Life Science, Week 17

The Five Classes of Vertebrates

In the year-and-a-half that we have homeschooled, we have somehow managed to cover the five classes of vertebrates three times. Needless to say, Tessa already had a pretty good handle on the subject. In addition to reiterating the basics, I explained that the five classes of vertebrates belong to the phylum Chordata. Thus, these vertebrates are also called Chordates.

I highly recommend the What Kind of Animal Is It? book series by Bobbie Kalman. Our library didn't have the one for mammals and I felt like our lesson for that day was sorely lacking. Had I realized just how good these books were, I would have ordered it from Amazon. As it was, the weekend was upon us and there just wasn't enough time for Amazon to get it to us.

There are also Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs (see "Other Resources of Interest" below) for each class. I originally decided against watching them because that would have been five days in a row of watching television during school time. I'm a little bummed that we skipped them, so I think I will have Tessa watch one or two episodes a week as we continue our study of vertebrates.

One more quick note. I'm not sure how many other homeschoolers visit my blog because of our use of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey: Life, Level 1 by Pandia Press. As I mentioned in my very first life science post, it didn't work out for us to use it as our primary science curriculum. I had planned to use it as a supplement throughout the year. However, I'm finding that I use it less and less. After discovering The Mailbox supplements I mentioned in my Life Science, Week 15 post, I don't even think about RSO much anymore. The Mailbox supplements are simply a better fit for us. So, I guess this is a bit of an apology for jumping ship. I regret that I am unable to fulfill my goal in chronicling this particular curriculum.

Wednesday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals with Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Vertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Five Groups of Vertebrates," (adapted for homeschool use) "Observe and Record Physical Features" (observation worksheet only) and "Vertebrate Minibooks" activities (page 16) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Thursday

• Read Reptiles of All Kinds by Bobbie Kalman.

Somehow, we forgot to complete "Lizard Licked!" (pages 6 and 8, adapted for homeschool use) from Investigating Amphibians & Reptiles, Grades 1-3 by The Mailbox this day. I'm still annoyed with myself about it.

Friday

• Read Frogs and Other Amphibians by Bobbie Kalman.
• Completed "All Sorts of Fun With Amphibians and Reptiles!" (pages 6 and 9-10) from Investigating Amphibians & Reptiles, Grades 1-3 by The Mailbox.

Using what she learned the past two days, Tessa sorted various types of amphibians and reptiles.

Following Monday

• Read Animals Called Fish by Bobbie Kalman.
• Read Fish by Adele Richardson.

Following Tuesday

• Read Birds of All Kinds by Bobbie Kalman.

Following Wednesday

• Read Mammals by Adele Richardson.
• Completed "It Must Be a Mammal" (pages 4 and 9) from Investigating Mammals, Grades 1-3 by The Mailbox.

Following Thursday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: Animals with Backbones, Grades 1-3 "Vertebrates are Classified by Their Body Characteristics - Check for Understanding" (page 17) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Other Resources of Interest

• Animals Called Mammals - Bobbie Kalman
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Amphibians DVD - Disney
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Birds DVD - Disney
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Fish DVD - Disney
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Mammals DVD - Disney
• Bill Nye the Science Guy: Reptiles DVD - Disney
• The Magic School Bus: Cold Feet - Scholastic via YouTube.com

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 15

Animal Classification

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.

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

Life Science, Week 14

Genetics

That's it! After a quick study of genetics this week, we officially concluded our survey of the human body. Luckily, I was able to turn up a Bill Nye DVD about genes since books on the subject are pretty much non-existence for Tessa's age set. Such a shame...Tessa was quite fascinated and wanted to know more.


Monday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Genes DVD by Disney.

Tuesday

• Completed RSO Genetics Lab 1: I'm the Only Me!.

Wednesday

• Completed RSO Genetics Lab 2: My Own Fingerprints.

