Planning time!

I feel like I will have an extremely firm grasp on my science plan by the time I finish poring over all these books!

One interesting thing about the classical approach to education is that we pull the focus AWAY from good ol’ textbooks and look to real life experience and “living” books instead.  (By living books, I just mean books that are not sold as textbooks.)

However, I do actually have several ‘textbooks’ that we will reference this school year.

What I have in my planner for science this year is WAY more exciting than just textbooks. This is going to be a fabulously fun science year for us. I am stoked. Here’s a little preview of what I have in mind….

Field Trips

Last year we got to go to the aquarium, the redwood forest, the beach, Point Lobos, the Pinnacles, the San Diego Zoo, and a whale tour. THAT will be hard to top, eh?

Last year we covered land forms, aquatic animals, and all the major systems of the human body (and traced our bodies and painted, labeled, and assembled all the major organs). We also memorized the first 16 elements of the Periodic Table, the scientific method, learned about evolution, and learned the definition and parts of an atom (even to include leptons and quarks!). We built our own little atom, and we did 24 science experiments in the classroom. We also observed sea mammals in their natural habitat, observed kelp forests, and we learned about gradual and sudden geological changes. We even discussed creationism versus the Theory of Evolution.

You know, it’s true that things change gradually over time. It’s completely bonkers to think that the intricate people, animals, and plants that we have in this world magically appeared with no creator.  Bonkers! (But don’t worry. My children will be fully versed on both.)

This year is all about biology and earth science!

So here’s what I have for this year.. Most of these are in San Francisco

1. The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park (Okay, this ties in more with our history unit on ancient Japan.)

2. Bison Paddock

3. the San Francisco Botanical Garden

4. California Academy of Sciences (natural history museum, planetarium, and aquarium)

5. Conservatory of Flowers

6. Point Lobos

7. Yosemite National Park

8. The Tech Museum of Innovation in Silicon Valley

Yeah….I’m a little bit excited!

9. Sacramento, because it’s our state capital, and we’ve never been there.

10 Science Camp at Mount Hermon– We are already registered!

11. Backyard bucket garden. We’ve already started potatoes. We have too many gophers to put the plants in the ground!

I have these to give Daniel something to do with his hands. Lots of sorting and puzzles.

Take It to Your Seat Science Centers, Grades PreK-K

Here’s an example of a pre-school activity that the book has.

This just gives Dan something to do while the big boys are drawing and labeling things in their science notebook.

Of course, Dan can also draw things. Labeling will come much later. Dan’s 4.

Here are a few books I’m looking forward to using for science this year:

I love these Usborne Search books!

Each page is full of animal names and facts.

Then I have this fun lift-the-flap Usborne science book that we used last year too:

Drawing plant and animal cells this year!! This was always one of my favorite things in school!! Sorry about the smudge on my camera lens! Must clean the camera!

I’ve got so many tabs in this Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework book, I don’t even know why I bothered. Almost every page is tabbed!

Everything You Need To Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents

From the Lift the Tab Usborne Science:

Simple reproduction

Childcraft Plants Volume

Child craft has interesting stories to go along with the facts.

Some people look neat, tidy, and organized when they are planning. This is what it looks like when I plan:

a library explosion and a baby foot…Do you see those tiny little toes?

I have several of these activities ear marked.

This one has neat pictures. It makes me want to buy a microscope.

Dinosaurs. This is Joshua’s #1 science interest. We’re going to learn about Dinos for added enrichment.

No school is complete without a system for chores. I will DEFINITELY keep this chore system in place. It has worked beautifully. I no longer have to unload the dishwasher in the mornings or kick-start the laundry by myself. By the end of this year, I’m hoping to be done putting all of the boys’ laundry away as well.

This works really well for us!

My GIANT kitchen wipe-off board serves so many purposes! If I have to actually use it to teach, I have no idea where I’ll write my daily plan…

Outline of this year’s science topics:

Weeks 1 & 2: Dinosaurs!

I. Classifications of Living Things

II. 5 Kingdoms of Living Things

Review

III. Parts of animal cells

IV.Plant Cell parts

V. Major Groups of Invertebrates

VI. Vertebrates

Review

VII. Animal Reproduction (live birth, eggs, etc.)

VIII. Types of Seed Plants

IX. Parts of a Plant

X. Kinds of Leaves and Leaf Parts

XI. Parts of a Flower

XII. Plant Systems

Review

Science Camp: 1 Week at Mount Hermon Science Camp

XIII. Parts of the Earth

XIV. 3 Kinds of Rock

XV. Each continent’s highest mountain

XVI. 4 Kinds of Volcanoes

XVII. Parts of a Volcano

Review

XVIII. 4 types of ocean floor

XIX. 3 Ocean Zones

XX. Parts of the Atmosphere

XXI. 5 Major circles of latitude

Review

XXII. Kinds of weather fronts

XXIII. Types of clouds

XXIV. Markings on the globe

Memory Masters

I’ve already gotten each plan written on paper, and each print-out filed into that week’s folder.

