactly makes up an atom and how does that relate to the periodic table?

First off we discussed how atoms were discovered.  After reading this very informative post from Our Worldwide classroom we talked about how around 400 BCE the Greek philosopher Democritius experimented with trying to cut gold in half as many times as he could.    He called this unit the atom which in Greek means "uncuttable".  

In 1910 this experiment was replicated with gold foil by Sir Rutherford.  L tried it out with a piece of paper and scissors.  I think she managed 17 cuts.  According to Google you would need to cut it in half 31 times to get it down to an atom.  L thought that was pretty impressive.

We then watched this excellent Youtube video on atomic structure which helped us to learn about protons, neutrons and electrons and how the number of protons in the nucleus is how the atomic number is determined.  We also learned how there are different atomic shells which hold a certain number of electrons.  

After watching the video L was able to figure out how to make models of different elements.  

This is where the fun really began.  We headed down to the beach and collected a bunch of black similar sized stones.  We then separated them into three piles for protons, neutrons and electrons and painted them each a different colour.  (Even little brother had his own pile to paint).  Once dry we put the electrical charges on them.

As you can see in the pictures L used her hula hoops for the outer shells and using her periodic table was able to create the atoms of different elements.

She also made a 3d model of an element as a mobile.  It turned out really cool but we had a bit of a time getting there.

L decided she wanted to make the element titanium.  It was all well.  She'd figured out how many protons by the atomic number and then the number of neutrons by subtracting that number from the atomic weight.

The number of electrons was also easy and we thought which shells they went in was straight forward according to the rules of the video we watched.  Well after much Googling by the parents we finally figured out that several transition elements actually don't fill up the third shell before adding another shell.  It gets very confusing so I won't get into it here.  My brain still hurts!

Anyhow the final product is stunning.  It was really simple to make.  L glued pompoms together for the protons and neutrons in the nucleus.  We cut out different sized pieces of cardboard for the outer shells and L painted them sliver then glued on the electrons to their appropriate shells.  We hung them all with invisible thread.  What a great way to visualize an atom!

The Periodic Table

It seems I can't hold L off any longer.  I've been promising to start chemistry as soon as we finished DNA and genetics, however L was just too curious about this whole periodic table thing to wait any longer.

The great thing about learning chemistry these days is that there are so many incredible resources out there.  This post will be mainly about sharing all of these amazing resources that we are using.

The first thing that I think is a must is this fantastic free periodic table printable.
You can download it here.

You can also print off cards to go with each element.  They are perfect for different card games, organizing elements by different groups etc.  Even though the cards have the atomic symbol on them I printed them out again for L to match.  One note is that they take an incredible amount of ink.  I only printed out about half of them and we are now out of ink so the rest of the cards are "pending".

I think my all time favourite resource is this super catchy periodic table song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDDiWtFtEM

L has taken it upon herself to learn it all!  She's about a 3rd of the way through at the moment.  If you google words for the song you can print them out which makes learning it a lot easier.  Of course this is if you can handle hearing it 24/7!

Another resource that is not absolutely necessary but super cool is an app called The Elements.  It is an interactive periodic table.  You can click on each element and there is a write up plus different real life examples of the element.  I can't do the greatest job explaining it but check out this youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy5spdfugx4

I went for the full bundle and got Elements, Molecules and In Action.  I also got the free app goReact in which you can choose different elements and make your own chemical reactions.  Very cool.  L enjoys exploring the different elements and seeing how they react with each other.

We also got the book The Periodic Table: Elements with Style by Simon Basher out from the library.  L is not a fan of the illustrations at all but has flipped through it a bit.  Others who are in to this kind of comic book type style might really dig it.

Learning chemistry is so different from the days when I was in high school and things were as boring as could be!

DNA-replication, translation and transcription

This whole DNA business can be a pretty complicated subject, however there are so many amazing resources these days that it makes learning about it fairly accessible.

For DNA replication we started off with this great video which really simplifies the whole process and makes it easy to understand.   I added in the enzymes as well as some other cards necessary to split apart our DNA and replicate it.

I've taken some pictures of how we applied it to our DNA game.  I'm sure some of you with sharp eyes can spot my grave error on two of the bases.  I just set this up quickly to take demo pictures and by the time I noticed the error I didn't want to retake all the pics.  Just think of it as a mutation!

