Science Grade K-1

[toawh]

I finally decided I want to do science in a less structured way as no curriculum I've looked at covers what I want to cover the way I want it covered. :D Basically, I want it to be gentle non-formal, read an interesting book and then stop to try an experiment or observation. I don't want any worksheets or coloring pages or writing. I don't want to feel pressured to "do" a certain amount or have a notebook page to show for what we did. I want to follow the WTM recommendation of Animals/Human Body/ Plants. Last week we checked out a bunch of books on sharks that were fun. I also taught ds about flora and fauna. Does anyone go this route or not go this route and have book suggestions that they've used for this type of thing? :bigear:

[joysworld]

That's what we are doing for science and history. I have one in K and one in first. For science, we are doing earth science for now, so I don't think I can help you with a book list:) What I did, was search online for great book recommendations for the topic I wanted, and then searched the library.

[Crimson Wife]

That's what I did for the first two years of the cycle with my oldest. My DS is using Mr. Q in addition to reading "living" books, but the chapters are super-short and written in an engaging tone. There are worksheets in Mr. Q, but I'm only having my older student complete them.

[toawh]

That's what I did for the first two years of the cycle with my oldest. My DS is using Mr. Q in addition to reading "living" books, but the chapters are super-short and written in an engaging tone. There are worksheets in Mr. Q, but I'm only having my older student complete them.

 

Is Mr. Q something that a 5 year old would enjoy? I'm a bit lost with it. Is it a book to order or just an e-book?

[Miss Tick]

I did that approach for K, just focusing on the animal world and going by whatever my kids expressed interest in for that week. We did a few experiments when we happened upon them. I was not always consistent about doing it , but we covered quite a few animals and the library had some good resources.

 

This year I switched to BFSU which is different, but I'm enjoying. Basically it covers four areas of science - Matter, Life Science, Earth and Space, and Physical Science. Each lesson starts with an experiment or observation (which echoed your post), there are some discussion points, and a list of supplemental reading. I have the kids draw a picture and then narrate a sentence about the lesson so that we can go back and review their words when related topics come up.

 

Perhaps it is more of a curriculum than you are interested in...

[toawh]

It looks interesting, SusanC, but I think that's more than I can handle right now. He asked to go to school -- I think mostly because he loves being with other kids. So we're sending him to K and trying to squeeze all the essentials into little moments. He's really learning hardly anything there at school. And with a baby and a toddler in the mix the moments are hard to come by. I can't fit much teacher prep in at all. But if you remember any of the titles that you used last year, I'd love to hear them.

[Mrs Twain]

I would also recommend looking at BFSU K-2, even if you only use it as an outline of subjects and a book list. You may actually like BFSU, though, because it is a lot like the way you describe your ideal science program.

 

At the end of the lesson, I have my kids copy 2-3 sentences which summarize the main principles we learned and draw pictures of the experiments we did that illustrated the principles. This is the best thing I have found to help with long-term retention of the knowledge.

[LynnG in Arizona]

My kids are Pre-K and (young) 1st this year, and I am absolutely going this route for both history and science.

 

Science stressed me out last year for some silly reason. I really should know better! And it hit me when I was planning this year that I really preferred to focus on the 3 R's and approach both history and science in a relaxed fashion.

 

I bought a ton of the "Let's Find Out" books from Amazon. (4-for-3 was my friend!) I also purchased the science books in Sonlight's 4/5 core. Finally, I threw in some miscellaneous animal books from Amazon that are very short, engaging, and colorful.

 

My kids are happy, I am not stressed, and they are actually learning. It's a very Charlotte Mason kind of approach for these early years, and I am completely ok with that!

[kristinannie]

I purchased RSO Earth and Space and was very excited about it, but we just couldn't seem to get into a groove with it. The weather labs at the beginning are a lot of work and sometimes didn't work. Anyway, I have decided to take a whole new approach to science. We are learning about animals from different regions when we do our trip around the world. I am going to do a unit study on Space using RSO for about 6 weeks. We will do another unit study on Earth and another on rocks using this text. We do tons of nature study. We also just discuss science we see and get lots of read alouds from the library on various topics. I think that your approach is perfectly fine for littles! Everything is so new and exciting to them. You don't need a program to follow. Just follow their interests and have a great time! Get them to love science!

[toawh]

Ya, I feel a twinge of guilt that I may not cover "everything". I was home schooled and only ever had three years of science so I know it's my weak point. But I keep comforting myself that he's only K and I can do 1st grade again next year if we need to. He totally gets SOTW 1, but I'm not getting into any kind of penmanship.He already reads at the chapter book level. He loves Saxon Math 1 too and we do FLL1 but only oral. Mostly, he wants to draw countries' flags (He surprised me the other day by knowing almost every flag in a game we found, but I'm not sure of what value that is )and sing at the top of his lungs. I'm starting with the Let's read and find out books, just need to go somewhere from there. I want to stay a step ahead ... or maybe a few.

