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Tomorrow is the second of the four early-release days so please plan accordingly as school is dismissed at 1:15. In literacy, our focus is still on incorporating social studies curriculum (North Carolina History). We are again looking at primary source documents (see yesterday's entry) but this time, we are using some first person accounts to bring long-gone people to life. This allows us to really delve into the person and to see them as people very much like ourselves, just living in a different time era. It is always amazing how we can feel empathy for people from long ago! Here is a sample diary entry from a child of the colonial era, to give you an example: October 17, 1631 — It was cold and dark when I woke, so I stoked the fire in the hearth, and got it ready for the girls to cook breakfast. Then I chopped and stacked enough wood to get through the frigid day. While securing the shutters to keep out the wind, I discovered a hole in the daub. The sun had risen by the time I patched the hole with a mortar of clay, earth, grass, and water. After feeding the swine and watering the horses, I was famished. At breakfast, Father sat in his big chair, while Mother, my sisters, and I found seats on the bench. When we finished eating, I left for my apprenticeship. By the time I walked to Master Wilkins’ bookbinding shop, I was frozen to my fingertips. But a blazing fire soon had me warm enough to stitch together the pages of a book. Then Master Wilkins had me treat the leather to make the book’s cover. Later, at home, we ate a quick supper. Then I helped Father clean and salt the day’s fish. After that, I gathered thatch to fix the roof before winter really arrives. By the time I finished, the sun had set. I was bone weary as I said my prayers and went to bed. In science, I had the students continue with their notes from yesterday. Then, they watched an episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy on energy and filled out the video quiz as they watched it. 
Once we reviewed the video quiz, I again did the demonstration of how heat can make things get bigger (thermal expansion) by using my ball and ring apparatus. I have a ball about an inch in diameter made of brass at the end of a rod with a wooden handle. At the end of the other rod of the same length is a brass hole that is roughly 1/32 inch diameter larger than the sphere. At room temperature, the sphere easily slides in the hole. But, then heated enough (using a blow torch is faster) the sphere expands making it impossible to slide through the hole. Comments are closed.
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