 Anyhow you start of with the helices splitting things apart.  I'm not going to explain the whole process here as you can just watch the above video to see how it works.  

By the end we have found the extra bases to complete the new strand and have replicated our DNA.  L found this a great way to really see how the whole process works.

We also did a worksheet on transcription and translation that can be found here.

L found this easy as we'd already played the transcription game which helped us to learn how the DNA is turned into RNA and then the RNA bases are read in codons(or groups of 3) to make up an animo acid.  These amino acids combine together to make a protein.  It all sounds very complicated but the game makes it so much simpler.  

Extracting DNA from a Strawberry

Yay!  We finally got to do the ever popular extracting DNA from a strawberry experiment.  For those of you who don't know how to do this here is a blow by blow.

Preparation: put a strawberry and some rubbing alcohol in the freezer over night.

First off get a plastic ziplock bag and add the frozen strawberry, 5ml of dish soap, 2.5ml of salt and 25ml of water.  

 Seal the bag and start crushing everything together.  This part was super fun.  L crushed for about 5 minutes.

Cut a small hole in the corner of your bag and pour your solution into a test tube about half way.

Then add the ice cold rubbing alcohol until the test tube is 3/4 full and watch the magic happen!  You can see the DNA separating.  L was super excited.

Carefully extract a strand from the solution.  L placed it in a petrie dish but later moved it onto a slide for further investigation.

How cool to check it out under the microscope.  I had to explain to L that we wouldn't actually be able to see the double helix since we just have your average microscope and we'd need nanotechnology for that.  She still though what we could see was pretty cool.

The DNA Game

Let me just start off by saying that I majored in chemistry in high school.  I know very little about biology and next to nothing about DNA, certainly not to the depth L is going.  Soooo I've had to do quite a bit of before hand research for some reference tools.

Of course the first thing L wanted to do is to build the famous double helix DNA model.  I'd found all sorts of different examples on Pintrest and we were all set to break out the pipe cleaners and beads when....

Side note here.  

Last October L got the Thames and Kosmos Genetics and DNA kit for her birthday in anticipation of our DNA studies.  I'd never really looked at it closely until we were about to do our model.  Well much to my delight they actually have a real plastic model you can make!  Yippee they also have a wonderful explanation of how DNA is built and how it goes together.  Using this and the BC Science 9 textbook L was able to create the DNA model.  It was a bit of a two person job to get it twisted correctly so all the bases fit together.

 After completing the model L had a good idea of the bases A and T and C and G joining together like rungs on the ladder and the sides being made up of phosphoric acid and sugar but all of those names are hard to remember.

I came up with this simple DNA game to remember the names of the bases and to really get a visual of how DNA is constructed.  L and I made up cards for the 4 bases and some sugar and phosphoric acid cards.  I also made up some question cards which contained questions like : What is the shape of DNA?  A: double helix.  I also had a lot of questions on the functions of the organelles of a cell.  

For the game play you work as a team to build a strand of DNA.  Each player takes 7 cards.  You take turns laying down a card to create the DNA structure.  If you don't have a card that works you have to answer a question.  If you answer correctly you pick up cards until you can go.  You basically continue on until neither player can go and you have your completed DNA strand.  This game worked wonderfully to help to remember all of the correct terminology as well as certain questions that needed review.  I keep changing the questions as we learn more information.

Stay tuned to see how we used the DNA game to learn about replication....

Human Anatomy-Cells

I know a lot of people start with the cell when studying human anatomy but I decided to do it the other way round and cover all of the major systems first before delving deeper into the human makeup.

We have been eagerly anticipating getting to this part and the following studies on DNA, genes and genetics.  

I found this amazing activity on Pintrest ages ago and we finally got to try it out.

We printed out the templates and I traced them with black sharpie onto shrinky dink paper.  L then coloured all of the different organelles with pencil crayons.  I can't think of a better way to learn the parts of the cell.  They are so wonderfully tactile.

We watched several different videos on cells and got a great DVD from the library from Squibs called  Cells, DNA and adaptation.  It was composed mostly of a bunch of songs and raps all about cells and their functions.  I actually found a lot of it to be over my head but L loved it!  She was out dancing around the back yard making up the "cell rap".  Lets just say she really knows her organelles and their functions!

