Wednesday 28 April 2010

Deadlines

(Work) deadlines are looming. And Granny is away. This means I didn't get my usual day and a half child-free 'work' time this week. I was a little stressed about how this was going to pan out, but I shouldn't have worried - A has been brilliant, and I think quite enjoyed proving to me that she's more than capable of self direction.

Yesterday she got loads done, she decided on a couple of activites she wanted to do, and I asked her if she would also write up the red cabbage experiment we did last week. I gave her some instructions about how to write up a science experiment, but (of course!) what she came up with was far more interesting and creative than the boring old formula I would have used. I just want to share the introduction and conclusion with you, as they really made me smile:


Introduction
Hello, my name is Professor H---. Me and my apprentice KittyRae (me apparently) decided to do this experiment because it sounded like a chance for our big brains to shine and our hands to get dirty and everybody enjoys that. We also wanted to find out what pHs are for certain items around the house (pHs are a way of telling acids and bases apart). We were also able to learn lots more about chemistry and that was great!


Conclusion
Our experiment was successful!
We found out that laundry liquid and indigestion tablets pH are around 9 and orange and lemon juices are 5-6, wow! Our brains are going to explode with all this knowledge!


Today she has spent hours reading (!!!) This is because her library book, which she wasn't even half way through this morning, is due back tomorrow, and I casually said she'd have to renew it as there's no way she'd finish it by then. She finished it this afternoon :o)
We also did a 'photoshoot' for the maths article I'm just finishing off. I don't know if they'll actually use the photos, but we had fun anyway.


Last Friday we had a wicked shopping day in the big city (thats Inverness. I was being sarcastic). Met up with lovely Nonna for lunch, and bought some exciting stuff including curling tongs -

5 comments:

TEFL Ninja said...

Ohhh where did you get the litmus paper from ?

I haven't found any here and if it is available in the high street in the UK I am stocking up next time I pop over.

K said...

No litmus paper I'm afraid - we made our own indicator with red cabbage. I'm pretty sure you can get litmus strips on Amazon, but I don't know any shops that sell them. X

TEFL Ninja said...

That is even more interesting!

Do you have a link that explains how, what and why ?

K said...

I did a post a couple of weeks back about the 'red cabbage experiment' (!) which goes through it step by step, and we got the idea from the 'what's chemistry all about?' book (I think you mentioned you had ordered it from Amazon?).
There's another way of doing it here: http://www.sciencesleuth.co.uk/epages/BT2487.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/BT2487/Categories/%22Junior%20Sleuth's%20Club%22/Experiments/227

I must warn you though - it can get quite smelly, especially if, like us, you decide to keep the jars cos the colours are so pretty, but leave them in front of a window when its sunny. MMMMMM!!

If you want any more info on it let me know x

TEFL Ninja said...

Oh the book is in the basket, but the credit card is waiting to be recharged with dosh. The Sock Dropper is being all tight fisted thanks to my new glasses (it is very odd being able to see details) making a huge hole where money used to be.

I'm even more looking forward to its arrival if it has stuff like that in it ( :

I shall whizz over to the link and bear in mind the pong factor LOL.