Clay Academy: Weeks 2 and 3

Our second two weeks of school passed by in a flash! And that's a good thing, because after those two weeks were over we took a break for a week at the beach! It was our 6th annual extended family beach trip - and what a perfect trip it was!

But before we could enjoy our beach trip, we had two weeks of school to complete. In science, we talked more about light with Genesis For Kids. We did some cool experiments. Here is one where we took a tin can and poked a hole in it. By filling it with water, turning out the lights, and shining a flash light in the can, you can see how light travels through the water much like through a tube (this is similar to fiber optic type of stuff!)

We watched how light shining through water can be divided into colors. We made this little rainbow...

We also did the old trick of using a magnifying glass and the sun to burn a hole in paper.

Annlee took it a little further and burned her initials in the paper!

We are also doing Apologia's Flying Creatures for science this year. We completed chapter 1 during these two weeks. Here we are doing a glider experiment to test which type of wings are more aerodynamic. The long, skinny wings worked better than shorter, wider ones.

This experiment helped us understand about how a bird is able to fly. We took a full glass of water with a straw in it and then blew through another straw across the top of the first straw. The air moving across the water inside the straw creates less pressure on the water inside the straw and it travels up through the straw and out. The first time we did the experiment ended up with Maryella getting a face full of water, haha!

Here is the inside of Kaylin's lapbook that she completed. I'm so glad we are doing the lapbooks along with Apologia. The girls love them and it really helps them to review and understand what they have learned.

In history we covered Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, and the Tower of Babel. The girls listen while I read about the stories and histories we are studying and then they write on their notebooking pages in their own words about what we just heard.

This is what Maryella dictated to me after we read about Adam and Eve. I was so impressed with what she remembered!

Here is a little visual aid we put together when talking about Cain and Abel.

And here we are measuring how big Noah's ark is! We loved this activity! In the second picture, can you see the girls in the distance by the white car. I was standing at one end of the "ark" taking the picture and they ran back to the other end. You can barely see them. That's a BIG boat!!!

We also learned about about Ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia. This was a pretty neat and interesting little video we watched.

We learned about cunieform writing. The girls practiced writing their names on "clay tablets" made out of cookie dough.

Those were some pretty tasty clay tablets!

We are learning the books of the Old Testament and the girls are doing a fabulous job! Mostly, that's because we are listening to a song on youtube by Worship for Kids. It's a catchy tune that we've all had stuck in our heads. But we also have a few games we are playing to help with the memorization. Here, Kaylin is velcroing the books in order on a poster I made.

Annlee is putting clothspins in order around the lampshade.

And here they are all racing to put flashcards in order.

Here are a few more pictures from our week. I just had to take this first picture. This is how Annlee sits at the computer. How is that comfortable? Haha!