During the last six weeks, we have explored the animal kingdom, using Blossom & Root's Wonders of the Animal Kingdom. Here are some of the books we read:
DK Smithsonian: The Animal Book
Karl, Get Out of the Garden: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything, by Anita Sanchez
Night of the Moon jellies, by Mark Shasha
Inky the Octopus, by Erin Guendelsberger
Animalium, by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom
Cicada Symphony, by Sue Fliess
A Beetle is Shy, by Dianna Hutts Aston
Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider, by Jessica Lanan
What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Fish Everywhere, by Britta Teckentrup
If Sharks Disappeared, by Lily Williams
Box Turtle at Long Pond, by William T George and Lindsay Barrett George
Snakes, by Gail Gibbons
Like a Lizard, by April Pulley Sayre
Feathers: Not Just for Flying, by Melissa Stewart
Penguin Chick, by Betty Tatham
Owls: Birds of the Night, by Emily Sollinger
Ducks Don't Get Wet, by Augusta Goldin
Where do Chicks Come From? by Amy E. Sklanksy
About Marsupials: A Guide for Children, by Cathryn Sill
We began by learning about how animals are named and classified. The girls each chose an animal, and researched its classification.
We then spent the next few weeks exploring each phylum and class, learning about the characteristics of each, and what makes a jellyfish different from, say, a koala. I don't always incorporate a lot of screen time for our lessons, but this subject lends itself very well to video learning, especially since I don't have an assortment of every type of creature on the planet right in my backyard for personal observation. We especially enjoyed Jonathan Bird's Blue World channel on Youtube, and were very sad when we finished learning about ocean animals and didn't have an excuse to watch his videos anymore. His enthusiasm made us excited about animals as simple as sponges! We also enjoyed Coyote Peterson's videos on Youtube.
We did quite a few hands-on activities during this unit, and unfortunately, I didn't take very many photos. But here are a few! We did an octopus ink demo, and it was pretty easy to see how an octopus could be able to escape predators in a cloud of ink.
While learning about reptiles, the girls each made a model of a turtle using paper mache and clay. Pumpkin chose a Hawksbill Sea Turtle (left) and Sweet Pea chose a Carolina Box Turtle (right).
The following demo allowed us to see why ducks don't get wet. The top feather (paper bag) is coated in oil, much like a duck's feather. So when we sprayed it with water, the water droplets rolled off... like water off a duck's back...
During the week that we were learning about birds, a red breasted robin crashed into our window. We were very sad for the bird, but it was also a good learning experience for us. We learned that birds don't fly into windows because they are trying to get into your house. Rather, they see the reflection of the trees outside on the window, and are trying to fly into the trees. Now, I've seen birds fly into windows many times in my life, but this bird seemed to be struggling more than usual, so we brought her to our local wildlife rescue center. And yes, now we know how to identify robins as male or female! We are still waiting to hear back from the wildlife center about how she's doing.
Here are a few other notable activities that I didn't take photos of:
- Pollution demo: we filled a container full of water and dumped in various types of pollution. We included larger objects like plastic containers, cooking oil to represent other types of pollutant oils, sprinkles to represent smaller things like microplastics, and food dye to represent chemical pollutants. Then we tried to clean out our "pond." It was basically impossible. This was a really interesting activity when paired with our lessons about frogs and salamanders, who breathe through their skin.
- Crocodile sizes: while learning about reptiles, we measured out the sizes of various crocodiles and alligators with a tape measure, and compared it to our own heights. Let's just say we don't want to meet these creatures in the wild!
- Egg experiment: we soaked an egg in vinegar for a few days to dissolve the shell, leaving only the rubbery membrane underneath. While not a perfect comparison, this is similar to reptile eggs, which are leathery and do not have a hard shell. We also soaked chia seeds in water, which are a good representation of amphibian eggs. This was a fun way to compare different types of eggs.
The girls each kept an "animal notebook" to jot down observations and write descriptions of different types of animals. Here is a page from Pumpkin's notebook that I particularly enjoyed.
Because we condensed an entire year's curriculum into just six weeks, we were only about to do about half of it. But the girls are very eager to do the rest soon, so stay tuned for Part Two!
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