Observing States of Matter With Poppins Book Nook

Welcome to the January edition of Poppins Book Nook! 

This month's theme was: To The Laboratory    

It's no secret that we enjoy hands-on learning in our homeschool. The children love observing God's wonderful creation all around us. It just so happens we have been starting to focus on Water in our My Father's World lessons, so I thought we would have some fun with States of Matter for this month's Poppins Book Nook. We have looked at this subject before. The older girls know that the states of matter are: Solid, Liquid, and Gas. So, to make things fun and interesting, we found this cute book at the library. 

Joe-Joe the Wizard Brews Up Solids, Liquids and Gases by Eric Braun is about a boy who attends Ms. Tickle's Academy of Magic. His least favorite class is "Regular Old Science." In the story, Joe-Joe does not want to learn about their new subject: States of Matter. He tries to turn his homework into chocolate bars, but instead turns it into chocolate syrup. This leads into a hands-on lesson on the states of matter, where the teacher explains what matter is and how they change from one to the other.

As it is winter time, we have had the opportunity to observe snow as well as water, ice, and steam. We went out to play and brought some snow in to compare how long a packed glass of snow takes to melt as opposed to a loosely filled glass. We also saw how packed snow sometimes melts into more water than a loosely filled glass. We were surprised to find that one time the packed snow melted into more snow than another time. We theorized that it might have to do with different types of snow. 

Loosely Filled vs. Packed

We also observed water and ice. The older girls and I recorded the different temperatures of cold water out of the faucet, hot water out of the faucet, and boiling water. We then observed how long it took for an ice cube to melt in each of these temperatures. Additionally, we melted one in our hands and one in a bowl sitting on the counter at room temperature. 

Melting an ice cube in our hands. We took turns holding the ice cube, trading off as it got too cold.

This brought us to our little snack experiment based on the book. I mentioned that Joe-Joe had turned his homework into chocolate syrup (its liquid state). Later in the story his teacher turned it into a chocolate bar (its solid state) and then into chocolate gas (its gaseous state). Now, obviously we can't turn chocolate into a gas. However, we took solid chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and white chocolate chips and melted them in the microwave along with peanuts and raisins. We then made it into what we are calling Trail Mix Candy Bars. I will be sharing the full instructions Friday morning in my Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen post. Here is a sneak peek:

It was a yummy conclusion to this month's Poppins Book Nook.

Don't forget to check out what the other Poppins Book Nook co-hosts have been up to this month. Then don't forget to link up your own posts! Lastly, enter the Ultimate Gruffalo Giveaway.

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God's Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy's Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy's Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ Our Simple Kinda Life ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Simplicity Breeds Happiness ~ Raventhreads ~ Water on the Floor ~ Learning Fundamentals ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ Mom's Heart ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ Suncoast Momma ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A "Peace" of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Ultimate Gruffalo Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group willbe offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that tiesin with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win theUltimate Gruffalo Giveaway. The winner will enjoy twice the magical enchantmentin the double feature of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child! The beautifullyanimated films based on the best-selling books are now together on DVD from NCircle Entertainment! And thefun doesn’t stop there as they will also win a storybook of the Gruffalo and Gruffalothemed plush too!

Entrants must be 18years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. Thisgiveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who isowner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook and this month’s prize bundle willbe sent to the winner directly from this month’s sponsor NCircle Entertainment. Byentering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agreeto all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as EnchantedHomeschooling Mom's disclosuresfound here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.  Just enter the Rafflecopterbelow to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come and find out more information about Poppins Book Nook at Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, on Facebook and on Pinterest.

Clip Art by Melon Headz