Power Tools; don't you just love the sound of motor working faster than your hands ever could? So do the children. My husband cut out more birdhouses and yesterday 4 were constructed with the help of my cordless drill/screwdriver. My father would have fainted if he had seen us but as I held the drill upright and the children pulled the trigger, their squeals of delight overcame my trepidation and my father's ever cautious voice in my ear. They loved the vibrating action when the screw was set. They loved building at twice the speed of the first birdhouses. They loved the smell of the motor and wood. And well, what's not to love about power tools?
We built a fifth house today but it won't be sold. It will be a gift for our Hollins student who has diligently and lovingly worked for and with our class all year. She asked about buying one of the birdhouses so I knew she really wanted one. I can't wait for the children to decorate it.
Yesterday we finally got to Xan's favorite space word; gravity. I pulled out an aluminum pan, several round disks and a magnet. I explained deep within the Earth were rocks full of iron. Between the motion of Earth's rotation and the iron, our planet was one big magnet. I held the pan vertically with the magnet behind it. Then I put 2 disks in place and they were amazed that they stayed put. I told them the disks were like people, buildings, trees and the oceans and all stayed on the planet because of Earth's gravitational pull (aka magnetic force). When I pulled the magnet away, of course, everything fell off.
Today i used the same pan and added paper with a bit of paint. I threw in 2 paper clips and used the magnet on the underside to "paint". As I moved the magnet, the paper clips pulled the paint around the paper. Since I'm no artist we mostly got a large black blob but Titus piped up to say his dad could make a cloud out of that paint.
Next came the magic of opposite poles. The magnets I had out were covered on one end so Pam Welsh (our Speech Therapist) pulled out 2 of her magnets and we demonstrated how opposite poles pulled together but like pole pushed apart. Each child held the magnets and you tell the very moment they felt the poles pushing away from each other. Next we tested a variety of materials to see if they were attracted to the magnets. We made a discovery bin for further play.
We have been playing with some of the different ways Cherry taught us to use paint. We already water colored our suns and yesterday we used an oil paint marbling technique she showed us. I mixed black oil paint with odorless paint thinner and then floated it on water. The children used a tongue depressor to swirl the paint and then we laid paper on top. When removed we had the beginnings of a galaxy picture.
If it sounds a little frenetic in our room with construction, art projects and lessons all going on while the children prepare for Arts Festival, well I must admit it is. The children are nonplussed by all the commotion but I'm beginning to feel like a top spinning out of control. It's a good thing I have 10 little friends to stop me and ask yet another great question!
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