We're still going strong with animal classification, and we're still enjoying ourselves. I left you hanging after Day One where we did some intro stuff and then read two books about invertebrates.
Day Two:
Step One: Review what we learned about invertebrates on day one and write down the info on the chart.
Step Two: Read through My Big Backyard and Ranger Rick magazines and decide, with each animal mentioned, the animal's appropriate classification. This was great fun. We love those magazines.
(As an off-topic sidenote, we bought a subscription to National Geographic for Kids magazine at one point and it was terrible. Mostly advertisements. I was so disappointed, I called and canceled our subscription after the first few months. However, Ranger Rick has never disappointed.)
For those of you in my neck of the woods, the Clearfield branch of the Davis County Library System--known as the "North Branch" subscribes to Ranger Rick. Lovely.
Day Three
Step One: Review material we've covered so far.
Step Two: Make popcorn.
Step Three: Watch a good movie about invertebrates with your kids. I'm pretty anti-media, so my kids don't watch many movies. However, I had forgotten how much fun it can be to snuggle up with your kids and watch something all together. The movie was great and the kids felt like they had been given this huge treat. Which they had.
Step Four: Watch Bill Nye's episode about invertebrates on youtube. Actually, I don't recommend youtube because the picture is pretty shabby. However, I didn't have access to the episode through our library. Also, while I remember enjoying Bill Nye in my youth, I found some parts of the show a little . . . over the top and/or inappropriate. Well, inappropriate might be too strong a term, but there was a little three minute mini-story about a girl who falls in love with a slug. Maybe it is just me, but I didn't find watching a girl kiss a slug very funny. Gross, yes. But not funny. Also, there was a girl wearing an immodest outfit who sings a song about invertebrates. My children were shocked. Like I said--I don't give them much access to media. We watched a few seconds of the song and then skipped over it.
On the other hand--Bill Nye had some fantastic experiments to demonstrate life without bones inside your body. It was a really great visual reinforcer of the things we'd been talking about. So, mixed bag there.
Day Four: Go to the library to pick up a bunch of books about fish and birds. Let your children look them over when you arrive home to build excitement.
(In reality, our Day Four consisted of me having a melt-down about the state of affairs in our home and the length of my to-do list. We didn't do school and I plunked the children in front of the tv to watch Disney's Davy Crockett and was only interrupted when my son broke a lightbulb and sliced his thumb, and when my daughter came upstairs hysterical because she fell/was pushed off the bunk bed and sprained her wrist, and when I had to go downstairs to yell at everyone for letting the dogs climb in through the window. My to-do list didn't shrink much. Day Five (today) was library day and tomorrow we will jump back into classification.)
Day Two:
Step One: Review what we learned about invertebrates on day one and write down the info on the chart.
Step Two: Read through My Big Backyard and Ranger Rick magazines and decide, with each animal mentioned, the animal's appropriate classification. This was great fun. We love those magazines.
(As an off-topic sidenote, we bought a subscription to National Geographic for Kids magazine at one point and it was terrible. Mostly advertisements. I was so disappointed, I called and canceled our subscription after the first few months. However, Ranger Rick has never disappointed.)
For those of you in my neck of the woods, the Clearfield branch of the Davis County Library System--known as the "North Branch" subscribes to Ranger Rick. Lovely.
Day Three
Step One: Review material we've covered so far.
Step Two: Make popcorn.
Step Three: Watch a good movie about invertebrates with your kids. I'm pretty anti-media, so my kids don't watch many movies. However, I had forgotten how much fun it can be to snuggle up with your kids and watch something all together. The movie was great and the kids felt like they had been given this huge treat. Which they had.
Step Four: Watch Bill Nye's episode about invertebrates on youtube. Actually, I don't recommend youtube because the picture is pretty shabby. However, I didn't have access to the episode through our library. Also, while I remember enjoying Bill Nye in my youth, I found some parts of the show a little . . . over the top and/or inappropriate. Well, inappropriate might be too strong a term, but there was a little three minute mini-story about a girl who falls in love with a slug. Maybe it is just me, but I didn't find watching a girl kiss a slug very funny. Gross, yes. But not funny. Also, there was a girl wearing an immodest outfit who sings a song about invertebrates. My children were shocked. Like I said--I don't give them much access to media. We watched a few seconds of the song and then skipped over it.
On the other hand--Bill Nye had some fantastic experiments to demonstrate life without bones inside your body. It was a really great visual reinforcer of the things we'd been talking about. So, mixed bag there.
Day Four: Go to the library to pick up a bunch of books about fish and birds. Let your children look them over when you arrive home to build excitement.
(In reality, our Day Four consisted of me having a melt-down about the state of affairs in our home and the length of my to-do list. We didn't do school and I plunked the children in front of the tv to watch Disney's Davy Crockett and was only interrupted when my son broke a lightbulb and sliced his thumb, and when my daughter came upstairs hysterical because she fell/was pushed off the bunk bed and sprained her wrist, and when I had to go downstairs to yell at everyone for letting the dogs climb in through the window. My to-do list didn't shrink much. Day Five (today) was library day and tomorrow we will jump back into classification.)
i loooooove how amazing this is. we're copying, if that's okay with you!
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