Pre-planning BFSU

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

I have BFSU picked for science and plan to start it in the fall with my K dd. I'd like to gather as many supplies ahead of time and plan out activities, books to use, etc. So, if you've started using this book do you have any planning tips or ideas? And if you've looked at this book and decided not to use it, why? I'd like to make it ready-to-use because I probably won't have much prep time once i officially start K.

Thanks!

Edited January 12, 2009 by Lisa in the UP of MI

[sagira]

I would say have a look at the Yahoo! group where there are sample sequences a few people have created (including mine) and information from the posters and Dr. Nebel himself.

 

I have found it very easy to start. What helped me when planning to get the supplemental books from the library was writing all the books in a list that I wanted to get and going online on the library website and see which ones were readily available. Then I would mark the ones that were and try to find substitutions from the list in the book of books that were easier to find. This way a week before I would request (online again) the book and it would arrive in time for our lesson.

 

I only look at the book two days before we do the lesson (we only do science once a week in K) and if I need to gather supplies I do, but most times all the stuff is already on hand and items you would have around your house anyway.

 

We really like it, and I enjoy the fact that ds is stretching his thinking and understanding the world around him better. I'm learning too!

 

Hope you get as much satisfaction out of it as we are.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Thanks Sagira! Anyone else have any tips to share?

[Ummto4]

With BFSU, you just have to plan properly, otherwise you'll end up like me:001_wub:

 

Well, I tried to plan properly, but the books from the library sometimes don't get here on time or sometimes I forgot to get something for expt.

 

So I would like to suggest to:

1. make your own science kit a year in advance or at least 0.5 year in advance. If you decided to spice up the lesson with commercial science kits, buy those before you even begin.

 

2. Unless you're good in getting the book on time from the library, try to buy a spine for at least each discipline (biology, matter, earth & space, physics). We used to depend on library books as suggested by BFSU. But I'm not good in getting the book on time. So I replanned my BFSU using books that we own (we have quite a lot of science books from the library book sale).

 

3. You will find that some concepts can be over your child's head. BFSU is supposed to start with matter (gas-liquid-solid) and the property of those. There were some lessons on those which I had to show and explain a couple of times because they're a bit hard to grasp. If that happens - considering your child is still young - feel free to skip (even though it's listed as prerequisite). As long as your child know the gist (e.g. air is real - as real as solid and gas), details don't matter at this stage. If they understand completely - great, but if not, just do the next thing.

 

4. Be flexible with the scope and sequence and whenever it says prerequisite, have a look why something is a prerequisite. Not all the prerequisite has to be taught completely - especially when your child is having a difficulty doing the whole prerequisite lesson.

 

HTH

[sagira]

Oh, and I forgot to say we also s t r e t c h out the lessons as we see fit, so I didn't plan one lesson a week, but rather one in two weeks or I even allow myself three weeks so the concepts sink in. I'd rather ds understand than jump to the next thing.

 

Our plan is to cover 17 lessons in K, then 12 each in 1st and 2nd Years, as we rounding it out with Nature Studies.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

I have BFSU picked for science and plan to start it in the fall with my K dd. I'd like to gather as many supplies ahead of time and plan out activities, books to use, etc. So, if you've started using this book do you have any planning tips or ideas? And if you've looked at this book and decided not to use it, why? I'd like to make it ready-to-use because I probably won't have much prep time once i officially start K.

Thanks!

 

OK, I'm going to sound a little bi-polar here...maybe...la la la...

 

Noting the ages of your kids, I can totally see using this as a one year intro for your oldest daughter in Kinder next year. If you love science, this really would be a good way to start (I would personally just do a one year study). As I noted, it's incomplete but that's OK if you think of it as an intro to scientific thinking for your Kinder. For that, it would be outstanding because, for that purpose and for that age, it just won't matter that there are some content gaps. Sagira said in the other thread about BFSU that the introduction to scientific thinking was her main goal with this book and I think for that, it's wonderful. I'm planning for that also, but also pretty content driven at the same time.

 

You can steel yourself, accept that there is great content under all those words, thereby giving you strength to tunnel through and come out with a solid schedule on the other side! You can do it! :)

 

I would heed Dian's excellent advice. Plan well and have books on hand to help explain the concepts.