I have a folder created for each of my students, for each week of the school year.

My file system: The old, rough-looking ones in front are the completed work from the last quarter of last year. The shiny new ones are for this coming school year.

Nonna (a retired school teacher herself) gave me this organizational idea, and I love it. All the plans and printed materials I need for each week of the year is filed by boy and week, so when I need it, I can just grab it all from one place.

As their work is completed, I file it right back in their folder.

My File System. For example: Caleb- 3rd grade- Quarter 1- Week 1

Open the folder up, and there’s everything you need for that week. Here’s a peek into one of their folders.

This frees up daily space, as we don’t have to keep up with a bunch of workbooks. Hurray!

Science is the subject I’m most excited for this year. What are you looking forward to most? Do you have any more California field trip suggestions for us? That’s our favorite, so DO share!!

SaveSave

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When I told people that I was moving to California I got a lot of mixed reactions.

Like this:

“Oh, wow, it’s beautiful there. You are going to love it.”

“Ooooh. Gee. I feel so sorry for you.” (sarcasm)

“O. Tough assignment.” (more sarcasm)

“Nice…except for the earthquakes.” (not sarcasm)

“Don’t turn into a crazy liberal, now.” (never going to happen)

“California….eh…that’s nice I guess.  Californians are kind of different though.” (Aren’t we all? 😉 )

…..But mostly we heard how beautiful it is and how wonderful the weather is.

I just kept thinking, “What makes it SO beautiful and wonderful?” It’s not the cities or the land that they are referring to. It’s this:

Point Lobos State Park

 I thought no beach could be any more breath taking than Destin, Florida, but this is pretty awesome. Destin still has this on you, northern Cal, in Destin you can actually swim in the water. The northern area of California has cold water–not quite as cold as Massachusetts–but cold. You need a wet suit to swim here.

It isn’t all rocks, either. There are plenty of sandy beaches, and piles and piles of sand dunes.

Here we were in ‘the fog’. The fog never fully leaves, but it does move around a little, hence the sweater game. Put on the sweater. Take it off. Put it on. Take it off. You can’t hate on the fog, though, because it keeps us cool and not sweaty!

See. There’s the fog line. Fog/Not fog. There’s a blue, blue sky behind that cloud.

This dog was LOVING the waves. Hmmm. Maybe we shouldn’t show my children this photo. Then they won’t want to go to the beach.

Alan had one request on this trip. “If we see the CHiPS, you HAVE to drop everything and take a picture!!!” I did my best. Childhood t.v. shows do stick with a person.

Look closely. Do you see those houses going up the hill? I just thought that looked neat. This was going into San Francisco.

San Francisco’s Chinatown

Don’t you love this sort of thing? He was a tour guide.

This is pretty much all of the Golden Gate Bridge that we were able to see.

the infamous, abandoned Alcatraz

my most favorite picture ever

Doesn’t he look SO adorable, content, and relaxed? I just love him. All the other sea lions we saw were in groups. This one is like, “I don’t know where the others are, and I don’t care. This is a great spot.”

This (probably homeless) man was sitting on the sidewalk, on Fisherman’s Wharf, San Fran, holding these leaves, so he looked like a plant.  Then when people would walk by, he’d move the leaves and roar. It was HILARIOUS. Yes, he got me. Yes, I screamed. I went back and gave him a couple of dollars and took his picture. You have to admire his spirit.

….and as the mom of little boys, I totally get how much they love to roar and scare people.

I love San Fran’s cleaner air mass transportation.

This is Monterey. Wow.

There will just have to be a part three because I still have so many pictures to share!!!

In a month or so, VoiceBoks will come out with a “Top 10 Military Blogs” post, and I’d really love to be on that list, so if you’d like to help, you can vote for me by clicking on this link and following the directions on their site. You do have to give the voting choices a minute to load. They are in alphabetical order, which puts me at #35. Voting ends July 31.

Thanks, ya’ll!!

The post California: The Beautiful Part. No more desert pictures. I promise…. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.