Coco_Clark Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Asking the same question in another way, to see if I drum up resources. Any favorite books, spines, curricula, project lists, kits, yada yada yada to help me design a 3-6 month course on Nature Study/Botony for my K and 1st graders? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I think I have something that might suit. Last year I picked up The Kids' Nature Book by Susan Milord at my used bookstore. It is a month by month schedule for nature study and nature themed activities. Nearly every week includes one day devoted to a story or poem about the nature theme for that week and suggestions are given. You might be interested in that. I seem to remember a rather beautiful book with stories about plants and lovely illustrations...it's vintage, and on my other computer. I'll look it up and post back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Shanleya's Quest - A botany adventure for kids from 9-99 Use it as a real aloud now, and you will be able to return to it again and again as they get older. It has a card game that goes with it, too. Edited to add: It is beautiful, but starts with evolution, which from your siggy might not be ok. You could just skip the first few pages of the story though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 We also use the Wildcraft game ( ages 4-adult). The kids love it. It is a cooperative game - grandma has sent you into the wild to pick berries and you have to bring them back before nightfall. Along the way you run into troubles and have to find a wild medicinal to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 You might also be interested in two other vintage resources: The First Book of Botany Eliza Ann Youmans, and the story book I spoke of is Nature Stories for Young Readers-Plant Life by Florence Bass. I kind of like the older botany texts because they tend to start with gross parts of the plant like leaves, stems and flowers and so many newer books seem to go right to the cellular level. Right now the boys and I are a little more interested in plant identification and learning some things to help with using a key will be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I actually looked at Shanleya's Quest--ended up getting Botany in a Day to use for plant families a little later on this year. Being able to take a plant and at least figure out the family at a glance is a great thing to be able to do. That card game in the book should be awesome for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space station Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I actually looked at Shanleya's Quest--ended up getting Botany in a Day to use for plant families a little later on this year. Being able to take a plant and at least figure out the family at a glance is a great thing to be able to do. That card game in the book should be awesome for that. Yes, that is exactly how we use it, too. Botany in a Day is great; I just didn't think that it would be good for k-1st graders. But it is great to help mom recognize things and point them out to kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Critterfixer Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Mine are fifth, so they ended up with Botany in a Day. I agree that Shanleya's Quest would be better with K and 1st. I would also add that there just isn't any substitute for getting out there and looking. I taught myself a lot of field botany crawling over mountains in Eastern Tennessee, enough that I ended up taking some botany in college just because I plain wanted to do it! I had an Wildflower guide, a homemade plant press and a loyal dog to go with me, so being able to share some of that knowledge with the boys is pretty special now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Remembering a shorter unit I did with my dd, Montessori has some wonderful downloadable 3-part cards for botany. We learned basic leaf shapes, plants, and trees. We did a leaf rubbing and specimen collection notebook where she used what she had learned to identify them using Smithsonian Identification books. Education.com has a download on trees with quite a bit of information and fun pages. DK Eyewitness has a video on plants and one on trees that were both well-recieved as well. ETA: if you have a local university check with them...ours has a massive wall-sized cross-section of a tree on display. You can see the rings and they have inserted little time markers that reference famous historical events. That made a huge impression on our whole family. Apparently these are fairly common. Also, we went to two different botanical gardens. They both had a junior naturalist badge you could earn by completing a talk and a booklet filled with learning activities and facts. A lot of fun:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Also, Ellen McHenry has some great free botany games and lessons, some for all ages available:) http://www.ellenjmchenry.com/homeschool-freedownloads/lifesciences-games/botany.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco_Clark Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 Yay, it's all in the wording :) We've done nature study 1-3x a week for a year and a half now very informally. A full year of just being in nature 1-3x a week, and then this year we've added in a list of plants/insects we've identified each month and everyone making a sketch of "something interesting" every outing. So this Spring my goals are really just digging deeper. Mixing a little classical into the CM if you will. I'll be checking out all these suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 What about things like: One Small Square books.. there are many that would work for this study of science, but they'd cover more as well. Apologia Botany {elementary series} NaturExplorers who have several down the botany line. They are available at Currclick or via Shining Dawn Books. Field Guides -- picking ones for your area & first learning about what's growing in your yard, then expanding might be fun. I once saw a challenge to learn 200 common plants that grow in/near/around you. That would be fantastic for a botany study. Read & Find Out Science books -- there's a lot in this series & you could pick the ones that apply to what you are learning about. Magic School Bus will also have a book or two, if memory serves correctly both in their picture book series & young chapter books Download N Go might have ones based on the seasons which would have information in them if you so desired Katie's Cottage sells a lovely book {broken down into seasons or all in one} called Nature Study Through The Year. It's beautifully done & if you're living in the N. Hemisphere you wouldn't need to rearrange anything at all. You can pick it up over at Currclick, & while it's available as a digital download, if you get the "all in one" I'd highly recommend the soft cover book. I ended up with digital & soft cover & am glad did. -- I just peeked on this one & it's currently on special!! Parables Of Nature which isn't so much hands on, but really is a lovely book. You can obtain it at Audible.com or Book Depository; Amazon might have it too. WildCraft -- I saw this mentioned up thread a bit, & I'd second it. I purchased a long time ago when a spare amount were found in the warehouse. It's a beautiful little board game in which children learn to identify specific plants while they climb up the mountain to gather huckleberries for Grandmother to make a pie with. My kids love it, all though the rules are Cooperative & thus we have fun playing as a team. Nature Game -- My kids enjoy this one too which is available via currclick too. Calendar Pages -- I spotted these a while back & fell in love with them all though they are a little backwards for our part of the world. Still, you could print them out & use them through the year depending on which hemisphere you lived in. :) Sassafras Botany -- no experience with it, but I thought I'd mention it incase you hadn't heard/thought of it. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelaburke1000 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I've been curious about the quark chronicles, but no personal experience. It's here: http://barefootmeandering.com/site/quark-chronicles/ There's also a Burgess Plant Book, along the lines of the bird and animal books. The Thorton Burgess Society also has a set of kits that they loan free to educators (including homeschoolers). I haven't tried one myself yet, but it's on my list... http://www.thorntonburgess.org/EducationKits.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelaburke1000 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Actually... The loan might only be for locals.... I bookmarked it without looking into details... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Hmm, I thought I posted. We've used and enjoy materials from the Outdoor Hour Challenge before (both free and paid). I've used other books public domain and purchased but I've never found any I loved. I do have Claire Walker Leslie's Nature Wookbook on my wishlist, I had her book, Keeping a Nature Journal but although I found it beautiful and inspiring it wasn't very practical. We've been delving deeper into nature again as my odd is getting older so I'm watching the thread with interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Have you seen this plant experiments kit? I think I will order it. http://www.hometrainingtools.com/botanical-discoveries/p/LM-BOTDISC/ They also have the botany coloring book... http://www.hometrainingtools.com/botany-coloring-book/p/CB-BOTANY/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 I'm not sure if this was mentioned: The Nature Connection. For some reason I seem to be having trouble linking it. Sorry. It has a workbook and lots of activities.you can buy one book and print out extra pages from the website. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 3, 2014 Share Posted October 3, 2014 I'm not sure if this was mentioned: The Nature Connection. For some reason I seem to be having trouble linking it. Sorry. It has a workbook and lots of activities.you can buy one book and print out extra pages from the website. http://www.amazon.com/The-Nature-Connection-Workbook-Classrooms/dp/1603425314/ I didn't know you could print out pages from the internet! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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