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April 25, 2023
Spring Issue #5
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Weekly activities and lessons to keep your child thinking and progressing all year long. |
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“Every child needs a parent, grandparent or friend who will say let’s go it’s time for an adventure.” |
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Hello and Happy Tuesday!
This week I had an amazing revelation. I finally felt that things were "normal". I mean it was the first time in over three years that my life, job, and social interactions were completely unencumbered by any COVID restrictions. That ubiquitous light at the end of the tunnel has finally reached us and it feels great.
I hope you enjoy this week's learning activities. I've discovered another gem of a book that I am certain all children will enjoy either independently or as a read aloud. If you like fantasy adventure books, you are in for a treat with this book. This is the perfect weekend for giant bubbles. Actually, it is always the perfect time for giant bubbles. I think we need to incorporate them into every school activity :-) Have a glorious week.
If you know anybody who you think would benefit from the weekly learning activities in this flyer, please share it with your friends and encourage them to join The McManus Files mailing list by following the links on this page.
Peace,
Mr. McManus
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If you feel your child might benefit from an individual group or tutoring program to prepare them for the next phase of their education, please contact McManus Tutoring.
Programs are structured so that students learn independence, accountability, and self-possession. They will develop a repeatable structure that can be used to build success in the future.
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The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone
by Jaclyn Moriarty
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I fell in love with the cover of this book, so I had to read it. This supernatural mystery has a British feel to it which added to its charm. Bronte Mettlestone (great name, right?) takes a journey to deliver a chest full of small gifts per her parent’s will to ten of her aunts. There are multiple adventures and creative twists as she meets Elves, Sprites, cousins, and Spellbinders. Every chapter is another adventure for Bronte who didn't expect to be going on adventures at all. This book literally has something for everybody. There are dragons, pirates, water sprites, and so much more, but its most importantly a story about a 10 year old being resourceful and showing 'mettle' when others are in need. Overall, a cute story with tons of fun for avid readers who might be looking for more challenging material. I loved it and I cannot recommend it enough.
Enjoy!
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Create Giant Bubbles!
Bubbles are fascinating. What gives them their shape? What makes them break or last? What causes the colors and patterns in the soap film, and why do they change?
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Tools and Materials
- Bubble solution—you can use a commercial solution such as Wonder Bubbles™, or make your own using this recipe:
- Gently mix 2/3 cup (160 milliliters) Dawn™ dishwashing liquid and 1 tablespoon (15 mL) glycerin (available at most drugstores) with 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of water
- Wire coat hanger
- Shallow tub or tray about 18 inches (45 centimeters) in diameter, such as a potted-plant drain dish, pizza pan, or cafeteria tray
- Optional: Yarn
Bubble solution note: If you have trouble making good bubbles, try using distilled water instead of tap water. Aging the solution for at least a day before use significantly increases the lifetime of the bubbles.
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Assembly
Bend the coat hanger into a flat hoop with the hook sticking up at an angle to serve as a handle. Bubbles will form more consistently when the hoop is as circular as possible. If you wrap yarn tightly around the rim of the hoop, the yarn will absorb the bubble solution, which will make the hoop easier to use.
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To Do and Notice
See tip about bubble solution in the Tools and Materials section above.
Fill the shallow tray with bubble solution and submerge the hoop in it. Tilt the hoop toward you until it’s almost vertical, and then gently lift it from the tray. You should have a bubble film extending across the hoop. Swing the hoop through the air to make a giant bubble. When you have a big bubble, twist the hoop to seal it off at the end.
What shapes do the bubbles take once they are free of the hoop? What roles do convection and air currents play in a bubble’s movement? Look for patterns and colors in the bubbles. Dip the hoop in the solution and hold the film up to the light without forming a bubble. What patterns (and changes in patterns) do you observe?
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What’s Going On?
The strong mutual attraction of water molecules to each other is known as surface tension. Normally, surface tension makes it impossible to stretch the water out to make a thin film. Soap reduces surface tension and allows a film to form. Because of surface tension, a soap film always pulls in as tightly as it can, just like a stretched balloon.
A soap film makes the smallest possible surface area for the volume it contains. If a bubble is floating in the air and makes no contact with other objects, it will form a sphere, because a sphere is the shape that has the smallest surface area compared to its volume. (Wind or vibration may distort the sphere.)
The patterns of different colors in a soap bubble are caused by interference. Light waves reflected from the inner and outer surfaces of the soap film interfere with each other constructively or destructively, depending on the thickness of the bubble and the wavelength (that is, the color) of the light. For example, if the soap film is thick enough to cause waves of red light to interfere destructively with each other, the red light is eliminated, leaving only blue and green to reach your eyes.
Going Further
You can make a variety of devices to create large bubbles. One of the easiest is a length of string (or, still better, fuzzy yarn) threaded through two drinking straws, with the ends tied to make a loop any size you want. Not only will this device make large bubbles, but you can twist the straws to make film surfaces with different shapes.
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Three Writing Prompts and an Essay Topic
These prompts and questions will help jump-start your daily writing. Just as it's important to read for at least 30 minutes each day, you should also write for 30 minutes a day. Don't worry about your organization or spelling, just write!
"The fog machine at Shannon’s party was stuck on full blast so we..."
"After the last incident, we knew Grandpa would be banned from the grocery store, but..."
"Daniel was excited but also concerned to see he had 250 new text messages on his phone."
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April 25th
The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed (sent into space) by the U.S. today in 1990. It can show objects up to 14 billion light-years away. The original Hubble lenses didn't work well and had to be fixed. In 1993, a shuttle crew went up, retrieved Hubble from orbit, fixed it, and returned it to orbit once more.
Prompt
Have you ever worked really hard on a project, only to discover it did not work? (Perhaps you forgot batteries, or a part was broken.) Explain what happened.
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PLAY
BreakLock
Click the game or this link to try this challenging strategy game.
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