How Hotwheels Cars Became A Science Project

My 8 yr old son, got some money for Christmas. Last week he decided to spend the remainder of it, and bought some Hotwheels cars. Two of specific importance were color changers. According to the package, they change colors in warm water, and cool water. Neat right? Well not so fast. They changed very easily in the warm water, but when we tried to change them back poof nothing. So of course he was not happy, since he felt like he had been jipped. Me and my natural obsessive self, figured there must be some secret we were not aware of. I visited the official website to see if there were better instructions. Imagine that, there were not any. Matter of fact the commercial clip they have available, clearly shows the cars changing with just a squirt of water. There was no email address, that would be too easy, and the message boards had a few similar questions that of course were unanswered. So I posted the question, on one of the forums I belong to, to see if anyone else had kids with these seemingly useless toys. While I waited for my flood of answers to come in, I continued to think, and wonder what the magic was. I only got 4 responses, 2 were just as curious, and the other two suggested maybe the water was not cold enough. Ah Ha, so we put the car in the freezer for 10 seconds and bingo, it was back to its original color. But wait, it quickly turned back to the warm color. Ok so now we are starting to put two, two together. It is all based on the room temperature as to what color it is. So that if it is warm in the house, the car will change to the warm temperature color, no water really needed. If it is chilly in the house, the car will adapt to the cold color. Of course it would have to be really cold in the house for that to happen. So we got thinking, and experimenting some more. I asked DJ what other things can produce heat, to turn the car to the warm temperature. Of course the first thing he thought was the microwave. While that would be true, that is not what I meant. I told him to think again, about Science and what things naturally produce heat. He said Friction, makes heat. So he began to rub the car with his hands, and bingo it changed to the warm color. Then I told him to put in his armpits, to see what happens. Same result, but the car only changed color partially as the heat was not even across the car. Dj discovered that cupping the car in both hands also worked, as did breathing on it. So you see a simple 3 dollar car, can turn into a Science experiment.

Sylvan Workbooks And A Contest

I was recently asked to review the new line of Sylvan workbooks. This is a new line or workbooks, that you can purchase for at home education, or for extra work for public school children. Sylvan is well known for their tutoring, now you can get tutoring in a workbook.

I was supplied with 3 workbooks, all for the 4th Grade. These workbooks will be given as a contest prize, to start in teh middle of February. See the post at the top of this blog, for details.

The first book is Spelling Success. I really like this workbook, as it is complete with fun activities to help learn spelling. Each chapter has keywords, and then various activities to help learn those keywords. Each chapter focuses on a topic such as, prefixes, suffixes, root words, and homophones. There are also review chapters, for a total of 17 chapters, in the workbook.

The second book is Reading Comprehension. I love this book. Of the three books, this one is my favorite. It has all kinds of great ideas for learning, and evaluating your child's Reading Comprehension. The activities are thoughtful, and extensive. There are a total of 10 Chapters, with 4 to 5 activities per chapter.

The third book is Vocabulary. Like the spelling book it centers around keywords, with various activities to learn, and use the keywords. There are reviews, and 14 chapters. Each chapter has its own set of activities with topics like prefixes, suffixes, root words, and homophones. The only thing I did not care for with this book, were the chapters on foreign languages. There are two, and you have to find the meanings of the words, as I doubt most kids will know that many foreign language words. These two chapters, were the only two inconveniences I could find in any of the books. It is not like they are that big of a deal either. You could easily find them online, and incorporate them into the chapter.

While browsing at the Sylvan website I noticed that these great books start at 12.99, a great value, in my opinion. I also noticed that they have a 5th grade writing book, which I will definitely be in need of, in the very near future.

If you are starting to plan your curriculum for next school year, you might want to check out these great workbooks.

Puzzles and Preschoolers

Puzzles can be a great way for your preschooler to learn memory skills, fine motor skills, spacial skills, cognitive skills etc. My 4 yr old, is the puzzle queen. I include them in her preschool lessons. For one thing she loves to do them. She started out with the simple board puzzles, she quickly became bored with them. So I said OK I will buy the 25 pc puzzles. I thought it would take a bit for her to get them, nope she mastered them quickly. She now is up to 100 pc puzzles, and she has mastered most of them. They do take her a bit longer, but she has memorized some of them already. It is funny because my son had absolutely no interest in puzzles, and really had to be forced to do them.

Lesson Plan for 1/29/09:

Reading: Chapter 2 of Ghost Town at Sundown
Language Arts: Commands and exclamations, punctuation
Math: Multiplication, division, subtracting across zeros
Writing: If you could be invisible, where would you go, and what would you do
Health: The ideal friend
Spelling: Lesson 17- put your spelling words in alphabtical order
Vocabulary: Lesson 17- write each vocabulary word, and meaning 2x each
PE: 30 mintues

Sleep How Much Are You Getting?

I have read some really interesting articles about sleep lately. Like the fact that children need at least 8-10 hours of sleep every night, and adults 8 at the very least. Do you get 8 hours of sleep, do your children get 8-10 hours. One of the reasons I decided to homeschool was because of just this fact. I would have had to get my kids up at 5:30 AM to prepare to be to the bus stop by 7 AM. Then they would not get off the bus until the earliest of 3:30 PM. With baths, homework, playtime, and other family commitments bed would come the earliest at 8 PM, and probably closer to 9. That leaves just enough time for sleep, if your child falls right to sleep, of course most do not. Add all the extra homework that gets added every year, and your child will slowly whittle away at their sleep. Sleep is when your body rests, and recovers. Without proper sleep you are more prone to illness, stress, poor grades, behavioral issues, just to name a few. I personally have seen what the lack of sleep does to people. It can destroy your nervous system. So get on a schedule, and get plenty of sleep.


Lesson Plans for 1/27/09:

Reading: Chapter 10 of Dolphins at Daybreak
Language Arts: Statements and questions, punctuation
Math: Multiplication, division, add 3 or more numbers
Writing: You are at Pirate Camp, write a letter home
Science: Animals, recalling facts about animals
Spelling: Lesson 17- write each spelling word, and circle the consonants
Vocabulary: Lesson 17- use each vocabulary word in a sentence
PE: 30 minutes