Sebastian started his lesson by opening his slide show on tornadoes and discussing with me the next direction he would go in to build the information. Sebastian and I talked about the tornadoes in Bangledesh. He took note that 1000 people died during these tornadoes. We discussed the dense population of Bangledesh as a contributing factor to the number of deaths there. Sebastian became iterested in the topic of increase in the intensity of tornadoes. We explored several graphs and found that one of the most active years for tornadoes was 2008, the year he was born. Sebastian was interested to learn that the jet stream seems to be moving north and that the usual "Dixie Alley" is not the only location where tornadoes are born now. He read about tornadoes also moving across states such as Georgia, and making a path of thirty miles wide. These are new facts for the behavior of tornadoes. When discussing format for these slides, when I saw Sebastian begin to copy, cut and paste from a website, I discussed the concept of original work and plagiarism. Sebastian had no experience with this concept. We discussed how you can block quote a few important remarks from someone that you need to quote to further a discussion you are writing, but that the main text has to be in your own words after you have read from a few sources. Sebastian continued to be interested in tornadoes enough to watch a short video of tornado chasers. He was interested to study the speed of the wind in several tornadoes.

Sebastian began his lesson today explaining to me that he is doing a unit on weather. He expressed his great interest in studying tornadoes. For our activity, I had Sebastian start a slide show in Pages. Since Sebastian has a MacBook Air, we sat side by side with my MacBook Air open to the same program. I showed Sebastian how we needed to make a quick pencil and paper storyboard so that we could consider what is important to present in his slide show. Sebastian was very quick to show me the depth of his knowledge about tornadoes. The slides were divided into five subject areas: causes of tornadoes, history of tracking tornadoes, comparision of various famous tornadoes, how to measure the speed of a tornado, how to prepare for a tornado. Sebastian was most interested in the El Reno tornado in Okahoma in 2013. He knew the wind speed was 296 miles per hour. He knew that the tornadoes are rated on the Fujita Scale and that this tornado was an EF-5. Sebastian typed very quickly to develop a lively text. He hunted for pictures and inserted them into his presentation. I taught hiim how to find black and white drawings of tornadoes and clip art about tornadoes. Sebastian and I worked on exciting fonts and highlighting effects. He tried to add a musical sound track to make the movie more interesting. Sebastian learned how to make his movie "go live." He was excited to work on this project.

Christopher and I worked on making a ballista using his 'Tinker Crate'. When it is finished, he will experiment with trajectory. We watched a brief video on the physics of a ballista. Chritoper learned that a ballista has potential energy and that when it is released, the stored energy turns into energy of motion and is transerred to the launched object.

Zeta enjoyed conducting experiements that had to do with water temperature, freezing points and the energy of heat in water. Zeta learned that salt lowers the freezing point of water to below 0 degrees Celsius. She also learned that warm water has more energy than cold water, meaning that molecules move faster in warm water than in cold water. Zeta enjoyed the hands-on experiments. She researched why the experiments worked scientifically.

Christopher began his science lab today with an overview of six stations all devoted to experiments or activities involving magnetism.
The lab included making of a compass. This activity helped Christopher to see how he could magnetize a paper clip and place it on a plastic object floating on water. The magnetic north caused the compass to rotate to the Cardinal direction of due North. The validity of the experiment was compared against a read compass. Christopher also did a lab on using a magnet on a variety of items in a tray. Some of these items were not attracted to the magnet such as clay, a marble, and a sponge. Other objects like tacks, a nail, and a metal clip were attracted. Christopher was surprised when he was able to pick up a pin cushion with a magnet simply because there were tiny pins in it. He needed to list four items that were attracted to the magnet and four objects that were not attracted to the magnet. On a third station, Christopher built floating magnets on a pencil by slipping four circle magnets onto a pencil so that the like poles were facing. Christopher was able to demonstrate how the magnets needed to be manipulated in such a way that all of the same poles were facing each other. He did a great job of this activity. At a fourth station, Christopoher made a train of four bar magnets to see the attraction of one magnet after the other. At a fifth station, Christopher tested the strength of three different parts of a horseshoe magnet. He found that the south side held 10 paper clips and the north side held 11 paper clips. Christopher tested the strength of the magnet each time that he added another paper clip. He also tested the middle of the magnet and found that it had no magnetic strength. Christopoher also did a sixth station where he tested the strength of a magnet as it attracted metal objects through various barriers. At the end of the lesson, Christopher devised an experiment to see what would happen if he placed iron filings in a plastic cup along with a paper clip. Christopher was very proud of himself when he designed his own experiment. He noted that the paper clip was magnetized as well as the iron filings and that the iron filings were attracted to the paper clip.