Human Anatomy-the renal system and a cow heart dissection!

The renal or urinary system is such an important system in our body.  We certainly didn't want to skip it.  I printed out some information on this system for L to read as well as a little diagram.  Then it was on to the experiments.  

First off L drank a large glass of water.  She recorded the time and then waited to see how long it would take her kidneys to work!

While she was waiting she mixed some sand in with a glass of water that we coloured yellow.  She poured it carefully into a coffee filter and watched how the filter cleaned the water just like the kidneys clean the blood and create urine.  

Yuck! This is what our kidney/coffee filter cleaned.

A few months back while we were doing the circulatory system I called the local butcher asking if they had any cow hearts we could dissect.  A few weeks later I forgot all about it.  Three days ago they called and said our cow heart was ready!!  Yippee.  We did a quick prep on how to do a dissection and then prepared our workspace.  L made up labels on straws to go in the aorta, pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein and the superior vena cava.

I then cut the heart in half so we could see the four different chambers.  We compared the huge size of the cow heart to our own hearts.

L took samples of the blood, heart muscle and some fat and then we made slides.

After the clean up and a bit of a play with her friend who joined us for the dissection they moved inside and inspected each of the samples under the microscope.

This whole experience was fascinating and it was so cool to get to see a real heart to help us understand how our own hearts work inside our bodies!

Human Anatomy-The Reproductive System

L has been eagerly anticipating the reproductive system, me not so much.  That is until I found this fantastic activity on Highhill Homeschool's blog

L and I have talked in some detail about how babies are made since she was 4 but this time we went into way more detail.  We read a great book on the reproductive system by Steve Parker and L asked questions as we read and discussed.  There were some interesting moments but we got through them.

The next day we were ready to make to models.  We used a small plastic ziploc bag for the uterus with two pieces of tubing taped to the sides for fallopian tubes.  The glass candle holders are ovaries and inside L made tiny clay eggs.  I cut a hole in the middle of the bottom of the bag to insert the pink straw representing the vagina.  The green tape is the cervix.

For the male parts we used a syringe for the penis, two small cups for the testicles with yellow food colouring representing semen.  The red string is for the epidermis and the tubing is the vas deferens.

Now for the re-enactment.  We started off at the beginning of the cycle with the uterus menstruating.  L poured red coloured water into the top of the uterus(bag).  We stared counting and when we got to day 14 L took an egg from the ovary and put it into the top of one of the fallopian tubes.  As it rolled down we kept counting until day 28 when she added more red liquid.  She went through the cycle several more times and then decided to try and make a baby.

This time at day 14 after she had released the egg into the fallopian tube she used her syringe to insert the semen into the vagina.  We kept counting and at day 28 instead of having menstruation the liquid turned orange which meant the egg was fertilized there was a baby.  

We didn't have a tiny baby so we used a tiny dinosaur instead.  After counting nine months the baby came out of the womb down the vagina and was born.  L really enjoyed this process and made a baby several times.

I have to say I really loved how this got down to the nitty gritty of how it all works while still staying very "scientific".  L has such a great understanding of both the male and female systems and the roles they play in reproduction.  

The Circulatory System-Blood Types

Who knew learning about blood types could be so much fun!!  I found these cool activities on Pintrest.  The first one is how to test which blood types are compatible with each other.

L labelled each of four glasses with each of the basic blood types A, B, AB and O.  She then added red, blue, and red and blue food colouring to one glass each.  She left O clear.

 L then chose a blood group to be a donor and one to be a receiver.  She poured a bit of the receiver into a clean glass and put some drops of the donor into it.  If the receiver blood turned colour then they weren't compatible.

 L recorded her results on a chart that I printed off from here.  By this experiment she was able to determine which blood types were compatible and which could be universal donor and receivers.

 We then opened up our blood bank and started a blood drive.  L got out lots of her stuffs and porcelain dolls and they all donated blood.  L put in the IV and determined which blood type each stuffy had and then placed a blood type sticker on their chest.  She wrote on a card what type of blood was donated and put it in our blood bank.  Then all the stuffies went of and had fun.  Soon some of them got into car accidents and fell off cliffs!

