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Aludlam
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Is there a good resource to use for this ... that is not part of a science "curriculum/program"(ie apologia, etc)? We have tons of science books (Let's read and Find Out, etc, etc, etc), but am looking for a good resource to use with them. kwim? I'm afraid of this falling through the cracks. I don't really remember learning this until - gulp - college.

 

thanks so much

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Your kids are so young -- at this age my dd loved a little book I can't find on amazon right now (I'll look again later) that was called something like Benny Sorts His Animals. Maybe someone else has used this and remembers the title?

 

Before we read the book, I cut out a whole pile of pictures of animals and plants from various kid magazines (Ranger Rick, etc.) and for a couple of weeks we played with sorting them in different ways. It got to the point where we would try to guess what criteria the other was using: I remember dd sorting by feet types, eating habits (omnivore, herbivore, etc.), fur colors or patterns, pooping habits (she had loved the book Everyone Poops when she was little). Then we read the Benny book and saw him do the same kind of game/activity, finally learning about how scientists sort them.

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Your kids are so young -- at this age my dd loved a little book I can't find on amazon right now (I'll look again later) that was called something like Benny Sorts His Animals. Maybe someone else has used this and remembers the title?

 

Before we read the book, I cut out a whole pile of pictures of animals and plants from various kid magazines (Ranger Rick, etc.) and for a couple of weeks we played with sorting them in different ways. It got to the point where we would try to guess what criteria the other was using: I remember dd sorting by feet types, eating habits (omnivore, herbivore, etc.), fur colors or patterns, pooping habits (she had loved the book Everyone Poops when she was little). Then we read the Benny book and saw him do the same kind of game/activity, finally learning about how scientists sort them.

 

KarenAnne,

 

I love this idea! If you could remember the title that would be wonderful. I'll start cutting out pictures anyways. The activity will be great with or without book.

 

Susie

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This is a cool website:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner_games.htm

 

I did two projects with mine.

 

I made cards based on this game:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm

 

Just on index cards and we used them to play a kind of 'rummy' (collect three characteristics from the same animal family.

 

Then I made a huge poster and divided in in tiers.

 

Top tier = all things

 

Second Tier = <<Living Things>> <<Non Living Things>>

 

Third Tier (subdivisions under Living)= <<Plants>> <<Animals>> <<Fungi& Bacteria>>

 

Fourth Tier (subdivisions under Animals) = <<Vertebrates>> <<Inverts>>

 

Fifth Tier = subs under Vert. = Mammal, Reptile, Amph., Bird, Fish and under inverts = Anthropod (insects, spiders, crabs, lobsters), Mollusk (snail, clam, squid, lobster), Cnidaria (anemone, jellyfish, hydra), echinoderm (sea stars, sea urchins), worms

 

I got the smallest Avery labels which are 1/2"x3/4" and used 200 little photographs of animals from all these categories and natural and manmade non-living items. I would love to share these files because I worked hard on them, but I don't really own the rights to share the photographs many of them came from Montessori Printshop here: http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Animals_c152.htm?page=all

 

But it wasn't hard at all.

 

Then we started at the top and peeled off one of each of the stickers and stuck them in the first tier. With a second set of stickers we peeled them off and sorted them non-living and living (and discussed criteria for each.) With a third, discussed criteria for plants/animals...etc. and stuck them down.

 

It turned out to be very fun, and a visually beautiful reference, really, when we were done.

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KarenAnne,

 

I love this idea! If you could remember the title that would be wonderful. I'll start cutting out pictures anyways. The activity will be great with or without book.

 

Susie

 

Found it: Benny's Animals and How He Put Them in Order. Hope you like it as much as we did!

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This is a cool website:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/kidscorner_games.htm

 

I did two projects with mine.

 

I made cards based on this game:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/animalclassgame.htm

 

Just on index cards and we used them to play a kind of 'rummy' (collect three characteristics from the same animal family.

 

Then I made a huge poster and divided in in tiers.

 

Top tier = all things

 

Second Tier = <<Living Things>> <<Non Living Things>>

 

Third Tier (subdivisions under Living)= <<Plants>> <<Animals>> <<Fungi& Bacteria>>

 

Fourth Tier (subdivisions under Animals) = <<Vertebrates>> <<Inverts>>

 

Fifth Tier = subs under Vert. = Mammal, Reptile, Amph., Bird, Fish and under inverts = Anthropod (insects, spiders, crabs, lobsters), Mollusk (snail, clam, squid, lobster), Cnidaria (anemone, jellyfish, hydra), echinoderm (sea stars, sea urchins), worms

 

I got the smallest Avery labels which are 1/2"x3/4" and used 200 little photographs of animals from all these categories and natural and manmade non-living items. I would love to share these files because I worked hard on them, but I don't really own the rights to share the photographs many of them came from Montessori Printshop here: http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Animals_c152.htm?page=all

 

But it wasn't hard at all.

 

Then we started at the top and peeled off one of each of the stickers and stuck them in the first tier. With a second set of stickers we peeled them off and sorted them non-living and living (and discussed criteria for each.) With a third, discussed criteria for plants/animals...etc. and stuck them down.

 

It turned out to be very fun, and a visually beautiful reference, really, when we were done.

 

 

These are great!

 

thanks

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My son learned a startling amount about animal types (and plant types) through David Attenborough. Life of Birds and Life in Cold Blood are good places to start. The Private Life of Plants is OOP but can be found used.

 

His series The Trials of Life, cover behaviors cross-species, like migrating or communication. We (both kiddo and I) like these better than his "blockbuster" Blue Planet DVDs.

 

Since DA appears in it, he goes to many places*, and we learned a lot of geography in the process. After the show, I'd pull out a world map and review the places. The only down side is that my son can now imitate a Screaming Pehaw with startling accuracy.

 

*It has been said he is the widest traveled human in history.

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