• Sweet potatoes have two embryonic seed leaves (dicot).
• Yams have one embryonic seed leaf (monocot).
• Sweet potatoes come from the Morning Glory family (Convolvulacea).
• Yams come from the Yam family (Dioscoreaceae).
• Sweet potatoes can be either firm or soft.  The soft variety is what we call “yams” in the United States.
• Yams are starchier and drier than sweet potatoes and are native to Africa and Asia.

Firm sweet potatoes were introduced in the U.S. before the soft variety.  When the soft variety became available, they were called “yams” to differentiate between the two types.  Today, the USDA requires that potatoes with the label of “yam” also have “sweet potato” on the label because they are really sweet potatoes and not yams.

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This next song is shorter, still a catchy tune, and has lyrics only on the video:

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The “Wild Texas Weather” Educator Guide (from the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum) includes free printable worksheets for students covering weather in Texas:

• Weather changes (temperatures & precipitation)
• Air masses
• How weather impacts people
• Droughts
• Floods
• Tornadoes
• Hurricanes
• Forecasting weather
• Additional Web Sites
• TEKS objective

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A special exhibit called the Tango Alpha Charlie: Texas Aviation Celebration will be at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum from September 12, 2010, through January 9, 2011. There are educator resources available to go with this exhibit. In the educator’s guide below, there are 11 lessons that tell about the history and science of aviation in Texas.  These lessons are aligned with STEAM and TEKS objectives.  There is also a student log book available too.

• TAC Educator Guide
• Student Flight Log
• About Student Flight Log

There is more information available about the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

Also, here are great free printable Wright Brothers worksheets along with an easy-t0-read story, pictures, and games.

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• Bob the Builder
• Kids Astronomy
• Online Tests over Presidents
• Worksheets on famous people
  
• Starfall – ABC’s, Phonics, Reading, & Books

Here are more sites with free printable word webs:

• Advanced Word Web lesson sheet
• Basic Word Web Worksheet
• Cluster Word Web Worksheet
• Halloween Word Webs
• Word Web Lesson Sheets

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We went to the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas during summer break this year and had a wonderful time!  Our whole family was impressed and highly recommends this museum.  On the first weekend of the month,  Bank of America offers “Museums on Us,” and so all three of us got in free since we each have our own Bank of America card (our son just finished his freshman year of college).

If you notice on the building below, it says the “Dallas Museum of Natural History,”  and that’s because the Museum of Natural History, The Science Place and the Dallas Children’s Museum merged together to form the Museum of Nature and Science.  This museum has a lot of hands-on activities and is great for children of all ages, even those of us who are still young at heart and enjoy learning.

The exhibits are both educational and entertaining.  The dinosaur exhibits are fantastic! I would like to go back and spend more time in this section of the museum.

It was so amazing to learn that these creatures once roamed the area where we live (the Metroplex area of north Texas). If I were standing right up next to the dinosaur in the picture below, my head would be even with its knee joint. That’s how tall this creature was when it was alive!

Here are the bones of another huge dinosaur in the picture below.

On the bottom basement level, there is an active paleontologists’ lab.  Visitors can view their work through windows and see first-hand what goes on in the lab.  This would be a great experience for young, would-be paleontologists or anyone with a scientific mind to observe as paleontologists work with real fossils.

Here are some bones the paleontologists were working with in their lab.

If you have a smartphone, you can get more information that’s available only through your handheld phone as you tour the dinosaur exhibits.  For those without a smartphone, you can access printed information through your computer when you get home.

*

Have your own “Dig the Dinosaurs” at home or school.

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Many children and adults as well are fascinated with dinosaurs.  This is an exciting way for students to learn about them in a fun way!  Set up an interest center with dinosaur books and dinosaur figures.  Choose two or three dinosaur books to read before doing the “dig.”

DINOSAUR DIG ACTIVITY:

• Materials needed:

1. Cheap, tiny little dinosaurs from a dollar store, enough for each child to have three or four dinosaurs
2. Plastic containers such as Cool Whip containers, one container per child
3. Plaster of Paris mix to be used by an adult
4. Tools such as small screwdrivers, small hammers, etc., for each child
5. Optional:  Buy safari hats at a party supply store, one per child  (we can get them for 89 cents each)  Let each “paleontologist” wear a hat while excavating their “dinosaur dig.”