After creating an ink pad of sorts by heavily coloring with pencil onto scrap paper, Tessa rubbed her fingertips along the leaded spot until they were sufficiently coated with graphite. Then, I used pieces of transparent tape to lift her fingerprints and adhere them to the lab sheet.

Finally, Tessa used a hand lens to closely examine her fingerprints. She correctly concluded that most of her prints are of the loop variety. She has a few arches as well. Tessa was bummed because she really wanted them all to be whorl shaped. Luckily, I have one whorl, so that cheered her up a bit.  

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 13

The Muscular System

Somehow I came up short on books again, so I condensed our study of the muscular system to one day.


Monday

• Tessa read Our Muscles by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Read Your Muscles and Bones (muscles section only, pages 16-25) by Anita Ganeri.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "Muscles Help the Body Move" activities and mini-book (pages 75-76) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Completed RSO Muscle Lab #1: Muscles Aren't Pushy (paper model for demonstrative purposes only).
• Completed Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello "My Muscles" (pages 22-24) activity.
• Explored Leapfrog Tag Interactive Human Body Discovery Pack "Your Muscular System" section.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Human Body DVD ("Flexes Its Muscles" episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

Tessa peeled back the skin of a raw chicken leg to get a closer look at its muscles and tendons. Afterward, I broke the leg bone in half so she could view the marrow inside.

Friday

• Completed remaining parts of Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello..."My Kidneys, My Bladder" (pages 11-12), "My Spleen, My Pancreas, My Gall Bladder" (pages 13-16), "My Reproductive Organs" (pages 17-18) and "My Face" (page 38) activities.

Tessa's completed "My Body" body. We attached some pieces with brads so we could move them to reveal the organs underneath.

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 11

The Circulatory System

I didn't originally plan to take a full week, plus a day to cover the circulatory system, but I just couldn't bring myself to cut anything. Every little component seemed important. Each one took just long enough to complete that I couldn't figure out an acceptable way to combine them without going way over on time. Looking back on way the material was divided, we more or less covered three mini chapters...the heart, circulatory system and blood.


Tuesday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Heart and Bill Nye the Science Guy: Blood & Circulation DVDs by Disney.

Wednesday

• Tessa read Our Hearts by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Read Henry's Heart by Charise Mericle Harper.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Heart Pumps Blood Throughout the Body - Listen to Your Heart" and "Count Your Heart Beat" activities (page 55) from TeacherFileBox.com.

Having Tessa find her pulse, hold onto it and then count her heartbeats three times in a row for a minute each for "Count Your Heart Beat" was a wee bit too optimistic of an activity for her. Instead, I had Tessa feel her pulse and then we used a finger pulse oximeter to complete the corresponding worksheet. Had she fully understood the concepts of multiplication and time, I would have had her count for fifteen seconds and then multiplied the number by four to find her heart rate that way. The way we did it seemed more age-appropriate and she quickly got the gist of the activity, which was to understand that one's heart rate fluctuates with activity.

Tessa listened to her heart and then mine. She got a kick out of how much faster hers beats. (I bought an inexpensive Omron Sprague Rappaport Stethoscope from Amazon for this activity. It worked perfectly for us.)

Thursday

• Read Blastoff Readers: The Circulatory System by Kay Manolis.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Heart Pumps Blood Throughout the Body - Gather More Information" activity and mini book (page 56) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Examined Learning Resources Cross Section Human Heart Model and then identified, talked about and memorized the path of blood flow through the heart and body.
• Completed Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello "My Heart" (pages 9-10) activity.
• Explored Leapfrog Tag Interactive Human Body Discovery Pack "Your Respiratory & Circulatory Systems" section.

Tessa was instantly captivated by the Learning Resource heart model. She quickly memorized the path of blood flow through the heart and body and then passionately regurgitated the information to anyone who would listen. As with the brain model that we examined earlier this school year, she cabbaged onto the heart and it became her favorite "toy" playmate for a couple of days. She even made it a special place to sleep next to her pillow at night! 

