Zoology Curriculum - not Apologia?

[Giraffe]

Pulling this out of a thread on the Chat Board to get some more ideas and distance it from the reasons I don't want to use Apologia, which are my own and not relevant to my concern other than I don't wish to use their curriculum.

 

I need alternatives for a zoology curriculum. I do not have access to a library, but can order books and pick them up when I'm in the US this summer. We will start the unit(s) in August/September when we're back here in Turkey. Once I am back in Turkey I will not be able to change books or pick up new ones for several months up to a year. I like the ideas in the thread below, but wonder if anyone has suggestions for specific books on taxonomy and other animal "stuff" appropriate for an early elementary girl - she's 5 but can handle material a couple of grade levels above her. I also don't have a co-op or home school group, but I can work around that. It's the books that are stumping me and I won't have time to research while I'm in the US. I need to figure this out now, order the books and have them waiting to pick up.

 

Thanks!!!!

 

Well, Apologia divides it into three areas, flying creatures, swimming creatures, and land creatures. So start by dividing a typical 36 week school year into 3 sections of 12 weeks each. Do 12 weeks on flying, 12 on swimming, and 12 on land. Rough it out on a calendar.

Then take a look at the different kinds of animals and what you want to teach about them. For example, for the swimming ones, you could do fish, mammals, reptiles (like turtles), plankton, etc.

Plus you could look at different aquatic environments - oceans, rivers, ponds, wetlands.

From these, pick a "theme" for each one- to two-week segment of the unit. Hit the library regularly, and check out whatever they have on the current topic, plus the one coming up next. Read the books aloud together.

So maybe two weeks of fish, then a week of oceans, then some mammals, then ponds, then turtles, etc. See how it goes, and change the order as you go if you desire.

You'll also want some field trips. How about an aquarium when you do fish? Maybe a zoo when you do reptiles? And perhaps a nature center with a nice pond would be good too. Find some friends to go with you, or go on the weekend with dad.

Get a membership to at least one of these places, and make a point of going regularly throughout the year. Each time you go, you'll learn more about what you've been reading about, and also come up with new questions to investigate at the library.

Discuss what you learn. Talk about the books you read.

How are the animals different? How are they the same? What do they eat? What eats them? Where do they live? How does the weather affect them? What is their life cycle like?

If you want, you could ask your child to write something about what they've learned, or draw about it, or do a notebooking page.

Or maybe they'd like to put on a play with some friends, or make a short video.

Get together once in a while with some friends and have "Animal Reports Day", where each kid does an oral report on a particular animal or habitat. It would be fun to do the reports at lunch time during a zoo visit!

Read some fiction too - Mr. Popper's Penguins would be a fun one for the "swimming" unit.

If you have a basic structure planned, it's easy to fill in details as you go. And not only will your kids learn about the animals, they'll also learn *how* to learn about things that interest them.

[BugsMama]

Sassafras Science!

 

They also have a a workbook to go with it. It's good stuff!

[Giraffe]

Thanks! That looks great.

 

I just wish I could see the supplemental book lists....

[BugsMama]

I bet if you contacted them by email or facebook they would send it. The sample has some of the books listed. http://www.sassafrasscience.com/volume1.html

[Giraffe]

Thank you!!!!

[mumto2]

I think the the Sassafras Science book sounds great. I did science without a formal curriculum back whan my kids were that age. I used a bit of everything. I was a curriculum junkie and did not have to haul my belongings around in my luggage. I need to dig deep into my memory to come up with our best stuff.;) These are what I can think of right now.

 

We did great units using Holling Holling(not a typo) books -- Pagoo and Minn of the Mississippi as springboards. They are beautifully illustrated with extras. Pagoo is a horseshoe crab and his whole life is described and illustrated in great detail along with a story that puts it in context. Minn is a turtle....who, big surprise, lives in the Mississippi. We did most of the classifications of what lives in the sea with those as our springboard. I think with youtube and internet resources you could fill in where and when needed. We used ghe library because we had a great one then. We have been doing biology this year and use youtube for extras constantly.

 

I am trying to think about your luggage but we used Draw Write Now extensively at that age. They fit in with science, history, geography. We illustrated all the time. We made notebooks of animals we had learned about.

[skeeterbug]

I can't help with curriculum, but for go-along books have a look at the Usborne Beginners series. They are 32-page books on all different subjects, but there are many that would fit zoology and they are perfect for a 5yo. Some titles: Under the Sea, Eggs & Chicks, Cats, Dogs, Dangerous Animals, Bugs, Bats, Farm Animals, Reptiles, Tadpoles & Frogs, and there are more.

