The Circle Of Life

We’re all connected, not just in our families or communities, but with all living things. And they are also connected to water, air, and the rest of the earth. Find out how these elements work together in the great circle of life.

CONNECT:

• Different types of plants animals grow in different climates. Imagine a cactus in the Arctic or polar bears  in the jungle. To appreciate the differences, try some of the activities at http://www.nclark.net/CommunitiesBiomes
• Plants and other living things depend on each other; the system is called ecology.  Explore some ecology activities at http://www.biologyjunction.com/unit9_ecology.htm#POWERPOINTS
• What’s a food web? Think of it as an inter-related food chain.  Spin your food web in this simulation: http://www.nclark.net/CommunitiesBiomes (you might want to check out the whole ecolab set of activities as background information).
• The status of one animal impacts the status of another; see how moose and wolves reflect predator-prey dynamics at http://www.onlinelearningexchange.com/texas_demo/assets/bio_11b_interactive_art_moose/elab2.html
• How do diseases spread? See how populations impact the dynamics of diseases at Speed Sim (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speed-sim-spatial-population/id437545518?mt=8).

CREATE:

• The prairie is one of North America's great ecosystems, and a vital habitat for many plants and animals. Can you turn a bare dirt field into a thriving prairie? Take the restoration challenge in this interactive game! http://www.bellmuseum.umn.edu/games/prairie/build/index.html
• Explore the amazing world of recycling for kids with a range of fun experiments, free games, crazy facts, cool projects, interesting videos, quizzes and more! http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/recycling.html
• Recycle these great ideas of crafts made from recycled materials: http://www.planetpals.com/recycle_crafts_kids.html
• Here are 20 toys you can make from trash: http://bigspringenvironmental.com/20-toys-to-make-from-trash/

CARE:

• The Greenhouse Effect is not the result you want when growing plants. Since out how greenhouse gases affect climate at http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/greenhouse
• Smog:  smoke and fog – and more. Try the simulation Smog City (http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/smogcity.html) and accompanying activity to find out what causes smog -- and the worst conditions for smog. What can your family to to help address the smog problem?
• Want to go green? Play these environment games to learn about some of the issues, and how to deal with them:  http://ecogamer.org/environmental-games
• Find out ways that your community can reduce waste by checking out the garbage scene at http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/intro.html

CAREER:

• Brainstorm all the careers that come to mind when you think about ecology. The list may be longer than you think: http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/ecology.shtml
• Here are some simple descriptions of ecologist careers, along with ecology projects: http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/ecology/careers.html
• Want to make some “green” while work in the the green work sector? Check out http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/green-jobs-in-ecology.html

Here, Here, for Hair!

Hair is something that most people deal with. It’s not only a part of healthy living but it can also be a fashion statement. There’s a lot more than what meets the eye. Find out here – about hair.

CONNECT:

• http://www.hairfinder.com/kids_hairstyles.htm is a good sourse of information about hairstyles and advice for children and teens.  And guys can also check out http://coolmenshair.com/ (includes boys).
• http://www.myhaircuts.com/ includes points about healthy hair.
• Hair has been part of fashion since prehistory, as shown in this multimedia presentation: http://thehistoryofthehairsworld.com/
• One of the most famous inventors of hair products was Madame C. J. Walker. Find out more about this amazing African American entrepreneur at  https://webfiles.uci.edu/mcbrown/display/walker.html  and http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/cjwalker.html
• Everything you wanted to know about the science of hair: http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/index.aspx

CREATE:

• Do a virtual hair makeover on http://www.hairfinder.com/hair_imaging.htm. No cutting required
• Learn braiding techniques at http://www.princesshairstyles.com/, http://www.wikihow.com/Braid-Hair, and  http://2good2lose.com/braidyourhair.shtml
• There are several patterns for making hair accessories: http://www.favecrafts.com/Hair-Accessories/How-to-Make-Hair-Accessories-16-Free-Patterns
• Want to make someone’s hair stand out on end? Try this electricity experiment: http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/staticelectricity.html
• Try making your own shampoo and conditioner: http://www.diynatural.com/homemade-shampoo/

CARE:

• Locks of Love (http://www.locksoflove.org/) is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. There are several ways to help them.  
• The world is going green by using hair in unique ways: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320571,00.html
• You might save family money by cutting hair at home (probably by teens and adults): http://www.wikihow.com/Cut-Hair
• Teach children how to take care of their hair: http://www.aad.org/dermatology-a-to-z/health-and-beauty/every-stage-of-life/children/teaching-healthy-hair-care. You might make a video or create a comic for them.

CAREER:

The first career that comes to mind is usually hair cutting and styling. (Cosmetology deals with the cosmetic condition of hair, not cosmology, which deals with astronomy.)  However, other careers deal with hair: chemistry, medicine, manufacturing and sales, photography, even weaving.  Check out some of these career  advice websites:

http://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/barbers-hairdressers-and-cosmetologists.htm

http://voices.yahoo.com/3-fun-beauty-hair-careers-6845686.html?cat=69

http://beautyschools.org/careers-in-beauty/

And here are 10 jobs where you can have weird hair: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/Careers/11/24/cb.hair/    

FOR PARENTS:

http://www.parenting.com/article/easy-ways-care-for-your-childs-hair

What’s Cooking?

