Fossils and Tracks

The Museum of the Rockies classes this month were on dinosaur fossils and Yellowstone animal tracks.

For the first class, we toured the dinosaur exhibit and made a fossil.  The fossil was made by pressing an oiled model dinosaur skull into play-dough, removing the skull, and then pouring plater into the impression.

For the second class, we discussed and looked at model animal tracks.  We also made a track to bring home.  The track was made by pressing a model animal foot into wet sand, removing the foot, and then pouring plaster into the impression.

Both methods of making plater models worked well, but Ian preferred the play-dough method because it was easier to clean than sand.  Ian meticulously cleaned his plaster raptor fossil and porcupine track with a toothbrush and toothpicks.

Books:  How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Yolen;  Who Pooped in the Park? Yellowstone National Park: Scat and Tracks for Kids by Robson

Fall Leaves

 

Fall Leaves (to the tune of "London Bridges")

All the leaves are falling down, falling down, falling down

All the leaves are falling down, Falling to the ground.

Red & Yellow, Orange & Brown, Orange & Brown, Orange & Brown
Red & Yellow, Orange & Brown, Falling to the ground.

In the wind, they fly & twirl, fly & twirl, fly & twirl
In the wind, they fly & twirl, Falling to the ground

Rake the leaves into a pile, pile them up, pile them up
Rake the leaves into a pile.  Then let's jump right in!

Books:  Why Do Leaves Change Color? by Maestro;  Okomi Plays in the Leaves by Dorman;  Leaf Man by Ehlert

Music Together

We are currently enrolled in our 4th semester of Music Together classes.  Ian, Eric, and I take the weekly classes together.  The program focuses on teaching children to sing in tune and keep a beat, which Ian and Eric have learned to do.  We've accumulated a good collection of rhythm instruments at home and participatory music is part of our daily lives.  We also enjoy watching and listening to live music.  I'm not confident that I can sing in tune, but I can play many Music Together songs on a keyboard, which has been fun.  (I haven't regularly played an instrument since high school!)

Books:  Bebop Express by H.L. Panahi

Potato Gleaning

A local family farm invited homeschoolers to visit during potato harvesting time.  First we watched the potato sorting process.  Dump trucks slowly unloaded potatoes into a series of conveyors where loose dirt falls out, and dirt clods & misshapen potatoes are pulled out by hand.  Fallen dirt was cleared out with a bobcat.  It looked like the entire extended family was working that day.

Next we went to the field where the potatoes were being machine harvested and loaded into dump trucks.  We gleaned small potatoes that were left by the machine.


The potatoes are stored in a huge pile in an enclosed building.  During the winter, the potatoes are washed & packaged on-site, and then sold as seed potatoes (certified disease free).


Books:  We Gather Together by Pfeffer

Logging Grapple

A favorite documentary at our house is Loggers: From Chainsaw to Sawmill in British Columbia by Dylan Winter.  So the boys were excited to see a grapple truck working behind the library.  The workers were removing a large tree that had fallen across a stream.  The chainsaw operator cut the log into pieces, and then the grapple operator picked up the chucks of wood and placed them into the truck.

Ian commented that the work would go faster if there was a third person standing behind the truck directing the grapple so the chainsaw operator wouldn't have to walk back and forth.  We also discussed the difference between the equipment used at this small operation and what would be used for logging.  After visiting the library, we watched the workers put the smaller branches into a tree chipper.

Books:  The Truck Book by McNaught;  All About Tools by Hood