Fizzing Letters for Practicing Sight Words

 With Alec scheduled to go to the orthodontist again today we had a very shortened day of school.   Just the same, I was pleased with all the work we managed to get done. 

In Fact I was stunned with all that we managed to get done today!  We had such a fun time.  All three boys especially enjoyed our fizzing sight words (yes even though the big kids know all their sight words they still wanted to participate!)



We started with watching The Science of Disney Imagineering; Magnetism.  We re-learned about magnets and I was able to clarify a few things for Ian that he hadn't understood watching this movie the previous few times.  We learned about electromagnets and how they work, how speakers use magnets, and all the millions of ways magnets are used throughout the Disney parks.

When the movie was over they all started on math.  Ian worked on two pages in his measurement book.  He learned to eyeball measurements and had to practice drawing lines and guessing the measurement of various household items; then he would measure them and compare the actual measurement with his guess. He was usually only off by an inch or two so I thought that was pretty good; I've never been one to eyeball measurement well.  Evan and I worked with fact families in addition and subtraction.  He caught on easily and was finished his two pages in minutes.  Alec worked on multiplying and dividing by 10 with decimals as well as some more rounding and subtracting.

We had a super fun sight word activity today!  Fizzing sight words:

Evan and I read three more stories in Dick and Jane.

I then pulled out some frozen letters I had made over the previous few days.

I had made one batch of ice letters and one batch that were comprised of a baking soda/ water/ Kool-aid mix (I can't give measurements since I didn't use any but I can give you a rough idea).

I added enough baking soda to the bowl that once the paste was made it would fill up our alphabet trays.  I added a small envelope of Kool- Aid and just enough water to make a paste. I then spooned and spread the mixture into the letter trays making sure there were no air bubbles and set the tray in the freezer to dry.

 I had Evan practice spelling a few sight words using the various letters and then told him he could make fizzing sight words.  The older boys wanted in on the action too and so we gave them letters Evan wouldn't be using (like the x, y, z, q, etc.).

The boys all had a mix of ice and paste letters and we filled up some squirt bottles with vinegar.

They loved watching the letter dissolve and remarked on how much slower the reaction was when everything was frozen.  After a bit we could smell the Kool Aid packets and they had fun playing around with the ice and vinegar too.  They noted that the ice got all bumpy and pitted.  They tried stacking ice letters on top of the baking soda letters and seeing what would happen.  They had a ball and told me "this is like science too, isn't it?"

Spelling sight words 



Starting to add some vinegar 







Stacking ice letters on top of baking soda letters

All that is left of "so" after lots of vinegar 
The boys knew school was officially over and decided to pull out all sorts of toys and play. 


A drawing of Ian's I found lying around this afternoon



Learning life skills; Cooking! 

It was Ian's turn to help with dinner tonight.  I've gotten the boys to branch out a bit and tonight Ian's making shaved steak sandwiches and homemade coleslaw.  We started making the coleslaw early so it would have time for all the flavors to combine nicely.

We discovered that we had two pounds of cabbage so we doubled the recipe.  Ian carefully added the fractions together, measured everything out, and mixed it altogether. I'm not a huge fan of coleslaw, as Ian discovered when he asked how I usually make it and I replied that I never really had since I don't like it, but I promised I'd try some tonight.  I want the boys to see that I try new foods too and they don't always have to make foods I love in order for me to eat the meal they prepare.  I'm sure it will be delicious.


Coleslaw Recipe
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Comments

  1. You are making me miss the days of teaching my boys to read! What a fun collection of ideas!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SO you mean someday I'll miss teaching them to read? Because I am the first to admit that listening to my youngest struggle to read is painful to listen to and I just can not wait for the day it all "clicks" and I have three readers in this house. :)

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  2. It looks like you are having a great time learning. I like practicing the spelling for the sight words. This is a great way for older kids that struggle with spelling to practice spelling too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I am finding a lot of the activities we are using for sight words help my older kids with their spelling as well. They love having fun games and activities to liven it up.

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  3. What a fun learning experience. I admire those who can provide their kids with such a variety of learning activities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I sure do try; it helps keep them interested.

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