Microscopes 101

Today we broke out the microscope and began looking at slides of all kinds of parts: frog tongues, cricket legs, insect wings and grasshopper legs!  We then started to get creative by looking at our own hair, skin cells, flower petals, saliva and a fish scale from our fish caught in the Chesapeake!  Wow ~ it's so amazing seeing the detail underneath a microscope.  We learned the parts of a microscope (ours was one borrowed from a friend; a old unit with a mirror as the light source). Thanks Steffan for loaning it to us...what a precious item to own! 

We watched a video on this website: http://www.kidsbiology.com/biology_basics/cells_tissues_organs/cell_history_discovery3.php

Here are some more ideas to look at under the microscope:
http://www.freeinfosociety.com/article.php?id=480

The kids drew the microscope:

Tomorrow we will label a diagram to see what we learned.

Pottery is complete!

This is the 'haul' we made after finishing pottery class! The kids were so excited, that they had to have a bowl of cereal that night out of their favorite bowl...so far no leaks!  See the photos below of their completed projects.... the colors turned so beautifully vibrant.  Here we have two pinch pots, two coiled pots, two slabs, and three pots from the wheel. We have one more from the wheel that we forgot to glaze, so back to the studio this Thursday for our last pot.

Pottery ~ fun & functional

We had the opportunity to partcipate in a local pottery class for the last 8 weeks.  The kids enjoyed the class and found that it isn't an exact 'art.'  The art of pottery making is so much fun AND you end up with a functional piece that can be anything from a cereal bowl to a beautiful vase for a table centerpiece.  The class covered the following aspects of clay and pottery:

• Clay and it's different properties
• Scoring the clay for pottery
• Coiling clay for bowls, cups and vases
• Pinching clay to make pottery
• Use of the pottery wheel for small pots and bowls
• Sanding, Glazing and Firing for a finished product!




                                                   At the Potter's Wheel!


                                                              Finished pot





                                                 Sanding before glazing ~ hard at work!


                     Melted wax for bottom of pot so it won't stick to the kiln during firing.


                                        He double-dipped pot in two different colors


                        Oh ~ so MANY colors and so LITTLE time... what to choose??





                                     Pots are all dipped and drying for firing the next day.

                                The Kiln ~ must be heated to 2000 degrees to fire each pot. 
                                            We can hardly wait for the results...stay tuned!