Fall and Photosynthesis Unit

It's finally here!

The first week of fall!

I love fall immensely.

Well… almost immensely.

The arrival of fall means winter is right around the corner. I am not a fan of winter as it is cold and gray. I am not a fan of cold. And really gray isn’t my favorite either. But then after winter, comes spring! I adore spring. See, there is always something to look forward to.

Besides the yummy tastes and smells of fall, that are so awesome, God paints the trees in such amazing beauty. I love how the trees change colors right before our very eyes. It is like watching the greatest painter ever complete His masterpiece in its entire splendor. And we only have a brief moment to take all of that majestic glory in before it is gone for another year.

Do you see the phrase, "pleasing in appearance?"
God's creativity is beyond anything we can imagine and He creates nature for us to enjoy.

Fall also ushers in the natural time to study why and how leaves change color. This year I decided to also go deeper into the process of how plants create their own food, also known as that big giant word; photosynthesis.

Of course that means checking out as many books on the subject from the library and enjoying some educational videos online. We are also going to put together a lapbook and the older ones will most likely have some type of notebooking and research essay to write. And of course no science unit will be complete without at least one or several experiments or hands on activities.

Below is my list of resources I am going to use this week as we explore and learn. I am sure as we go through our study I will find some more great sites, however this is a starting point that will get us moving in the right direction.

Leaf Color Activity - What color will the leaves on the trees change? Answer this question with this fun activity that can be done with almost any age group to some degree. We have done this particular activity a few times and we will be doing it again this year. The kids love it. 


Photosynthesis Video - This quick animated video shows the process of photosynthesis.

NASA put out this very cool video that shows Photosynthesis from Outer Space.

Ellen Mchenry's Basement Workshop is a goldmine of botany and photosynthesis activities. There is also a lapbook with some very cool mini books. The lapbook elements will work great for notebooking also.


Science Made Simple has a quick and easy to read page about photosynthesis.

If you have Netflix, Magic School Bus Gets Planted (season 3 episode 11) is a fun episode about photosynthesis. There is a very cool activity on their site also that would really be fun. Gets Planted - A-maze-ing Plants

There are of course the fun art projects that include reading the book Leaf Man and making leaf men or other fun pictures, leaf rubbings, and even preserving leaves by ironing them between pieces of wax paper. Of course a nature walk or two are in order this week as well. What are you going to do to kick off fall.

Creative and Intentional Homeschooling

I’ve been pondering this week about how much our homeschool has changed over the years. When I had only younger kids school was almost completely delight directed. We spent our days exploring the world in all we did. I turned everything into a math or science lesson and being intentional in our day was really not a problem. We did unit studies and lapbooks all the time because it was easy to incorporate the basics into whatever subject we were studying.

Making a large volcano outside.
They had to reinforce the sides
of the mountain because it was crumbling.

This new season is a bit different. The older kids are past counting seeds in fruit and studying the life-cycle of bugs we discover. While I am still very intentional in making sure I take every learning opportunity that presents itself those opportunities look very different today than they did just a few years ago. Little G is still at the age of unit studies and lapbooks of pumpkins and apples. While I can still have a day full of spontaneous learning with her, the older ones take more effort.













Being intentional and showing the kids that every day learning opportunities abound, you just have to pay attention. I also have to be willing to go the extra mile and let them do crazy projects and And in order to make sure we get all of our subjects in, I have to convince them that they want to delight in grammar and algebra.

Volcanoes on Sunday

Learning happens every day in our family. We encourage the kids to explore their interests and find answers to their questions. The older girls have been making a decent pile of dirt outside into a big volcano. This project is in its third week now as they have been designing their mountain complete with streams and paths. I am sure trees will be added soon. When they are done, we will have a lot of fun making it blow its top. Little G decided to make her own volcano with a water bottle she made a mountain of mud around and she made a stream and lake at the bottom. She took several days to make it just right. 

On Sunday we made hers erupt. She had so much fun watching the ‘lava’ flow out the top and travel down the mountain into her lake. We actually poured a second batch of vinegar into the top so that she could see it again. The second round was actually better than the first. Such a fun learning moment for her and it didn’t even happen on a school day or during our school hours. Remembering that learning happens all the time is so important.

For this little volcano we used a water bottle that she covered in mud making a mountain.

