Earth Science for 9th Grade?

[Elfinlady]

I'd like to do earth science for 9th grade. Any suggestions for a text? I've seen some on Amazon, but I'm afraid of ending up with a college level text by accident!

 

Thanks!

[Shelly in VA]

I used Physical Geography: A Self-Teaching Guide (http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Geography-Self-Teaching-Guide-Guides/dp/0471445665/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1314827931&sr=8-12) (I liked it, in part, b/c there are quizzes at the end of the sections) along with the Apologia text (which my 9th grade dd dubbed the most boring book ever written ;), so I may drop that with my 9th grade ds this year. I have looked at the Prentice Hall text as well, but I may just use the Wiley guide along with supplemental texts (i.e. The Practical Geologist by Dixon, the DK/Smithsonian Earth book, etc.

 

Shelly

[pbjmeyer]

I have Earth Science by Silver, Burdett and it's written for middle school. There was a thread about it in the spring. I think it's well written. I will use it with my 14 yo ds.

I bought it used, and an older edition with an orange cover.

[Shelly in VA]

I think there is an Earth Science text by Tarbuck that has been well reviewed on these boards, if you want to search for threads with that author's name. I don't know why things like that stick in my mind, when I can't remember what I planned to fix for dinner tonight... :)

 

Shelly

[elegantlion]

I think there is an Earth Science text by Tarbuck that has been well reviewed on these boards, if you want to search for threads with that author's name. I don't know why things like that stick in my mind, when I can't remember what I planned to fix for dinner tonight... :)

 

Shelly

 

The Tarbuck text is college level. It's a good text though.

 

I also have this text, The Good Earth. It is also college level, but less dense than Tarbuck. I bought my copy used for less than 5.00.

 

I haven't used either as life got in the way of our plans last year and we're going a different direction this year. I read more out of the Good Earth text and would consider it a better fit for 9th grade.

[MamaSheep]

We did earth and space last year for 8th grade, but I think this would work for 9th grade too.

 

For space studies we used: http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Robert-Dinwiddie/dp/B0058M63EW/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

For earth studies we used: http://www.amazon.com/Earth-James-F-Luhr/dp/075663332X/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314829926&sr=1-10

 

I divided the sections up into the number of weeks we would be working, and then we read through a section, wrote about it, and usually did some kind of hands-on activity that coordinated with what we were learning about. It might be less "rigorous" than might suit some families, but it worked well for us and fit well with the other things we were studying.

[Elfinlady]

Thanks! Will take a look at these!

[Jen the RD]

We did earth and space last year for 8th grade, but I think this would work for 9th grade too.

 

For space studies we used: http://www.amazon.com/Universe-Robert-Dinwiddie/dp/B0058M63EW/ref=pd_sim_b_1

 

For earth studies we used: http://www.amazon.com/Earth-James-F-Luhr/dp/075663332X/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314829926&sr=1-10

 

I divided the sections up into the number of weeks we would be working, and then we read through a section, wrote about it, and usually did some kind of hands-on activity that coordinated with what we were learning about. It might be less "rigorous" than might suit some families, but it worked well for us and fit well with the other things we were studying.

 

We also are considering earth science for 9th or 10th coupled with geography. I just looked at these at amazon. Wow! I am impressed. They also have terrific reviews with notes from college professors that have used them in their entry level classes. Would you mind elaborating on your lab activities and any testing that you may have done?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[smilesonly]

My friend's ds is using AOP's Monarch Earth Science and loves it. Her other ds did their Physical Science and he also loved it. Personally I wouldn't use their science beyond those two courses-but they seem pretty good for 9th grade.:)

[Elfinlady]

I decided to go with Prentice Hall's Earth Science by Tarbuck. I know it was mentioned as being college level, but it's on the Pearson Education website as a high school text. Maybe Tarbuck wrote a college level book as well?

[elegantlion]

Yes, here's Tarbucks college level book. It's in it 13th editon. I couldn't find an edition number on your link.

[MamaSheep]

We also are considering earth science for 9th or 10th coupled with geography. I just looked at these at amazon. Wow! I am impressed. They also have terrific reviews with notes from college professors that have used them in their entry level classes. Would you mind elaborating on your lab activities and any testing that you may have done?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

Well, I was combining a 3rd grader in with my 8th grader, so some of the activities were actually from some Science in a Nutshell kits I had leftover from when ds was younger. They're technically for younger kids, but I put ds in charge of explaining it to dd and that seemed to bump it up a bit for him. Also we found some activities online. One activity we did that was fun was making a scale model of the solar system by stringing a couple of rolls of toilet paper all across the park across the street and then sticking little paper planets in at the proper distances using the TP squares as our unit of measure. The planets had to be at a different scale than the distances in order to be able to see them, but it helped the kids get a better idea of the kind of space we're talking about in the solar system. We built models of tectonic plate activity with crackers "floating" on frosting, and they liked that rather a lot too. Basically I made a list of topics I thought were essential to cover for Earth and Space, then I found books at different reading levels that covered those topics. The books I linked were the "advanced" level, I had some Eyewitness books for an "intermediate" level, and then various books for a "primary" level that dd and I read together that covered the same topics (or at least close enough) more briefly and in less detail. Then I found activities that related to those topics.

 

Our typical procedure was to read about our topic for a day or two, write about it for a day or two and discuss together what we had learned, and then do an activity that demonstrated or modeled what we'd been learning about, or expanded on the topic in some way. Sometimes we did the activity first to introduce the topic, though, and then read more about it after their interest was engaged. Ds and I would generally spend a bit more time discussing than dd was interested in, but I was amazed how well it worked to combine the two, even at such different ability levels. Ds got more out of the activities than dd, but she learned quite a lot too and had a good time being the "lab assistant".

 

I didn't do any testing or formal assessments other than reviewing what they'd written. They each wound up with a science notebook that summarized what they'd learned along with photos and various bits and pieces of their activities. Sort of informal, but fun and they learned a lot, so I'm counting it as a success.

[lakerks]

I have both of these:

 

Earth Science, 11th edition, Tarbuck/Lutgens - college level. It contains a very handy GEODE CD-ROM w/tutorials and quizzes.

 

Prentice Hall Earth Science, 2006, also Tarbuck/Lutgens - (Pearson) - high school.

 

They are very similar (obviously two different versions written from the same outline). The college level text has the same topics in the same order as the Prentice Hall, but with a little more depth/detail. For the most part, they have the same pictures, too (larger in the college text). The Prentice Hall text has a lab with each chapter and an "Assessment" section at the end of each chapter. The Prentice Hall text also has related math activities sprinkled throughout (i.e. graphing, interpreting graphs, calculating).