Life Science, Week 24

Invertebrates - Body Characteristics

I set out to create the live observation jars suggested in Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids. After a day's attempt, I had only successfully caught worms, so I abandoned that idea. (To be fair, I did find random spiders, but I wanted orb spiders and I couldn't seem to turn up any of those.) Therefore, we used close-up pictures from books for some of our observations instead.

Quick note...the rhyme along books listed last on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday were just for fun. Don't knock yourself out trying to track down those.

Monday

• Read Wiggly Earthworms by Natalie Lunis.
• Read Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer.
• Read Worms by Sian Smith.
• Observed live worms.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals without Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Invertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Earthworm Record Sheet" (page 22) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Tessa's not fond of soft, squishy invertebrate types. She was content in letting our subject get away this day. 

Tuesday

• Read I Can Read About Spiders by Deborah Merrians.
• Read Spooky Wolf Spiders by Meish Goldish.
• Read Spiders by Sian Smith.
• Observed live spider.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals without Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Invertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Spider Record Sheet" (page 19) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Creepy, Crawly Fun DVD ("Spins a Web" episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

While I would have preferred an orb or wolf spider for Tessa to observe, I couldn't find either of those on short notice, so I ran down into our basement right before science and snatched up the first spider I came across. Guess where that spider is now? Back in our basement...Tessa insisted on it. After all, she argued, the basement is its home. Ugh.

Wednesday

• Read Ants by Melissa Stewart.
• Read Ants by Rebecca Rissman.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals without Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Invertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Ant Record Sheet" (page 20) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs! DVD ("Gets Ants in Its Pants" episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

All of the ant books we ordered from the library didn't arrive in time. Ants by Melissa Stewart wasn't very informative. I suggest finding something better.

Thursday

• Read Creeping Land Snails by Nancy White.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals without Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Invertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Snail Record Sheet" (page 21) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Friday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals without Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Invertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Is It True?" worksheet (page 24), "Compare and Contrast" Venn diagram and mini book (page 17) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Other Resources of Interest

• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Spiders DVD - Disney