Following Tuesday

• Tessa read Our Blood by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Read A Drop of Blood by Paul Showers.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Super Sports Fun DVD ("Works Out" episode) by Scholastic from Netflix.

Following Wednesday

• Completed RSO Circulatory System Lab 2: Blood Model.

Like many RSO labs, Circulatory System Lab 1: Your Heart Rate was too tedious for my taste (and Tessa's, I'm sure), so we skipped it for the more age-appropriate ScienceWorks "Count Your Heart Beat" activity mentioned above. However, I thought RSO Circulatory System Lab 2: Blood Model was right on! Tessa totally connected with it and it fit well with A Drop of Blood that we read the previous day.

Tessa colored and labeled the diagram of a drop of blood per lab directions.

Tessa poured corn syrup, red hots, lentils and lima beans into a clear plastic jar to create the blood model. Each item represents a component of blood (corn syrup = plasma, red hots = red blood cells, lentils = platelets, lima beans = white blood cells).

After a quick stir, Tessa's blood model was complete. Afterward, she used it to complete the second page of the lab.

This really is neither here nor there, but I want to mention how much I love empty Peter Pan peanut butter jars. The labels come off super easy and leave no sticky residue behind, plus their size and shape are perfect for science projects. I'm not terribly brand loyal, but I do love Peter Pan peanut butter jars!

Following Thursday

• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Heart Pumps Blood Throughout the Body - Putting It All Together" activity (page 56) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Watched "The Bloodmobile" music video by They Might Be Giants via YouTube.

After labeling, coloring and cutting out the various body systems from "Putting It All Together," Tessa assembled the paper model and then explained how all of the systems work together. Quick note...I didn't see the value of having Tessa copy the lengthy system names for this particular activity, so I just cut them out from the list on the first page of the worksheet and had her paste them in the appropriate spots.

Other Books of Interest

• Hear Your Heart - Paul Showers (Sometimes, I get so caught up with library books that I forget about the good ones right on our bookshelf. I meant to read it on the day we listened to our hearts. So bummed I forgot!)

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 7

The Brain & Nervous System

It never creases to amaze me how enthusiastic Tessa is to learn new things. I thought going over the three main parts of the brain and how it and the rest of the nervous system works to control the body might not be the most exciting thing for her to learn, but she chattered about it and carted around our model brain (her "pet brain") all week long.


Wednesday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Brain DVD by Disney.

Thursday

• Read Think, Think, Think: Learning About Your Brain by Pamela Hill Nettleton.
• Completed Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids: How Your Body Works, Grades 1-3 "The Brain Controls the Body - Parts of the Brain," "My Brain Mini-Book" and "Extension Activities - Cell" activities (page 19) from TeacherFileBox.com.
• Examined Learning Resources Cross Section Human Brain Model and then identified and talked about the role of the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem.

Following Monday

• Tessa read Our Brains reader by Charlotte Guillain during reading.
• Read Blastoff! Readers: The Nervous System by Kay Manolis.
• Completed RSO Nervous System Lab 1: Reaction Time.
• Completed Teacher Created Resources My Body by Patty Carratello "My Brain" activity (pages 7-8).

Tessa tested her nervous system's reaction time by attempting to grasp a ruler after it was dropped several times without warning.

Tessa recorded her reaction time for each drop and then charted the results. Earlier, she hypothesized that she could teach her body to react more quickly with practice. Although her reaction times did not dramatically improve over the span of the five drops she recorded, she was generally correct.

Tessa colored and glued the brain from Teacher Created Resources "My Body" to an outline of her body that I had traced earlier onto pink butcher block paper.

The outline of Tessa's body. Tessa will add more body parts as we study them.

Other Books of Interest

• Bobby Bramble Loses His Brain - Dave Keane

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 4

Plant Cells vs. Animal Cells

We finished up our brief study of cells this week by determining the differences between plant cells and animal cells. Tessa also learned the name and function of select cell parts of each.


