Chrysalis Academy Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 (edited) So my dd has decided that she wants to be a wildlife biologist, or maybe a wildlife photographer, and to live in Africa studying wild cats in their natural habitat. :huh: Help me design an awesome study/unit for her! What are great resources about wildlife biology/zoology focused on felines? African wildlife? Someone directed me to the Gorongosa Park PBS series, which looks totally awesome. Anything like that, any pre-made unit studies, or great books, or docos, or anything else would be great. And what about languages? It looks like between English and French, she could function in many African countries, although the official language of Mozambique (where Gorongosa is) is Portuguese. So maybe French is a good language for us to focus on. What are your favorite beginner French resources? I had French in high school so I can probably help her with beginning-level French. She is jazzed about learning French. She also wants to learn Swahili. As it turns out, Mango languages has Swahili! So she can knock herself out on that one. On her own! ETA: Oh, duh. Photography. Suggestions for a good starter camera that isn't too expensive? Any photography courses or resources that are appropriate for a 5th grader? ETAA: And yes, I realize that a 9 year old will probably change her mind. Older dd at this age wanted to be an entomologist. But the thing is, she's super excited about this, and that is rare for schooly things for this dd, so I want to run with it. I'm very comfortable in using topics she's passionate about to work on the skills she needs to develop in 5th grade . . . wherever it goes from there is just fine. Edited February 19, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SumSum Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 safariLive on youtube! It has inspired my dd6 to start an animal tracking journal, bird list, and she's learned so much about the wildlife from the trained guides, it's amazing. She's desperate for a trip to Kruger National Park. Someday :) We love that it is live and interactive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaceful Isle Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 My daughter is taking a photography course from national geographic. She likes it well enough. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 How fun! Wild Cats of the World has beautiful photography as well as good scientific information that should be accessible to a bright 9 year old. National Geographic publishes a kid's photography guide, although it might be too juvenile if your DD wants "serious" looking resources. (I know at that age, DS wanted real books on paleontology, not kids' books.) David Attenborough's Africa series is amazing. There are also quite a few documentaries specifically about big cats in Africa. Craig Packer's books, Into Africa and Lions in the Balance might work as read-alouds (or she could read them herself if she's an advanced reader). He's a wildlife biologist. Do you live near a zoo or safari park that has summer programs? DS did summer programs at the Natural History Museum and the Biopark and really enjoyed them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 My daughter is taking a photography course from national geographic. She likes it well enough. :) How does that work? Is it online or something? Got a link? TIA! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Not online, but there are several Great Courses on photography that were created in partnership with National Geographic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 How fun! Wild Cats of the World has beautiful photography as well as good scientific information that should be accessible to a bright 9 year old. National Geographic publishes a kid's photography guide, although it might be too juvenile if your DD wants "serious" looking resources. (I know at that age, DS wanted real books on paleontology, not kids' books.) David Attenborough's Africa series is amazing. There are also quite a few documentaries specifically about big cats in Africa. Craig Packer's books, Into Africa and Lions in the Balance might work as read-alouds (or she could read them herself if she's an advanced reader). He's a wildlife biologist. Do you live near a zoo or safari park that has summer programs? DS did summer programs at the Natural History Museum and the Biopark and really enjoyed them. Awesome, thank you! I've put all those on hold or in my Amazon cart. The specific title suggestions really help - the overwhelming number of book choices makes it hard to narrow things down! We do have a safari park near where we live, I will have to look into summer programs. Dd already has said that she wants to go there for her birthday. It is so expensive! The nearest zoo is in San Francisco, 90 miles away, so it's definitely a place we can visit, but not regularly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Discovery has a thing. This is a very cool site. BigCatsWildCats. Online cat dissection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) Not anything new to you I'm sure but the Scientist in the Field series has some titles centered on African animals/scientists. Don't forget to look at Citizen Scientist sites, I remember doing some work with ds for a place in Africa. Edited February 20, 2016 by soror 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 20, 2016 Author Share Posted February 20, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the suggestions, guys. These were some great leads. Poor dd is very enthusiastic, but also has a little trepidation. The things that she fears most in life (after Mama dying) are spiders, infectious diseases, and poisonous snakes, so it's very brave of her to consider a career in a place so well endowed with each! What is the best French curriculum for a 5th grader? Galore Park? something else? And what would be a best first camera, that doesn't break the bank? Edited February 20, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted February 20, 2016 Share Posted February 20, 2016 I just want to add that we studied Africa on Fridays in 4th grade. I didn't get to all the things I planned, but one fun thing was that we made a huge, wall -sized outline map of Africa and hung it on the wall. It was printed out on 64 sheets of regular printer paper. We taped them all together and used a geography song to learn the various countries. It was really fun. Owl and Mouse mega maps link Dd wanted to be a wildlife biologist at that point, too (though not in Africa). Now she wants to be a music teacher. :D 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Dd wanted to be a wildlife biologist at that