 

We also love the DK Encyclopedia of Animals. A great resource. Usborne World of Animals is good also, with less text/more pictures per page (beautiful pics!) than the other so good for a 5yo, but the first would be better as an all-around resource as it has more detailed info. If you can swing it, Smithsonian Institute Animal would be awesome, you can pick it up used for a decent price but it is an extra heavy, huge book so you may not want it in your suitcase.

[Farrar]

How many books are you willing to buy?

 

There are so many great individual titles. We haven't loved most of the big compilations and encyclopedias.

 

A few off the top of my head that I think are worth looking for maybe...

 

Owen and Mzee

Koko's Kitten

An Extraordinary Life

Where in the Wild

 

And two authors we love for this are Sandra Markle and Seymour Simon. Simon has a great animals series available in paperback. Markle has a number of series - her Animal Predators/Prey/Scavengers series is really good, though it might be on the cusp for a 5 yo to really get into. Ditto the Scientist in the Field series, which has some great ones about zoology... They're really good, but might be on the long side for a 5 yo, even one into slightly older level materials.

 

And, of course, there are several Let's Read and Find Out Titles about animals and those are perfect for this age.

[skeeterbug]

And, of course, there are several Let's Read and Find Out Titles about animals and those are perfect for this age.

 

This, this! I can't say enough good things about the LR&FO books. RR sells them in packages but it looks like they lump plants and animals together. The individual books are inexpensive and packed full of information, and each has an activity (or two) to help it sink in. Such good books! You need these. Really. ;)

 

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/LRS2PA/6f195b7301ef9be0806a285f

http://www.rainbowresource.com/product/sku/LRS1PA/6f195b7301ef9be0806a285f

 

In fact, I think I need them too. I have others but none of the animal ones yet. :auto:

[Giraffe]

How many books are you willing to buy?

 

There are so many great individual titles. We haven't loved most of the big compilations and encyclopedias.

 

A few off the top of my head that I think are worth looking for maybe...

 

Owen and Mzee

Koko's Kitten

An Extraordinary Life

Where in the Wild

 

And two authors we love for this are Sandra Markle and Seymour Simon. Simon has a great animals series available in paperback. Markle has a number of series - her Animal Predators/Prey/Scavengers series is really good, though it might be on the cusp for a 5 yo to really get into. Ditto the Scientist in the Field series, which has some great ones about zoology... They're really good, but might be on the long side for a 5 yo, even one into slightly older level materials.

 

And, of course, there are several Let's Read and Find Out Titles about animals and those are perfect for this age.

This, this! I can't say enough good things about the LR&FO books. RR sells them in packages but it looks like they lump plants and animals together. The individual books are inexpensive and packed full of information, and each has an activity (or two) to help it sink in. Such good books! You need these. Really. ;)

 

http://www.rainbowre...1ef9be0806a285f

http://www.rainbowre...1ef9be0806a285f

 

In fact, I think I need them too. I have others but none of the animal ones yet. :auto:

 

I was thinking about one big encyclopedia/compilation and several (5-10) smaller books to go with. The LR&FO books look awesome, as do the Scientist in the Field series. Decisions, decisions....

 

I can't help with curriculum, but for go-along books have a look at the Usborne Beginners series. They are 32-page books on all different subjects, but there are many that would fit zoology and they are perfect for a 5yo. Some titles: Under the Sea, Eggs & Chicks, Cats, Dogs, Dangerous Animals, Bugs, Bats, Farm Animals, Reptiles, Tadpoles & Frogs, and there are more.

 

We also love the DK Encyclopedia of Animals. A great resource. Usborne World of Animals is good also, with less text/more pictures per page (beautiful pics!) than the other so good for a 5yo, but the first would be better as an all-around resource as it has more detailed info. If you can swing it, Smithsonian Institute Animal would be awesome, you can pick it up used for a decent price but it is an extra heavy, huge book so you may not want it in your suitcase.

 

Smithsonian Institute Animal is one of the big books I was considering. The other one is Smithsonian Natural History by DK.

 

We did great units using Holling Holling(not a typo) books -- Pagoo and Minn of the Mississippi as springboards. They are beautifully illustrated with extras. Pagoo is a horseshoe crab and his whole life is described and illustrated in great detail along with a story that puts it in context. Minn is a turtle....who, big surprise, lives in the Mississippi. We did most of the classifications of what lives in the sea with those as our springboard. I think with youtube and internet resources you could fill in where and when needed. We used ghe library because we had a great one then. We have been doing biology this year and use youtube for extras constantly.

 

I am trying to think about your luggage but we used Draw Write Now extensively at that age. They fit in with science, history, geography. We illustrated all the time. We made notebooks of animals we had learned about.

 

Those books look great, as does Draw Write Now. Decisions, decisions! And I thought this would be difficult!! Thank you!!!!

 

I'm willing to bring back a quantity of books. I plan for it in my luggage. Obviously I want to minimize the weight, but generally if it's between something else and books, I go for books - especially for DD.

