Rancho Lindo

Hello from Lamont,

Summer vacation is officially over and the children are back in school.  We here at Rancho Lindo, located south of Bakersfield had lots of fun this summer.  We kept our brains in shape...how you ask?  by making learning fun and exciting!....from cool science experiments, arts and crafts activities and to top it off, to get some relief from the heat, we made snow cones.  In case you're wondering what to do next time the children are in your after school program...try having the children do the following 1) make a masquerade mask using paper, glue, paint, beads and feathers, 2) Observing a chemical reaction, using a soda bottle, balloon, water, lemon juice, baking soda and a straw.  The balloon will inflate from the carbon dioxide gas after you add water, baking soda and lemon juice into the bottle 3) Celery and food coloring...celery in water with food coloring left over night in a cup to see how the celery got some color, showing how plants absorb water.  Every Friday I would bring my small ice machine to make snow cones with the students and I had/have students working on some fun math and writing worksheets, they also played games on the computer.  Our blog has some great links for math, reading and educational games.  Now that school is back in full effect, I will have them work on their homework and read for 30min.  If time permits I will allow some computer time as well...we're also planning a pizza party this week to get the children jazzed up for the new school year.  Until next time, keep learning.