Life Science, Week 1

Living & Nonliving Things

As mentioned in my Ancient History, Week 1 post, we are starting the four-year cycle for both science and history. That means Tessa will study life science this year. Life science is the science that deals with living things. Simply put, we will study the human body, plants and animals.

Of all subjects, I think science may be the most difficult to find the perfect curriculum for. I thought I had found it when purchasing R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life, Level 1 by Pandia Press. After several months of reading through lessons, planning and visualizing, I realized it just wasn't.quite.right. Tessa is a very hands-on learner. She likes flashy and fun. There are many labs in R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey that fit that bill. That's what reeled me in to begin with. However, there are a great many labs that aren't really age appropriate. They have potential, but so many lab sheets are monotonous, writing intensive and lack adequate visual stimulation. They would better suit middle school (or even high school) students.

After some frantic searching, I finally discovered a solution. It was right in front of me the whole time. Literally, right in front of me on my bookmarks bar. We will be using Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3; ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals with Backbones, Grades 1-3; ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals Without Backbones, Grades 1-3; ScienceWorks for Kids: Habitats, Grades 1-3; and ScienceWorks for Kids: Plants, Grades 1-3 in conjunction with R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey. All three titles can be found at TeacherFileBox.com by searching for their appropriate EMC book numbers. As with history, we will being using as many picture books, DVDs, games, etc. as I can find as well.

Most weeks, Tessa will study science Thursday and Friday. My goal is to post what we do each week here on Blue House School blog.


Thursday

• Read What's Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld.
• Completed Evan-Moor Daily Science, Grade 1 "Can a Rock Grow?" unit from TeacherFileBox.com.

Friday

• Read Living and Nonliving by Carol K. Lindeen.
• Completed Evan-Moor Take It to Your Seat Science Centers, Grades 1-2 "Living or Not Living" unit from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Played Plants & Animals online game by Science Kids.

We could have easily completed RSO "Living Lab #1: Signs of Life" instead of the Evan-Moor units above. They just seemed to be more Tessa's flavor.

Tessa sorted picture cards while completing the "Living or Not Living" centers unit.

Other Books of Interest

• Are Trees Alive? - Debbie S. Miller (On hold at library.)
• Each Living Thing - Joanne Ryder

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Ancient History, Week 1

Archaeology

We are starting the four-year cycle for both history and science this year. The four-year cycle method of teaching history and science is central to classical homeschooling and has been made popular by The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.

The idea is to teach history from the beginning. That means starting with ancient history and then studying the middle ages, early modern history, and modern history in subsequent years. Students who begin the cycle in first grade will be able to repeat it three times by graduation. Each cycle allows students to learn the material in greater depth. Science is divided into life science, earth science and astronomy, chemistry, and physics. The sciences correspond with history by order of discovery.

Ancient History < > Life Science
Middle Ages < > Earth Science & Astronomy
Early Modern < > Chemistry
Modern & Today < > Physics

There are many ways to execute the four-year cycles. For history, we are using History Odyssey: Ancients, Level 1 by Pandia Press as a guide. Our text spine is an older version of Usborne: Ancient World by Fiona Chandler. (The various versions are pretty much all the same.) While we are not using The Story of the World: Ancient Times text by Susan Wise Bauer, we are using some activities and literature suggestions from a copy of The Story of the World activity guide that was gifted to me. We are also using as many picture books and DVDs as I can find from the St. Louis County Library. While we do not live in St. Louis, we pay $50 a year to use this wonderful resource. A steal for sure!

Most weeks, Tessa will study history Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My goal is to post what we do each week here on my Blue House School blog. Here we go!


Monday

• Completed "What is History?" history pocket according to HO, Lesson 1.

See Kindergarten 2012 - Age 5 for post and pics.

Tuesday

• Looked up and defined HO dictionary word for Lesson 1.
• Read Archaeologists Dig for Clues by Kate Duke and Jodie's Hanukkah Dig by Anna Levine.
• Completed draw and color.
• Played Caillou the Paleontologist online game by PBS Kids. - Not archaeology, but Tessa still enjoyed it. I made sure I explained the difference.

After reading "Archaeologists Dig for Clues," Tessa drew an awl (ancient sewing needle) and a bone for this week's draw and color.

Wednesday

• Completed mini archaeological dig adapted from "A Dirty Dig" from the SOTW activity guide.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Super Sports Fun DVD (Shows and Tells episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

Thursday

• Read Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O'Connor.
• Completed "All About Me: Family Tree" worksheet from TeacherFileBox.com.

Tessa has been interested in family trees lately, so I added a simple lesson about family history this week. There are more in depth family history projects in the SOTW activity guide.

Other Books of Interest

• The Magic School Bus Shows And Tells: A Book About Archaeology - Joanna Cole
• Me and My Family Tree - Joan Sweene
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Archaeology DVD - Disney (Unfortunately, I didn't have this DVD in time for this week's lessons. Tessa has since watched it. It's better than the Magic School Bus one. I would have shown both...this one on Tuesday.) 

* HO = History Odyssey, SOTW = The Story of the World

Mini Archaeological Dig

For our mini dig, I bought a disposable lasagna pan, a small bag of play sand, and a Playmobil cave woman figure, baby and accessories for a cost of about $10 total. The rest of the supplies I gathered from around the house.