To make the lava erupt we used about a half cup of baking soda, a squirt of dish soap a few drops of red food dye and about a cup of vinegar. We put everything but the vinegar in first using a funnel and then poured half the vinegar for the first eruption and then the other half for the second eruption.

I can’t wait for the girls to finish their volcano. It will be pretty awesome to watch I am sure.

Extracting Colors From Leaves

Last year I posted about one of the coolest fall science activities with leaves. I thought I would bring up this activity again just because of how fun it is.

Finding out what color the leaves will turn when God paints them for autumn is what this activity/experiment is all about. We use chromatography to extract the different colors that are in leaves. Chlorophyll is what causes the leaves to look green but when the chlorophyll breaks down in the autumn, the leaves' true colors shine through.

I love it when God paints the trees.

First, talk to your kids about why leaves are green and about photosynthesis and the wonderful changes that happen during autumn.

Check out books from the library about leaves and the changing seasons.

Go for a nature walk and check out all the different leaves.

Gather leaves from several different types of trees. Collect leaves that haven't changed colors yet. As you gather the leaves, remember to keep them separated and labeled so they can be identified later on.

Ask the kids what colors they think each leaf will turn for autumn discussing the reasons for their guesses.  Discuss what they think will happen during the experiment.

The Experiment

 

Extracting the colors from leaves is a
fun,easy, and inexpensive science activity.

Cut a coffee filter or two into strips about an inch wide. You will need one strip per leaf.

Gather enough small glasses (like shot glasses, juice glasses or baby food jars) for each leaf.

Get a dish or pan like a brownie pan or cake pan big enough to fit the glasses.

Get a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

You will need something to cut the leaves into tiny pieces and something to smash them when they are in the cups.

Boil some water for later.

While the water is boiling, have the kids cut up the leaves into tiny pieces - we used scissors.

Place each cut up leaf into a different cup.

Put a coffee filter strip in each cup with the top labeled with what leaf is in the cup.

Smash the leaf a bit; this just helps break up the cellular structure so you can get a more vivid result in a shorter amount of time.

Put all the cups into a deep dish or pan.

Pour some rubbing alcohol into each cup. I didn’t really measure this but it was probably a couple tablespoons per glass. I made sure all the leaves were well covered; this is what will extract the color so you don't really want to skimp.

**Remember, rubbing alcohol is not something you want your little ones to handle. Please be careful and keep it out of their reach. Supervise the older kids while doing this. BE SAFE**

Pour the boiling water into the dish or pan that the cups are in. The heat helps the rubbing alcohol do its job. Again, BE SAFE**

Let the cups sit for anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours. Until some of the alcohol has been absorbed by the coffee filters and you see some color spreading up the filters.

Pull out the filter strips and let dry. You will see all the colors separated out. Some will be more vibrant than others. If you use leaves that haven't changed yet, they will give the best results I found. You can also test to see the difference between the same type of leaf during the different stages of color changing.

chlorophyll – greens
carotenoid – yellow & orange-red
anthocyanin - reds

Depending on the age of your kids and what you are studying, you can go into all sorts of scientific studies, from the very basic of what color will the filter turn, or how much of each compound is in each leaf, or even why the alcohol worked. It's all up to you.

Solar Oven Fun

A few weeks ago we had a heat wave. If you follow my instagram you may have seen this pic of the thermometer that is on my back porch. It gets full sun for a few hours in the afternoon. I think the official temp for that Saturday ended up being 111.

Whatever the case, it was ludicrous hot in our back yard. So in order make the best of a scorching day, we decided to bake cookies...

in solar ovens.

I decided each of the kids could make their own solar oven and each one could be designed differently. Then we would see which one worked the best. Each of the kids set to work making their solar ovens with my assistance only in the cutting of things like the foil pans. We loaded up the pans with the cookie dough and set them outside to see what would happen. Outside actually smelled like cookie near where we put the ovens. If outside smelled like cookies every time it was ludicrous hot, the heat might actually be worth it. Wouldn't you agree? The surprising result of our experiment was that all the solar ovens basically worked the same.

I didn’t go out and buy anything. I actually had everything already so it was such an easy project. I had explored the internet looking at a bunch of ideas and some were very detailed and exact in how a solar oven is to be put together but then I found some that were less exact. What I noticed while watching the kids make their ovens, is that as long as the basic principles are kept, it really doesn’t matter. So the basic principles of a solar oven are that black absorbs heat and metal reflects light to help increase the heat.

