![]() FREE HOMESCHOOL AUDIO RECORDING! "Potholes in the Road & How to Avoid Them!"
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Rock-It Science:
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Once upon a time there was a land far, far away with a mountain known as 'Sore Legs Mountain' because anyone who tried to climb it could hardly lift their feet off the ground as they neared the top.
At the bottom of the mountain there was no city, no streets, no trees and no grass. There was just a lot of dirt and rocks and hundreds of holes in the ground! Anyone looking into the holes would occasionally see some eyes looking back up at them!
In this land, everyone from the smallest babies to the oldest oldsters wore suits of armor and, as everyone was moving about, you can imagine the squeaking, screeching, clanking and banging sounds. Because of all that heavy armor, it was difficult to do many jobs but luckily for the people in armor there were elves living in the holes who took care of all their work!
All a person had to do was clang, clang, clang their way over to any hole and shout down into the hole, "I'll have a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese if you please!" Then as fast as you could say "Coming right up!" a freshly baked pizza would fly out of the hole and right into their hands. These elves washed clothes, sang songs, and even turned snapdragon flowers into pure gold!
One day Jack and Jill were making some test flights in their rocket-powered caterpillar and crashed right into one of the holes. No sooner had the elves made the repairs on the rocket-powered caterpillar and popped Jack and Jill back out of the hole when a huge lady in armor grabbed them both by the neck hollering, "What are you two doing out here without your armor?" Before Jack or Jill could respond, they were thrown right back into the hole and of course, they immediately popped back out, completely outfitted in shiny red armor.
As Jack and Jill were questioning the local people about their strange way of living, they found out that some sort of a hideous monster swoops down on the people when they least expect it and swallows them whole! They wear the armor and carry sharp knives in hopes that if they are swallowed by the monster, they'll be able to cut themselves out.
Suddenly the huge lady started banging two armor-clad teenagers together like cymbals! In the wink of an eye, all the people disappeared down the holes and covered the openings with solid rock doors. Jack and Jill were left there standing all by themselves. They looked up to see what made everyone hide and what did they see? . . . It was a cute bunny rabbit flying toward them on wings that looked more like elephant's ears. As it came closer, Jill noticed that it was wearing a black hat and had a long, curly mustache. At the same time Jack noticed that it was a fire-breathing bunny! This could only be one thing: the Evil Mister Fred in another of his transmogrifications!
Jack and Jill started running as fast as they could, dodging to the left and to the right in-between the boulders on Sore Legs Mountain. Luckily for them, the evil Mister Fred had poor eyesight and kept missing them with his flames. Jill made it to the top first only to discover nothing but a sheer cliff blocking her escape. Then, before she could even think another though, Jack ran right into her and they both sailed right over the edge of the cliff!
Is this the end of Jack and Jill? Will they be smashed to pieces at the bottom of the cliff?
When the evil Mister Fred flew over the top of the mountain, he saw Jack and Jill disappear down the face of the cliff and then heard an incredible CLAAANG!!
Evil Mister Fred smiled his evil smile, wrinkled his bunny nose, and flew off in the best mood he'd had in years.
When Jill opened her eyes she realized she wasn't dead... paralyzed maybe, but still alive. "Jack, are you alive?" said Jill.
"Yes indeedy," responded Jack, "But don't look down. Somehow we've become stuck on the side of this cliff."
"This cliff is magnetic!" shouted Jill.
"Oh goody," said Jack with mock pleasure, "instead of being instantly killed in a fall, we get to starve to death stuck to the side of this cliff."
It wasn't long before the people in armor came looking for Jack and Jill. All they had to do was follow the trail of Jill's infinitely long hair. When they had found the hair leading over the edge of the tall, tall cliff they feared the worst; but with nothing else to do they started pulling on Jill's hair. It was noisy, hard work and after several hours of pulling they finally had hoisted Jill back to the top with Jack all tangled in her hair.
Once Jack and Jill had recovered from their ordeal they came up with a plan that would rid the people of the evil Mister Fred for good. To make their plan work, they were going to need:
Everyone went to work
gathering the materials.
The stuffed suits of armor were set up like statues where the people usually gathered. The pieces of magnetic rock from the cliff were handed down to the elves in the holes. Jack and Jill put on the aluminum armor.
And the swimming pool was set up at the bottom of the cliff.
What do you suppose they were going to do to capture the evil Mister Fred?
Do the experiment and you'll discover what Jack and Jill had in mind:
Most educators want students to be able to recite concepts but we feel that it is far more important to train students to be creative, take the time to make observations, and put them into words.
In this experiment the students have two magnets so they might make the following observations and discoveries:
Each of these observations or discoveries could be the subject of a science fair project and collectively, they lead the student to an understanding of the principles of magnetism and some fun projects.
Jack and Jill help the people in the village set up the stuffed suits of armor to look like real people.
The only problem was that they didn't move. So Jack and Jill did something just like you: They glued a piece of magnet to the feet of the suits of armor and then they asked the elves to run through the tunnels with another magnet to make the suits of armor move.
When the evil Mister Fred, the flying, fire-breathing bunny, came swooping down to terrorize the village, he swallowed some suits of armor whole. Then, Jack and Jill, wearing their aluminum suits of armor, popped up out of one of the holes and ran like Jack and Jill rabbits as fast as they could go up Sore Legs Mountain, screaming and yelling to attract evil Mister Fred's attention.
With the evil Mister Fred close on their tails, Jack and Jill leaped over the cliff!
Guess what happened this time?
Yes, Jack and Jill slowed down as they went past the magnetic portion of the cliff, but their aluminum wasn't nearly as "attractive" to the magnetic cliff as the steel had been. They landed safely in the swimming pool but, because he had swallowed several suits of armor whole, the fire-breathing bunny Mister Fred stuck to the magnetic side of the cliffs!
Almost everyone lived happily ever after, and even though the fire-breathing bunny Mister Fred was more unhappy than happy, he was useful for roasting turkeys during the Thanksgiving holidays.
© 2007, Rock-It Science and John McChesney, All Rights Reserved
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