Sahamamama Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I'm trying to keep next year's science plan extremely simple. What I'd like to do for Earth/Space is this: Read our way through a book list. That is all. No projects -- these drive me nuts, and I don't believe the girls learn the most through this method (at this point). No experiments -- ditto. No website links -- we'd rather read, be done, then go outside. No record-keeping -- just the reading list to cross off. ;) No notebook -- except we might keep "Books We Read" & "Things We Did" pages. No narrations -- 2nd grader will be doing enough narration in Bible, History, Geography & Literature She'll also be doing a ton of other writing for Handwriting, Spelling, Copy Work, Dictation, Grammar, Writing Mechanics, Literature Course, Latin, Greek, French, German, and Math. I just can not add more to her work load. Besides, the girls all learn a TON through our read aloud times (they practically memorize a book on the first hearing). Reading works for us, and I want to simply "do nature study" more as part of LIFE, and not scheduled as part of school. KWIM? So... we would like to get back to the read-through-a-book-list approach that worked so well last year for Animals. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 How about just looking at the topics in RSO or ES and checking to see what your library has on those topics? It'd probably take you only a couple hours to make your own book list based on your library resources. I've done the same for our science this year - it's just a book list. We occasionally add in an experiment, but likewise, my son tends to learn the most by just reading about things at this point. I found it very easy to make a book list for our science topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 :lurk5::bigear::bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I would still get the Usborne 1st Illustrated Science encyclopedias of Space and Our World and use those as a spine as described in WTM. Then I would just hit the library for books on the topics. The Let's Read and Find Out are good ones as well as the ones by Gail Gibbons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Here's the booklist I used: http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2010/12/second-grade-earth-and-space-science.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Here's the booklist I used: http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2010/12/second-grade-earth-and-space-science.html Wow! Thank you! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monalisa Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 You are smart to do this...I feel like I burned out dd8 (and myself) for 2nd grade science for the first 2/3 of the year trying to use Apologia Astronomy along with Easy Classical. They are both good curricula, but too much for 2nd grade (my ephiphany came when I realized that I was doing all the notebooking, experiments, etc., and DD had no interest in any of it). For a while we did no science, and for the last part of the year have just read books from the library, which she has retained a lot of information from. Wish I'd done that all year. Really, for 2nd grade, it is all they need, imo. (Surprisingly to myself, I find myself becoming more and more of a CM'er and less and less of a classical educator.) Edited to add: the Usborne 1st Encyclopedia of Space is good, and there is a cute, simple Evan Moor K-2 Space book of reproducibles that were appropriate that I did like and used along w/ what I mentioned above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amsunshine Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Some suggestions for astronomy: A Child's Introduction to the Night Sky. Also, Find the Constellations. The Earth Science resources we used either had activities or weblinks, so those wouldn't fit your criteria. The above are really nice for astronomy, though, without activities or weblinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana B Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 It sounds like you got some good ideas and lists, let me just say that you might want to get a rock kit/collection if you don't have one. It's hard to figure out rocks just from books if you can't see and feel them while hearing the descriptions. (Pictures just don't cut it IMO) This doesn't take any extra 'work' on your part, just when you get to rocks, pull out a few examples of the different types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 It sounds like you got some good ideas and lists, let me just say that you might want to get a rock kit/collection if you don't have one. It's hard to figure out rocks just from books if you can't see and feel them while hearing the descriptions. (Pictures just don't cut it IMO) This doesn't take any extra 'work' on your part, just when you get to rocks, pull out a few examples of the different types. Great idea! Do you have a favorite rock collection or any idea where to look for a good one (i.e., not too expensive)? ;) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 My favorite for all these years (both boys) has been Science in a Nutshell: Rock Origins. I also like their soil studies kit a lot.