Parts of an Insect

We will be finishing up a little-known early elementary science program in the next month or so that I think is absolutely wonderful for the preschool/kindergarten set. This past fall, I had the worst time finding a meaty enough science curriculum for the kindergarten level, so I pieced together my own lessons. The process was extremely time-consuming. Our small local libraries have very limited resources, so I had to buy the majority of the books we used as well. At $5-6+ a picture book, one to two books per week, it added up fast. After purchasing a discounted yearlong subscription to Evan-Moor TeacherFileBox.com via Homeschool Buyers Co-op earlier this year, I stumbled upon Everyday Literacy: Science. We are using Grade 1, but there are three levels...Grade PreK, Grade K and Grade 1.

Everyday Literacy: Science, Grade 1 - We use a digital version.

Tessa absolutely adores Everyday Literacy: Science. While there is a short lesson for each day of the week, I condense them to three days (first two pages the first day, second two pages the second day and the hands-on activity the third day). Tessa literally bums out when I tell her, "Sorry, no science today." It's her favorite subject!

Everyday Literacy: Science is about as open-and-go as you can get for science. The final lesson each week features a hands-on activity that reinforces the week's science concept. They do require a bit of prep work but use basic household supplies, or materials that can be printed from the internet. The activities are perfect for the age. Everyday Literacy: Science is worksheet-intensive but requires no additional texts to be purchased. All content is written into the lessons. Concepts are presented in interesting and memorable ways. Tessa's retention has been remarkable. The worksheets require little-to-no reading and writing. They utilize very basic coloring, circling, underlining, dot-making, tracing, filling-in-the-bubble and similar skills. Aside from the hands-on activities, lessons take only five to ten minutes to complete.

This past week, Tessa learned about the parts of an insect. Today's hands-on activity required her to create an insect of her own design. She remembered that all insects have three main body parts (head, thorax and abdomen), two antennas and six legs.

Tessa rolled dough for the three main body parts of an insect...head, thorax and abdomen.

Tessa attached six legs (and later wings) to the thorax.

Tessa's completed insect of her own design.

A close-up of Tessa's insect...it's a fancy grasshopper.