And, we're off! We began our intensive, twenty-plus-week study of the animal kingdom Monday with a brief look at animal classification. Our library was short on age-appropriate books, but I did find a decent DVD that did the job. We learned a nifty little acronym from it to help remember the seven levels of classification.
Kids Prefer Candy Over Fresh Green Salads
Kingdom - Phylum - Class - Order - Family - Genus - Species
We will be using a combination of Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids (Animals with Backbones, Grades 1-3; Animals Without Backbones, Grades 1-3; and probably Habitats, Grades 1-3) and R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life, Level 1 again, along with a plethora of picture books, DVDs and whatever else I can find.
One thing both curriculums lack is a detailed study of the five vertebrate classes (mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians), but also arthropods, specifically insects. This bothers me a bit. ScienceWorks does a good job covering the basics, but I want more for Tessa. The major problem is time. I found some great resource books to fill most of the gaps. Unfortunately, to cover everything I want to cover, we would have to work straight through November! Did I mention, I also want Tessa to read a book on a specific animal of her choosing each week and report on it? At this moment, I have no idea what to cut to make this manageable. I really don't want to cut any of it. Oh yeah, and we're supposed to study plants after animals. Hmm.
Monday
- Watched Animal Life in Action: Animal Classification DVD by Schlessinger Media.
Tuesday
- Completed RSO Five Kingdoms Lab 1: Classifying Critters.
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| Tessa classified fictitious Blobonian life forms to gain a better understanding of how scientists study and classify real animals. Tessa loves to sort, so this lab was definitely her thing. |
* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey
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