Have your DNA and eat it too?

Yes, well you do have DNA, and you can eat it too!  Build yourself one of these clever edible strands-this is what happened when I gave my kids the project...

The supply plate (which is one of those Mak-It plates I made many moons ago, and no, I didn't misspell that -as that is what the company is called) with the licorice, toothpicks and marshmallows.

 

Supplies ready to go-oh, the boy is wearing it?!

the end result (before labels-which they didn't do-only I did for a sample DNA project)

careful b/cuz those toothpicks are "picky" and when trying to shove them into the licorice, you may get poked..as I did! LOL....

You can find the directions here: PDF file for Have Your DNA and Eat it too

DNA and RNA page from this mighty helpful site: Awesome Science Teacher Resources.

That site has lots of goodies to download for your science notebook too! 

Some science going on

So, if you are a follower of my Scrapbook and Lapbook blog and my What's in the Box? blog-then you have been seeing some of my posts regarding the notebooking technique for the kids' studies.  Today, for your viewing pleasure is my display of the Science notebook we have been (started this at module 7) working on.  Haven't gotten very far, but already it is coming to gether.  The idea is to put stuff in there that you want the student to remember, have access to and to highlight from their studies.

So here ya go-take your notebook (ya know the ones that are either mable colored covered, or in this case psychodelic) and put your label on (I just watched a tutorial on how to alter and snaz up your notebooks, so this one will under go a transformation this weekend), and then I put one of those stick on tabs on the section that starts the module).

 Front page of Module section-just copied off an illustration of the DNA stand-I will pull free printable sheets from the internet once I get my act together..to add to her notebook as we go, but this at least gets us started.

Module 7 has its fair share of vocab-so I made these layered flap mini-booklets, so that she can write the definition under the part that has the label (except Genetics had to go on the front, oops).  Then each mini-book gets glued into the first few pages of that module's section-but wait to glue until the child has written the info-too hard to do it whilst in the book.

There is the pic explaining cellular mitosis, and then today-we did a microscope activity where we looked at 2 slides showing different stages of it.  So my teen drew what she saw (each of the four stages for the plant and animal cells), and we just folded the worksheet up to fold into a mini-book-that is easy to fold out to examine.  This is an awesome way to actually utilize those worksheets/lab sheets they work on!  She glued a scrap piece of construction paper to the top to give it more stability and labeled it.  Then the back side of the worksheet (1/4 of it) is glued down to the page. Which in this case is the top right-hand corner section.

So you fold it into fourths, glue the cover on the side that shows, and when you open it like your typical book, the first section is the backside, but then you pull it down to show the worksheet's details!  Yeah.  [oh you have to fold and/or refold it, to make it open right, depending on which way you want the booklet to go.]

The budding scientist [microscope is from Sonlight-love it] and her lab assistant!

Chopin Envelope Book up on my Scrapbooks and Lapbook Blog

Swing over there and take a look...

Chopin Envelope Book

I have the "how to" post up on my other blog for the Envelope Book

I have a post up on my blog, Scrapbooks and Lapbooks by Sheri about the Envelope Book, and thought I would mention it here. This is based on Dinah Zike's book making idea.  It can be applied to several different applications, is easy to make and is great for smaller project displays.  Take a peek.  And look for a completed Chopin book soon.

Some Dinah Zike going on

Oh yeah.  Well, I am in the process of helping my teen dd get her Algebra Notebook going.  I have a whole ditty on it over on my What's in the Box? blog. I plan on doing another post down the road-where I explain how to get it going. I am new to this stuff, and do not have Dinah's Notebook book yet, so I have to wing it for now.

My plan is to keep adding more visuals and unique ways to remember this material, as I have been noticing that the majority of the stuff we are covering is going in one ear and out the other. Plus, we were getting tired of the monotony...so we'll see.

I also had to get creative with a way to motivate my fledgling reader to practice more. I simply cannot do it all, and by the mid-afternoon-I am toast. So I created a mini-folder where I placed coupons for him to have filled out. I stuff 5 per week in there (on the left side) and once he has read a book to another family member, they can fill out the title, who they are and the date. He will be able to "cash" these in for prizes. I haven't tweaked out all the details yet-but so far, so good. I have a tub of readers I know he can read to select from. Once I get the system up to par-I will post the forms on my Scribd page for you to download. The folder is simply one piece of 8 1/2" X 11" card stock folded in half (fat way-not long and skinny), with the bottom folded up about 2-3" to create the holding section. I stapled the ends, and on the cover wrote his name and "I can read it folder", then on the left inside pocket- "coupons", and right inside pocket- "read for the week". It's that simple. Sounds kinda hard, but it isn't. I guess time will tell if this works. Our biggest hurdle is that he isn't getting the needed practice to become fluent. With the help of the family, he should get enough to really sink those skills into his ole noggin.

And that my friends, is my big ideas for the week. Not too exciting, but hopefully successful for us!