Archive for the ‘Science’ category

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Virtual Field Trip to Peeps Factory & A Peeps Curriculum

March 19th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Friday, March 19, 2010 and time for a Virtual Field Trip at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Just Born Candy

Marshmallow Peeps are everywhere this time of year.  Ever wonder how they’re made?  At this website you can take a virtual tour through text and photographs of how this traditional Easter-basket candy confection is manufactured. (Not only that, you can also find out how Hot Tamales, Mike & Ike, and Zours are made.)

While the tour is offered by the company that makes Peeps, you’ll find better photos of their Peep manufacturing process at this Peeps website.

Now for those of you who wonder how Peeps can be educational, what follows is ClickSchooling’s Original Peeps’ Curriculum for your enjoyment. These links take you to the original ClickSchooling reviews with links to the curriculum content.

ClickSchooling’s Original Peeps’ Curriculum

Peeps Math – Includes Peeps-themed math lessons for grades K-8 and a recipe for making your own home-made version of Peeps.

Peeps Science – These websites document science experiments conducted on Peeps — some of which may inspire your own Peeps experimentations. The studies focused on basic attributes and reactions of Peeps to simple conditions and stimuli. You’ll also find a link to a “Peeps in Outer Space” online computer game.

Peeps Language Arts – Watch a terrific retelling of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings in a photo-illustration using Peeps as the characters. Then enjoy some Peeps’ Haiku poetry.

Peeps Social Sciences – The first link in this archived review doesn’t work. But you won’t want to miss the other two links where you can see the amazing and funny results when you tell your co-workers that you hate Peeps. You can also test your knowledge of the history of Peeps by taking an online quiz.

Peeps Art – Learn to draw a Marshmallow Peep and get instructions for making an incredible, edible Peeps necklace!

I have been telling people for years that you can get a good education without textbooks and by using what you find in the environment around you. This just proves it!

I hope you’ll forward this email, in its entirety, to your friends and relatives and encourage them to subscribe to ClickSchooling. After all, it will make them smile and ClickSchooling is free. Besides, I think ClickSchooling’s Original Peeps’ Curriculum should go viral. Don’t you agree?

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Posted in Art, Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Sciences, Virtual Field Trip

Live Owl Cam & Much More!

March 18th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Thursday, March 18, 2010 and time for Social Sciences at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
SportsmansParadise: Owl Nest Cam

Age Range: All (Parents, as always, should preview to determine suitability of content.)

A BIG THANK YOU to ClickScholar Rena Hobbs who suggested this website.  I was going to save it until tomorrow’s Virtual Field Trip, but the action is just too incredible to make your students wait a single day longer!

This hunting and fishing website offers a live stream from a camera placed inside a Barn Owl’s nesting box. Thirty minutes ago, I watched the momma owl (named Molly) eat an entire rabbit – and I watched her do the same thing yesterday!  She is sitting on 5 eggs that are due to hatch any moment.  Once those owlets arrive – the action is going to really take off! There is a microphone in the nesting box as well – so you can hear the clucking, cooing, and other sounds made.

In addition to the owl show, the sportsman who owns this nesting box narrates what’s happening from time to time.  Yesterday, for example, he took questions from kids at an elementary school via Skype. He leaves notices of any planned presentations on the site. So keep a look-out for them.

You and your family can learn so much about nature and the circle of life by observing this view into a usually hidden world.  Don’t miss it!

By the way, if this peaks your kids interests in Barn Owls there is more information located on this site about them HERE.

Not only that, this site offers links to animal cams of deer, turkey, rabbit, crow, bear, raccoon, squirrel, doves and more.

Plus, there’s even a link to an underwater fish cam where you can see Perch, Largemouth Bass, and Sunfish (bluegill).

Bookmark this site (that earns a ClickSchooling Award for excellence) as you’ll want to return often!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Live Web Cam sites sometimes go dark inexplicably. If that happens, don’t panic and please don’t email me. :)   Simply close the window to the site and return at another time. Persistence will pay off. If it doesn’t, use the contact form at the website to see if they have an explanation, or contact your own tech service to see if there’s a problem with your computer interfacing with the site. One more thing, ClickScholars have been know to overwhelm a website, making it temporarily inaccessible. Should that happen, just keep trying and eventually you should get through.

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Posted in Science, Social Sciences

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St. Pat’s Day Language Arts & Much More!

March 17th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Wednesday, March 17, 2010 and time for Language Arts at ClickSchooling!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! With a name like “Flynn” you can imagine how much I enjoy celebrating the silly and serious business of being Irish today.  :)

Here are some fun ideas from my websites for cross-curricular celebrations – many of which you can do last minute!

Recommended Websites:

St. Patty’s Day Activities:
Rainbows, Shamrocks and Leprechauns

Age Range: 6-14 (Approximately – and fun for the whole family!)

This wonderful article by veteran homeschool mom, Fran Wisniewski offers a fun array of St. Patty’s Day arts, crafts, and activities that cover math, science, language arts, and much more!

St. Patrick’s Day Fun for Preschoolers

Age Range: 2-7 (Approximately – and fun for the whole family!)