[BugsMama]

Smithsonian Animal is amazing. We love it. AND draw right now. Those books alone could make for an awesome year (well, many years!). I would love to combine them WITH Sasafrass for science.... hummmmm. Maybe this will be OUR plan for next year. LOL

[Farrar]

I have to say... I had high hopes for Sassafras Science and we found the book to be pretty disappointing. The kids enjoyed it okay, but they were let down by the ending and I was annoyed by the writing throughout and the lack of integration of the material about animals (it felt like the kids were on a field trip listening to a tour guide talk about the animals in between their unrelated adventures). But I didn't use the workbook and I feel like I've heard better things from people who did - I just wanted to use the guide as a supplement. I love the idea... My hopes for it may have just been too high.

[Giraffe]

I have to say... I had high hopes for Sassafras Science and we found the book to be pretty disappointing. The kids enjoyed it okay, but they were let down by the ending and I was annoyed by the writing throughout and the lack of integration of the material about animals (it felt like the kids were on a field trip listening to a tour guide talk about the animals in between their unrelated adventures). But I didn't use the workbook and I feel like I've heard better things from people who did - I just wanted to use the guide as a supplement. I love the idea... My hopes for it may have just been too high.

 

 

I have to admit that just looking at the samples I was a little underwhelmed, but may get the workbook to guide us along. We live next to a bird sanctuary and watch hundreds of birds from our windows - flamingos, pelicans, storks, seagulls, swallows, more. We are 15 minutes away from a good zoo. Bugs I'm less interested in, personally, and I think they may wait until DH can manage that unit :p. Same with sea creatures, though with the sea RIGHT THERE, literally, we might go ahead and do something this summer while we're enjoying the beach.

 

Skeeterbug hooked me up with a used copy of Smithsonian Animal. I'm thinking that, with some of the LR&FO and/or Scientist in the Field books and some imagination may make up a decent enough spine for our studies, combined with field trips of course.

 

This started with me wanting open-and-go and is ending up in something self designed. Funny how these things work. You all are awesome! Thank you!!

[pitterpatter]

Not "zoology," but I like these books by The Mailbox. We started using them a month or so ago when we started studying animals for life science. They are eBooks, so you would just need access to a computer and printer. While I like to use picture books to introduce my topics, you could totally introduce the activities/topics by reading a portion of a good animal encyclopedia...maybe by Usborne or Kingfisher or DK or similar. Just be sure the topics you want to study are covered (i.e. nocturnal, camouflage, habitat).

 

 

http://www.theeducationcenter.com/marketplace/TEC30222/detail.do?productId=TEC30222&OID=90061&contentTypeId=0&tcid=&ccid=

http://www.theeducationcenter.com/marketplace/TEC30221/detail.do?productId=TEC30221&OID=90060&contentTypeId=0&tcid=&ccid=

http://www.theeducationcenter.com/marketplace/TEC30220/detail.do?productId=TEC30220&OID=90059&contentTypeId=0&tcid=&ccid=

 

We have also been using various Evan-Moor ScienceWorks books for our study of animals. They are pretty independent. Again, you could couple the lessons with segments of an animal encyclopedia or two. You can read about these resources from this post of my blog. Afterward, just click on "Life Science" on the right-hand side to see everything we've been doing lately. DD will turn 6 in May.

 

http://bluehouseschool.blogspot.com/2013/02/life-science-week-15.html

[Giraffe]

Let's see if this works. I see it's also available as a PDF which may be exactly what I need.

 

Zoology Logbook

[Giraffe]

Yeah, I was just noticing that and wondering to myself if I should get the other book (the one you linked) instead. Actually the Elemental Science website I linked to has both as an ebook combo so that might be what I go with in the end. I lurve :wub: ebooks!

[TraceyS/FL]

http://www.sassafrasscience.com/volume1.html

 

There are 3 pieces - and you can see samples of each one when you click on the cover. The logbook is the student workbook, the other is the teacher portion. I bought the kindle book, and then the ebook combo. My printer is cheap to print on - and it is less paper clutter :D

 

We haven't delved into it much - I kinda wanted it to be her "on her own" thing, but in the interim I have completely and totally changed everything we are doing except math. THis week will be nailing down our new schedule and see how Sassafras will end up fitting. I might end up doing it with them over the summer - and that will depend on if I will have a tag-a-long child i'm babysitting again.

 

It seemed like it would be easy to use as a "jumping off" type of book - but I can see it not working for everyone either. It was cheap enough for my animal lover that I didn't hesitate!

[Marie131]

I'm using Elemental Science Grammar Biology which starts with a 20 week animal study. It's not a full zoology course (there is some plants and human biology in there), but it is 20 weeks of animals. You only need to purchase a few books and can get the teachers guide and student pages as a download (great for those of us who are not in the US!) :)