ON THE PI DAY

Pi Day

(3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939...)

is a great day to have some fun with mathematics and science. 

This morning. 

Iza packed this toolbox.

Together with her "good child detector".

Off she went to school. 

A radio. 

Last term's little project after the "Christmas Shrub".

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CHRISTMAS SHRUB

You made a christmas "tree" ... a beautiful shrub indeed ...

Very abstract. Very conceptual.

I admire how your tutor has inspired you.

" Mama, I wish to study in secondary school. I think it's more fun there.

媽媽, 我想讀中學。會好玩得多。"

You said just after the second class with Tutor Doraemon.

Your Tudor D does have clever tricks to stimulate kids.

" It's better to dig ( explore ) things by ourselves than being told.

I soon forget things people just murmur to my ears.

與其由別人告訴你, 不如自己找。說。說。說。轉瞬, 忘了。"

you said in class.

" How you grab my secret ?!!!

你怎麼知道我的秘密 ? "

Tutor D.

This is such a sweet response.

"The little secret" has built a magical bridge, a secure connection, abides you and the Tutor.

You are encouraged, understood and accepted.

It's a bit sad that this beautiful child and teacher relationship does not always happen in regular classroom.

Iza is fortunate in coming into encounter with Tutor D, whom is actually the parent of a P6 student in our school.

A very devoted parent and a knowledgable person.

Thanks for the beautiful twinkling lights, Tutor Doraemon !

PS

Images of iza were taken in Chengdu.

She's in the beautiful craft by Fei An.

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花開了

Music edited by papa ziggy.

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KITCHEN CHEMISTRY

Inspired by this. We thought of having fun with things found in our kitchen.

Making a liquid indicator that helps us to figure out which food, drinks or detergents are acids or alkalis.

1...Cut the red cabbage into tiny pieces.

2...Put the pieces into a big glass bowl.

3...Add boiling water and stir the mixture.

4...Leave it to cool.

5...Pour the cabbage water through a strainer into a jar.

The liquid is the indicator.

We started the test with lemonade and baking soda.

Lemonade turned the indicator reddish pink, indicating it's an acid.

Baking soda turned the indicator into a beautiful blue green, indicating it's an alkali.

We tried with things iza shortlisted : Lemon, baking soda, honey, chicken broth, milk, soya source, cod liver oil, vinegar, shampoo, glass cleaner and water ( can be anything provided it's safe ).

Watch the color changes. You will know which is acid or alkali.

We cross referenced with pH indicator papers.

When you mix the liquids with baking soda and lemonade (or vinegar) together, you will see furious bubbles. If we mix the right amount of acid and alkali, they will cancel out each other and make a neutral (salt) again. But we didn't get the right balance :)

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乖孩子探測器

Wednesday, after a new extra-curricular activity (organized by school), she brought this home. She's so eager to explain everything to me ... and it has a secret function. The machine knows if you are good or bad! It is a good child detector. Her tutor must be doraemon. If not, he shall be Santa Claus who is making a list and gonna find out who's naughty and nice ...

星期三, 新的課外活動後她帶了這東西回家。還未放下書包, 就告訴我這個那個有什麼功能。這東東還有神奇用途 ... 可以測度小朋友乖不乖! 原來是, 神奇乖孩子探測器。導師應該是叮噹。她讓我隨時使用，只是逢星期三要帶返學。

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SOME TIME LATER

This is not an image from a kaleidoscope but the dried up dye for Easter eggs.

Iza is always curious on " how do things look like SOME TIME LATER ? "

It is her observation game ... certain things look like as they are at a particular moment, in state which we are most familiar with, but they will change their form, color, smell, volume ... with time.

She has once pleaded for watching the change of state of an opened egg. The 28 days of observation was recorded here ( II, III, IV ). It was nothing serious and no great findings, but it was a fun guess game!

I tried to recall how iza first got started ...

Maybe ... this was it ... a piece of dried up glue she made at 2-3 Years old. She squeezed some glue onto a lid and placed 4 cotton buds into it. It then turned into something semi translucent, elastic and the buds were frozen as they were. I know it is nothing special to us. To a child, it might be something incredible.

About the dye ... originally, I was a bit reluctant to keep the pot of dye ... as a person easily irritate by disorganization, I got mad with iza's "here a bit and there a bit" ... and, I thought it would just remain as its original color which was a dark green. To satisfy her curiosity, I agreed though I did not fancy on this. But, she was so excited and said,

" I think it will turn into jelly. "

I thought she was silly ...

After almost 2 months, the dye has totally dried up. Instead of turning into opaque pigment of dark green or turning into jelly, it becomes crystalline in form.

The change of color is dramatic. For the dye, we originally mixed the same portion of red and green of organic food colorings. Out of my expectation, we did not get a dark grey or dark brown, but a dark green mixture. The red was dominant by the green. The dyeing result was magical too. The exterior of eggs became purple and the interior turned emerald green. From the dried up dye, we do not see traces of purple or red, but crystals of green, cyan, blue on the bottom ... some yellow and lime around the rim. I must admit that it is far beyond my imagination.

There was another day I saw iza dissolving a soluble crayon and mixing it with glue ...

I thought she was making her own acrylic paint :) In the dried up specimen, we found traces of blue, violet, cyan and some magenta ... so beautiful.

On the other day, she suggested another fun game ... using Easter eggs shells to make color pigments again.

We ground the red egg shells with small amount of water ... but it did not turn back into red dye ... then we put some red organic food coloring into it and let it dry again.

She then shared some portion of the mixture onto another plate ... and added some talcum powder and shampoo. It was no longer a liquid but a thick paste ... After 2 weeks, we discovered that the color of the first specimen will change during rainy days. The color of the second one with talcum powder is comparatively stable. Baby powder really serves its purpose of keeping dry!

Always we do not plan ahead for "experiments". Every case, I'm just following iza's instincts and be her helper. For our child, what is invaluable is not the experience or knowledge from the "experiments" but the enlivenment of CAPACITY OF LISTENING TO THE GENTLE VOICE IN HER HEART... the innate sense of wonder. This is what I miss, the most, for the whole school year. I enjoy watching iza following her passion, her inner call ... to wander, to question, to examine the wonder-filled world around her with SPONTANEITY. We aware that this sense of wonder and the capacity of curiosity will fade if we do not intentionally keep it alive ... the best we can do is to do LESS, to abandon the impulse to teach, to allow aimless activities, to accept messiness (!) ...

In this Summer, we plan to have no Summer course. It's the time to set our child free from programs and structures. It's the time to response to the calling of SPONTANEITY again. I can't wait anymore for the Summer holiday! It is only 2 days ahead.

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