Friday, July 22, 2011

Volcanoes/Vulkane

It's very hot, our indoor temperature climbed to 92 degrees today. So our topic volcanoes was just perfect. After learning about what a volcano is, we read excerpts from Pliny's description of the outbreak of Vesuvius. We also read in the children's book Herculaneum verschüttet vom Vesuv a description of the archaeological finds at Herculaneum. (Unfortunately, this book has not been published in English).  Next came experiments with the book Adventures with Rocks and MineralsJonathan and Charlotte tested minerals with vinegar to find out if they contained calcium carbonate.


They also  tested the hardness of the minerals using the Mohs scale.  After that a magnet showed them if the minerals were attracted to it or not.  The biggest experiment will be constructing the eruption of a mini volcano.  They started with it today, but it got too hot then.  The picture book Let's Go Rock Collecting was our read-aloud today.  

Es ist heute 32 Grad drinnen gewesen, heißer draußen, und so paßte unser Thema Vulkane ganz gut.  Nachdem wir gelernt haben, was ein Vulkan ist, haben wir Ausschnitte von Plinius zum Vesuvausbruch gelesen.  Anschließend haben wir uns mit dem Kinderbuch Herculaneum verschüttet vom Vesuv beschäftigt, welches die archäologischen Funde in Herculaneum beschreibt.  Danach gab es Experimente mit dem Buch Adventures with Rocks and Minerals.  Jonathan und Charlotte haben mit Essig getestet, ob einige Mineralien Calciumcarbonat enthalten.  Die Härte der Mineralien haben sie auch bestimmt und mit der Härteprüfungstabelle nach Mohs verglichen.  Ein Magnet zeigte ihen, ob die Mineralien davon angezogen werden oder nicht.  Das größte Experiment wird ein kleiner Vulkanausbruch sein.  Sie haben heute damit angefangen, aber dann ist es zu heiß geworden.  Das Bilderbuch Let's Go Rock Collecting war ein schönes passendes Vorlesebuch heute.  



12 comments:

  1. oh 92! yes, unfortunately, our apartment is just as hot!

    it's been a long time since i've read pliny's description of vesuvius erupting. the girls would find it interesting. thanks for the reminder :) though it was a hot day, it sounds like it was exciting and fun :)

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  2. Hi Eva,

    Just wondering what Old Testament resources you are using for grade three. My instinct was to turn to the Bible, but it seems there are some Waldorf type books pertaining to the subject, so what would you recommend?

    Thanks San x

    PS would still swap you for some of the heat... it is cold and grey at our end!

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  3. That's neat Eva. My dd brought back some rocks for her godfather (geologist) from the Pacaya Volcano we visited. While there our guide gave us a quick study of the different type of rock on a volcano (in spanish). We read Let's Go Rock Collecting for the kids too when we got back and showed them the rocks she had. We have some great video footage the kids were impressed with, where the guide throws in water into an opening and steam just gushes out. (sorry way too long comment) Can't wait to see how your model turns out.

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  4. My daughter likes rocks.I'll have to check this book out at the library. I am searching for a rock tumbler on ebay. I have a few good quality ones in mind. We find quite a lot of rocks around here at the beach and in streams. She has a huge collection! I've begun placing them in potted plants as a soil cover. Many of them are colorful quartz which should shine up nicely.

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  5. A rock tumbler would be fun. All our children love rocks and we have a huge collection inside and outside. I like your idea with the plants.

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  6. Hello Grace'n'Chaos, you went to see a real volcano, how impressive! We don't have any around here (in NY). Were your children afraid?

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  7. Hello San, I like to use the The Golden Children's Bible, which is not a Catholic Bible, but was written by Protestants and Catholics in consultation with Jewish scholars. We also use Legends of the Bible. I like Jakob Streit and I know he has written adaptations of the Bible, but I haven't used them for 3rd grade. The "Golden Children's Bible" is very close to the original language of the Bible, what I like.

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  8. It was actually just my oldest and I. Here is our post about it: http://gracenchaos.blogspot.com/2011/05/amazing-sites-pacaya.html

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  9. Hallo Eva,
    gestern hatte ich hier etwas zum Ätna geschrieben, vielleicht ist es unterwegs verlorengegangen. Hier also nochmal ein link, wo man Kurzfilme über den Ätna, der ja derzeit auch heftig raucht und "arbeitet", ansehen kann.
    Übrigens, ganz toll das Vulkanexperiment weiter oben!
    http://laproffa.blogspot.com/2011/05/power-of-etna.html

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  10. Thanks for the info Eva. I think I'll use our children's bible as well as the series from Jakob Streit as it seems to be the go to resource outlined in this particular curriculum.

    San

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  11. Ja, Sybille, das ist nicht angekommen. Danke für die Hinweise auf den Ätna. Das zeige ich Jonathan und Charlotte. Hier in der Nähe gibt es keine Vulkane :).

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  12. Hello Grace'n'Chaos, thanks for the link. I'll show it to my children.

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