Nicholas_mom Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 Hi, I am looking for ideas to do a paleontology unit. I am not sure how to go about this and I wondered if anybody tried this before in the middle grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 This series looks interesting. It is from a Christian perspective. http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=044727 Fossils: http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=036335 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 I just have to throw this out there..... My boys were enthralled with paleontolgy when they were younger. If you are anywhere near Utah, one of the best things we've done in our home schooling journey, was a two week trip to some of the many dinosaur & excavation sites in Utah! We drove in a loop around the state, hitting at least 7 or 8 museums of paleontology, dinosaur "parks" with life size models of dinosaurs, a place where we could dig for trilobites ourselves, ... It was an experience! If you're near a university, you might check to see if they have a paleontology department and whether you can set up a student field trip there. We did this at UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology. As part of their children's tour/program, they gave each child a small bucket of sand, a brush, a microscope, and let them have at finding fossils in the sand. They were actual fossils and sand from somewhere (I've forgotten) so it was a real experience, not a "find the fake fossils" activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 We are doing one this year for a younger child. We are beginning with earth science and geology to provide a background and framework, then moving on into archaeology and paleontology techniques and major discoveries in the fields. This is our science for the whole year, and I'm putting it together with a variety of resources. I have a rough outline for the areas I want to cover, with a lot of room for following interests and expanding lessons to add more background information like rudimentary chemistry or physics as needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 If anyone has resources, I'd love a list! Preferably NOT a young earth perspective, if anyone knows of any. Love this idea OP! We're doing earth and space science this year, and this would be a super fun addition! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 Thanks. Sorry I disappeared.....my rabbit got very sick and we spent 2 weeks trying to get him well and then he died on Sunday... Ok, I am trying to figure out how to do it as a short 3 months unit. I will check out the links. Somewhere there is a old earth timeline on the website that I wanted to use for this unit. We live on the East Coast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 I got an intellego paleontology unit from currclick last year, we started it but had issues with our internet and put it on the back burner and never picked it back up after the internet issues were fixed. What we did start was good though, I should see if I could schedule it this coming year, I got it for ds14 who really enjoys paleontology and dinos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Ears pricking up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 ok, so after I sent this original question out, I was also searching online and one of the links I got was this one: http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/ Check out this links inside. It has wonderful ideas and timelines: http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/clock_of_eras.html Lesson ideas: http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/earth_science_lesson_plans.html Holly -- I checked out your books and I really like the FOSSIL book but it has too much of "he said/she said" on evolution vs creationist. I really like it though except for that. Swellmomma -- I am trying to Intellego paleontology but all I could find is Life Science - Evolution. Is that what you are using? Do you have a link of it? Also, while Googling "Intellego Paleontology" I actually found some threads for WTM, which when I do a search here, I get nothing. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/397827-if-you-were-going-to-do-a-dinosaur-unit-study-with-a-13-and-11yo-what-would-you/ Please keep the suggestions coming. They are helpful in getting ideas turning in my head on how I want to proceed. I hope it also helps others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Yes it is the life science- evolution one. Although we are Christians we are old earth so studying paleontology through an evolution class was working well. Although it says it is for K-2 it was actually working well with my teen it was not babyish at all. I wanted to do an evolution study so my kids would be at least knowledgeable about the study of it, but wanted to wait until they were ready for that world view, and I think middle school+ is a good time to introduce that world view if it is not something you already teach. The bulk of the course focuses on paleontology though does discuss the study of evolution. Darwin, and human biological evolution. So if you go that route be prepared for lots of discussion :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 Thanks! I was looking at the older set Life Science - Evolution for Grades 6 and up. But it sounds like the younger one is ok, I will check it out. Ds knows all about evolution and the big bang, etc. all that stuff. He just loves to read. I just don't know if I believe we came from apes. I am a geologist (who believes in God) and know all about Darwinism and still I don't think I believe we come from apes. Even what is supposed to be whale in prehistoric times and then jumps to dolphins? I just don't know what to believe. Anyway, that's WHOLE other thread............... I will check out the book again. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleeglaser Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I just have to throw this out there..... My boys were enthralled with paleontolgy when they were younger. If you are anywhere near Utah, one of the best things we've done in our home schooling journey, was a two week trip to some of the many dinosaur & excavation sites in Utah! We drove in a loop around the state, hitting at least 7 or 8 museums of paleontology, dinosaur "parks" with life size models of dinosaurs, a place where we could dig for trilobites ourselves, ... It was an experience! Yvonne I'd like more information on where you went. We'd like to take a trip like you mentioned. Where'd you go, what would you do again, what would you skip? