Spring Updates

Hello everyone!  Sorry it has been so quiet around here!  I had all these wonderful plans for Xander's school time, but honestly, my new job has been kicking my butt.  I am working most nights and weekends in addition to the normal hours, so I'm just trying to enjoy my time with him when I have it.

Recently Xander said to me "Mom, Duplos are for little kids.  Legos are for big kids, so we need to get some Legos."  Guess my baby is growing up.  I got him some Lego Juniors and some other "big kid" Legos because he really wanted the super hero ones.  He has been doing great; still needs a lot of help, but getting better.   I'm loving listening to him playing with his figurines!

He's still reading up a storm.

In bigger news, I just bought a house.  It is definitely more scary doing it as a single mom than it was the first time I bought a house.  I'm excited to be able to give him a home and a yard though.  It is definitely a fixer-upper, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of before and after pictures.  Maybe I'll even have a few DIY posts along the way!  We'll wait to move until this summer since I just can't make it happen with my work schedule.  Xander fluctuates between excited and apprehensive.  He can't remember living anywhere else and is going to miss his Grandpa.  I'm definitely hoping we find ourselves very happy in the new home! 

H for Heart

Although we made it from A-Z in our Alphabet in Simple Science, I decided that I'd add some here and there.  I added this one to go with our Heart and Lungs Unit.  We also had a Science Notebook Page B is for Blood.

 Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

Background

Since we were learning about the heart and lungs, we went over how the heart is a pump that pumps the blood around the body.  The blood carries oxygen so that our muscles can work.  We also talked about how your muscles need more oxygen when they're working harder, so you heart has to pump faster.  The Magic School Bus Lost Works Out was a good episode for talking about the role of oxygen in the muscles and why the blood needs to circulate (on Netflix).  

   

Changing Heart Rate

Materials:

Stethoscope

Timer

Place to write results

Procedure:

We started out by using our stethoscope to measure our resting heart rates.  I did it by setting the timer for 30 seconds and multiplying by two.  You could also go ahead and do the whole minute if it would be less confusing for your little one.  Once we wrote our resting heart rates down, it was time for some exercise!  Xander ran around in circles, did jumping jacks and stayed really active for a 3 minutes and we took his heart rate again.  Then I exercised for the same amount of time and we took my heart rate.  When we were all done we compared the results.

(We'd been to a party that day, hence the Batman face painting)

 

The Conversation:

I tried to ask Xander what he noticed about the numbers, and help him get to the idea that the active heart rates were faster than the resting.  Then I asked him why the heart would need to pump faster (more times every minute) when we are moving than when we are resting.  I helped lead him to the idea that the muscles are working harder, so need more oxygen.

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