luvatlax Posted May 1, 2016 Share Posted May 1, 2016 My daughter is very interested in animals and insects. Aside from pulling things together myself, is there an animal-focused curriculum for kindergarten? This is our first year homeschooling, so I love anything pre-planned. :) I have the three R's covered, so this would just be something extra/for fun. I've searched and searched and can't seem to find anything for her age (five). Thanks! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Maybe Intro to Science by Elemental Science? Biology is for first grade so you could also do that for Grammar by them and just modify it to fit your child this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoes+Ships+SealingWax Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 (edited) Your best bet would probably be a 1st Grade "Life Science" curriculum. To keep it light you could spread it out & do animals this year, plants next year. Edited May 2, 2016 by Expat_Mama_Shelli Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 (edited) odd double post while watching tv and surfing the web. Edited May 2, 2016 by 3 ladybugs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 My daughter is very interested in animals and insects. Aside from pulling things together myself, is there an animal-focused curriculum for kindergarten? This is our first year homeschooling, so I love anything pre-planned. :) I have the three R's covered, so this would just be something extra/for fun. I've searched and searched and can't seem to find anything for her age (five). Thanks! :) Would you be happy with one book to serve as a "spine" for your biology lessons? A good book about the animal kingdom should be logically arranged, letting you and your daughter cover the main topics as you go. When you find something especially interesting to her, you can pause and get more books about that particular subject. I suggest you look at the many Usborne and DK titles on animals and nature, if you like those books (as many do). So let's say you pick the "DK First Animal Encyclopedia" recommended by Jessie and Susan in WTM. It pretty much covers the whole animal kingdom, but without going into too much detail per chapter. Your daughter will learn about the different classes of animals, in order - or you can skip around. If suddenly, she develops an interest in a particular species say elephants, stop and read more books about that. Go to the museum. Watch child-friendly documentaries about it. Play with stickers. Color pages. Make drawings. That's really all the structuring you need. And there's no need to hurry. You aren't going to cover the whole animal kingdom in one year, so don't even try. :-) Your goal is to teach your child how to study and observe nature, that's all. But if your child likes a more organized approach, you may find yourselves reading books from cover to cover. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aelllc Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 (edited) Here are some ideas Evan Moor Workbooks- these are easy open and go and do not require much if any planning: Learning about Animals Animals with Backbones Animals without Backbones Animal Habitats Maybe couple the workbooks with the books from the Memoria Press Kindergarten Supplemental Science and Enrichment Set to focus a little more deeply on certain animals and insects. Plus Homeschool Share has some lapbooks on various animals, insects, and birds that can add a hands on element. Also Hubbard Cupboard has some really nice and large science notebook pdfs for free that are supposed to go along with the Apologia Science series and make it usable for young kids (K-1st grade) Edited May 2, 2016 by aelllc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Homeschool Freebie of the Day has a Nature Study Handbook today http://www.homeschoolfreebie.wholesomechildhood.com/ Paired up with the freebies from Homeschool Giveaways and you have a nice set up for K! http://homeschoolgiveaways.com/category/themed/nature-study-freebies/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalott25 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Science is not generally a form part of a K curriculum. I suggest making it fun and educational. Reading books from the library about different types of animals and maybe pull some worksheets off line would be better than an curriculum. Trade books are meant to engage (curriculum is generally about "teaching") as well as teach. There are gorgeous pictures and fun facts. When my kids were in elementary school, I mostly just read books to them on different topics. They were fine when they got to middle school. I think Bearport has some of the best non-fiction books. http://bearportpublishing.com I also like Arbordale. Used to be called Sylvan Dell. They have teacher's guides with activities free on their site. http://arbordalepublishing.com I found most the books i needed at the pubic library. Most libraries will allow you to search by series and/or publisher too. Kids have their whole school lives for a formal curriculum. I'd make the first year or two just a fun exploration of science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymommy1 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 My Father's World did have an animal per week or such in their K curriculum. I did that with my son, and he enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymommy1 Posted June 4, 2016 Share Posted June 4, 2016 Also, my boys loved the Thornton Burgess Animal Book and others at that age and still now. They are on Librivox for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shifra Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 There is a workbook called Animals: A Science Workbook for Ages 4-6 by Mary Bozansky (ISBN 978-1565657465). It may be a bit dated, and I have no personal experience with it, but it sounds like what you are looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epicurean Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 This isn't a