Our Moon

Today our family did a really cool science experiment to show how the moon moves around the earth. To do this, my sister stood still while I moved around her in a circle. We learned that there are 8 different phases in a lunar month. As the position of the moon in relation to the sun changes, we see different amounts of its day side. It takes 27 days for the moon to spin on its axis, and it also takes 27 days for it to revolve around the earth, so we always see the same side of the moon. The lunar month is 29 days long because both the earth and the moon are spinning as the moon revolves around the earth.

We also learned about how the moon affects tides on earth. The moon's gravity pulls water towards itself, causing high and low tides. When the moon and sun are both pulling the same way, very high tides are made. These are also called spring tides. When they are at a 90 degree angle to each other, it makes a very small tide.

The Spinning Earth

Today we learned about how the earth spins. One of the experiments we did was to make a pendulum. We filled a two liter soda bottle with sand and hung it on a tree branch. When we swung it, it did not go just straight. It changed directions slightly on every swing. Another thing is that while it was swinging, it went in small circles. The earth is like the pendulum, it rotates and spins.

Another thing we did to learn about the earth is we went to the darkest room in the house. One of us held a rubber ball and spun it counter clockwise, while the other one shone a flashlight on it. This was to represent the sun and earth. Only half of the "earth" was hit by the flashlight at a time. All of the experiments we did were really cool.

The Food Chain

We all need energy in order to live, as does every other living thing. Every time we do something (walk, run) we use energy to do so. All living things get energy from food. Energy is needed for living beings to grow.

A food chain shows how each living thing gets food. A food chain begins with plant life and ends with animal life. A simple food chain would be a flower to caterpillar to bird. A more complex chain would be grass to grasshopper to mouse to snake to hawk. After the hawk dies, decomposers like fungi break down the remains of the hawk and turn them into nutrients. Those are released into the soil and cause the grass to grow along with sun and water. This completes a whole circle of life and energy.

So a food chain makes a full circle. There can be a lot of links in the food chain, but if there are too many, the animal at the end will not get enough energy.

Eating low on the food chain is a good idea because if we eat the things in the middle, then the things on the next side of it will not have enough food to eat. For example, if we eat a lot of rabbits, then the next thing is wolves and the wolves won't have enough energy because they didn't get enough food and they will die and might become extinct.

Kite-Making

Today our family made kites.

We used plastic grocery bags, the kind you get when you purchase something at the store. We also used wooden dowels, tape, embroidery thread, and an empty thread spool to make the kites.

First, we drew a half pentagon on the bag, which was folded in half. When we cut it out, the shape of the kite was a pentagon.

After cutting the bags, we measured the dowels to fit our kites. The dowels were placed vertically down the center and horizontally across the widest point of the pentagons. Butterfly had to shorten her dowel, Mom had to shorten her bag, and I didn't need to do anything to make the bag and the dowel the same size.

Then we fastened the dowels to the kite, making sure that everything was taut. When that was done, we tied the thread to the dowels and also at the other end of the kite.

Before we tied the string to the kites, we figured out where it needed to be tied so that the kites would fly properly. If the string is tied wrong, the kite will do a nose dive.

After making the kites, Mom and I decorated ours with stickers because we had used the plain side of our grocery bags. Butterfly had used the printed side, so she didn't need to decorate hers.

We used grocery bags instead of other materials because plastic takes a lot longer to decompose, so we are helping the earth by reusing something that would usually be trash. We even used the scraps left over from the bag to make the tail of the kites.

Furniture Polish Math

OK. So we are rearranging our room today, and Mom wanted to polish the furniture instead of just dusting it. But she hasn't used store bought polish since I was sick. She reminded me that the store bought stuff has chemicals in it that are bad for us and the environment. They are often petroleum based and the chemicals used to propel them out of the container are not good for us to breathe. Plus, she says this stuff is way cheaper and it only took a few minutes to make.

So, she looked up a recipe on the web and had me figure out how to make 1/4 of the recipe. Here is the recipe for furniture polish that we used:

• 4T Lemon Juice
• 3T Water
• 2t Cooking Oil

This is how much we made.

• 1T Lemon Juice
• 2 1/4 t Water
• 1/2 t Cooking Oil

It was interesting to see the oil, water, and lemon juice before we shook it. The oil was on top in a glob, then the lemon juice and water mixed together. I guess the oil is less dense.

My Garden, Insects ... and Math

"There are about as many insects in one square mile as there are people in the entire planet."
I found this quote in the National Geographic Kids magazine, February 2009 issue.

So, mom came up with the question of how many insects are in my garden.

My garden is 150 square feet.
1 square mile = 27,878,400 square feet
There are approximately 6.77 billion people in the world.

6,770,000,000/27,878,400 = x/150
242.84 = x/150
(150)(242.84) = (x/150)(150)
36,426 = x

There are approximately 36,426 insects in my garden!
WOW! That's a lot of bugs!

My Garden

Here are a few things I have learned about gardening:

NOTHING keeps rabbits away.

(Except a fence.)



Things that need to be staked,
should be staked as soon as they are tall enough.



Not every plant takes.



Radishes won't be ready all at the same time,
even if they are planted at the same time.

I don't use gardening gloves.

Watermelon spreads.

Ours grew out through the fence!

There are lots of weeds!

Zucchini doesn't need to be staked,

it needs it's own time zone!

Gardening is FUN!

I Corinthians 3:7-8 says:
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

Even though mom says this verse is about telling others about Christ, it is true in my garden, too.