toawh Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I'm trying to teach my son a bit about classification before we jump into mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc.. It's new to me too so I'm a bit stumped. We learned about the 5 kingdoms from some library books. And I thought next I'd do mammals but now I see that's skipping phylum completely and jumping to class. Has anyone taught this in a clear way for a young kid to understand. How much do you get into with a kid this age? I don't mind skipping some of the details or making it kid friendly but I want to make sure it's clear and that he doesn't have the wrong idea when he gets more into it down the road. I'd REALLY value any input, ideas, book suggestions, hands-on applications, and word pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joysworld Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I wouldn't worry about going into the phylum. I think it just confuses them at this age. I just talked about how things in life are put in categories, kind of like we sort the silverware in the drawer, the rooms in our house, etc. I don't teach animals by their class, instead I let him pick different areas of life to study. This week it was a bat, next week he choose flamingo. Then, I have a binder with the different classes of the animal kingdom, and he puts it behind the corresponding tab. He also thinks it's fun to go through a fun chart I found in a book to determine how his life form is classified. He hasn't chosen anything other than animals, but if when he does, I'll have a different binders for invertebrates, the plant kingdom, etc. These binders will follow him until about fourth grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Mr. Q Life Science is free to download and discusses classification in chapter 13. The two main phyla are vertebrates and invertebrates. My not-quite-6 y.o. had no trouble following along with Mr. Q. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay3fer Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 I created a simple FREE printable for Apologia sorting/classifying, if it helps... It covers the basics of invertebrates / vertebrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuirkyKidAcademy Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Jennifer, thanks! That's just what we need for this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toawh Posted October 9, 2011 Author Share Posted October 9, 2011 Mr. Q Life Science is free to download and discusses classification in chapter 13. The two main phyla are vertebrates and invertebrates. My not-quite-6 y.o. had no trouble following along with Mr. Q. We've tried this and re-tried this and just now I read chapter 13 in unit 4 again. It's just not working for us. It would probably be easier for me to teach it if I knew what I was teaching. I'm clueless. Do most people teach with the Latin name or substitute the english name? Mammilia or mammal? Reptilia or reptile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 We've tried this and re-tried this and just now I read chapter 13 in unit 4 again. It's just not working for us. It would probably be easier for me to teach it if I knew what I was teaching. I'm clueless. Do most people teach with the Latin name or substitute the english name? Mammilia or mammal? Reptilia or reptile? I read the Latin name and then told my kids the English name. I just had them memorize the English names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 When my kids were in K and we were doing this, I made little animal cards and we sorted them in a million ways - mammal, reptile, amphibian, etc. - land or water - what continent - even silly things like animals in our zoo and not, animals we've seen and haven't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikkiMarieLG Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 and I made a lapbook for him to refer to as we move along. I focused on Vertebrate and Invertebrate as the phylums and now we are focusing on Mamals. We started with Living things vs nonliving things, then defined biology and spent a week classifying blocks and other household objects. I was overwhelmed at first but he seems to be picking up the basics and he is 6 ( 7 in january). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classically Minded Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 We did a lapbook on animal classification together and my dd7 understood more this way. It is free: www.homeschoolshare.com/animal_classification_lapbook.php Here is ours finished: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2011/09/free-animal-classification-lapbook.html I also made an index of links I've come across of free videos, games and printables here: http://www.cambridgeshireacademy.com/2011/09/animal-classification-links.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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