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kfamily Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 This is what I have in mind for Year Four of my curriculum: Paleontology and Geology: Mary Anning's Treasures by Helen Bush The First Book of Stones by Maribelle Cormack https://archive.org/details/firstbookofstone00corm Also, I have the nature study designed to line up with it by using this resource: More Fun with Nature by Evert, Boring, Burns, Tibbitts: "Rocks, Fossils and Arrowheads" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pod's mum Posted October 30, 2013 Share Posted October 30, 2013 I'll second the Mary Anning books and add that my dd loved and learned well from the St Aiden's Homeschool, Learning about Fossils. I've linked to the currclick store where this is selling for less than $6. It says from K-7, but my dd at the upper end of that still found it good and meaty with lots of resources. http://www.currclick.com/product/29618/Im-Learning-About-Fossils?it=1 Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted November 1, 2013 Author Share Posted November 1, 2013 OOOOOOO, cool--- thank you both for those resources! I was looking through currclick for everything I could find on fossils and paleo stuff a couple of months ago. I got myself so confused, I let it go. Today I find these new resources and I am buying Learning about Fossils today! We are going to start our unit in December. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PachiSusan Posted November 4, 2013 Share Posted November 4, 2013 Thanks! I was looking at the older set Life Science - Evolution for Grades 6 and up. But it sounds like the younger one is ok, I will check it out. Ds knows all about evolution and the big bang, etc. all that stuff. He just loves to read. I just don't know if I believe we came from apes. I am a geologist (who believes in God) and know all about Darwinism and still I don't think I believe we come from apes. Even what is supposed to be whale in prehistoric times and then jumps to dolphins? I just don't know what to believe. Anyway, that's WHOLE other thread............... I will check out the book again. Thanks! I think what might help you is to stop thinking "We came from apes and I can't go there...". The scientific community actually says that we have a common ancestor, not that we evolved from apes. That is a misconception. At one point in the past, the line split. One developed into the ape line and one developed into humans. It is debated whether the human line split into 2: the Neanderthal line that died out, and the Cro-Magnon man which we developed from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted November 4, 2013 Author Share Posted November 4, 2013 The scientific community actually says that we have a common ancestor, not that we evolved from apes. That is a misconception. At one point in the past, the line split. One developed into the ape line and one developed into humans. It is debated whether the human line split into 2: the Neanderthal line that died out, and the Cro-Magnon man which we developed from. Yes, I was reading the BIG Evolution thread a while back and it made sense with going deeper explanation with studying genes. It's just children's books just go from whale to dog so quickly and I never understood it until I thread that particular thread. Clearly, you need to study genes and DNA to see where they are coming from. We will read about Charles Darwin and Mary Anning. Charles based his theory or started thinking about (I don't know much details, yet) with Anning's finding of the fossil. AND Anning is one of the founders of paleontology study is really cool to me :) This was all interesting to me. I also want to know how Darwin took Anning's fossil and started thinking about evolution. I know it also began with his travels to other lands. We will delve deep into this as far as my son wants to go. If he wants to delve deeper into genes and DNA and evolution, we will do this for next year science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybell Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Don't know if you have gotten your unit study together but here are a few resources we used for ours.study of Prehistory. We used the 10 book set of Prehistoric Zoobooks that I found on ebay for $15 and we also used a sticker timeline called Our Amazing Time chart of Earth History. It had stickers and a poster timeline. As you read about the different times, you add stickers to the chart for visuals. I actually found the sticker timeline at a yard sale. I haven't seen it online but maybe can find something similar. We also incorporated a few Walking with Dinosaurs episodes from Netflix. If you want a more in depth study, you can add notebooking pages like those found here http://awakeningwonder.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/prehistory-notebook-pages-intermediate-advanced/ or if you want to actually study with a spine, you can look at these lesson plans http://awakeningwonder.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/prehistory-study-recommended-books-2/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicholas_mom Posted November 26, 2013 Author Share Posted November 26, 2013 Thanks Lillybell---- The link with the book lists are helpful. I found some books that I did not know about that I want to add. I have an advanced kid in middle school and artsy kid, so stickers are not going cut it. We are going to actually do a very elaborate timeline book with pictures of him drawing what earth looked like, describing the atmosphere and the conditions and drawing any fossils for a particular time period. The book will be folded like an accordion and he can open it all up to see it all. Each time period will have a different color cardstock. We will take some field trips in the Spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybell Posted November 28, 2013 Share Posted November 28, 2013 Sounds like it is going to be a blast. My daughter isn't very artsy so the stickers worked ok but the timeline sounds great. During out study, we did go off on a rabbit trail and I incorporated a rock/mineral study into ours when we got to talking about fossils. I ended up using Tops Science unit on Rocks and doing the experiments. We read the Basher book for rocks/minerals. I bought a rock tumbler and tumbled rocks and broke some Geodes. Also purchased a nice rock collection that we used to do some experiments on rock and mineral identification. We also made a lapbook from Hands of a Child on rocks and minerals and ended up reading a few books from the library including one called Salt which covered the history of Salt. Thought I would add some of the items we used for rocks because we almost always end up branching our unit studies when we run into something interesting and I always come here to get ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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