Wednesday, January 26, 2011

New Science Curriculum

I have been using the standard Harcourt Science book that most public schools use.  I thought it had great science projects.  But the boys hated science class.  So I have been trying to come up with some curriculum and ways to get them to not whine as much about science class.  We are trying online Science Jim classes also right now through Currclick.  But I also found this package called Real Science 4 Kids.  Awesome part......you can buy EBOOKS!!!  Why pay for someone else's paper?!!??!?!  So I broke down and gave up with our other curriculum and bought a set of e-books.  


Benefits:  I can put it on their computers and let them read through the very kid-friendly print.  I also have a technology savy hubby that knows how to hook my laptop to our TV in the living room, so I can make our TV similar to a smartboard (without being able to "write" on it).  So we read through our assignment with lots of pictures and then started in on the experiments.  I decided to start very basic with the boys to keep their interest.  Lydia can also do this along with us.  Pre-Level I is K - 3.  Our first lesson was on Gravity.

First we dropped tennis balls (you can see our TV in the background.  I had already moved over to the eWorkbook pages, so I could point with my cursor to where they needed to fill things out.  I still need my whiteboard until I figure out a "sticky notes" software on my computer.

Then we tried a potato and apple.  It was hard for them to keep their hands lined up to drop them evenly.  The experiment called for oranges and apples....but someone (namely Lydia) ate the last orange that morning before I could grab it off the fruit tray.  So we had to find something else round.



Then I let them run and get toys out of their room to try.  Joey got a super ball and Brayden got a plastic slinky.  I forgot to get out the feather that day.  We will have to do that next class.

After making our hypothesis, Experimenting and observing, we were able to draw our conclusions.  We discovered that gravity draws objects down at the same rate. 

It was fun...the kids had fun....and they are looking forward to next class!!

2 comments:

  1. Please tell me how your hook up computer stuff to the TV I want to be able to do that cause right now my kids fight over the computer screen saying that can't see what it is I would like to see when working together. Having it on the large TV would be such a huge relief from the headache of them fussing all the time:)

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  2. My hubby says that your laptop/computer must have HDMI and so does your TV. There is a cable that you purchase and plug them in. It should be that easy...plug and see. If you do not have HDMI on either device then you can do it, but you will have to buy extra equipment and it takes alot more. I was having trouble emailing you. If you have any other questions please email them to my account..renitakuehner@gmail.com.

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