 

Kristina

(I promise I'm not crazy!) :)

[Ummto4]

We use BFSU and Nebel's science book more as a guidance/framework on how to teach science. DOing it as an intro for a K-er is impossible, because some of the concepts require maturation. While teaching my son BFSU this year, I have to simplify a lot. I finally come up with more realistic theme and minimize the theme which requires higher level thinking to when he's on the third grade.

 

If you treat BFSU and NEbel science book (the original one) as a guidance, it is possible to stretch them. Yes, BFSU only contains 20 chapters or so, but all these chapters have to be fleshed out more (IMHO) and according to my plan, it can be stretched out for 2.5 years. How ? By supplementing. This means, I have other books on hand (including living books) to explain concepts more thoroughly as well as Van Cleave's and other expt book - just in case. We're also going in depth for several topics - NEbel provides the outline for this, but it is truly impossible for him to flesh out those topics, like each biome in his little science book. OTher wise his book will be humongous.

 

In addition, we're also doing nature notebook (weather charting, noticing how the tree/plants change in different season, etc).

 

I think BFSU and NEbel's science (Nebel K-5 book) do the best job in explaining science and in guiding on how to teach it. It provides sort of scope and sequence on what we should teach first so that a child can later on understand something (nature phenomenon, biology) fully and in depth. This way, they can see interrelationship between different disciplines of science.Below is my tentative plan.

 

Grade 1-3 is the time where I'm planning to do basic science, like: matters and basic chemistry (very basic) like outlined in BFSU thread A, basic physics (BFSU thread C), basic biology (I'll only introduce concepts of life cycle, how animal/plant get energy (food chain), introduce different animals and plants, and introduce part of plants and how the plants reproduce by seeds) earth science (earth is round, night and day, season, gravity, biomes and landforms). We're also going to do some astronomy and application of the basic science learned above (contained in NEbel's science book. We're going to talk about tide, planetary movement and weightlessness in outer space which is basically application of gravity concept, as well as other basic knowledge of astronomy such as planets, sun, moon, etc).

 

So you see, I'm stretching BFSU A LOT here. HOw do I do that ? By adding books and go in depth especially on biomes, landforms, different kind of plant and animal (this alone will take us around 25 wks in grade 2), and basic chem (may add RS4K prelevel I here).

 

On grade 4&5 (this is contained in Nebel's science) I plan to include books which explain science application, such as: physics lab at home/houseware store (as recommended by Ambleside Online) and a couple of books which is inQ&A format. In fact, grade 4&5 is focused more on application of basic science along with basic knowledge, e.g.:

- on earth science & matter, we're going to talk about hurricane, monsoon, water cycle, mineral & rock, etc which is basically application of basic chemistry/matter science (i.e. whatever in thread A of BFSU). NOTE: we're going to do astronomy on 3rd grade, so no more astronomy on 4th and 5th grade.

- on biology, we're going to talk about plant and human physiology which is basically application of basic science (Nebel's science and BFSU provides ways on how to tie this with basic science). While looking at Van Cleave's expt, some of the demonstration she has for physiology requires knowledge on things like pressure which is discussed in thread A of BFSU. So, while it is entirely possible to just tell a child of the fact, a child may remember it more and in a deeper level if she knows how a phenomenon works. This is the beauty of Nebel's science - it tells me what to teach first before tackling the science application part.

- on physics, we're going to do simple machine and its application in household appliances, invention story, elctromagnet and electricity and waves plus its application.

 

HTH

Edited January 13, 2009 by mom2moon2

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

DOing it as an intro for a K-er is impossible, because some of the concepts require maturation. While teaching my son BFSU this year, I have to simplify a lot. I finally come up with more realistic theme and minimize the theme which requires higher level thinking to when he's on the third grade.

 

I personally wouldn't say it's impossible. I agree that some things would need to be simplified but I think it's very possible, especially if you have an older Kinder who is scientifically minded, as mine is. If not, I would view the use of this book for Kinder as planting the seeds of scientific knowledge. They may not bloom into fully formed thoughts until a second exposure but the seeds will have been planted.