[kochanyk]

We've really loved the Usborne First Encyclopedia series as "cores" for our science. Then if DS is very interested in one animal/event/item we branch off from there. The internet linked ones are pretty neat. Last year (K) we did strictly seas and oceans and it was so much fun and built a great love of learning.

[Ellesmere]

It looks interesting, SusanC, but I think that's more than I can handle right now. He asked to go to school -- I think mostly because he loves being with other kids. So we're sending him to K and trying to squeeze all the essentials into little moments. He's really learning hardly anything there at school. And with a baby and a toddler in the mix the moments are hard to come by. I can't fit much teacher prep in at all. But if you remember any of the titles that you used last year, I'd love to hear them.

 

If not for this year, I'd definitely keep BFSU in mind there is are K-2 and Gr. 3-5 books. He talks a bit about general teaching principles and you don't have to go the whole nine yards or exclusively use that book (it's only $25), and you can use it with other programs. It has book suggestions with each lesson that you might find helpful. The author makes himself available personally through his Yahoo group, too. The book has been good for me, since science is my weak area. If you don't have a lot of prep time, you probably won't find yourself doing the threads as outlined in the book but I'd say it's worth borrowing or even owning anyway. Best wishes in whatever you decide :)

[Crimson Wife]

Is Mr. Q something that a 5 year old would enjoy? I'm a bit lost with it. Is it a book to order or just an e-book?

 

The Mr. Q Life Science is a free e-book. I printed it out and put it into a 3 ring binder. It is accessible to a bright 5 y.o. because even though it covers some advanced topics, he really does a great job at making the material understandable (it reminds me of Ellen McHenry's science programs in that respect).

 

BFSU I've heard great things about, but I don't like how it is integrated vs. following the 4-year WTM cycle.

[toawh]

For now it seems that BFSU is not following my schooling structure so I think I'll pass on it unless some day I borrow the book from someone and change my mind. That's what I said about WTM and now I'm totally on the band wagon. lol Does anyone know of any book that is a gentle introduction to classification on a K-3 reading level? Something that'll break it down simply.

[momto2Cs]

I don't know if it would be any use to you, but I have a book list on my blog for early grade science. The main books are from the Let's read and Find Out Science series, which is usually widely available at libraries, and I added in fun read alouds and crafts.

 

Nature Topics

[toawh]

I don't know if it would be any use to you, but I have a book list on my blog for early grade science. The main books are from the Let's read and Find Out Science series, which is usually widely available at libraries, and I added in fun read alouds and crafts.

 

Nature Topics

 

Thanks found some stuff in there useful!

[Jay3fer]

We used a SUPER-easy science program last year called Living Learning Books. It's not one of the popular ones, but I loved it bc it gave me a list of library books and videos I could reserve, some colouring pages and suggested experiments, and maybe a few more things. We spent very little beyond the curriculum itself and the kids LOVED all the books.

 

Anyway, your post reminded me of it, because it goes in order of Animals (quite a few weeks), Human Body (fewer) and Plants (fewer). We only chose about ten of the suggested animals and glossed over some of the Plants weeks, as well, - you can skip any weeks you don't love the idea of doing.

[momto2Cs]

We used a SUPER-easy science program last year called Living Learning Books. It's not one of the popular ones, but I loved it bc it gave me a list of library books and videos I could reserve, some colouring pages and suggested experiments, and maybe a few more things. We spent very little beyond the curriculum itself and the kids LOVED all the books.

 

Anyway, your post reminded me of it, because it goes in order of Animals (quite a few weeks), Human Body (fewer) and Plants (fewer). We only chose about ten of the suggested animals and glossed over some of the Plants weeks, as well, - you can skip any weeks you don't love the idea of doing.

 

Is this the same Living Learning Books?

[stripe]

You might want to see how Mater Amabilis does science. Their second grade equivalent science is like this

http://materamabilis.org/ma/subjects/science/level-1a-science-year1/

with one term on plants, one on birds, and one on insects (although this seems to include spiders as well).

 

Their "spine" for plants is an Usborne book that I found at my library with nice little hands on explorations of plants.

 

(The earlier years are nature study only.)

 

ETA: I realized that there are "omnibus" editions of the Usborne Science Activities, each having three topics:

Volume 1: Light, Water, and Magnets.