Cooking is a lifelong skill, and it can be fun and creative. Cooking also has cultural, scientific, and socio-political aspects. What’s cooking in your family?

CONNECT:

• There are lots of different ways to think about cooking: by ingredients, by culture, by holiday. http://www.spatulatta.com/ has hundreds of video recipes by these categories, and features fun recipes such as Teddy Bear Tea and Sea Turtle Taters.
• What is the science of cooking? Explore the science behind food and cooking at http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/
• Cooking reflects cultural perspectives. Compare these two sites, for instance: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/Mexican-cooking.html, http://members.tripod.com/~Nancy_J/kwanzaa.htm
• Food’s been around long before cooking or recipes. But humans have been improving on food for centuries. Trace food and cooking over time at http://www.foodtimeline.org/
• Where does food come from? Trace one fruit at http://www.watermelon.org/FAQ/FAQ-FunFacts.aspx

 CREATE:

• Create a recipe; many youngsters sent PBS fun recipes, that you can try: http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/cafe/
• Chemistry is related to cooking. Expand your ideas about recipes by trying slime recipes for kids: http://chemistry.about.com/od/letsmakeslime/Lets_Make_Slime.htm
• Create a nutritional plan as a family using http://www.letsmove.gov/plan-healthy-meal and http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
• Be creative about going meat-free; here is a good site for vegan cooking: http://vegweb.com/

CARE:

• Take care of your bones through good cooking and eating: http://www.bestbonesforever.gov/
• What is a sustainable diet in some countries? In some areas, it includes insects as a staple: http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/dept/bugfood1.asp
• Children's Hunger Relief Fund (http://www.chrf.org/) responds to children's immediate physical, emotional, and spiritual needs following drought, earthquake, hurricane, war, and other disasters.
• Wondering what you can do to help end world hunger? Visit  http://www.chrf.org/; the page sponsors donate money to the United Nations World Food Programme.

CAREER:

Cooking is a staple of life, so it’s no surprise that it is a staple in the arena of careers. And there are many jobs that contribute to cooking: agriculture, marketing, retail business, manufacturing, nutrition, home economics, restauranteur, and food services.

http://www.careeroverview.com/chef-careers.html

http://www.four-h.purdue.edu/foods/Careers%20Level%20A%20frame1.htm#top

http://www.usda.gov/documents/8-Careers.pdf

http://www.onetonline.org/find/career?c=1

Juneteenth and Other Expressions of Freedom

School’s out – or is likely to finish soon for the summer. There’s a certain sense of freedom.  But the concept of freedom has much deeper roots and meaning. For example, the celebration Juneteenth commemorates the ending of  slavery in the U.S. Freedom can also be in the mind. Feel free to explore the varieties of freedom.

CONNECT:

• Juneteenth is a contraction of June 19^th, and is NOT the date of the Emancipation Proclamation. Find out the reason for the date discrepancy, and the impact of Juneteenth at http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm
• What if you had to hide in order to get to freedom? You can experience the Underground Railroad at http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/multimedia/interactive/the-underground-railroad/?ar_a=1
• Another journey to freedom was the crossing of the Delaware during the American Revolutionary War. This ThinkQuest was developed by students for students: http://library.thinkquest.org/10966/
• The cost of freedom is not free. Enter the virtual Smithsonian exhibit “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War” to experience how war has shaped American freedom: http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/

CREATE:

• You can participate in Juneteenth celebrations in almost every state. You can probably take photos at the event, and upload them to http://www.juneteenth.com/worldwide.htm to show your support. Indeed, you can even create – and share -- your own event or way to recognize this date and its meaning.
• What does freedom look like? Civil Rights dealt with ways to live fairly and justly in a free society. Part of that effort to address Civil Rights has been through art, as shown in this African American conference “Oh Freedom!” (http://africanamericanart.si.edu/conference)  Try your artistic hand at visually describing freedom.
• Songs of freedom can mobilize people. Hear some of the classic ones at http://www.classicsforkids.com/shows/freedom.asp. Make up your own!
• How creative can you be? Open-ended tools and toys can give children more freedom to open their minds and create. Think about providing a creative corner, inspired by http://adventuresathomewithmum.blogspot.com/2013/02/our-art-centre-freedom-and-creativity.html

CARE:

• What freedoms do children have – or should have?  Humanium is a humanitarian relief organization for sustainable development and child sponsorship in India. Read Humanium’s list of children’s rights to freedom: http://www.humanium.org/en/fundamental-rights/freedom/. Do you agree with that list? Are  the rights of children in India the same as U.S. children’s rights?
• “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom,” and part of that vigilance is voting. Even if you’re too young to vote, you can build political power, starting with http://www.rockthevote.org/
• Assistive technology can help individuals gain more mobile freedom. Find out about freedom machines at http://www.pbs.org/pov/freedommachines/#.Ubzv2ZzAgXc
• One of the most important freedoms is intellectual freedom. Know your rights by reading what the American Library Association has to say: http://www.ala.org/alsc/sites/ala.org.alsc/files/content/issuesadv/intellectualfreedom/kidsknowyourrights.pdf

CAREERS:

What kinds of careers help maintain freedom?

