Wordless Wednesday: Ten minutes ago....

Wordless Wednesday

Spinning Color Wheels

Spinning Color Wheels

You Need:
Posterboard or light cardboard
A pencil and a ruler
Scissors
Crayons
A sharp point to poke a hole in the cardboard (The pencil will do in a pinch.)
A straw and a craft brad OR string OR a pushpin and a wooden dowel, optional
(Shirts also optional if you're at home and it's sunny out.)

Trace a circle onto your posterboard or cardboard. Using your ruler divide your circle evenly into sections (this makes a fun mini math lesson!) like the picture shown above, or like this:
For one side of your circle, choose two primary colors, or two complementary colors (colors opposite one another on the color wheel), and color the sections of your circle alternating colors. On the other side of your wheel, color the sections using colors of your choice.

Once your circle is colored, poke a small hole through the very center. Use the hole to poke your craft brad, push pin, or string through your circle.

Craft brad and straw: Poke a small hole into the straw, insert the pointed end of the brad that's already sticking through the circle, and widen the ends of the brad so that it won't slip back through the straw. Spin the wheel!
Push pin and dowel: Poke the end of the pushpin through the center of the circle into the dowel. Make sure it's pushed in firmly so that it won't fall off. Spin the wheel!
String: Thread the string through the center of the circle. Holding both ends of the string (one end in each hand), swing the circle around and around, twisting the string. Pull the string tight and watch your wheel spin!
Or....just spin your wheel!

What happens if you use two primary colors? What happens when you use complementary colors?

Why does it work?
Color and Spinning Wheels at Newton BBS Ask a Scientist.

This is a simple project, and lots of fun! We used this lesson plan: Spinning Color Wheels from Crayola.com. It calls for using string through the center of the circle. We used several kinds of string and yarn, and attempted to fasten our circles to the string in various ways, but we could not get our circles to wind tightly enough on the string. They just flopped around and refused to spin. It wasn't time wasted. We found all kinds of techniques and materials that just won't work. Next we experimented a little with methods we've used in the past for other projects: A straw with a craft brad was just the ticket for preschool gent, kindergarten gent used a push pin and a wooden dowel, and their older brother cut straight to the chase, deciding to forgo the spinners altogether and spinning his circle on the floor instead.

Check this out! Color Matters--Amazing Science of Colors. Chockful of information, experiments and color facts, including Color Matters for Kids.

More science, art and vision fun for adults: Here's a fascinating web exhibit entitled Color Vision and Art: Vision Science and the Emergence of Modern Art.

Read this book: Hot, Flat and Crowded

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America, Thomas L. Friedman.

"What kind of America would you like to see--an America that is addicted to oil and thereby fueling the worst autocracies in the world, or a green America that is building scalable alternatives to crude oil and thereby freeing ourselves from the grip of countries who have drawn a bull's-eye on our back and whose values we oppose?

What kind of America would you like to see--and America that is steadily outsourcing more and more blue-collar, labor-intensive manufacturing jobs to China, or a green America that is building more knowledge-intensive green-collar technology jobs...which are more difficult to outsource and will have to be the industry of the future, as fossil-fuel energy supplies dwindle and world population grows?

...a green America where the U. S. goverment imposes steadily higher efficiency standards, forcing a constant flow of new thinking around materials, power systems, and energy software making us the most energy-productive country in the world?

...a green America where inventing a source of abundant, clean, reliable, cheap electrons, which could enable the whole planet to grow in a way that doesn't destroy its remaining natural habitats, becomes the goal of this generation...

...a green America that is seen as the country most committed--by example--to preserving our environment and the species that inhabit it, earning the world's respect?"
(from Chapter One, "Where Birds Don't Fly," p. 23-24)

Everyone should read this book.

Make no mistake, it's hardly a light feel-good read. It's depressing and challenging. But whether you agree with Friedman wholeheartedly or not, he's right about one thing: We are rapidly outgrowing our available resources. Something has to change, and now, or humanity's ability to survive on this planet will be compromised. And our country has a choice: America can lead the way or we can get left in the dust.