Volume 2: Plants, Kitchen, and Air.

Volume 3: Weather, Your Body, and Batteries.

Edited September 11, 2011 by stripe

[toawh]

You might want to see how Mater Amabilis does science. Their second grade equivalent science is like this

http://materamabilis.org/ma/subjects/science/level-1a-science-year1/

with one term on plants, one on birds, and one on insects (although this seems to include spiders as well).

 

Their "spine" for plants is an Usborne book that I found at my library with nice little hands on explorations of plants.

 

(The earlier years are nature study only.)

 

ETA: I realized that there are "omnibus" editions of the Usborne Science Activities, each having three topics:

Volume 1: Light, Water, and Magnets.

Volume 2: Plants, Kitchen, and Air.

Volume 3: Weather, Your Body, and Batteries.

 

That plant book is perfect. I got it from the library today. We can just read a spread and have fun doing, talking, reading extra stuff. Love it! Now if I can just find something similar for human body; we're too far into animals already.

[stripe]

That plant book is perfect. I got it from the library today. We can just read a spread and have fun doing, talking, reading extra stuff. Love it! Now if I can just find something similar for human body; we're too far into animals already.

 

I haven't seen the equivalent volume from Usborne on the human body, but it is also in the Usborne Science Activities vol 3. Rainbow Resource doesn't have the table of contents for this book, and I can't find an excerpt online. My library has the vol 3, so I am going to take a look at it. I will try to post the topics in a day or two.

 

For later study, I really like Blood and Guts (one of those Little Brown School books) -- which Mater Amabilis also uses, I was amused to see recently.

[stripe]

For Science and Your Body, the topics are:

* About your body

* Touch

* Looking out

* Speaking out

* In your ears

* Breathing

* Bones and muscles

* Feeding your body

* Pumping blood

* In control

* Notes for parents and teachers

* Amazing body facts

 

Each section is a 2 page spread with various related activities to explain a concept.

[blondeviolin]

I will second the Usborne Science Activities books. We have all 3 and I LOVE them. You can find the older versions used for a decent price. All 3 books only cost me $14, including shipping, from Amazon Marketplace.

[Five More Minutes]

We're in the middle of studying animals the WTM way, and I am so happy with this approach. It takes me about 1 minute to get ready for each lesson, which is great for me. It's also great for my girls: they BEG for science every day.

 

We use Draw Write Now in conjunction with our study, and that seems to be the selling point for my girls. We read about an animal in an early animal encyclopedia (either DK or Kingfisher). Then I ask the girls to each tell me something that they remember, which I write down on a notebook page for them. (DD6 is expected to remember about 3 sentences worth of information; DD4 just one.) Then we pull out the related Draw Write Now book and they draw a picture.

 

We're all learning, all relaxed, and all loving it.

[Sahamamama]

I finally decided I want to do science in a less structured way as no curriculum I've looked at covers what I want to cover the way I want it covered. :D Basically, I want it to be gentle non-formal, read an interesting book and then stop to try an experiment or observation. I don't want any worksheets or coloring pages or writing. I don't want to feel pressured to "do" a certain amount or have a notebook page to show for what we did. I want to follow the WTM recommendation of Animals/Human Body/ Plants. Last week we checked out a bunch of books on sharks that were fun. I also taught ds about flora and fauna. Does anyone go this route or not go this route and have book suggestions that they've used for this type of thing? :bigear:

 

These are good ideas. After trying so hard to keep up with it all, and still get a good grasp on the basics (English & Math), I'm coming around to this POV, too. The only thing I would add is to have a "minimalist" notebook with three types of pages on which you record what you've done:

 

Books & Magazines We Have Read...

 

Hands-On Projects & Observations We Have Done...

 

Places We Have Gone...

 

I've decided to set up next year's science in this way, rather than the 36 "Weekly Lessons" :ack2: that never seem to get done at the rate of one per week. :glare: At this age, I'd rather get them outside into nature or take them on a field trip or simply read nice picture books (Let's Read and Find Out About Science series). Good post.

[Sahamamama]

That's what we are doing for science and history. I have one in K and one in first. For science, we are doing earth science for now, so I don't think I can help you with a book list:) What I did, was search online for great book recommendations for the topic I wanted, and then searched the library.

 

But we are going to "do Earth Science" next, so you COULD help US with a book list. ;)

 

Please? Pretty please? :bigear:

[stripe]

Have you seen the book(s) by Barbara Taylor? She has some nice activities.

[curlygirlzx2]

Have you seen the book(s) by Barbara Taylor? She has some nice activities.

 

These books look great and my library carries a lot of them. Thanks for posting.