Christopher started his lab today by reading an essay on magnetism by a web site called ReadWorks. Christopher was taught how to use a highlighter to highlight important ideas. Christopher recognized the definition of magnetism and highlighted it. We discussed the reading one paragraph at a time as Christopher read aloud. Christopher highlighted the definition for electromagnet. I drew a diagram for him on the back of his paper. He read about a current. We discussed the experiment we did last week with the building of a circuit with a battery. We discussed how the negative charge of the battery travels as a current through the wire, then through the light bulb, and back to the positive side of the battery, creating an electric current. Chrisopher recalled the use of the switch in order to make both an open and a closed circuit. Christopher underlined the important facts about the Earth having a magnetic field as well as the planets, the moon, and the sun. He read about how animals such as pigeons and dolphins use their own response to the Earth's magnetic field by being able to travel long distances with correct directionality. Christopher watched a video about a magical levitation of a small magnet. We discussed how this was possible. Christopher reviewed the concept of how the opposite poles of the magnet attract and the same side poles will repel. Christopher reviewed this vocabulary from the handout he has in his notebook. Christopher worked with circle magnets, bar magnets, and horseshoe magnets. He experienced the attraction of the magnets when the poles were opposite and he experienced the push and repulsion of the magnets that were facing each other with the same poles. He experienced the formations caused when iron filings are placed in a semi transparent plastic dish. Christopher placed the magnet beneath the tray and saw that he could get the iron filings to stand up and to move around in clumps. Christopher worked on the experiment to levitate some paper clips. He saw the paper clips appear to be flying when the magnetic field was so strong that it could keep the paper clips afloat when even an inch away from the magnet. Chrisotpher prepared the experiment to levitate a feather. He attached a feather to a paperclip and used a strong horseshoe magnet and a circle magnet to get the feather to move slightly before it attracted to the magnet.

Christopher started his lab today by reading about an electromagnet because this was the activity for the lab. Christopher explained the important facts and I helped to transcribe it into his notebook. He told me that an electromagnet is be made by wrapping a wire around a nail and attaching it to a battery. Christopher was introduced to the materials that he needed. He began to wrap the wire around the nail. Then I helped him attach it to the battery terminals. Christopher tried to see if the nail was magnetized enough to pick up paper clips. With only 6 wraps of wire, the nail could not hold any paper clips. Next, Christopher wrapped the wire around the nail six more times. This time, when we attached it to the terminals of the battery, the nail could hold four paper clips. Christopher continued to wrap wire around the nail in intervals of six wire wraps. Each time, the wire was then connected to the two terminals of the battery and the nail was tested to see how much magnetism it had by attempting to see how many paper clips it could hold. Christopher found that the more wire wraps he did, the more paper clips the nail could hold when attached to the battery. Christopher explained this conclusion to me and I wrote it in his notebook. The second experiment that Christopher conducted was the making of a circuit. He was introduced to all of the materials he would need. Christopher examined the socket, the bulb, and the wires with little gator teeth. He began to attach the wire to the terminal on the battery and then to the socket. The next wire, Christopher attached from the socket to the other side of the battery. Christopher was happy to see that he made the light bulb turn on. The second part of this experiment was to include a switch in the circuit. Christopher needed some help to visualize how the circuit would be constructed. He then could see that the wire would go from the socket to the switch and that another wire was needed to go from the switch to the negative terminal on the battery. Christopher was successful in making the light bulb go off and on by opening and closing the circuit. To complete the assignment, Christopher drew a diagram showing how he made a circuit from a battery to a socket with a bulb, to a switch, and back to the battery. This was a great experience for Christopher.

Given 100 toothpicks and a cup of gum drops, Cabo was tasked with creating the tallest Christmas Tree he could. He created a plan and then made revisions to his design as he built. Cabo built a broad base and then a tall, spiked tower on the top. He attempted to add walls, but had difficulty adding them to the structure. He built a tall and sturdy structure. We discussed what he could do to improve his design and how he dealt with challenges while building. Cabo seemed to really enjoy the activity.

Christopher was absent for science lab today.

Tuesday, June 04, 2019
10:00 - 12:00; 120 min. -
Science enrichment:
Monopoly -
I continued a game of monopoly, started during his last class. As we played, I challenged Dutch with adding and subtracting the amounts of rent or property purchases he faced. As banker, I insisted he organize his money and keep track of his money. This was a short class, but I felt he was more appreciative of his winnings because he was forced to measure and monitor his assets.