I wrote this article with suggestions for a few fun learning activities you can do with little ones. Try my family’s recipe for a festive beverage today – a “Darby O’Gill”!

A Potato Curriculum

Age Range: 2-7 and Fun for the Whole Family!

Potatoes are an Irish food staple.  Go on a Potato Hunt, explore a potato, conduct a potato science experiment, get creative with mashed potatoes – and have fun learning!

“Toy, tee, toy, tee, toy, tee toy.”  LOL!

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Posted in Electives, Language Arts, Math, Science

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The Great Plant Escape!

March 16th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Tuesday, March 16, 2010 and time for Science at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
The Great Plant Escape

Age Range: 8-11 (Designed for Grades 4-5, but can be tweaked for a broader age/ability range.)

The University of Illinois Extension offers this free, fun science unit that will help your students solve the mysteries of plant life! The interdisciplinary lessons introduce kids to plant science and how foods grow while enhancing their knowledge of science, math, language arts, social studies, music and art. The activities are flexible and can be used separately or in an ordered manner. Some are designed with independent study in mind, others are group or classroom activities that can be tweaked for the homeschool environment.

When you get to the site, click “enter” to begin the adventure. Or, if you prefer, click on the “Teacher’s Guide” on the menu to get some pointers in how to use the program. Either way, you will be introduced to six “Case Studies” as follows:

  1. In Search of Green Life – Find out about the interrelationships that exist between people and plants. Learn about plant structure, plant parts, plant life cycles, and growing plants indoors.
  2. Soiled Again – Learn about the composition or soil, nutrients in soil, gardening indoors, and composting.
  3. Is It Dust, Dirt, Dandruff or a Seed? – Explore seeds, seed structure, germination, and non-flowering plants.
  4. Plantenstein is the Suspect – Discover how plants reproduce and learn about pollination and flower parts.
  5. Mysterious Parts That Surprise – Learn all about the differences and similarities between bulbs, rhizomes, and tubers.
  6. You’ve Learned the Mysteries of Green Life – Test your knowledge of plants and plant life and enjoy additional activities such as growing lettuce, making a salad, and growing an indoor garden.

Each “Case Study” assumes the student is a detective searching to solve plant mysteries. These “Case Studies” are lessons cleverly disguised as fun activities that teach as they engage students in the process of learning about the science of plants.

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Posted in Science

Free Math Video Lessons & Much More!

March 15th, 2010

Hi! It’s Monday, March 15, 2010 and time for Math at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
WatchKnow.org: Mathematics

Age Range: 5-18 (Grades K-12)

ClickScholar Nancy Hogan recommended this website that offers free videos that teach every school subject including over 1800 math lessons on video! The videos archived here have been researched, rated and sorted by WatchKnow, a non-profit online community. The videos are from other Internet sources such as YouTube. The difference here is that the ads and user comments have been eliminated, and the videos have been sorted and rated to provide easier use along with some helpful guidance.

When you get to the site you’ll see two sections. The “Mathematics” section is on the right side of the page (the “Directory” to the rest of the site is on the left). Under the math section you’ll see some featured math videos, as well as a menu of math subcategories that include:

  • Number Basics
  • Operations
  • Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
  • Graphing, Statistics, and Probability
  • Geometry
  • Measurement
  • Pre-Algebra and Algebra
  • Precalculus
  • Calculus
  • ‘Language of Mathematics’ Series
  • Math Study Skills and Test Prep
  • History of Math

Click on any subcategory and a new page opens featuring the videos that have been archived to date. The videos are all free for viewing. Some have been uploaded by site members. The videos are moderated by WatchKnow to ensure appropriate content. To share videos, you must open an account (free) that also allows you to track your activities. There are different levels of membership and some (such as the level that allows you to enter WatchKnow contests) requires you to provide access to personal information.  Get the details at the website.

As I mentioned, this site also contains lots of useful video lessons on other topics including:

  • Language Arts
  • Literature
  • Science
  • History
  • Social Studies
  • Languages
  • Physical and Health Ed
  • The Arts
  • Computers and Technology
  • Practical Skills
  • Philosophy, Religion, and Ethics

WatchKnow’s goal is to collect all the best free educational videos that are made for children and explain every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth – and make them available on one website, usefully categorized according to subject and education level.

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Posted in Art, Electives, Foreign Language, Health, Language Arts, Math, Music, Other, Physical Education, Science, Social Sciences

Video of the Birth of a Hummingbird

March 13th, 2010

Hi!  It’s Saturday, March 13, 2010 and time for Electives at ClickSchooling!

Recommended Website:
Birth of Hummingbirds

This YouTube website provides a stunning video, set to the music of Mozart, of the birth of two hummingbirds. You can watch the mother building the nest, see the eggs hatch, and get a unique view of how the mother bird feeds her young and prepares them for independence. The video is approximately 8 minutes in length.

ClickScholar Carol Comanse inspired me to feature today’s video, when she shared a link for still photographs of the birth of hummingbirds captured by a photographer.

Be sure to click on the “next” button at the bottom of each page to see all of the photos. As Carol noted, “Keep in mind the egg is smaller than a Tic-Tac candy and a U.S. quarter (25 cents) fits the opening of the nest!”

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Posted in Electives, Science