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadSci Mama Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 (edited) We used the Usbourne encycl's for my daughter to pick out what she wanted to read about. It was our job to find books on the subject the week before we needed them, and after a few "hunts" at the library, we discovered that the Space Launch "Let's Explore" series we liked best for the planets (Simon's series are really great too, however most were printed in the late 90's/early naughty's and there have been more discoveries or newer pictures since then.) Sometimes we draw a picture and write a summary or do copywork on the subject. Sometimes we don't. And the only project we've done regarding Earth Sci or Space is an experiment on which kitchen acids are more reactive with baking soda (volcanoes!!) and a 3D model of the planets. Nat Geo has a great book too called "13 Planets" that introduces all of them cut and dried. That would be a quick way to "travel through space". They also have a book about "The Planet Gods" that talks about how the planets were named after the Greek and Roman gods--reinforcing not only that part of history, but also connecting the dots between the similarities of the gods and the planets. For constellations, since we live in Western WA, which doesn't actually see clear sky until the months of July and August, we are planning on taking a little family trip to the nearest telescope, bringing along the recommend texts from WTM, and making a quick study of it. Instead of view constellations now, we've found books of myths about the constellations and read these during bedtime or... Also, Powerkids Press has a short and sweet series of 6 books that focuses on constellations...Andromeda, Orion, Big/Little Dipper and so on. Good luck! Edited May 2, 2011 by MadSci Mama added info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscopup Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Rainbow Resource has a good rock collection that isn't very expensive. Most people use it for RSO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diana B Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Great idea! Do you have a favorite rock collection or any idea where to look for a good one (i.e., not too expensive)? ;) Thanks! I got lucky and I'm borrowing one from another homeschooler. If you are involved in a co-op or group, you might see if someone has one they aren't using. I'd probably start with Rainbow Resource for buying though, as that's usually my first stop. Sorry I couldn't be of more help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted May 6, 2011 Author Share Posted May 6, 2011 I got lucky and I'm borrowing one from another homeschooler. If you are involved in a co-op or group, you might see if someone has one they aren't using. I'd probably start with Rainbow Resource for buying though, as that's usually my first stop. Sorry I couldn't be of more help! Thanks, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Thanks so much for this thread! Excited about keeping it simple.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Here's my book list of books to read with my second grader next year for earth science and astronomy. We'll probably do a few hands on things (rocks, soil, etc), but mostly we just read. Don't even narrate often. Spines: Visual Factfinder Planet Earth Usborne First Encyclopedia of Our World/ Space Child’s Introduction to the Environment A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky Eye Wonder Earth Maybe do Brain Pop for awhile? Seems like there are a lot of good movies on earth science topics there. Watch Planet Earth series from Discovery Channel Pondering Child’s Geography???? The Earth in Space: You’re Aboard Spaceship Earth Earth and Space (Susan Mayes) What Makes Day and Night (Let’s Read and Find Out) Gravity Is a Mystery Sunshine Makes the Seasons Rockets and Satellites Weight and Weightlessness (Let’s Read