Thursday, April 16, 2020

Advice from the 5th Graders

The 5th grade students came up with some great ideas for things to do while staying home and staying safe during the pandemic that we wanted to share with everyone out there looking for inventive and inspiring things to do at home.



Advice from a science, art and nature lover:
If you are bored and don't have anything to do, I recommend going outside. If you are an art lover, try making something out of leaves and other things you can find outside. For inspiration, look up nature mandalas. If you like science I recommend finding a plant in your yard and studying it, or reading a book on science outside, or any book.
If the weather is bad, I recommend finding an endangered species you like, here is a website that might help you find one: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&sort=extinction_status . From there, you could write an essay, dream up an invention that might help them, do what you can to help them, or whatever you want. This activity does not have to be completely on the computer. You can do the research on the computer, or if you have a book on endangered species, you could read it, the rest can also be done off of the computer.

Advice from some science lovers and a science fiction enthusiast:
Kurzgesagt in a nutshell is a great (YouTube) channel, and is useful for astrophysics and many types of science.

Another science-minded student recommended Minute Earth: 


A refreshing recipe from a mathematician and baker:
I also recommend baking, or cooking. These are surprisingly my favorite thing to do at home. This recipe is for making watermelon slushies. This dessert is not in season, but who cares! (It’s a slushy, made for the summer.) But the instructions are pretty simple.

You will need these ingredients....
6 cups cubed melon
⅓ cup honey
Juice of one lime
Pinch of salt
Instructions
1. Cube melon into 1” pieces and freeze (at least 4-6 hours).
2. Puree frozen melon with honey, lime juice, and salt until very smooth.
3.Pour into glasses and enjoy!

You can also try...
-honeydew + mint simple syrup + lime juice
- watermelon + honey + orange juice
-cantaloupe + ginger simple syrup + lime

From a scientist, maker, and future mycologist:
When not finishing assignments on Eduflow, Flipgrid, or Khan Academy, one can be bored quite easily. As we all know, boredom is not exhilarating. I always trust mycelium to aid me in situations like this.

Growing food in the following weeks may prove relevant. Mushrooms contain lots of healthy minerals, vitamins, and, a hearty source of protein. Using mycelium to grow mushrooms is not hard at all. I am growing some right now from some dried grass. I also have one sprouting from an empty plain white sauce container. (Yes, this is a DHMIS reference. The jar was used to hold alfredo sauce.) I'm sure you can find some substrate to grow mycelium in.

Probably by now you're wondering where you can get some of this gorgeous, incredible substance. You're not? well, I better tell you anyway, before it's too late. I got my mycelium from Cascadia mushrooms, http://cascadiamushrooms.com/kits-and-spawn/. This link sends you to the Cascadia website. It sends you directly to the easier-to-maintain mushroom kits.

Most of the kits give you mushrooms in 2-3 weeks. Here's a time-lapse of a mushroom kit from Cascadia growing mushrooms: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iOyigwi61pE. You're harvest can be sautéed, fried, or even put in soup. generally you'll get 2-3 flushes of mushrooms. A flush of mushrooms just means one harvest. The wait is definitely worth it

While the kits are designed to be quite easy, there are a few precautions you should take. One: you should always pick all of the mushrooms at once, even if some of them are still 'premature'. Two: keep the humidity of the kit very high. A way to do this is to put a plastic shopping bag over the kit. Three: if the kit is in a bag, there will be a date on it. If this date is in the past, cut the bag open slightly above the micro-filter, which looks like a white patch. Hopefully you'll get a kit, and if you do, please share the results.

And one more, from a writer, logical thinker and puzzle solver:
I’ve been doing a puzzle thing called finders seekers. I would recommend it to people who like geography and puzzles. You have to order a box. http://findersseekers.com/. Anyone can do it any time. I’m in Washington DC. You are in a certain place and you get puzzles for that place. There are things in the box but also on the website. It’s challenging and fun.

We hope everyone is staying healthy at home, and still learning something new every day!




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