One online site has safari hats for $9.99/dozen.

• Make one “dinosaur dig” for each child beforehand:   Cut each dinosaur apart into several pieces, keeping the pieces for each dinosaur together.  Place three or four cut-apart dinosaurs in each plastic container and mix up the pieces, one container per child. Have an adult carefully mix up some Plaster of Paris according to directions and pour about an inch onto the dinosaur pieces in the plastic containers. After it hardens, take out of the container.  These “paleontological sites” are now ready for the student “paleontologists.”  While wearing their hats, let the students use their tools to chip away at the Plastic of Paris, slowly discovering pieces of their dinosaur.  As they discover the pieces, they can put them together like a puzzle until they have all the missing pieces.

DINOSAUR EXHIBIT  (Dallas Museum of Nature and Science)

• Pictures of dinosaur skeletons exhibit
• Information about a  Dino Dig
• Torosaurus information
• Tyrannosaurus Rex information
• Quetzalcoatlus information (not a dinosaur but had a wingspan of 50 feet!)
• Malawisaurus, Tenontosaurus, hypsilophodontid, Alamosaurus, Diplodocus, Pawpawsaurus, and Trilophosaurus  – seven plant eating dinosaurs
• Deinosuchus information

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Danny and the Dinosaur (I Can Read Book Series: Level 1) by Syd Hoff.  Cute story about the friendship between a dinosaur and a boy.
• Dinosaur Hunters by Kate McMullan.  (Scholastic Step Into Reading, Step 4)  Good for ages 7-10.
• Dinosaurs by Roger Priddy.  Activity book with 50 stickers.
• Dinosaurs by Tracy Christopher (Scholastic – A Smart Start Reader)  Good for ages 6-8.
• Dinosaurs Before Dark (Majestic Tree House Series #1) by Mary Pope Osborne.  Kids find a magic tree that takes them back to an ancient time zone where they see live dinosaurs.  Good for ages 5-9.
• Dinosaurs (DK Pockets Series) by DK Publishing & William Lindsay.  Highly comprehensive visual guide for ages 8+.
• Dinosaurs (Encyclopedia Prehistorica Series) by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.  Great pop-up book.
• Dinosaurs: Sticker Encyclopedia by DK Publishing.  Good for ages 5+.
• Dinosaurs:  The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages by Luis V. Rey.  Written by a paleontologist.  Covers 800+ species of Mesozoic dinosaurs.  Good for ages 12+.
• How Do Dinosaurs Count to Ten by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague.   Great for ages 2-5.
• How Do Dinosaurs Learn Their Colors by Jane Yolen & Mark Teague.  Great for ages 2-5.
• The Very Dizzy Dinosaur by Jack Tickle.  A pop-up book good for teaching names of dinosaurs.

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Space Center Houston, the Official Visitors Center of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, is closed to the public on October 6 for Home School Day.   Home School families only will have a day of educational fun!   Here are some of the fun experiences:

• New Blast Off – experience the effects of a shuttle launch
• Martian Matrix – climb over five stories
• NASA Tram Tour – see behind the scenes
• Space Center Theater – the largest giant screen in Texas
• The Feel of Space
• Starlab Planetarium
• Great Wall of Physics
• Rad Rhonda’s Ultimate Science Lab
• Combustion Show

Order and pay by September 27 to get special ticket prices of $9.95 per person.   Tickets are $11.95 after that.   They have the schedule and an Informaton Packet online also.

If you can’t make it on Home School Day, there is a coupon worth $5 off general admission on regular price admission of $19.95 for adults and $15.95 for children ages 4-11.   This coupon expires on December 31, 2010.

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KidsAstonomy.com is a great site for students to use when learning about the planets, moons, asteroids and comets.   This site offers free games and free online classes as well.  Their “Teacher’s Corner” provides free worksheets and a learning center

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