It was raining the day of our dig, so we conducted it on the front porch. Not ideal, but it worked well enough. First, Tessa and I set up a grid across our dig site using pencils, tape and jute. Next, Tessa dug with a sturdy plastic spoon and sifted the excess sand into a bucket. As Tessa discovered artifacts, she charted, bagged and labeled her finds accordingly. After the dig, we completed artifact log sheets inside.

Tessa discovered her first artifact in quadrant C2. She carefully charted, bagged and labeled the find.

Tessa marked her second find on the artifact log dig site diagram.

She later predicted it to be an ancient bowl!

Tessa was disappointed she didn't find anything new in this quadrant. I explained that archaeologists often dig for days or weeks before making even one small discovery.

Tessa enjoyed brushing away sand from the artifacts...even more than digging, I think.

Tessa found five artifacts during our dig. After careful examination and a little creative thinking, she correctly determined they were a spoon, cup, baby carrier, fork and bowl.

Even pint-sized archaeologists keep meticulous records. Tessa recorded each artifact's quadrant number, description and predicted use. She also drew a picture of each item.

Our mini dig was a huge success, yet I somehow managed not to capture one smile on film. Tessa says she wants to be an archaeologist when she grows up. Sounds good! I'm pretty sure I didn't even know what an archaeologist was at age five.

Download Archaeological Dig Artifact Log.

Kindergarten 2012 - Age 5

Finally, our first day of the new school year!

I know we're off to a REALLY late start when compared to most, but I wanted to wait until after our fall vacation to Florida to start fresh. Being able to keep such a flexible schedule is one thing I love about homeschooling.

Tessa isn't happy I labeled her a kindergartner this year. She insists that she's in first grade. It's hard to disagree since she finished kindergarten-level curriculum several months ago. I tried to explain that she would be in kindergarten, if she went to public school. She didn't know what to think about that. I didn't even know that she cared!

Tessa's first day of kindergarten!

We school year round, so we just picked up where we left off in phonics and math. Our new subject today was history. We will rotate it with science. In a couple of weeks, we will add Spanish and art. Handwriting will be in the mix as well.

We are using History Odyssey: Ancients, Level 1 by Pandia Press for our study of ancient civilizations this year. On today's schedule was the "What is History?" pocket from Evan-Moor's supplemental resource, History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grade 1-3. (We are using the digital version from TeacherFileBox.com.)

For the "Cut and Paste Words to Know" portion of Tessa's first history pocket, she matched words, definitions and pictorial representations for the words "ancient," "basic needs," "civilization" and "history."

Each history pocket is comprised of several parts. I feared Tessa may grow weary, but she seemed to enjoy her work.

Instead of creating pockets out of over-sized construction paper as directed by Evan-Moor, I used untabbed Manila pocket dividers and colored card stock to fashion something a little more functional. Tessa was quite proud of her completed pocket. She admired it several times.

Piecing Together Africa

It's been nearly a month since Tessa finished up Evan-Moor Beginning Geography, so we have been putting together our GeoPuzzle continent puzzles ever now and then since we have the time. It's a fun way to sneak in a little review. Today's puzzle was GeoPuzzle Africa and the Middle East.

Tessa began by separating the outside pieces from the inside ones. She subdivided the African countries into colors as well.

Just a little left! Tessa's favorite pieces are the ones with boats on them. She names all of the boats that look like cruise ships Nieuw Amsterdam after the ship we sailed on during our last cruise.

One thing we really like about GeoPuzzle is that nearly every country gets its own puzzle piece. Tessa thought it was funny when she got to the country of Chad. My brother-in-law's name is Chad. She thought maybe he was born there.

Well, We Tried

I saw this project in Family Fun magazine (June/July 2012 - Gorgeous Glue Prints, page 86) and thought it would be perfect for art. All I can say is that we tried...again and again and again and again. Maybe Tessa didn't squeeze the glue hard enough. Maybe we didn't choose the best colors for the paint and paper. Who knows? It just didn't turn out quite as expected.

Tessa painted the dried glue design that she created on cardboard earlier in the day.

She lightly pressed a piece of construction paper onto the painted surface per the instructions.

Well, hmm. That didn't turn out quite right.

Tessa's five attempts.

I *think* this one came out the best. Maybe not.

What's Gnu?

Since vacation and then the start of our new school year is sooooo very close now, I have dialed down Tessa's studies to only reading, math and something extra fun each day. Today's "extra fun" was ThinkFun's What's Gnu? game. Played a lot like Thinkfun's ever popular Zingo! game, What's Gnu? helps young players hone their spelling and reading skills. Like See Spot Spell, What's Gnu? takes only a few minutes to play.

My only complaint about What's Gnu? is that the letter I tiles have no bars. This frustrates Tessa because she often mistakes them for lowercase letter ls.

Tessa slid the Letter Getter to reveal our next two letter tiles. I made the word "TIP" with the letter "I" tile. 

Tessa won this round. She filled all five of her Word-Starters cards first.

Pony Bead Snake Family

Thanks to Isaac, it's suppose to rain all weekend long. Tessa needed a boredom buster, so we created pony bead snakes earlier today. I originally had them planned for art later this week.

This quick-and-easy pony bead craft was just about right for Tessa. She was able to complete about 90 percent of it by herself. She enjoyed making the first snake so much, she decided to make an entire snake family.

Tessa's pony bead snake family. Note her use of pattern on the mommy snake.