9/10 science and history

Today was a good day overall. It seemed that everyone was glad to be back together after a couple weeks of missing someone.

Science - another rewarding experiment dealing with melting. We tested to see if butter or ice cream melted first (ice cream) and then tested 3 flavors to see if they melted at the same rate. Vanilla melted slower, I think just b/c it was the middle flavor in the container. We also watched water boil and learned that the little bubbles on the bottom rose up and popped, turning into vapor. Then we watched vinegar boil too, and was able to see how the vapors traveled across the room to allow us to smell it.
The kids then took the discussion to the dishwasher and talked about how the water vaporizes as the heat dries the dishes. Then we talked about how the same thing happens in a dryer. I explained the dryer vent and talked about how you can smell when your neighbor is doing laundry b/c of the vent taking the vapors out the dryer through the vent.

History - we continued with Egypt and a couple of the stories about gods- Isis and Osiris (god of the Nile), Amun-Ra (god of the sun). I explained and emphasised how the Egyptians made up these stories to help them explain the mysteries of how things happened. I don't think the stories sunk in too much. For their history records they all stuck with talking about the Nile River and some drew a person in a boat (I don't know if they connected Osiris in the coffin as this- don't think so, or Amun-Ra in the boat going across the sky). I was impressed that although they couldn't remember it's name, they then drew the delta at the end of the Nile.

Cindy