• Politicians enact laws that maintain freedom: http://www.bls.gov/opub/ooq/2008/summer/art01.pdf
• People in the military are sometimes called peace keepers, and work to keep America free: http://www.todaysmilitary.com
• In terms of freedom of the mind, teachers want students to be free to learn: http://www.bls.gov/k12/help01.htm
• And librarians certainly support intellectual freedom: http://librarycareers.drupalgardens.com/

Maps: We Get Around

Interested in maps? You need them when you travel or try to navigate around. Maps are visual representations that show relationships among the mapped items, be they cities or ideas. Atlases are collections of maps. Consider that even websites have site maps. Explore the variety of maps, and how to make them. It’s a fun way to get around.

CONNECT:

• What are maps for? Find your way around maps at http://www.k-8visual.info/maps.html, http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/ttravis/social_studies_class.cfm?subpage=648434, and http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/jh/earth/mapstype/lesson1/mapstypes01a.html
• How do you take a 3D globe and make it into a 2D map? Think about taking an orange peel, and making it flat. How does it impact how you perceive that orange’s shape? Different world map projections can also impact your world view, literally and culturally (Africa is bigger or smaller depending on the map’s projection). Find out details at http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapProj/Normal/TOC/. For another perspective, look at the world upside down:  http://flourish.org/upsidedownmap/.  Does it alter your view about each continent’s importance?
• How have geography regions changed over time? The U.S. Geological Survey has produced topographic (land mass) maps for more than 125. See how your region has changed by searching the agency’s historical map collection online at http://nationalmap.gov/historical/.
• Do you what “mappa mundi” means? Is any European map of the world. Take a look at at ancient maps at http://ancientworldmaps.blogspot.com/
• Find out how to read weather maps by using Discovery Education’s lesson plan, which contains several kinds of weather maps: http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/weather-maps.cfm.
• How about mapping the sky? A brain? What kinds of legends or keys would you use? Here are some examples to explore: http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/brain.html, http://www.skymaponline.net/, http://healthland.time.com/2012/10/22/time-explains-genome-sequencing/, http://arctic.fws.gov/birdworldmig.htm.

CREATE:

• Personalize your journeys, be they your family’s history or a fantasy trip. It might be your family’s immigration journey. Go to Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/‎), and download it for free. Follow their directions about adding features to the map.
• Going on a family car trip – or wish to? Choose a destination across the country, and see how it’s tracked by car on http://maps.yahoo.com. Figure out reasonable stopping times and places. Then use the site to find lodging, dining spots, and local sites. You can use a spreadsheet to calculate the cost of the trip (don’t forget the cost of gas!). Each family member might make their own choices, and then compare the results, or it can be done as a family project.
• Try your hand at creating an imaginary map. http://www.fantasticmaps.com/ provides great tips and examples.
• You can map any area, even the moon – or an imaginary place! You can make a map from several types of image documents (jpg, png, gif) by using UMapper (http://www.umapper.com/). You can make a journey through the body, for instance, such as the blood’s journey from the heart, or food from the mouth on down.This application also allows you to create your own geography game.

CARE:

• Create a neighborhood or school map for visually impaired. It might be a raised map, or a podcast that can serve as an audio tour. You can start by printing out a digital map from http://maps.google.com or http://maps.yahoo.com, or you can create your own using digital or traditional drawing tools.
• Travel ecologically. Visualize different ways to get to a family destination by using http://maps.google.com. It enables you to map your path by car, public transportation, bicycle, and foot. See how far you can get by using only public transportation.
• Is there a park in the area? You can create a nature walk, and map it. Get ideas for projects at http://www.stormthecastle.com/nature-walk-ideas-and-projects.htm.
• Create maps from data using UN statistics (http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/) or Harvard University’s data sets (http://hdr.undp.org/en/data/map/). See if you can see issues arising as a result of visualizing the statistics.

CAREER:

Like maps? You can become a cartographer: a map maker. You are also likely to use a map for many jobs: city planning, pilots, shippers, engineers, GIS programmers, scientists, performers, even writers. Here are some career leads that involve mapping skills.

http://www.cccarto.com/gisjobs/gisjobs.html

http://careerkey.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-maps-and-related-promising-careers.html

http://www.distancelearningplan.com/cartographers-surveyors-and-other-map-related-professions.html

http://www.aag.org/careers

http://www.superscholar.org/careers/technology/mapping-engineer/