curriculum per se, but I plan on using Nature Anatomy as our spine: https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Anatomy-Curious-Pieces-Natural/dp/1612122310/ I'll probably skip chapter 1 in the early years because geology is a bit abstract, but I'll use the subsequent chapters as a guide for library checkouts, paintings and nature journaling. The book focuses on weather, animals, plants, insects, etc. For a closer look at various animals, I'll probably add in Animalium: https://www.amazon.com/Animalium-Welcome-Museum-Jenny-Broom/dp/0763675083/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rutheart Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 My first year homeschooling my youngest, we did letter of the week, and I'd get library books for things starting with each letter, frequently animals. You could make science as simple as that. So week one would be ants, aardvarks, antelope, etc. By the time you finish week 26 with zebras, you'd have a feel for what kind of animals interest your child and you can focus on those. Or you could read about animals in different biomes (i.e. coral reef, jungle, etc). Or you could do a more methodical survey of animals by classification (i.e. worms, Cnidaria, Cephalopods, etc). Ruth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynful Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Just for fun for K for my little guy, we are going to use Children Just Like Me, DK Animal Atlas, and a map. Just a quick look through and maybe stories and find where they are on the map. Here are some other ideas for you too: https://winterpromise.com/themed-programs/animals-worlds-theme-introduction/ WinterPromise Animals and Their Worlds - highly suggest only buying the guide through them, not the books - they take forever shipping the books to you http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/AnimalABC.html You can buy all at once here or find all the files free on her site but have to download one by one. http://buildyourlibrary.com/purchase-kindergarten-curriculum/ They do something like I am going to be doing that I mentioned above. Actually, I got the idea from them, just didn't want to buy the plans. Should you want to pair this with phonics, https://allinonehomeschool.com/getting-ready-1/ has their K just for alphabet learning or they have others and this is free. Oh, Sonlight Science A or B has animals in their science too. Might want to check them out also. http://www.sonlight.com Hope those help, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrymum Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 I am putting together my own animal unit for my pre k and keep students this year. We have a map and encyclopedia and the series Getting to Know Nature's childrenot (nice older series with 26 books each with 2 animalso covered) I used www.edupic.net to make some animal picture cards and used word to add their names. I figure we will play go fishing memory ect with them. We are doing biomass of weeks will also do things like make a diorama of the desert with sand and cacti and turn our school room into a rainforest with crape paper vines. I am also giving the children some animal pics to cut out and paste into their own animal books they will then dictate info about themy to me to right. I will probably have the kindergarten student do some writing. We will cast a Raccoon track and look at Buffalo and maybe go to the botanical gardens or zoo. Some sites with info or ideas are exploringnature and imagine our life has a great Wall map and quiet book ideas from 2013 (I am not doing all of this but neat ideas) And first palatte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 This isn't a curriculum per se, but I plan on using Nature Anatomy as our spine: https://www.amazon.com/Nature-Anatomy-Curious-Pieces-Natural/dp/1612122310/ I'll probably skip chapter 1 in the early years because geology is a bit abstract, but I'll use the subsequent chapters as a guide for library checkouts, paintings and nature journaling. The book focuses on weather, animals, plants, insects, etc. For a closer look at various animals, I'll probably add in Animalium: https://www.amazon.com/Animalium-Welcome-Museum-Jenny-Broom/dp/0763675083/ We are using the same books, with the addition of Steve Jenkins's Animals. https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Book-Collection-Shyest_and-Surprising_Animals/dp/054755799X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468812965&sr=8-1&keywords=animals+jenkins We also have watched almost all of the Disney Nature movies, and are working through BBC Earth's Life series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrymum Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Where do you get Disney nature movies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fdrinca Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 Where do you get Disney nature movies? We request them from our library. Here's a list of the movies: http://nature.disney.com/ My children have liked the all, except Crimson Wing. That one made them cry, quite a bit actually. There's a bit of flamingo chick death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkposies Posted July 18, 2016 Share Posted July 18, 2016 (edited) We chose Elemental Science, the Intro to Science which is K5-1st. http://elementalscience.com/collections/intro-to-science We wanted to cover a variety of topics in science this first year. This version only has six weeks of zoology so not enough for your daughter. I would probably follow the animal per week and at the end of the year, take a field trip to the zoo if you're close to one. Edited July 18, 2016 by pinkposies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 Elemental Science biology for the grammar stage has a HUGE focus on animals (20 out of 36 weeks!). It's intended for use in 1st grade, but having done it, I think a K-er would do fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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