We had a great time in Chemistry today! I sent play-dough home with the Philosphers. They also have a few toothpicks and plastic "covalent bonds" that they can use at home to build more models. I can't attach the sheet we used in class to build the models, but feel free to check out this website (with parent permission and help) www.keele.ac.uk/makeitmolecular Then click on "make it molecular activity" then "resources page."

Chemistry 101 (Philosophers)

August 9 First Day! Ellendale Park

August 16 What is Chemistry? Meet the Elements and Molecule Models

August 23 Periodic Table of Elements

August 30 Inner Space and Odors A Loft Experiments

September 6 Density Rainbow Experiment

September 13 Assembly Day

September 20 Periodic Table Fun

September 27 Mixing Liquids

October 4 Separating Mixtures, Color Me Blue Experiment

October 11 No School Fall Break

October 18 Polymers, Choose Your Ooze Experiment

October 25 Sticky Situation Experiment

November 1 Of Cabbages and Kings- an acid/base test

November 8 No School

November 15 Chemical Reactions, Kool Colors Experiment

November 22 Oxidation and Reduction

November 29 No School

December 6 Assembly Day

December 13 Make up day if needed

Art History Class

Voyagers: Fall 2016

The idea behind these studies is to expose students in the work of each artist so that they are familiar with their style, methods, and images. (No nude pictures will be shown in class.) We will be having open discussions together about our opinions. Upon completion of this curriculum, your student should be able to easily recognize the artwork from each artist studied. They will also have learned different techniques, mediums, and styles as well as have gained an appreciation for art work in general.

Week 1 Introduction to Art: vocabulary and “How to talk about art”

Pablo Picasso – life sketch and review of Artwork

Week 2 Painting day! Self portraits in the Picasso style

Week 3 Painting day! Continue project

Week 4 Vincent Van Gogh – life sketch and review of artwork

Week 5 Painting day! Sunflowers copying style of Van Gogh

Week 6 Painting day! Continue project

Week 7 Claude Monet - life sketch and review of artwork

Week 8 Painting day! Scenic painting in the style of Monet

Week 9 Painting day! Continue project

Week 10 Jackson Pollock - life sketch and review of artwork

Week 11 Painting day! Abstract painting in the style of Pollock

Week 12 Present Artist reports

Discussions for individual art work:

-Compare student’s art to the original. (Not in a negative way, contrast and compare)

-Discuss what is different between student’s work and the artists.

-Discuss which artwork they like better and why.

-Have student tell which techniques they chose to use and why.

Hey Inventors,

Here is our class schedule for the Fall 2016 Creative Writing class. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions. 

9- AUG Co-op Assembly Day (Ellendale Park)

16-AUG Intro to Creative Writing and Poem Structures

23-AUG Clichés and Metaphors

30-AUG Sensory Details

6-SEP Showing vs. Telling, Wonderful vs. Wimpy Words

13-SEP Co-op Assembly Day

20-SEP Capturing Images

27-SEP Character and Conflict

4-OCT Heroes vs. Villains

11-OCT Fall Break

18-OCT Point of View

25-OCT Fractured Fairy Tales

1-NOV Fractured Fairy Tales (cont’d)

8-NOV Election Day Break

15-NOV Revision and Rewriting

22-NOV Co-op Break

29-NOV Sharing Stories

6-DEC Co-op Assembly Day

13-DEC Co-op Break/Make-up Day 

Hello Co-op Mentors and Scholars!

I am very excited for our Physics class. I love Physics and I hope that by the end of class all the students will as well. I view our class time as precious and want to use it to accordingly. I know that each student will have had different levels of exposure to Physics and has different needs from this class. I have tried to design the class so that you can fit it to your situation. I plan on beginning with a half hour of demonstrations about the topics in the order of the Exploring Creation with Physics book from the Apologia Series. The second half hour I want to spend with hand-on individual lab experiments. This way if you are studying this book (or any other) at home for credit these demonstrations and labs will support what you are studying. If the student has already studied this book (or any other) the student should still find the demonstrations interesting because I will not be doing the same examples in the book. Some of the student experiments may be very similar to those in any Physics book because of the nature of the subject but they will not be exactly the same in case there is a student that has already completed a Physics text (even Apologia) or plans to in the future. If you are not studying Physics this year at all I think that the demonstrations and labs should still be enjoyable and a good supplement to any science study. I am looking forward to our time together!