and Find Out) Autumn Across America; Earth: Our Planet in Space (Seymour); The Reason for Seasons (Gibbons) Moon (phases, eclipses): The Moon Seems to Change (Let’s Read and Find Out), Eclipse: Darkness in the Daytime; The Moon (Seymour) The Moon Book (Gibbons) One Giant Leap Phases of the Moon (Olson) What the Moon Is Like So That’s How the Moon Changes Shape (Allen Fowler) The Sun: Energy Makes Things Happen Day Light, Night Light The Sun: Our Nearest Star Energy from the Sun What Makes a Shadow Sun Up, Sun Down (Gibbons) Solar System: The Planets of Our Solar System Floating in Space Our Solar System (Seymour) Planets Around the Sun (Seymour) Jupiter (Seymour) Neptune (Seymour) Uranus (Seymour) Mars (Seymour) Saturn (Seymour) The Planets (Gail Gibbons) What’s Out There? A Book About Space The Planets: A Journey Through Our Solar System Pluto: From Planet to Dwarf Mercury (True Book: Elaine Landau) Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System Other books on planets at library, etc Comets, Meteors, Asteroids: Comets (Let’s Read and Find Out) Comets and Meteor Showers (True Book) Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids (Seymour) Stars and Galaxies: The Big Dipper Is There Life in Outer Space The Sky Is Full of Stars Stars (Seymour) Destination Space (Seymour) The Universe (Seymour) Magic School Bus Sees Stars There’s No Place Like Space (Cat in the Hat) Star Walk (Seymour) Galaxies (Seymour) The Long Journey From Space (Seymour) Galaxies (Gibbons) Zoo in the Sky: A Book about Constellations Once Upon a Starry Night Super Stars: The Biggest, Hottest, Brightest, and Most Explosive Stars in the Milky Way Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars (Space Poems) Look to the Stars (by Buzz Aldrin) History of the Universe: Big Bang! Tongue Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular; Older than the Stars Born With a Bang From Lava to Life Mammals Who Morph; Weather: Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll What Will the Weather Be Snow Is Falling Weather (Seymour) Super Storms (Seymour) Lightning (Seymour) Storms (Seymour) Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today (Cat in the Hat) Why Oh Why Are the Deserts Dry? (Cat in the Hat) Weather Words and What They Mean (Gibbons) Weather Forecasting (Gibbons) Weather (Usborne Beginners) The Best Book of Weather Gusts and Gales: A Book about Wind Water Cycle: Down Comes the Rain Rain and Hail (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic School Bus at the Waterworks The Sun, the Wind, and the Rain; The Water Cycle (Bobbie Kalman) The Water Cycle (Rebecca Olien) A Drop Around the World (Barbara McKinney) The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story Water Dance Water Water Everywhere The Life and Times of a Drop of Water Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean Magic School Bus Wet All Over Did a Dinosaur Drink This Water? Splish Splash: A Book about Rain The Clear Brook Where the River Begins Clouds: The Cloud Book (Tomie dePaola) Cloud Dance Shapes in the Sky: A Book about Clouds Clouds (Let’s Read and Find Out) Air Is All Around You Fluffy, Fat, and Wet: A Book about Clouds The Man Who Named the Cloud Extreme Weather: Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane Hurricanes (Gail Gibbons) Eye of the Storm: A Book about Hurricanes Rumble! Boom! A Book about Thunderstorms Gusts and Gales: A Book about Wind Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm Tornado Alert Feel the Wind Tornado (Seymour) Twisters: A Book about Tornados (Rick Thomas) Tornados (Gibbons) Twisters and Other Storms (Magic Tree House Nonfiction) Ocean: Oceans (Seymour) Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor What Makes an Ocean Wave? Volcanoes: Volcanoes (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic school Bus Blows Its Top Danger Volcanoes (Seymour) Eye Wonder Volcano Earthquakes: Earthquakes (Let’s Read and Find Out) Earthquakes (Seymour) Earth Shake: Poems from the Ground Up Danger from Below Rocks and Minerals: Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth and Rough Rocks in His Head The Big Rock The Pebble in My Pocket: A History of Our Earth Rocks and Minerals (Eye Wonder) Let’s Go Rock Collecting Rocks Rocks Rocks (Nancy Wallace) The Rock Factory The Big Rock The Wonder of Stones (Let’s Read and Find Out) The Rockhound’s Book (Seymour) Basher: Rocks and Minerals, a Gem of a Book Structure of the Earth: Introducing Landforms (Bobbie Kalman) Glaciers (Let’s Read and Find Out) Icebergs and Glaciers (Seymour) Caves and Caverns (Gibbons) One Small Square: Cave How