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May 9, 2023
Spring Issue #7
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Weekly activities and lessons to keep your child thinking and progressing all year long. |
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“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
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Happy Tuesday!
I hope you all had a great week and I hope you enjoy the contents of this week's flyer.
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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Believe
by Julie Mathison
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With tons of heart, thought and emotion, this book is the journey of a girl finding herself. Melanie is a fifth grader, who keeps to herself and doesn't fit in with the rest of the kids. During one of the regular bullying sessions, she finds a new friend at her side who is exactly the push she needs to gain the courage not only to stand up for herself but also to learn who she is and what she wants. Melanie also begins a journey of healing as she takes the hunt for her missing mother into her own hands...one that leads to a few surprises along the way. Melanie is a lovely girl, who has shielded herself off from others. Her awkwardness is endearing but not as much as her heart of gold. Her very active imagination is what will capture readers as she tries to fiddle her way and find her place in the world. Fifth graders will easily relate to how awkward fitting in or standing out can be.
Enjoy!
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Coupled Resonant Pendulums
By taking advantage of resonance, you can cause two pendulums to swing in identical cycles.
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Tools and Materials
- Tape
- A drinking straw
- Scissors
- Four pennies
- Two paper clips
- Thin string
- Two pencils
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Assembly
- Tape the two pencils to the edge of a table.
- Cut two strings of equal length (about 8–12 inches [20–30 centimeters] works well) and tie a paper clip to each end.
- Tie the other end of each string to the end of a pencil and adjust the knots so that you have two pendulums of equal length.
- Attach two pennies to each paper clip.
- With the scissors, shorten the drinking straw to about 6 in (15 cm), cut small slits along the sides of the straw, and use the straw segment to link the two pendulums together.
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To Do and Notice
Pull one pendulum toward you a short distance and let go.
Notice that after a few swings, the second pendulum will begin to oscillate, or swing back and forth, with the same frequency as the first pendulum.
With each swing, the second pendulum will increase its amplitude, or the height of its swing. Eventually, the pendulums will swing in unison—the second pendulum will swing in resonance with the first one.
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What’s Going On?
Every pendulum has a natural vibration cycle that depends only on its length. For example, a weight tied to the end of a 10-in (25 cm) length of string will complete one back-and-forth swing in about one second.
The two pendulums in this activity have the same natural frequency because you made them equal in length. When you start the first pendulum oscillating, it makes the attached drinking straw twist back and forth with the same frequency. Each time the first pendulum completes a swing cycle, the twisting straw gives the second pendulum a tiny shove—like a parent pushing a child on a swing.
Because the straw is pushing with the same rhythm as the natural frequency of the second pendulum, the weight swings progressively higher and higher with each tiny push.
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Going Further
Imagine you're stopped at a traffic light when a loose door panel on your car begins to rattle loudly. What could make it vibrate energetically even though the car is at a complete stop?
Like swinging weights on a pendulum, your car door panel has a natural vibration frequency. In this case, the pistons, which move up and down in your idling engine, match the resonant frequency of your door panel.
Metal between the engine and the car door, like the drinking straw in this pendulum activity, transmits the pushes and pulls that eventually get the loose panel to shake violently. Each tiny motion of the car body will make the loose door panel vibrate harder and harder—until finally the amplitude of the vibrations are large enough to get your attention.
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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!
"Dear reader, I wish I could tell you where I am, but..."
"After everything that happened, I’ll never be able to look at peanut butter and jelly sandwiches the same way."
"I clung to a large piece of debris and continued floating down the flooded street until..."
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May 9th
Author Eleanor Estes (Author of Ginger Pye one of my all time favorite books) was born today in 1906 in West Haven, Connecticut. She once said: "I like to make children laugh or cry, or to move them in some way." Eleanor felt a book was like a mirror for a child to look into and see a true image of what it is like to be a child.
Prompt
Can you think of a book you've read that was so true for you that it was like looking into a mirror? Did this book make you want to laugh or cry?
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PLAY
Calculator Fun!
Click this link to investigate the magic of math with a calculator.
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