Thank you, Katherine Baldwin

Recommended Class Materials List:

Bound Composition Book (you should be able to buy one for about a dollar)

3 ring binder with sections:

1) Class notes

2) Vocabulary

3) Handouts

4) Practice problems

5) Act practice (Scholars) Standardized Test Practice Questions (Mentors)

Blank notebook paper

Pen and pencil

Simple calculator (this may be a good time to practice with the ACT approved calculator but any calculator with simple operations will be fine)

Schedule:

Aug 9 Assembly Day

Aug-16

Module 1 : Measurement and Units

Module 2 : Motion in One Dimension

Aug 23

Module 3 : One-Dimensional Motion Equations and Free Fall

Aug 30

Module 4 : Two-Dimensional Vectors

Module 5 : Two-Dimensional Motion

Sep 6

Module 6 : Newton’s Laws

Module 7 : Applications of Newton’s Second Law

Sep13 Assembly Day

Sep 20

Module 8 : Uniform Circular Motion and Gravity

Sep 27

Module 9 : Work and Energy

Oct 4

Module 10 : Momentum

Module 11 : Periodic Motion

Oct 11 Assembly Day

Nov 1 Module 12 : Waves and Optics

Nov 8 Break

Nov 15

Module 13 : Electrostatics

Module 14 : Electrodynamics

Module 15 : Electrical Circuits

Nov 22 Break

Nov 29

Module 16 : Magnetism

Dec 6 Assembly Day

Dec13 Make up Day

FIELD DAY WILL BE POSTPONED! Unfortunately, despite the beautiful morning, the park is too wet and muddy for us to run around on and have a good time. There is plenty of paved areas but we felt it wouldn't be safe for everyone to play relay games on. We had someone go out there this morning to check it out and it seems like it will not work for our purposes this time. However, we plan on rescheduling Field Day for sometime this summer. I will be posting more information on that soon. Sorry for any trouble. Hope you all have a great week.

Hey all, 

Here are the final details about Field Day. Unless it rains, it will be on May 10 at Nancy Lane Park in Atoka. We will be starting at 10:30ish (you know how it goes). We will play some smaller, Minute-to-Win-It type games for about an hour, then eat lunch, and after lunch we will play some group relay games. We should be done by 1:30ish. We would love for everyone to come on out and enjoy the day with us. Also, I will be sending out a survey soon for donating items. Here is a link to the survey http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0548a5ae2eaaf85-field. Thanks for your help.

Tuesday April 12th is just over a week away and we are so excited to have our first ever Egg-o-nauts egg drop contest. We can't wait to have everyone there! 

This is our fun day, guys and girls, so bring yoursleves, your sack lunch and a dessert to share. Lunch will be picnic style outside if the weather permits and indoors if it is soggy. So bring your favorite picnic blanket to spread out and warm in the sun.

We will meet in the gym at 10:00 am and begin constructing our space ships for our egg-o-nauts launch. You are welcome to bring your own special box or building materials from home that you want to use on your ship, but we will be constucting them in the gym. Eggs and recycled materials will be provided for you. Moms and dad, if you signed up to bring items on the signup genius, please don't forget those. 

Space ships will be constructed and then dropped by class beginning with the youngest. We will have certificates for surviving eggs and for those who meet a less fortunate fate. We will also provide activities for kids to do once they're done with their egg launch.

This is the day we have all been waiting for! So come one, come all and show off your engineering abilities. I can't wait to see who survives their journey back to Earth!

Adventurers Spring 2016

Let’s Learn about our Bodies!