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

From the Hult Center website:

Soaring in the Soreng

Location: Soreng Theater

Presented by Bridgeway House

At the Hult Center, hopes and dreams take flight as children and young adults affected by autism perform in this original showcase of many talents. Crafted by the performers, Soaring in the Soreng offers a limitless horizon of perspectives on having wings and taking flight.
Each uniquely talented performer showcases an ability to rise above the personal and societal obstacles with which they are presented each day. Bridgeway House offers each performer support in finding their own way of soaring as they demonstrate that 'the sky's the limit!'

Sat, April 25, 2009 - 1:00pm

Lovely lady will participate in this Bridgeway House Theater event. Read about her previous performances here: Theater

The Sling

I cleaned out my hallway storage chest today. It's a quick seasonal job, doesn't take long.

I ran across my baby sling. I really need to move the darn thing, because I run across it twice a year, and I always think the same thing: "I should give this away to a new mom, someone who really needs it."

Except then, as I hold it in my hands, I am flooded with this:

Babies. I miss the way they smell and the way they sound and the way they smile. I miss walking with baby cuddled close to my body, snug and warm. I miss shopping with a baby slung to my chest and little ones holding my hands. I miss round heads and little fingers. Chubby knees, fat feet, tiny ears. Soft bellies, big watchful eyes, round cheeks.

I miss my babies. When I wasn't paying attention, they grew long legs and cheekbones and big boy voices. Why do they have to go and do that?

I cried a little and put the sling back in the chest. That little piece of fabric is still carrying my babies.

Raspberries

It's been perfect weather for the backyard gardener. Rain in the evening, clearing throughout the day, sunny and cool, or even almost warm, in the afternoon when it's finally time to get out into the garden. I've been gradually preparing the garden for spring planting. This week, I tidied the raspberries: Pruned, thinned, weeded, mulched. The photo was taken about halfway through the process. Here's a clear, concise, step-by-step article on how to prune rapsberries: Time to Tame the Raspberry Jungle.

Three days ago, I was digging up and whacking away at bare sticks. Today many of the larger canes had tight reddish buds with green leaf tips peeking through. Spring has sprung.

Wordless Wednesday: Spring(ish)

Color Study:Shades

You Need:
White paper (we folded our papers in half lengthwise to create narrow strips)
White paint, black paint and one other paint color of your choice
Paintbrushes
Paint tray, old yogurt cups or lids, or something similar for paint mixing
Newspaper
A rag or two in case of spills

Prepare your area by setting down newspapers, setting out your materials, and choosing your paint colors and brushes.

Read Color(Step-By-Step Science) by Robert Snedden and Sabrina Crewe. This is the best kids' book on the science of color that we've found so far. It's got thorough and colorful explanations of different aspects of color, and several color-related activities and experiments, including step-by step directions for making a shade chart.

Squirt two big squirts of your chosen color paint onto your mixing tray.

In the middle of your paper, paint a stripe of your chosen color.

Squeeze a drop or two of white paint into one of your squirts of color, and mix thoroughly. What happens to your color? Paint a stripe of that color onto your paper, to the left of your original color. Mix in a few more drops of white paint. Paint another stripe to the left. Continue mixing in a few more drops of white and painting new stripes until you reach the left edge of your paper.

Now try the same thing in the other squirt of your original color, this time with the black paint. Be careful to start with only one drop of black! Black can quickly overpower your original color, so it's better to start with one drop each time, then add another if you need to. Paint a stripe of that color onto your paper, this time to the right of your original color. Continue mixing in a drop or two of black and painting new stripes of color until you reach the right edge of your paper.


Set aside your shade chart to dry. Try another color! Or make another shade chart by mixing your color with its complementary color (the color opposite your color on the color wheel) instead of using black or white. What happens? What happens if you mix your color with a color adjacent to it on the color wheel?
_________________
Color Wheel and Color Mixing at Enchanted Learning

Lesson Plan: Tints, Tones and Shades

Memory Poem

All Things Bright and Beautiful
~Cecil Frances Alexander

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.



Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset, and the morning,
That brightens up the sky;

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.


He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell,
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.



Printable version of All Things Bright and Beautiful at storyit.com Classic Children's Poetry