Memory work-Science

[reign]

Do any of you ladies have your kids do science memory work? My girls enjoy memory work and we have a lot of fun with it. But I need some new ideas for science memorization. We are doing a prehistory study this year. The memory work doesn't need to focus on that though. What are some scientific facts younger kids should know (or find interesting) Thanks!

[RootAnn]

Last year, the youngers used Elemental Science's Lapbooking Through Biology. It had some poems about different characteristics of mammals, birds, reptiles, etc. However, we substituted very similar poems - either ones put together by WTM's own Jay4fer or ones adapted by me. 

 

This year, we are using some memory work put together by Classically Catholic Memory with our science. If you want to get an idea of what we're doing this year, click here for a blog post on it. If you click through on the "memory work" link at the beginning, you get to this post - which includes a link to a free K-5th grammar stage memorization pieces - including some basic science ones! It lists things like the colors in a rainbow, the names of the planets, the five kingdoms of living things, main parts of a flower, body systems, and science terms.

 

I would always try to make the memory work meaningful. My kids remember everything more when they are exposed to it first. -- When we memorized the types of volcanoes, I made sure they saw different examples of each type and then we looked at diagrams and talked about the lava flow for each one. That helps them remember them when they just can't quite get the name pulled up in their memory. They'll talk through their recall - "you know, the one that has the really runny lava that makes it spread all over the place in a great big ... like a Roman shield -- Oh! Oh! I remember:  Shield Volcano!" 

[Mrs Twain]

We do CC science memory work. We use the CC science cards plus a kids' science encyclopedia to learn the background. This is very good.

 

I also make up my own memory work after BFSU lessons.

[Incognito]

They Might Be Giants - Here Comes Science (a CD with a bonus DVD if you want to watch the music videos) is fun.  If evolution bothers you, some of the songs will bother you.  Many of the songs do not talk about it, but a few are very strongly supportive of a "descended from apes/science is real and untestable things are not" mentality.

 

My kids walk around singing about states of matter, elements, etc.  TMBG music is good too, so that's a bonus.

 

 

[2_girls_mommy]

We do the types of things listed in Root Ann's 2nd paragraph.  I do have them do lists that match up w/what we are studying, but we repeat them from then on for the whole year and review often after that.  It sticks.  This year we are in Astronomy w/MP.  It has them memorizing a list of 15 1st magnitude stars.  That is not something I would have come up w/for them, but they have got it.  Even the 4 yr old sings along w/us!

[ladydusk]

There is some science memory in Living Memory.  For example, when we were learning moon phases it recommended Christina Rosetti's poem, O Lady Moon.

 

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the East

Shine, be increased.

O Lady Moon, your horns point toward the West,

Wain, be at rest.

 

Mostly, it was lists, but I liked those, too.

 

We mostly use the CC Science cards now.

[Amy M]

I matched up our science memory to the topics we're learning this year from Living Memory. So we learned the characteristics of mammals, reptiles, fish, and amphibians; colors of a rainbow; planets; and some other items.