Lesson Schedule

January 19 – Bones: Structure and Joints

January 26 – Bones: Anatomy and Healing

February 2 – Muscles

February 9 – Co-op Break

February 16 – Digestion: Mouth and Teeth

February 23 – Digestion: Internal System and Process

March 1 – Co-op CANCELLED

March 8 – Assembly Day: Invention Convention

March 15 – Lungs and Breathing

March 22 – Co-op Break

March 29 – Heart and Circulation

April 5 – Brain and nerves

April 12- Assembly Day: Eggonauts

April 19 – Five Senses

April 26 – Five Senses Continued

May 3 – Skin

May 10 – Assembly Day: Field Day

May 17 – Human Body Review

Nervous System

Lesson Supplies: Ice cube, brain picture, nervous system picture, worksheet, clay.

Do you know what makes your muscles contract or what helps you feel the difference between hot and cold? Do you know why you can remember what you had for breakfast this morning? Because of your nervous system!

I. Nervous System

A. Divided into 2 main parts

1. Central nervous system

2. Peripheral nervous system

B. Central Nervous System or CNS for short

1. It is called central because it is the most important part.

2. It is made up of only two things.

a. Brain

b. Spinal Cord

3. The Brain

a. When you get information, whether it is about how cold the pool is, how to do long division, or even whether or not you like broccoli, the information is sorted out in your brain.

b. Today we are going to talk about three parts of your brain

i. The largest part of your brain is called the cerebrum (suh ree’ bruhm) It is the pink part in the picture.

- This is where you do all your big thinking like what does 1+1 equal and how do you spell your name.

- This is also where all your conscious actions are controlled. Do you remember when we talked about voluntary muscles- muscles you control just by thinking about it? Well the cerebrum is the boss that tells our muscles what we want them to do. Try it out. Raise your hand, stick out your tongue, take a deep breath. Now pat your head to tell your cerebrum good job!

ii. The second part of your of your brain is the cerebellum (sehr uh bell’ uhm). Cerebellum means little cerebrum. This is the purple part of the picture.

- This part of your brain controls all the muscles movements you need to do all the time just to stay still without falling over. Even though you are sitting still right now lots of your muscles are relaxing and contracting in very small ways to keep you from falling over. If your muscles weren’t working at all you wouldn’t be able to sit up!

- This is done without you even having to think about it!

iii. The last part on our picture is yellow and it is called the brainstem.

- The brainstem connects the brain to the spinal cord so that all the rest of your body can talk to your brain. (So if your finger touches something cold- like this ice cube- your brainstem helps get the message from your spinal cord to your brain so you can think “That’s cold!”)

- The brainstem also helps you do things you need to do to stay alive like breathing. Do you remember the muscle that helps control your breathing? The diaphragm! (die uh fram) Remember we can control our diaphragm- it is a voluntary muscle. Take a deep breath. You just told your cerebrum to override your brain stem. Now that you aren’t thinking about breathing anymore your brainstem is back in control. Cool, huh!

- The brainstem also controls your heartbeat and tells your salivary glands to make saliva.

c. Cerebral Cortex

i. See all the folds on the cerebrum, the pink part of the brain? They are important because folds make more room to store information.

ii. Inside these folds are neurons- these are like tiny telephones. They give information, receive information, and handle information.

iii. Play telephone

- See! You all just acted like neurons.

C. Peripheral Nervous System

1. Peripheral describes the outside part of something. If your mailbox is by the street then when you go to check your mail you are at the peripheral or outside edge of your yard.

2. The peripheral nervous system spreads out from your central nervous system going all the way to the outer edges of your body.

3. Look at this picture. Do you see the Central nervous system- the brain and spinal cord? All those green lines coming out from the CNS are the PNS and they are called nerves.

4. Nerves

a. Remember the neuron game we just played? Nerves are made of up neurons. That means nerves gather and send information! The tricky think about nerves is that they can only send information ONE way. When the brain sends information to your muscles to tell them to move the information FROM your muscles have to come up a whole different telephone line.

D. Make clay brains and do activity sheet.