Letter from Betty for May 2014

Hello, 

The beautiful weather is upon us. We wake early in the morning listening to the chirping birds and watching the sun beam stream through the house. The flowers are in bloom and we realize that nature surrounds us. Science is the key to all these wonderful spectacles, and this month's newsletter follows that theme. It includes various kid-friendly science experiments that can be done with materials you have at home. Get started now!

FFL will be offering high school students the opportunity to take a free full SAT and ACT practice test on Saturday, August 16. The following week, parents will have the opportunity to meet with FFL tutors to discuss results and recommendations going forward.

To take advantage of this offer, please contact the office as soon as possible. We are scheduling on a first-come, first-serve basis.

We are also scheduling summer tutoring sessions. Please call your tutor to set up times to meet through the summer months. 

Betty

Betty Bodenweiser
Director
Foundation for Learning

SAT/ACT Test Schedules

Mark your calendars! Here are the latest SAT, ACT, and SSAT test dates.

 

Science Fun at Home

We’ve all heard it before: “Why do I have to learn this? I’ll never use it in real life!” There are times when kids struggle in school and just don’t see any possible way that the tough assignment they’re working on will have any practical application.



Well, as parents we can show our kids how science works every day in our lives. Your home, your backyard, your local playground or park—those are all laboratories just waiting for your naturally curious child. Take advantage of your outings to introduce some science into your child’s day.

See a cocoon while you’re in your yard? Show it to your child and watch how it progresses to beautiful butterfly form. It’s science!

Did you just make guacamole or use carrots in your cooking? Take the avocado seed or carrot top, a couple of toothpicks, and a bit of water and watch a new plant grow. It’s science!

Here’s a fun one: teach your kids a delicious lesson on how crystals form by letting them grow their own rock candy pop!  Easy instructions with photos included can be found here.

How about teaching your kids about vibration while making a little music, too! Get 5 to 7 glass or plastic same-sized bottles (glass works best). Fill each bottle with different amounts of water, arrange on a table from most liquid to least. Have your child blow across the top of the bottle and see the tone she can create. Each bottle will produce a different tone, depending on the amount of liquid inside. The reason? The bottle with the smallest amount of liquid will produce a lower sound because there is more room inside for the air to vibrate. Inversely, the bottle with the most liquid will produce the highest tone because it has the least amount of room inside. It’s musical magic…and it’s science!

Scientific American has a wonderful feature online. Each Thursday they post super fun and easy science activities that parents can do with their kids, aged 6-12. In well thought out, user-friendly terms, you can use these activities to explore light manipulation, cooking experiments, how bridges work, sound manipulation, why puppies sleep in cute puppy piles, and so much more.  Bookmark this fantastic page and set aside time each week to do these fun and easy activities with your kids!  

The Puzzler: New Jersey Butterflies Field Trip

The state of New Jersey has an abundance of butterfly species. Let's go for a field trip!

QUESTION: Can you can choose the correct names from the following list for the 6 butterflies in the photos below? Here are your choices:

• Buckeye butterfly
• Red admiral butterfly
• Common wood nymph butterfly
• Monarch butterfly
• Viceroy butterfly
• Question mark butterfly



Answers next month.



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LAST ISSUE'S PUZZLER: The Missing Dingo, with ANSWERS
 

In the Land Down Under, the road signs warn highway travelers of animals not found anywhere else in the world.

QUESTION: If I told you that the warning signs in the photos below depicted a cassowary, koala, bandicoot, kangaroo, emu, and wombat, but not a single dingo, could you tell me which was which?

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ANSWERS
Top row, left to right: emu, kangaroo, wombat.
Bottom row, left to right: koala, cassowary, bandicoot.