 

If you treat BFSU and NEbel science book (the original one) as a guidance, it is possible to stretch them. Yes, BFSU only contains 20 chapters or so, but all these chapters have to be fleshed out more (IMHO) and according to my plan, it can be stretched out for 2.5 years. How ? By supplementing. This means, I have other books on hand (including living books) to explain concepts more thoroughly as well as Van Cleave's and other expt book - just in case. We're also going in depth for several topics - NEbel provides the outline for this, but it is truly impossible for him to flesh out those topics, like each biome in his little science book. OTher wise his book will be humongous.

 

In addition, we're also doing nature notebook (weather charting, noticing how the tree/plants change in different season, etc).

 

I think BFSU and NEbel's science (Nebel K-5 book) do the best job in explaining science and in guiding on how to teach it. It provides sort of scope and sequence on what we should teach first so that a child can later on understand something (nature phenomenon, biology) fully and in depth. This way, they can see interrelationship between different disciplines of science.Below is my tentative plan.

 

Grade 1-3 is the time where I'm planning to do basic science, like: matters and basic chemistry (very basic) like outlined in BFSU thread A, basic physics (BFSU thread C), basic biology (I'll only introduce concepts of life cycle, how animal/plant get energy (food chain), introduce different animals and plants, and introduce part of plants and how the plants reproduce by seeds) earth science (earth is round, night and day, season, gravity, biomes and landforms). We're also going to do some astronomy and application of the basic science learned above (contained in NEbel's science book. We're going to talk about tide, planetary movement and weightlessness in outer space which is basically application of gravity concept, as well as other basic knowledge of astronomy such as planets, sun, moon, etc).

 

So you see, I'm stretching BFSU A LOT here. HOw do I do that ? By adding books and go in depth especially on biomes, landforms, different kind of plant and animal (this alone will take us around 25 wks in grade 2), and basic chem (may add RS4K prelevel I here).

 

On grade 4&5 (this is contained in Nebel's science) I plan to include books which explain science application, such as: physics lab at home/houseware store (as recommended by Ambleside Online) and a couple of books which is inQ&A format. In fact, grade 4&5 is focused more on application of basic science along with basic knowledge, e.g.:

- on earth science & matter, we're going to talk about hurricane, monsoon, water cycle, mineral & rock, etc which is basically application of basic chemistry/matter science (i.e. whatever in thread A of BFSU). NOTE: we're going to do astronomy on 3rd grade, so no more astronomy on 4th and 5th grade.

- on biology, we're going to talk about plant and human physiology which is basically application of basic science (Nebel's science and BFSU provides ways on how to tie this with basic science). While looking at Van Cleave's expt, some of the demonstration she has for physiology requires knowledge on things like pressure which is discussed in thread A of BFSU. So, while it is entirely possible to just tell a child of the fact, a child may remember it more and in a deeper level if she knows how a phenomenon works. This is the beauty of Nebel's science - it tells me what to teach first before tackling the science application part.

- on physics, we're going to do simple machine and its application in household appliances, invention story, elctromagnet and electricity and waves plus its application.

 

 

I think this is a great use of the book. The fact that you're willing to stretch it and add content is what will make this work for you. It's basically the opposite of my idea in this thread to use it in its most simple form as an intro, again, something I think is very possible. I responded in the other thread about BFSU that the book has a great concept but that for some, myself included, the concept is not enough to make it a complete curriculum. You're adding and tweaking and that's great. My personal plan will take me in a different way. I'll take Nebel's flow concept and apply it to my own homemade science curriculum.

 

Again, different things obviously work for different people and that's great.

 

Kristina

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

Lots of ideas. I had in mind to do something similar to Dian. I wanted to stretch BFSU for the recommended K-2 and also include nature studies. He has another book coming out for 3-5 and I would like to use that one as well. So, Dian (or anyone else!), do you have any specific recommendations for books or kits to go along with BFSU? Thanks again. :)

[Tress]

So, Dian (or anyone else!), do you have any specific recommendations for books or kits to go along with BFSU? Thanks again. :)

 

I'm really interested in hearing recommendations for some books to expand BFSU, in particular books that can be used for multiple topics. :bigear:

[stripe]

I found the book "Literature Based Science: Children's Books and Activities to Enrich the K-5 Curriculum" by Hefner and Lewis at my library; it may work to expand some of the topics in the book. However, it was published in 1995, so it's not the newest kid on the block.