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April 11, 2023
Spring Issue #3
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Weekly activities and lessons to keep your child thinking and progressing all year long. |
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"It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." |
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Happy Tuesday!
Yes! Spring is here! Longer days, warmer weather, shorts and flip flops... My mood is changing. I hope you enjoy this week's flyer. If you like books about friendship check out this week's recommendation, The Good Thieves. I read this book in a day over spring break. I could not put it down. There also is a fun Lego challenge involving wind power and some interesting math problems and puzzles. Oh, yeah, and four great writing prompts. The activities here will keep you busy and thinking. Have fun!
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 a group or individual 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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The Good Thieves
by Katherine Rundell
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This book has everything for me - I love a good heist and this book has this and so much more. When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a powerful real estate tycoon, Vita knows it’s up to her to make things right. With the help of a pickpocket and her new circus friends, Vita creates the plan: Break into the mansion. Steal back what’s rightfully her grandfather’s. Expose the real estate tycoon for the crook he truly is. But 1920s Manhattan is ever-changing and full of secrets. It might take more than Vita’s ragtag gang of misfits to outsmart the city that never sleeps. Katherine Rundell has created an utterly gripping tour de-force about loyalty, trust, and the lengths to which we’ll go for the ones we love. It took me into a world of excitement and adventure full of suspense. I found it hard to put down, but sometimes the suspense was so much that I had to retreat into normal life to bring my blood pressure back to normal!
Enjoy!
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Build a Windmill Design Challenge
Here is how you can do your own Wind Powered STEM Challenge – Lego Rescue Mission!
Wind Powered STEM Challenge – Learn all about the power of the wind with a Lego Rescue and a bit of inspiring reading! Read on and prepare to be blown away!
Wind Power, it’s mighty and awesome, but also gentle and caressing. It’s all around us, and there are a lot of people working on ways to harness wind energy to create environmentally sustainable power sources.
Learning about wind power is a fantastic unit study and to celebrate it here is a Wind Powered STEM Challenge. It’s an environmental tinker project that will leave a lasting impact.
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Supplies
Lots of random items to encourage creativity and experimentation!
Milk Carton or Box (like a shoe box)
Skewers
Corks
String
Construction Paper
Tape
Scissors
Ruler
Legos
Fearless Lego MiniFig
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Challenge
Lift a Lego mini-fig in a Lego capsule 18 inches of the ground using only wind power
Brainstorm
Take a few minutes and brainstorm issues you may run into during your process of building.
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Testing
Test different types of paper for the windmill blades, along with different shapes and lengths. I tested, played and experimented until I found the combination I thought would be the best for capturing the wind. I highly recommend looking at pictures of windmills to get inspiration for this step.
Break Out the LEGO
Building the Mini-Fig capsule is a fun engineering challenge. It can't be too heavy or too big. You are going to have to lift this capsule off the ground with wind.
Creating the wind is an interesting challenge. Will a fan be best and at what speed? . Maybe just blowing on the blades will created enough force and lift for our mini-fig.
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Engineering the Drive Shaft
For the drive shaft (aka skewer through two corks) when turned, the string will wrap around lifting the mini-fig in its capsule. Getting the string not to slip on the round drive shaft and to start wrapping is the big challenge here. Tape might help to secure the string to the drive shaft, biut there are many other creative problem solving solutions!
When doing this challenge, try different builds and designs. This is a fantastic engineering activity.
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The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind
To introduce your child to the life changing impact of wind power, read the story of William Kamkwamba. William grew up in a small village in Malawi that was devastated by famine and drought. Forced to leave school he used donated books in the village library to teach himself how to build a windmill and create electricity. The first electricity ever seen in his village. Oh, and did I mention he didn’t speak English and had to use a translation dictionary the whole time he was reading? Oh, and he was only 14 years old?
To say William’s story moved, motivated and inspired me would be a massive understatement. Reading his story is the perfect way to kick off your study into Wind Power. You will quickly see how wind power can change lives.
There are three versions of his story available. A picture book for younger children, a young reader edition and a full length novel for older children and adults.
There is also a movie on Netflix.
Inspired by William, my boys were really excited to build their own windmill. I knew I wasn’t ready to tackle full blown electricity generation with my young kids, so we decided to start with mechanical energy generation.
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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!
"'I’m not so sure we should go in there…' he said..."
"'Eureka!' she shouted. 'I finally found the solution...'”
"He rounded the corner quickly and collided headfirst with the new school principal..."
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April 11th
Medieval Fair begins today in Norman, Oklahoma. This is a "living history" fair, where the Middle Ages are brought to life with jousting, music, and feasts of the time. It is a chance to meet such characters as King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Merlin.
Prompt
If you could chose your favorite time in history as the subject of a fair in your town, which time period would you choose? What events would you feature? What foods? What characters would you present?
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4 In a Line
(or Connect Four)
Click the game or this link to try this challenging game.
Took me 5 tries before I beat the computer on Easy :-/
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