Mountains Are Made Marshes and Swamps (Gibbons) How Mountains Are Made Caves (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic School Bus Inside the Earth How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World What’s the Earth Made Of? (Usborne) Soil: Sand: Jump into Science Dirt: Jump into Science Dirt: The Scoop on Soil Composting: Nature’s Recyclers Life Inside Soil The Dirt on Dirt A Handful of Dirt Weathering and Erosion: Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls Cracking Up: A Story about Erosion Erosion: Changing Earth’s Surface Dinosaurs: Digging Up Dinosaurs Fossils Tell Of Long Ago Where Did Dinosaurs Come From? Dinosaur Tracks Dinosaurs Big and Small Terrible Tyrannosaurs Dinosaur Babies Dinosaur Bones Flying Giants of Long Ago Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs Protecting the Environment: Oil Spill Why Are the Ice Caps Melting? Where Does the Garbage Go? Almost Gone What’s So Bad About Gasoline? Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted July 21, 2011 Author Share Posted July 21, 2011 Here's my book list of books to read with my second grader next year for earth science and astronomy. We'll probably do a few hands on things (rocks, soil, etc), but mostly we just read. Don't even narrate often. Spines: Visual Factfinder Planet Earth Usborne First Encyclopedia of Our World/ Space Child’s Introduction to the Environment A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky Eye Wonder Earth Maybe do Brain Pop for awhile? Seems like there are a lot of good movies on earth science topics there. Watch Planet Earth series from Discovery Channel Pondering Child’s Geography???? The Earth in Space: You’re Aboard Spaceship Earth Earth and Space (Susan Mayes) What Makes Day and Night (Let’s Read and Find Out) Gravity Is a Mystery Sunshine Makes the Seasons Rockets and Satellites Weight and Weightlessness (Let’s Read and Find Out) Autumn Across America; Earth: Our Planet in Space (Seymour); The Reason for Seasons (Gibbons) Moon (phases, eclipses): The Moon Seems to Change (Let’s Read and Find Out), Eclipse: Darkness in the Daytime; The Moon (Seymour) The Moon Book (Gibbons) One Giant Leap Phases of the Moon (Olson) What the Moon Is Like So That’s How the Moon Changes Shape (Allen Fowler) The Sun: Energy Makes Things Happen Day Light, Night Light The Sun: Our Nearest Star Energy from the Sun What Makes a Shadow Sun Up, Sun Down (Gibbons) Solar System: The Planets of Our Solar System Floating in Space Our Solar System (Seymour) Planets Around the Sun (Seymour) Jupiter (Seymour) Neptune (Seymour) Uranus (Seymour) Mars (Seymour) Saturn (Seymour) The Planets (Gail Gibbons) What’s Out There? A Book About Space The Planets: A Journey Through Our Solar System Pluto: From Planet to Dwarf Mercury (True Book: Elaine Landau) Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System 13 Planets: The Latest View of the Solar System Other books on planets at library, etc Comets, Meteors, Asteroids: Comets (Let’s Read and Find Out) Comets and Meteor Showers (True Book) Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids (Seymour) Stars and Galaxies: The Big Dipper Is There Life in Outer Space The Sky Is Full of Stars Stars (Seymour) Destination Space (Seymour) The Universe (Seymour) Magic School Bus Sees Stars There’s No Place Like Space (Cat in the Hat) Star Walk (Seymour) Galaxies (Seymour) The Long Journey From Space (Seymour) Galaxies (Gibbons) Zoo in the Sky: A Book about Constellations Once Upon a Starry Night Super Stars: The Biggest, Hottest, Brightest, and Most Explosive Stars in the Milky Way Comets, Stars, the Moon and Mars (Space Poems) Look to the Stars (by Buzz Aldrin) History of the Universe: Big Bang! Tongue Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular; Older than the Stars Born With a Bang From Lava to Life Mammals Who Morph; Weather: Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll What Will the Weather Be Snow Is Falling Weather (Seymour) Super Storms (Seymour) Lightning (Seymour) Storms (Seymour) Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today (Cat in the Hat) Why Oh Why Are the Deserts Dry? (Cat in the Hat) Weather Words and What They Mean (Gibbons) Weather Forecasting (Gibbons) Weather (Usborne Beginners) The Best Book of Weather Gusts and Gales: A Book about Wind Water Cycle: Down Comes the Rain Rain and Hail (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic School Bus at the Waterworks The Sun, the Wind, and the Rain; The Water Cycle (Bobbie Kalman) The Water Cycle (Rebecca Olien) A Drop Around the World (Barbara