Monday Musings {Quietube}

{Sorry about last week! We started the week off out of town, and we had to get our routines back when we came home. Thanks for being patient!}

Sometimes in class, Youtube is my biggest helper. I can generally find exciting clips of projects we are about to make or detailed video diagrams of certain concepts. But, as you know if you've ever used Youtube before, the comments are open to any kind of language and sometimes suggested videos on the side aren't appropriate for the audience. Some teachers used Quietube - so I thought I'd share. Quietube takes out all the comments and side videos and just shows you the single video playing with one ad below it. I haven't used it much, but I've been very grateful for it the few times I have! Here's an example of one video I might show in class, which happens to be a person launching a rocket made from plastic soda bottles. Pretty awesome.

Using Youtube

Using Quiettube

This does ask to put a bookmark on your internet, so disclaimer there. But once you have the bookmark, you just find a video on Youtube, push the Quietube button  on your bookmark (Similar to a 'Pin it' button) and it transfers you to the quietube site with the original video. Check out Quietube.com if you're interested. So far, I've had no trouble with it. Enjoy!

Anything Else Fridays {Finishing up}

I'm real excited (and relieved) to report the Projects Completed this week!

Other side of Pillow cover for baby girl's room. Design by cluckclucksew

Still no curtain rod, but I'd say this baby girl's room is done! Finished the race, but hasn't gotten the medal yet kind of done :)

Flip side of the pillow

This gallery wall was tricky! I had a few different arrangements that I really loved and so I put the different sizes of paper on the wall only to discover that the spotlight above gave really weird shadows! So I decided nothing could go underneath the middle one, which is going to house a cute typography of our family mission statement. So I had to go out horizontally. In the end, I made a single breakage line on both sides of the middle frame and matched up the little ones to keep the breakage line obvious through the whole thing. Yes, I made up the term breakage line. It's the new planking.

Thursday Teaching {Paper Bridges}

Project: Paper Bridges

Concept: Structures

I usually teach a unit on Bridges to my students using Dominos, followed by a project making different kinds of bridges out of popsicle sticks/balsa wood/toothpicks. If made correctly, these bridges hold some substantial weight - It's not unusual for a toothpick bridge to hold 50 lbs!

For today's experiment, we're using index cards, which won't hold quite that much weight in this configuration :)

Start with a single index card and lay it across to create your bridge. How many pennies can this bridge hold? 

When a horizontal piece is supported on either end by piers, it is a beam bridge. Ever walk across a log above a river? Beam bridge! Beam bridges rely on the stiffness of the building material.

There are three kinds of beam bridges shown here and one arch bridge.
The arch bridge was made by cutting slits on both ends of the index card and slipping those slits into the cover of the book. Try them all out and let me know how much your best bridge held!

What other bridge designs can you come up with?

Materials needed: Books, index cards, and a whole lot of pennies!

One single flat card

Lasted ~22 pennies

One folded index card

Supports a lot more weight!

Arch Bridge

Another Beam bridge

Tuesday Teaching {Tightrope Walker}

Project: Tightrope walker 

Concept: Center of Balance

I was excited to find a couple emails last week from family wanting to know the science behind some interesting phenomenons. Which inspired me to think of how much more fun this would be for your kids if they were experimenting with their very own questions. So find out your kid's questions and let me know through the 'Ask Mrs. V' button on the sidebar ---------------------->

Thanks all!

One of the questions last week was:

Why do tightrope walkers carry those long poles?

This question may or may not have been spurred on by the recent feat of Nik Wallenda crossing the Niagara Falls. I only found out about this yesterday, but after reading how many viewers this attracted, I'm sure I'm the only one to not know about this.

Source here

He crossed the Niagara Falls in less than an hour. And yes, he did carry one of those long poles. But why?

This relates to center of gravity. Remember when we made the Balancing Bird? The bird would not balance because the center of gravity was not directly over the fingertip, or balance point. We needed to adjust the 'weight' of the bird so that the center of the 'weight' was at a point directly above the fingertip. 

A tightrope walker changes his center of mass by adding a pole. 

Stand up with your feet together and have someone gently (gently, brothers! :) try to push you over. It's pretty easy, right? 

Now stand with your feet spread apart and have someone gently try to push you over. That is harder to do. Even if you were to push harder than before, you would probably not be able to push them over. 

When you are standing straight up, your center of gravity, or middle of the 'weight', is more or less your stomach. When your feet are spread apart, your center of gravity is lower than it was before. When your center of gravity is lower, you are more stable because you are closer to the balancing point.

