The Sense Organs, Sense of Taste, and Sense of Smell (Week 4 & 5 RTR)

These past two weeks, for our Science, we began taking a more indepth look at the 5 senses.

This is one of several books we are using this year. This book shows us how to make simple paper models of various body parts. The instructions are easy to follow and all you need is a pair of scissors, some tape, and colored pencils.



This was the first model we made from the book above. The top page has flaps cut out of it to reveal the sense organs underneath. Coyote did a nice job coloring this one.



This second model is of the mouth and tongue. We used this to learn more about the sense of taste. Road Runner colored this one. The model has a page on top with a pair of lips. You open the lips to reveal the inside of the mouth, and another flap on top of the tongue shows where different taste buds can taste bitter, sweet, sour and salty.



We had a taste test one day using lemon juice (sour), instant coffee (bitter), sugar (sweet), salt (salty), strawberry syrup (sweet), and dill pickle juice (sour).

  

Another experiment revealed how the taste of juices are hard to distiguish from each other if you do not have the sense of smell to help you out.

That's as far as we made it with the senses but, in the coming weeks, we will be learning more about the other senses of hearing, seeing, and touch.

COMPUTER CLASS: Hoops & YoYo Video Maker

A friend of mine sent me a link to a Hoops & YoYo Video Maker from Hallmark. So, one day this past week, the kids and I had "computer class" and took turns making our own videos. Coyote, of course, caught on right away and had a great time making his videos. Road Runner doesn't normally like to play games on the computer, so she just watched her brother and I make our videos at first. After she was familiar with how its all done, she decided to give it a try. She did a really great job, and had no problem maneuvering the mouse to add in the various parts of the video. She did most of it all on her own, and LOVES the final product.

Here are the links to each of the videos we made, in the order we made them. Hope you enjoy them...

COYOTE'S VIDEO:  Hyper Exploding Boogie-Thing

MOM'S VIDEO:  Caffeinated Dazzlelicious Fancy Dance

ROAD RUNNER'S VIDEO:  Twinkly Hip-Hop Noodle

WEEK 3: Temperature, Mosaic Art, Recorder Lessons, and Cheese Bites

Pictures from our week:

Science experiment about TEMPERATURE REGULATION and how our body responds. The bowl on the right is ice cold water, the bowl on the left is warm tap water, the bowl in the middle is cool tap water.

After holding their finger in the ice water and the warm water for 20 seconds, they placed them into the cool water and noticed how the cool water felt warm to their right hand after it had been in ice water, and the cool water felt cold to their left hand after it had been in warm water.

We learned about MOSAIC ART, which was popular in ancient Rome. So, we used this Magnetic Mosaics Kids set that we already had (You can find it on Amazon.com) and the kids worked together to make one of the pictures. You can see it below.

They made a sunflower.

We began RECORDER LESSONS this week, using a simple book called "Hands On Recorder," and began learning the notes of B, A, G, and E (both on the staff and on the recorder itself). Coyote is loving this and, so far, we have learned 4 new short songs. Road Runner sort of gave up after 2 days. It is just too hard for her to get her fingers positioned over the holes correctly. So, I'm not making her play anymore, but she will still be learning about the notes on the staff. Maybe we can find something else for her to play.

For Home Ec, we used a simple recipe for BAKED STRING CHEESE BITES. Coyote cut Light String Cheese into chunks while Road Runner and I mixed up the breading. I will post the recipe at the end but, here, the kids are dipping the chunks into milk, then breading them and placing them onto a cookie sheet. (Road Runner did not like this, as she doesn't like getting her hands messy, but I asked her do two or three anyway.)

After 8 minutes in the oven, this is how they came out.

Dip the cheese bites into warm pizza sauce and eat. They are delicious!

Here is the recipe for the Cheese Bites. I got it from THIS BLOG that I found on Pinterest.com, but I modified it a bit...

BAKED STRING CHEESE BITES

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs (Italian seasoned kind is best, but plain will work too.)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic
1 cup skim milk
Several Lite String Cheese sticks

NOTE:  1 tsp. of salt was a bit too salty for us, so I would recommend cutting it back to 1/2 tsp.

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Slice the cheese into chunks. Dip chunks into milk, then into the breading. (I added another step here and dipped the chunks in milk and breading a second time to help coat them really well). Place onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 425 degrees. (8 minutes was perfect for us).
Let cool a bit, then dip into warmed pizza sauce.

Enjoy!



Linked Up With:

RTR Week 2: Julius Caesar, Brain Concentration, etc.

Here are a few pictures from

week 2 of Rome to the Reformation...

As I read about Julius Caesar and Octavius from "Augustus
Caesar's World," Coyote drew the scenes on the white board.

  

We learned about the left and right hemispheres of the brain
and how the left controls the right side, and vice versa.



The kids tried to pat their heads and rub their tummies
to show how it takes concentration to do things like this.

  

We played an Odd and Even game from ancient Roman times,
using beans (originally used with small stones).

This is a wall hanging we received from my husband's parents at Christmas. It is hanging in our school room, and we used it on Friday as we talked about being responsible by loving God and loving others.