Solar Oven made by Mr V

Solar Oven made by Miss K

Solar Oven made by Little G

Solar Oven made by Miss H

There are a few things I have decided we will do a bit differently next time.

Like...


























We will remember to use parchment paper under the cookies so they don't stick to our pans.

I will be making new “pans” for the next time we make cookies or anything like cookies. I used aluminum foil covered poster board squares. Next time I will use black poster board with parchment paper taped to the top. This will help absorb more heat so the cookies will hopefully cook better.

I will also try to get them out a little earlier. We ended up with shade a bit sooner than planned.

Little G with her Solar Cookies

We used this cookie recipe to make little cookies. Cookies will take about 2-3 hours to cook and you need to make sure you flatten the balls of dough a bit to ensure they cook in the center. There are several websites devoted to solar cooking, look up what you want to try. We will be using our ovens a lot this summer. The kids asked to make cookies again and I decided we could totally make lunch in them. And each time I am going to let the kids improve on their designs. I love that we are doing science while on summer break. In our house the learning never stops.

Homeschool Chromatography Lesson

With autumn in full force, the leaves are turning colors. I love it when God paints the tress. Have you ever wondered how he does it? Last year we did an experiment that was so fun we did it twice and the kids want to do it again this year.

We used chromatography to extract the different colors that are in leaves. Chlorophyll is what causes the leaves to look green but when the chlorophyll breaks down in the fall, the leaves' true colors shine through. Extracting the chlorophyll – greens, carotenoid – yellow & orange-red, and anthocyanin - reds from the leaves is a really fun, easy, and inexpensive science activity.

First, talk to your kids about why leaves are green and photosynthesis and the wonderful changes that happen during autumn. Check out books from the library about leaves and the changing seasons. Go for a nature walk and check out all the different leaves. While you are out and about (or even in your own backyard) gather leaves from different types of trees outside. If you can identify the trees that the leaves come from, that is great. If you can’t figure out what the trees are, that’s okay. Try to collect leaves that haven't turned yet. We collected from all around our area. We had so many leaves it was kind of crazy. As you gather the leaves, remember to keep them sorted so they can be identified later on.

I asked the kids what colors they thought each leaf would turn when it was time and we discussed our hypotheses and why we came up with the answers that we did.

Do all the prep for the experiment. Cut a coffee filter or two into strips. Gather some small glasses, a deep dish or pan, and grab some rubbing alcohol. You will need something to cut the leaves into tiny pieces and something to smash them when they are in the cups. Boil some water for later.

While the water is boiling, have the kids cut up the leaves into tiny pieces - we used scissors.

Place each cut up leaf into a different cup. We used shot glasses because I just happen to have a bunch of them (they are great mini beakers) but you can use any small glass container, like baby food jars. I haven't tried small paper cups but they might work.

Smash the leaf a bit; this just helps break up the cellular structure so you can get a more vivid result in a shorter amount of time.

Put a coffee filter strip in each cup with the top labeled with what leaf is in the cup. Now is when you will be glad you kept them sorted.

Put all the cups into a deep dish or pan. We used a pie plate.

Chromatography Science Activity

Pour some rubbing alcohol into each cup. I didn’t really measure this but it was probably a couple tablespoons per glass. I made sure all the leaves were well covered; this is what will extract the color so you don't really want to skimp.

Remember, rubbing alcohol is not something you want your little ones to handle. Please be careful and keep it out of their reach. Supervise the older kids while doing this.

BE SAFE

Pour the boiling water into the dish or pan that the cups are in. The heat helps the rubbing alcohol do its job.
Again, BE SAFE

Let the cups sit for anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours. Until some of the alcohol has been absorbed by the coffee filters and you see some color spreading up the filters.

Pull out the filter strips and let dry. You will see all the colors separated out. Some will be more vibrant than others. If you use leaves that haven't changed yet, they will give the best results I found. You can also test to see the difference between the same type of leaf during the different stages of color changing.

Depending on the age of your kids and what you are studying, you can go into all sorts of scientific studies, from the basic what color will it turn to how much of each compound is in each leaf to even why the alcohol worked. It's all up to you. 

Like I said this was really fun to do and the kids asked if we could do it again this year.

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Updated 9/21/2014