Cana
I knew eventually that with Brent studying insects they would eventually need to come into my home. Thanks to a friend, our first guest is a centipede (I think). He used our dissecting microscope to get a good look. Very interesting.
Cana
We often see this cat on our way to the park. We decided to snap a picture and add her to our nature journal. Brent has not made his cat page, he jabbed a sharp pencil tip into the palm of his right hand and couldn't write or draw.
Cana
We have been keeping a nature journal of the things we see in person. Here are our pages on the Whip Scorpion we saw in the back yard. These are a work in progress and the kids keep adding to the pages. If we see another, we'll add that too. They convinced me to keep a journal too, so this is something we do together.
Cana
The kids were out this morning doing some yard work and found this. It's a
Giant Whip Scorpion. Despite its
terrifying appearance, it has no venom. Thank God!
It, and a friend, had taken up residence in the bottom of our small, waterless pond.
Cana
This morning we released a butterfly. Sadly there was only one left. Last night Brent found that our resident killer had found a way to get to the butterflies. We had moved them and surrounded them and tried our hardest to keep them alive. Our other cats have never been like this.
Anyway, Brent found JB finishing off Butterfly # 3, #4 was missing a wing, #5 was hiding in the corner. There was no sign of #1 and #2, but I have a good idea where they might be. It was late and we wanted to release #5 in the daylight, when it is warmer. But where in the house was safe? The oven. Not a traditional choice, but this cat is scarry. #5 spent the night locked in an oven, then was mercifully released this morning. It is safe to say, we will not be doing any other projects that involve small things that move. JB has a new nickname, Butterfly Breath.
Cana
Well our butterflies have hatched. We had to wedge their habitat into a shelf because JB was playing with it like a kitty toy trying to get the prize inside. Despite it's secure location, the cats still wait for any oportunity for a meal.
Cana
This morning I come into the living room to find all the cats huddling around something on the floor. I assume it is a spider and look to confirm and it is one of the ants! The industrious little guys had built a hill over their water dish and climbed out the watering hole! There were two, one I was able to save and put back into the habitat using tweezers. The other? Murderous cats! This was a group effort; they swatted it to death. We had to plunge pencils into the watering holes to secure the ants and move the water dish. They are trying to use their mighty ant powers to remove the pencils, so we check them regularly.
Cana
These ants apparently didn't think we were very good tunnel builders. They have filled in most of the starter tunnels we made and constructed their own. They have even used a slivered almond as a roof to the main entrance. This happened all in one night.
This is the view of the almond roof from the outside.
Cana
These ants are busy. It was amazing to see how fast they started working on tunnels. They checked out all the "starter tunnels", then began working on side tunnels to connect them.
You can see all the sand they have dug out of the tunnels and piled at the top of the habitat.
Cana
The ants arrived today, actually they probably got here on Saturday, but we didn't go out there till today. I wasn't sure that any would actually be alive. It gets pretty cold at night. The package warned to keep from extremes in temperature, too late. We didn't obey the "Open Immediately" either.
The were all crammed in a little tube. At first, none were moving, but eventually there was movement in the vial. I immediately regretted letting them wake up before I transferred them into the ant habitat. The instructions informed me that they have a "painful sting". They were not to be touched. I had to take the cap off and dump them into the habitat. They were moving a lot, so I considered putting them back outside to slow them down until the habitat was ready. But this seemed cruel.
Unfortunately, we had left the habitat outside and forgot to bring it in. The sand mixture needed to dry in order to become hard, so we had it sitting in the sun. We propped it over the heater to warm it fast. I tried to convince Brent to dump the ants in the habitat, I was scarred, but he seemed to sense the true reason and said no. Only one tried to scamper up the tube and bite me, but I knocked him off.
Cana
Brent is eagerly anticipating his ant colony's arrival. He is setting up their new home. He poured in sand and then is adding sugar water using a pipette. The water will evaporate, leaving the sand harder and full of sugar for the ants.
Cana
Well it is finally over. Callie noticed that even the pink parts of the flower were a little bluer than when we first got the flowers.
Cana
Callie's almost done with this experiment. We are on day 6. Callie is noticing that you can see the "veins" in the plant where the color is.
On some of the flowers, the blue is dramatic.
The celery is ready for the compost heap, then again, with all that artificial color, maybe the trash bin.
Bitty couldn't help herself and had to smell the flowers.
Cana
A lot more color in both the flowers and celery.
Cana
The color was a little deeper yesterday, especially in the celery.
Cana
Day 3 and Callie is begining to see the color in the flowers and stalks of the celery.
The blue is only showing on one flower.
You can clearly see the orange color in the stalks of the celery
The orange is much lighter in the stalks
Cana
Callie didn't see much color change today, but the celery is much firmer.
Cana
Our holidays were extra long this year. Our family visited after the break, so we didn't get back to school until today. It was a long day. Of course the kids watched the inauguration as well. It was nice to get back to work. Brent is making a Batik. Instead of hot wax, we are using a flour and water mixture. He is making a map of India.
We began new units today. In Earth Science Callie began Plate Tectonics and Brent began Habitats. In Life Science Callie started a unit on plants and Brent is learning about insects. Callie is beginning her unit on plants with vascular plants. We set up a simple experiment with carnations, celery and jars of colored water.
In US History Brent is making his own textbook and Callie is learning US geography. In Physical Science. Callie is studying energy and rockets and Brent is doing simple machines. Here is a shot of the white board during Physical Science lessons.