McKinney) The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story Water Dance Water Water Everywhere The Life and Times of a Drop of Water Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean Magic School Bus Wet All Over Did a Dinosaur Drink This Water? Splish Splash: A Book about Rain The Clear Brook Where the River Begins Clouds: The Cloud Book (Tomie dePaola) Cloud Dance Shapes in the Sky: A Book about Clouds Clouds (Let’s Read and Find Out) Air Is All Around You Fluffy, Fat, and Wet: A Book about Clouds The Man Who Named the Cloud Extreme Weather: Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane Hurricanes (Gail Gibbons) Eye of the Storm: A Book about Hurricanes Rumble! Boom! A Book about Thunderstorms Gusts and Gales: A Book about Wind Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm Tornado Alert Feel the Wind Tornado (Seymour) Twisters: A Book about Tornados (Rick Thomas) Tornados (Gibbons) Twisters and Other Storms (Magic Tree House Nonfiction) Ocean: Oceans (Seymour) Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor What Makes an Ocean Wave? Volcanoes: Volcanoes (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic school Bus Blows Its Top Danger Volcanoes (Seymour) Eye Wonder Volcano Earthquakes: Earthquakes (Let’s Read and Find Out) Earthquakes (Seymour) Earth Shake: Poems from the Ground Up Danger from Below Rocks and Minerals: Rocks: Hard, Soft, Smooth and Rough Rocks in His Head The Big Rock The Pebble in My Pocket: A History of Our Earth Rocks and Minerals (Eye Wonder) Let’s Go Rock Collecting Rocks Rocks Rocks (Nancy Wallace) The Rock Factory The Big Rock The Wonder of Stones (Let’s Read and Find Out) The Rockhound’s Book (Seymour) Basher: Rocks and Minerals, a Gem of a Book Structure of the Earth: Introducing Landforms (Bobbie Kalman) Glaciers (Let’s Read and Find Out) Icebergs and Glaciers (Seymour) Caves and Caverns (Gibbons) One Small Square: Cave How Mountains Are Made Marshes and Swamps (Gibbons) How Mountains Are Made Caves (Let’s Read and Find Out) Magic School Bus Inside the Earth How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World What’s the Earth Made Of? (Usborne) Soil: Sand: Jump into Science Dirt: Jump into Science Dirt: The Scoop on Soil Composting: Nature’s Recyclers Life Inside Soil The Dirt on Dirt A Handful of Dirt Weathering and Erosion: Magic School Bus Rocks and Rolls Cracking Up: A Story about Erosion Erosion: Changing Earth’s Surface Dinosaurs: Digging Up Dinosaurs Fossils Tell Of Long Ago Where Did Dinosaurs Come From? Dinosaur Tracks Dinosaurs Big and Small Terrible Tyrannosaurs Dinosaur Babies Dinosaur Bones Flying Giants of Long Ago Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs Protecting the Environment: Oil Spill Why Are the Ice Caps Melting? Where Does the Garbage Go? Almost Gone What’s So Bad About Gasoline? Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge Wow! :party:Thanks! I just checked back on this thread (working on the Science plan today), and WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpskowski Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Here's a site that sells rock kits. She is a homeschooled girl. I think her prices are very reasonable. http://www.rocksmineralsandfossilsforkids.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aludlam Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 If I were going to do it again, and do it simply this time (we burned out). I would loosely follow one of the "first" encyclopedias. Then I would get every one of the Let's Read and Find Out books and Magic School Bus videos. There are quite a few on astronomy/earth (both read and find out and MSB). And I would get a volcano kit. Ours was cheesy and I really don't think they learned anything from it, but my kids still talk about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 We did this with grade 2 also. There are some excellent ideas/suggestions here! I used What Your 2nd Grader Needs to Know, and looked at the subject areas in there, and then did a search on amazon for books within that range, then requested them from the library. We ended up having a ton of books. Another good resource is using dvds that support that subject, from either the library or netflix, and maybe visiting an air and space museum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JESSICAinMD Posted July 22, 2011 Share Posted July 22, 2011 Wow! :party:Thanks! I just checked back on this thread (working on the Science plan today), and WOW! Ditto the Wow! :hurray: Your list looks amazing! I will be putting it to use this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.