 They were quickly brought to the hospital and needed blood transfusions.  L could tell their blood type from the sticker on their chest.  She then had to check the blood bank to see if we had blood that was compatible.  

L looooved this game so much.  She was so excited to have all of her dolls get blood transfusions. What a great way to learn about blood.  I got this idea from Highhill Homeschool.

Human Anatomy-The Circulatory System

We've moved on to the Circulatory system.  L already knows quite a bit about this system from watching the Magic School Bus episode on this topic.  We read some cool books from the library and found out why we shiver and why our feet fall asleep.  L did a colouring page on the heart colouring the different parts blue or red depending on if they carried oxygen or carbon dioxide.

We also talked about our pulse and L did an experiment on how our pulses change when we exercise and then described why this happens.

Then we got to the real fun!  I found this fantastic game here for free!  We love free!

We spent part of the morning colouring and assembling the game and then excitedly played it.

 The main gist of the game is that each player gets a red blood cell.  They spin the spinner to move however many times the heart beats on their turn.  They have to move around the body collecting oxygen and nutrients from the lungs and intestines and then drop them off at different cells around the body where they pick up carbon dioxide and waste which needs to be deposited back in to the lungs and kidneys.  The first person to use up all of their oxygen wins.  L and I kept saying while we were playing how great this game is! 

It only uses red blood cells and L said good thing or this would be a game of war!

 Next up was making a model of our blood.  I gave her a handout on what our blood is made up of and what the job of each part is.  

We started filling the bottle with water and a bit of yellow food colouring to represent the plasma.  Then added lentils for the platelets and some cut up marshmallows for the white blood cells.  L then added a ton of Cheerios to represent the red blood cells with a bit of red food colouring.  So cool and gross!

 She finished off by doing a diagram of her work.

Salominds in the Classroom-building a redd

We have been talking about each stage of the salmon life cycle.

Once the salmon has made it up stream the female begins to build a redd ( a sort of gravel nest) by swishing her tail.  Once she has laid her eggs the male covers the eggs with his milt to fertilize them.  The eggs should be protected under the gravel from predators and other dangers.

The children did an experiment to see how a successful redd is built and what can happen if there is not enough vegetation on the river banks.

They made about 30 tiny eggs out of clay and then collected different size pebbles.  They put the pebbles in two different containers and then placed the eggs in the pebbles.  On one side of the container they put a layer of sand.  Once held up the side of the container to replicate the river bank and the other poured water over the eggs.  In the second bowl they cover the sand with a green cloth to represent vegetation.  They then observed what happened to the eggs.

They both concluded that the vegetation overwhelmingly kept the eggs protected while without the vegetation the eggs were smothered in sand and washed around the container.

Human Anatomy-The Digestive System

 We've finally made it to the digestive system!  Yay!  I've been looking forward to this one because there are so many cool activities to do.

After reading some books and watching a few videos on the digestive system as well as watching the Magic School Bus episode we got to work.

We got our ideas from this great blog post.

L measured out each part of her digestive system starting with her mouth using different coloured pieces of string.  I helped her tie them together and then she labelled them with their length.

mouth 3 inches, oesophagus 10 inches, stomach 6 inches, small intestine 15 feet, large intestine 4 feet.

Once she had them all tied together we went outside to see how long her actual digestive system was.  She was floored and couldn't even believe that all fit inside her tiny body!  

I coiled it all on her stomach to get an idea of how it all fit in.

Now this was a super fun hands on demonstration of how the whole process of digestion works.

First off L cut up an almond butter sandwich to represent biting.

 She then mashed it up to represent chewing with her back molars.

 Then swallowing and going down the oesophagus into the stomach.

 Pour in some coke for stomach acid.

 Mash it up with your hands to represent the stomach muscles digesting.

 Once it's an ooy gooy mess pour it into the small intestine or in this case black sock.

 Use you hands like the muscles squeezing out the nutrients that are absorbed into the blood stream.

 Use paper towels around the sock for the large intestine to get all of the moisture out.

 Cut a hole in the tip of the sock and then for the grossest part.  Well you can guess....

Awesome!!!