The Brain - A Puzzle

One way to learn about the brain is to put together a puzzle!

Disgusting Science

Today we decided to grow disgusting creatures! Lauren created the culture medium by combining water, gelatin, and sugar. Then she poured the liquid into four separate petri dishes where it became solid. When we return from spring break, we will collect some nasty samples from between our toes, inside our nose, under our arms, the bottom of our shoes, the bathroom doorknob, and inside our ears. We will then label and tape the petri dishes shut and put them in a dark place to grow for 14 days. Using our magnifiers, we expect to see gray speckles, green fuzzy stuff, and cram-colored circles. DISGUSTING!

Barry Goldwater Memorial

Today we stopped at the Barry Goldwater Memorial located at Tatum and Lincoln to learn about this iconic man. We discovered a beautiful and meaningful oasis. 

These stone walls are constructed after Anasazi patterns reflecting Goldwater's long association with Native Americans. The windows in the walls capturing views remind us of his passion for photography.

There are eight medallions commemorating significant avocations and achievements in his life.

The Arizona onyx quotation band spirals toward his statue symbolizing his full circle of life.

The statue of Goldwater was created to Cowboy Artist of America, Joe Beeler, and is surrounded by native plants that honor the land he loved.

There is a bridge that represents the transition along the path of life from one place to another. The steel handrail incorporates elements symbolic of Goldwater's love of aviation.

Finally the waterfall is symbolic of the short-lived water supply in the desert.

Van Gogh Alive - The Experience

View the Van Gogh experience here by clicking on these words.

Today at the Arizona Science Center we experienced art instead of our usual science lab. We went to a special showing of Vincent Van Gogh. What made this so special was the combination of light, sound, movement, and color with multi-media technology. The other special part about this visit is that Mrs. Henry, our art teacher, came with us!

This is Van Gogh's Japanese flowers. We will be vising the Japanese
Friendship Garden next month to sketch nature.

Van Gogh certainly saw the world in a different way.

After the Van Gogh exhibit, we went to the Planetarium to learn about the Arizona sky. The constellations were fascinating.

We're Not Lonely Anymore

Brent and I made guacamole while Lauren made the quesadilla.

Hi! This is Matthew. I had a spectacular day visiting the Education Girlz and Mrs. Davis. I was able to finish my report about pirates with helpful comments and suggestions from Mrs. Davis. After that we drove to AJ's and picked up some ingredients to make chicken and cheese quesadillas as well as chunky guacamole. It was delicious!

Brent rolled a yahtzee!

The last activity of the day was Yahtzee, a game of probability. Brent won, I got second, Lauren got third, and Mrs. Davis was disqualified due to a counting error. Whoops!! Another honorable mention is that Lauren aced her math test on exponents. Woooohooo! Nice job Lauren. Brent worked hard on his science outline and IXL geometry formulas. Samantha had to leave early for a diving tournament in Colorado, so she missed out on this amazing day. Good luck Samantha!! Today was a great day, and I wish I was home schooled.


Matthew, thank you for writing our blog today. We enjoyed having you and Brent visit us in our special classroom. - The Education Girlz

Painted Lady Butterflies

Today at the Arizona Science Center, the Education Girlz assembled a butterfly habitat.



After the habitat was built, the girls learned about the stages of caterpillars, called metamorphosis. Before the caterpillars morph into the chrysalis stage, they molt up to five times. The last time a caterpillar molts, it grows a hard shell called a pupa. They stay in the pupa for one week and then the butterfly should emerge in 7 to 10 days. It will then take the butterfly 1 to 2 hours to pump fluids into its wings to fully expand and then harden. Did you know that the butterfly can fly as soon as its wings are ready? We should be able to observe the butterfly's proboscis (a tongue that works like a drinking straw) when it drinks from a sliced orange in its habitat. We can only keep the adult butterfly for 2 weeks before letting it go in nature.

Click here to watch a butterfly's emergence in time lapse

We took home three caterpillars and will take photos everyday to document their growth.

Samantha observes our three young caterpillars.

MC adds caterpillars to our take-home container.

It is amazing to think that these will be painted lady butterflies in just a few weeks!

Our home made butterfly habitat.

Island of the Blue Dolphins Board Game and Poster

This book won the coveted John Newbery Award
for excellence in children's literature.

Samantha created a board game for the just-read novel Island of the Blue Dolphins called "Happy History Happenings". The goal of this game is to voyage from the Island of the Blue Dolphins, now known as San Nicolas, to California 75 miles to the southeast.

The game is made with 100% recycled materials.

Players need to avoid conflicts like the Aleutian otter hunters and wild dogs. The game also has positive events like boats arriving and taming animals for pets.While trying to survive on the deserted island, players have to answer plot questions to move ahead. Samantha also wrote detailed game instructions for players to understand this game that combines history and literature.

The aerial view shows three game pieces for three players.
More players can be added by using more game pieces.
Unlimited fun for everyone!

Lauren created a poster depicting major events from this book and wrote the following description:

"Today I created my Island of the Blue Dolphins poster. I went to Michaels, a craft store, and picked up a miniature dog, Native Americans, a giant squid, a blue poster board, brown felt, and trees. First I started out by sculpting a large bag of clay into a long island. I made it into the shape of a dolphin so it could be related to the book. Next I stuck Karana on my island with her dog, Rontu. I also put trees, foxes, a fire, and a bow without the arrows lying by Karana. On the upper right corner of my poster board, I hot glued an orange and yellow giant squid facing the island. The lower part of the poster, I took brown felt and curved the edges when I cut a little piece of the felt. I stuck a tree and Karana’s family on the felt and wrote "California" in small letters by the brown felt.

            The Island of the Blue Dolphins won the Newberry Award in 1961 and was written by Scott O’Dell. I read this book at school with my sister and my teacher. The part that really affected me was the giant squid grabbing Rontu with its tentacles because I was anxious Rontu was going to die. That is why I put the giant squid on my poster. Another intense part of the book was when the tidal wave came and covered Karana. We even watched videos of tidal waves in Japan to get a visual of tidal waves. Overall I felt the book was exciting and breathtaking because I could not imagine surviving by myself on an island for eighteen years. This historical fiction novel was related to the book we read before, Hatchet, because the theme for both is survival." 

Poster and descriptive essay by Lauren. 

Musical Instrument Museum

Today we visited the MIM, Musical Instrument Museum, to view and hear music from around the world. There were wireless “hot spots” around MIM to provide us with loops of streamed music, immersing us in the sounds of musical instruments.

We were given wireless headsets to wear during our self-guided tour. Samantha was the leader and used the map while Lauren captured our experience as photographer. As we approached each display, we could hear the instruments being played, either solo or as an ensemble. Audio and video clips familiarized us with the unique sounds of each musical culture, allowing us to share a common experience. 

Videos played on high-resolution flat screens and gave us an opportunity to see the instruments being performed. We saw the Masai dancers that Samantha had researched in art for the color red. We saw dancers with the trickster, the Raven, as well as music and dancers from Hawaii. We even saw music from Mrs. Henry's home country of South Africa. We sang along with the musicians from the Indian School Band here in Phoenix.

We read signs with information about the instruments, along with maps for orientation, allowing us to tour the many displays of each country in the world. There were nearly three hundred exhibits so we have to come back to see them all!

Hear for yourself by clicking this text.

On the way home from this trip, we stopped by Hobby Lobby to find supplies to create a custom Hawaii-themed license plate frame for our Education Girlz vehicle. Stay tuned for a photo of the finished product!