point, too (though not in Africa). Now she wants to be a music teacher. :D Yes, my older dd wanted to be an entomologist, then an astronomer. Now she wants to be an actor and fantasy novelist. That actually sounds like a career combo she'd enjoy and be good at. Although she could end up living in my basement for years. I would be ok with that. :D 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 (edited) You might want to get some books on cat behavior. There are quite a few written to help owners understand their domestic cats, and when you go to see captive wild cats, you can seethe same behaviors. Animal behavior also tends to be positive and happy. As a mom with a kid who is really focused on a specific animal group, ecology and conservation can get a bit depressing to a kid, so do screen materials with that in mind. There's nothing like having a kid who's goal is to spend their lives with a given animal sit in a talk that predicts that they'll be extinct before the kid will graduate from college! The Scottish Wildcat Project is interesting to follow on FB. Michelle LaRue is on Twitter and is researching Cougars. She is one of several biologists who strongly uses social media to track animal sightings, so she has a lot of nice photos of wildcats (and sometimes other animals) that people send her because they think they may be Cougars. If you search #NotACougar you'll find her pretty quickly. Anne Hillborn is another wildcat biologist on Twitter who posts nice photos. Edited February 21, 2016 by dmmetler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 21, 2016 Author Share Posted February 21, 2016 Those are excellent points, dmmetler. We've already run into that issue, the extinction predictions. It's super depressing for a kid and hard to balance that out sometimes. Hmm, I'd love to get her interested in mountain lions, she could study them a little closer to home. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 This year Cougars have been sighted in a lot of places that they previously haven't been (or haven't been for 20+ years), so it's an interesting thing to follow if you like wild cats-or wildlife biology. My DD is all about animals that are "less loved"-but even she's been excited about the fact that there have been multiple sightings of Cougars in East TN. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 (edited) She might enjoy the movie Duma. My dc loved it at around her age. It's about a South African boy who returns his pet cheetah to the wild and has adventures along the way. Some are a bit intense, and there are definitely some insects (IIRC, one character comes down with a nasty illness after being stung by a swarm of tse-tse flies). Still, it's a great movie based on a true story. Edited February 23, 2016 by klmama 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 What is the best French curriculum for a 5th grader? Galore Park? something else? Yes, i would start with Galore Park French if you know some French your self. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Yes, i would start with Galore Park French if you know some French your self. Some,yes. I was pretty fluent by the end of high school, but I fear it's all been overwritten with Spanish since then. But it may come back to me! Enough to get her started, anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 You asked about best first cameras? Well I started my dd with my old nikon d50. It's a dSLR, pretty primitive, but she really makes it work. Something older like that (don't go back that far, haha) you can pick up affordably and then throw a 35mm 1.8 onto for pretty cheap. But a totally different, also REALLY VALID way to go is an iphone. :D I'm not joking. The iphone is f/2.2 I think, meaning shallow depth of field. There's some serious, serious art being done on iphones right now. You can get a macro lens kit for the iphone pretty cheap on amazon, and for the small price it's a lot of fun, kwim? Here's a nice article with a list that could make a good list of challenges for a beginning photographer. http://www.bocphotography.com/how-to-take-better-landscape-photographs/?utm_content=bufferea786&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer For instance, it says take a picture with leading lines. So you look together on google images for leading lines and then she goes out and tries to make shots with that. Same gig with framing, rule of 3rds, etc. etc. Pretty straightforward. If she's shooting jpg, her editing is done. I taught my dd Lightroom, but that's just because I have it laying around. If she's shooting on an iphone, get her Snapseed or VSCO or one of the other popular editing apps. Nuts, I think Lightroom's app is nice. I don't know if it costs? I threw it onto my phone. I don't recall if it cost anything. It's super easy to use. You can also do LR on an ipad. You can load jpgs directly onto the ipad with a card reader, so she can do the entire process herself, no matter which way you go with the cameras. For editing, look for instructions on exposure, converting to b&w, dodging/burning. Also cropping using guides for rule of 3rds, etc. Of all the things, those are the easiest and the ones most likely to benefit her immediately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) You could check your local/regional zoos to see if they are doing any research on African big cats. Our zoo is a leading breeding and research center for clouded leopards and we have gotten to speak with scientists and vets at the zoo about them just by being there on random weekdays and asking lots of questions. I wonder if you could get an interview with a wildlife photographer? Would be cool to find out how they got started in that career, if they had an interest as a child or teen, what the best and worst parts of the job are. Edited February 24, 2016 by ScoutTN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 (edited) We have and like this book, there is at least one for 1c plus shipping. http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Usborne-Discovery-Jonathan-Sheikh-Miller/dp/0794522432/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1456282767&sr=8-11&keywords=cats+usborne We also liked the "Growing up _____" DVD series, there were several about wild cats, I will see if I can find a link. I found it, here is wild cats, but I think some of the other DVDs had a cat or two amongst the other animals. http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Wild-Cats/dp/B00125WARS/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1456282968&sr=8-5&keywords=growing+up+animal+dvd Edited February 24, 2016 by ElizabethB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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