And Their Motion Is Subject To Control.

Scientists discovered that shaking bubbles vertically can make them move horizontally. We can transform vibrations into directed motion. As in opening doors for controlling micro-robots or particles in fluids.

Creating a spherical film of soapy water.

And trapping air.

With colors arising from light reflecting off its inner and outer surfaces. 

As early as the Zhou Dynasty 1046-256 B.C.E. Ancient Chinese people discovered that the suds & bubbles from ashes of certain plants could effectively remove grease. That method was later improved by mixing plant ash with crushed seashells. This was a combination that created a strong alkaline substance effective for washing silk fabrics. The chemical reactions involved in this process naturally produced some form of foam and bubbles.

Soap Bubble Films have been used in practical Mathematical problem solving.

Engineer Frei Otto used soap bubble films to determine the geometry of a sheet of least surface area that spreads between several points.

He translated this geometry into revolutionary tensile roof structures.

A famous example is his West German Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal Canada.

A Soap-Bubble Party would consist of bowls with a warm bubble solution that included extra glycerin.

A clay pipe for each guest was decorated with ribbon. And hand fans were used to blow the bubbles around.

Hosts gave out prizes for the biggest bubble, the bubble that popped last & the bubble that reached the highest or furthest point. Parties could be set up inside or outside. Also along tennis courts so the attendees could try to blow bubbles back and forth across the net!

Water molecules like to stick to each other.

And scientists call this sticky, elastic tendency  “surface tension.

When you blow a bubble, you create a thin film of water molecules sandwiched between two layers of soap molecules.

Meet King Shabazz & His Best Friend Tony Polito.

What King really did NOT believe in was Science as an active, inquisitive, investigative adventure. Reduced to a series of Show & Tell Adults proclaiming a seasonal event for which he had no evidence or experience.

“Everybody talking about bout Spring. But WHERE is it at?”

Finally fed up and frustrated with the empty words, he declared, “I’m goin to get me some of this Spring. If Spring really is Just Around The Corner. I’m goin to go round there and see what do I see.”

King and Tony set off on a manhunt across their city neighborhood in search of Spring.

Spring is absolutely nowhere to be found at the school, the playground, Weissman’s Delicious Smelling Fine Bakery, the Church of the Solid Rock, a restaurant, a Texas Bar-B-Q take-out shop or the nearby vacant lot.

But they do spy a big, beautiful, dark red abandoned car. Wheels gone and perched on a high up mound of dirt. Halfway to the car was a patch of little yellow pointy flowers growing in the middle of short spiky green leaves.

Spring!

“Man, I think you tripped on these crops. They’re comin up. Man, the crops are comin up.”

And resting on the front seat of the old car, down in a whole lot of cottony stuff was a nest containing four light blue eggs.

“Spring is here.” King Shabazz whispers to Tony.

“Right,” Tony whispers back to King.

Hofstra’s Lazer Goldberg agrees with King Shabazz & Tony. He writes that Science Is Where You Find It. Every large city is good hunting ground. NYC is full of a huge variety of rocks, minerals, bird species, flowers, lichen, fungi and fern. Also micro & macroscopic freshwater life, trees, shrubs, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and insects.

And consider the people excavating for new buildings, building bridges, flying aircraft and manufacturing goods of all kinds. This too is observable Science.

King Shabazz & Tony somehow sensed that they would recognize Spring when they saw it. They had no equipment, guide books, curriculum or a prior knowledge base. Lazer Goldberg references Physicist Richard Feynman’s childhood nature walks with his salesman father. Senior Feynman may not have memorized the names of various birds, trees, rocks and flowers. But he did share with his son “The wonder he felt about natural events. Birds returning to precisely the same place each year. The life cycle in the woods that seemed to satisfy all its interdependent living things.

What was important was the SPIRIT the father transmitted to his young son. That feeling endured in Nobel Laureate Scientist Richard Feynman.“

What I can say, I can write

What I can write, I can read

I can read what I write and what other people can write for me to read.

This terrific big work text for kids begins with a Read-Aloud Animals Everywhere Rhymes. Easy to recite, echo, memorize, dance to, sing or copy as a handwriting practice.

Hickory Dickory Dock

The mouse ran up the clock

The clock struck one

The mouse ran down

Hickory Dickory Dock

An Animal Story page allows plenty of room for a student to draw a picture of a favorite animal and then write a story. From there we go to Farm Animals, Zoo Animals, Animal Riddles, Animals In The Clouds, Animal Tracks and Crazy Creature Animals.

On The Top Of The Crumpetty Tree

The Quangle Wangle Sat

But his face you could not see

On account of his Beaver Hat

(Edward Lear Nonsense Poetry)

The literary concept of Riddles as Puzzles is introduced.

Who lives in a straw house in a tree and hides her babies from you and me? Who lives in a hollow tree in the wood that he fills with nuts for his winter food? Ethel M. Wegert

A series of Critical Thinking Skill Exercises Featuring The Use Of COMPARISON: I Can Run As Fast As… I Can Eat As Much As… I Can Play Like…

There is a page dedicated to good old-fashioned pasting Cut-Out Animal Pictures.

Animals In Clouds Activity offers a lovely Read/Recite Aloud poem entitled CLOUDS.

White sheep, white sheep on a blue hill

When the wind stops you stand still

When the wind blows you walk away slow

White sheep, white sheep where do you go?

These work texts are meant for work. They spread out nicely on a flat surface. They are made of sturdy paper strong enough to withstand the pressure of primary pencils, glue pots, thick crayons or watercolor painting. Each page is perforated and can be torn out for display at school or at home.

Book II blends Literacy + Science + Child as Weather Observer. A 9 year old boy named William contributes a poem he authored.

THE WIND

The Wind! Wishing, Swishing, Howling, Pushing.

That’s the wind. The wind is cold. The wind is chilly. Wind! Screeching, wheezing, Breathing, freezing. That’s the wind! Dash!

Tumbleweeds roll, trash cans crash, SMASH!

The dirt flies high, dust gets in your eye. That’s the wind!

How about a page for recording Figures Of Speech Similes?

It is cold as ice. As hot as an oven. As scorching as the desert. As sweltering as a sauna. As fresh as a daisy. As silent as a snowflake.