Uplifting Screws

I must admit, I think I had way more fun than the kids working on our screw unit.  When I find something genuinely clever to add into our mix of information, demonstration, and minor experimentation, I get very excited about it.  The water wheel was one of those clever additions and so was this weeks extra bit of fun: the Archimedes screw!  But before I get too far ahead of myself, back to the lesson overall.

When I explained to the kids that our simple machine for this week was the screw, they looked at me like I was crazy.  They KNOW screws.  The other machines might have been simple and easy to recognize, but at least they did more than one thing.  Well, by the end of the day, the kiddoes did realize that screws are used both to hold things together and lift things, but I'm pretty sure they still thought I was crazy to be so giddy-excited over something as boring as screws.

The one thing they did get excited about was lunch.  I rarely incorporate meals into our lessons, but since we were already wrapping paper triangles around pencils to demonstrate the relationship between the inclined plane and the screw, it was easy to add on wrapping triangle croissants around hot dogs to make edible screws!  Sometimes it's pretty easy to get them excited about science, too.

We also made little paper helicopters that twirl down to the ground like screws, so they don't just crash down to the ground.  Anything that can be made from paper always seems to be a hit and has the added bonus of being simple and fast.  I used the template provided in Starting with Science: Simple Machines, but it would be easy to make one without a guide.  As long as the paper has a middle section to point down and 2 propellers to catch the air and cause it to turn, it should work.

We took a plastic cylinder (you could also use a Pringles can) and wrapped some plastic tubing (meant for an aquarium) around it, then used this to transport water up to a higher container.

Finally, the Archimedes screw.  I found a tutorial here to make one from a plastic bottle, paperboard/ cardstock, and a dowel/ pencil.  The process is really simple.  Ours got a little stuck after a while, but it still accomplished its purpose.  Next time I would use a stronger material for the spiral and make sure that the bottle is the same width all the way through so there are no gaps at the sides. (By the way, I realized I had no pictures of this one, so I went back and took a few quick ones, and I was using it upside down!  Oops!  lol)

All in all, a very fun and successful unit. The kids definitely got the idea and had some fun (even if I had a bit more!)  We'll be doing some quick review, then it's on to energy!

--Little Miss Crazy

Pyramid Building

Chapter 4 of Story of the World vol. 1 Ancient Times, The Old Kingdom of Egypt, contains some of the most recognizable and most fun subjects for our study of ancient Egypt.  Here we introduced pyramids, the Sphinx, and mummies.  Our mummy projects are waiting for a few weeks to keep up from trying to do too much at once, so this week we concentrated on building pyramids.

We watched a documentary focusing on how the pyramids were developed over time.  Hulk and Athena were really fascinated and got pretty fixated on the Red Pyramid for a week or so.

Along with some fun mazes, info pages, and coloring sheets,  I printed out a page from education.com to build a small paper model of the Great Pyramid. The kiddoes had a lot of fun with that one.  I printed them out on cardstock so they would be a little sturdier.  Then the kids cut them out, folded them up, and glued them together (with a little help).

 

We got a lot of goofy photos of the kiddoes fooling around with their paper pyramids.  Since they don't have a bottom, they were easy to balance anywhere.

Then it was time for Goblin's favorite part of the lesson: legos!  At first they all wanted to work on one big pyramid together, but that quickly turned into an argument, so I split them all up.

Athena and Goblin both picked small bases and started working on smaller versions for their pyramids, but Hulk still wanted to work on the BIG base.  He didn't end up finishing his model, but he had a very good time working on it.

And since we were already into funny photo mode for the day, we continued taking goofy pictures with our lego creations in progress as well.

Goblin kept working on his for a long time after the rest of us had finished, so I never got a picture of his finished product (he soon after made it into a flying boat; he gets the coolest ideas).

Legos are definitely one of our homeschooling must-haves.  Whenever we use them, they really bring the subject to life for the kiddoes. 

--Little Miss Crazy