Today Gavin did more experimenting with magnets.  First he tested different magnets to see which would pick up the most magnetic chips.

Then he put a piece of paper between the magnet and the magnetic chips to see if the magnetic force would carry through the paper.  It did for our stronger magnets, but not the weaker magnets, although Gavin could still feel a 'pull'.

Then he did the same thing but with a plastic lid.  Most magnets did not pick it up, only the strongest one did.

He recorded his findings in his science journal.

Finally, he tried the strongest magnet with a block of wood.  He couldn't even feel a 'pull' this time.

These are the books we read today.

We have been using this Super Magnet Lab for our experiments this week.  It's been a great resource for us!

Adelaide continues to entertain us with her cuteness!  Here she is hanging out with us yesterday morning during school.

Once a month Gavin goes to a class at the anthropology department at the University.  Each month they focus on a different country, exploring the culture by playing games and making crafts.  This month was perfect because the country was South Africa which is the country we have been studying this month.  Gavin made a Zulu shield for his craft.  Austin liked it so much that this morning he had to make one of his own.  Luckily I'm a pack rat and had no problem finding scraps of poster board, construction paper and feathers.  Sometimes hoarding comes in handy!

We didn't have a dowel for Austin's shield but it's probably safer that way.

Here is Adelaide this morning getting into things.

Gavin is still working on the terms 'quarter past' and 'quarter til' in telling time.

In math he practiced finding 'differences' and then we played difference War.

This week we are learning about magnets.  Yesterday we read about magnets but didn't have a chance to do our experiment so we did it today.  Gavin tried to put magnets together at different poles and recorded whether they attracted or repelled.  

Then he had to find three magnetic objects in the house.

Finally he used different types of magnets to attract a magnetic marble to see which magnet was strongest.  He recorded the distance from which the magnet attracted the marble (when it started rolling towards the magnet).

Yesterday we read about magnets in these books.

Today we read two more chapters in A Pioneer Sampler.

Adelaide has started taking a few tentative steps.  She is taking it slow but the boys and I have been enjoying watching her try!

I've already started planning second grade, hence the giant stack of curriculum you see her leaning against!

Gavin has been working on prefixes and suffixes as well as ABC order.

Today he also pretended to be a clock telling me the time with his 'minute' hand.

After getting a foot of snow a few days ago, we woke up this morning with more snow!  Even Gavin didn't go outside for too long today so I think we have about had enough of it for this winter.

Since we had to stay inside we played with electricity!  First we read a chapter in our science book about electricity and then a library book about electricity.  Then we got out Snap Circuit Jr, a toy from fatbraintoys.com, which is one of my favorite stores for kids toys.  The boys loved it!  Basically it has different parts you can connect together with batteries to make things happen.  First we just did a simple circuit to turn on a little light bulb.  Then Gavin took over and made another circuit that caused a fan to spin.   Here he is working on the fan.

And it works!

Next he attached a speaker to the batteries and it played 'Happy Birthday'.  The boys thought this was hilarious!

Finally, Gavin attached a resistor to the circuit and played the music again and it played more quietly than before.  We had so much fun we decided to do some more on Thursday!

These are the books we read today.