Friday

• Completed RSO Cell Lab 2: Plant and Animal Cells Differ.
• Watched "Cells" music video by They Might Be Giants via YouTube.
• Watched The Magic School Bus: Goes Cellular by Scholastic via YouTube.

I'm not much of a music buff, so my discovery of the band They Might Be Giants is probably way old news for most people. I came across one of their videos entitled, "Cells" while searching YouTube last night. I played it for Tessa today. She absolutely loved it! We watched it at least ten times. (Remember, if you have cruddy internet access like me, use SaveVid to download YouTube videos to your hard drive, then play them without interruption later.)


Other Resources of Interest

• "Animal and Plant Cells" free printable diagram from Education.com.
• Evan-Moor ScienceWorks for Kids, Grades 4-6+: The Human Body "Cells Are the Fundamental Unit of Life" unit (just the animal and plant cell diagram) from TeacherFileBox.com.

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey


Fruit and Gelatin Cell Models

Cell Lab 2: Plants and Animal Cells Differ is a great little hands-on lab. It requires just a few simple ingredients besides basic household supplies...gelatin, green grapes, an orange (or strawberry) and toothpicks. Since the gelatin is to be softly set, I prepared it and sliced the fruit the morning of the lesson.

Tessa pushed orange slices and grapes into lemon-flavored gelatin. The oranges represented nuclei and the grapes stood in as chloroplasts (for the plant cell).

Tessa labeled the parts of her fruit and gelatin cell models. 

After assembling the cell models, Tessa drew, colored and labeled the cell membranes, nuclei and chloroplasts on her cell lab sheet. She learned that animal cells are round, plant cells are rectangular, and only plant cells have chloroplasts.

Life Science, Week 3

Cells

We're gearing up for a lengthy study of the human body. This week, Tessa learned about cells by taking a look at a rather large example that can be seen without a microscope!


Thursday

• Watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Cells DVD by Disney.

Friday

• Read Greg's Microscope by Millicent E. Selsam.
• Completed RSO Cell Lab #1: An Egg is a Cell.

This was a great quick and easy lab that provided some basic hands-on knowledge of one special type of cell. Next week, we'll dip our toes a little deeper.

Tessa inspected the tiny holes of an egg shell. These holes allow air and water in and out of the cell.

After comparing her lab diagram to a real egg, Tessa labeled and colored its parts. 

My sister provided home-raised eggs for this lab. As a bonus, we cracked open an immature egg that one of her chickens laid a wee bit too soon (on left). Tessa correctly deduced that no chick could have hatched from this egg because it lacked its cell parts (yolk and blastodisc).

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey

Life Science, Week 2

Living & Nonliving Things

Science was fairly low-key this week. We continued our study of living and nonliving things with an outdoor lab.


Thursday

• Read Living Things in My Back Yard by Bobbie Kalman.
• Completed RSO Living Lab #2: Plot Study.

Other Books of Interest

• One Small Square: Backyard - Donald Silver (On hold at library.)

* RSO = R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey


Plot Study

We lucked out! With temperatures in the 80s and no precipitation, today was the perfect day for our plot study. Tonight, it will drop near freezing and then won't get much above 50 degrees tomorrow...plus rain!!

Even though I think this is a great lab, I was kind of dreading it for some reason. Probably because I had to go downstairs to dig out our tent stakes. Probably too because it required us going outside with no other option. Besides having to keep Tessa wrangled, it turned out just fine. More than fine, actually.

I used a yardstick, tent stakes and red yarn to section off a portion of our overgrown garden. I went ahead and did this ahead of time in order to save time during the lab.

Tessa scrutinized a mushroom with her hand lens, which she later declared a living thing. Other living things she found were a tomato plant, spider, butterfly, clover, grub worm, grasshopper, grass and acorn (dead). Nonliving things were far less plentiful. She only found a piece of red string, plant marker and tomato cage. 

We brought in a couple of samples for the drawing portion of the lab. Tessa decided on the grub worm (living thing) and the string (nonliving thing). Afterward, I filled in the rest of the lab sheet with our findings.

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