A tightrope walker on a thin wire is not able to spread his feet apart, but they CAN lower their center of gravity by holding a drooping pole with a little weight on either end.

Find a thin sidewalk to set up your own tightrope walk and grab a broom (with the end off) to test your skills!

Also, check out this balancing experiment for your project today:

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/balancing-forks

Monday Musings {Tech Current Event}

Project Glass. All you ever needed from your computer on your glasses, made by Google (surprise!).

Anything Else Fridays {DC Tourists}

I finished the curtains this week! And tried to get the rest of the house in order. I'll wait until it's all done (and we get a curtain rod :) to show pictures. In the meantime, I thought I'd share the following list from our friends, the Wallaces. They have lived in DC for a couple years and have taken advantage of every opportunity imaginable here. Here's their complete list of sites they have visited in DC:

C & O Canal State Park
Great Falls
MLK Memorial
WW I D.C. Memorial
The Phillips Collection (Art Museum)
Lady Bird Johnson Park
Navy Merchant-Marine Memorial
DEA Museum
D.C. United (MLS)
Albert Einstein Memorial
George Mason Memorial
African American Civil War Museum
African American Civil War Memorial
National Arboretum
Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum
Wizards Game (NBA)
Nat'l Geographic Museum
Ben's Chili Bowl
National Harbor
Spy Museum
Capitals NHL Game
Six Flags DC
Pentagon 9/11 Memorial
Udvar-Hazy Smithsonian
NFL RedSkins Game
US Marine Corps Museum
Air Force Memorial
US Marine Memorial (Iwo Jima)
National Gallery of Art (East and West Building)
Newseum
US Postal Museum (Smithsonian)
American Indian Museum (Smithsonian)
Hirshhorn Museum (Smithsonian)
National Portrait Gallery
Crime & Punishment Museum
Monticello
Smithsonian Natural History Museum
Vietnam War Memorial
Korean War Memorial
Potomac River
Rock Creek Park
Jefferson Memorial
Library of Congress
U.S. Botanical Gardens
U.S. Capitol - House Floor
Smithsonian Ripley International Gallery
Smithsonian African Art Museum
Smithsonian Freer Gallery
Smithsonian Sackler Gallery
Smithsonian Castle
Mount Vernon
Fredericksburg: Civil War Sites
Georgetown
Thomas Sweet Ice Cream Co.
White House
Washington D.C. Temple
George Washington Masonic Temple
Arlington National Cemetery
Washington Nationals Game
National Zoo
Freedom Plaza (WTU Protest)
National Cathedral
Holocaust Museum
Smithsonian American History Museum
Lincoln Memorial
World War II Memorial
Washington Monument
Harman Center for the Arts
National Archives
Navy Memorial
Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Ford's Theatre
Hard Rock Cafe
National Mall
Union Station

Along with being incredibly impressive, this was incredibly motivating! I think it's easy to get in the mindset of 'we can tour whenever we want because we live here' and then spend Saturdays shopping or .. in our case most of the time... napping and watching Netflix. The colored ones above were places Matt and I have gone to - me only in pink, and both of us in purple. Our goal is to keep turning those places purple :) Thanks Wallaces for sharing!

Tuesday Teaching {Soap Fest}

Project: Soap Fest

 

Materials needed. Half & Half is used here as substitute for Whole Milk. Use whole milk if you have it! Use any flat tray you have - a cookie sheet works great too.

Pour enough half & half/whole milk to create a thin layer on the bottom of the tray. Use a few different food colorings and make 6-8 drops anywhere in the tray.

Pour drops of dish soap onto the food coloring. If you're quick, try to hit multiple spots of food coloring!

The initial spread is the most exciting. But continue to watch the dish soap drop and you will notice food coloring fizzing out of that circle for much longer!

When the reaction stops, mix the colors for some fun. Wash tray in the sink when finished - DO NOT DRINK.

Why does this happen? Let's think about Dish Soap. How does this liquid keep our dishes clean? More or less, it breaks down the fat molecules in food. Whole milk has.. lots of fat molecules. Try with reduced fat milk and you will see that this experiment doesn't really work.

As we pour the dish soap into the milk, the dish soap begins to break up the fat molecules in the milk. The food coloring doesn't add to the reaction, but allows us to see the reaction take place. 

Experiment! Does the size of the tray matter? Are there dish soaps that do a better job than others?