Apologia Biology: Prepping Lessons

I just finished VBS and Science Camp.  Time to get serious about lesson planning for fall.  Our Co-op uses Apologia Biology; the kids all read each module.  My job is to round out these modules with more activities.  Our Co-op meets from 9:15-12:30 to allow enough time for extended activities.  Last year, Chemistry and Physical Science classes overlapped, dividing my time.  This year it's all about Biology.  My husband is teaching an Accounting class; we'll both teach at our church.  Once every 4-5 weeks, the kids will come to my house for a morning of wet labs. (The insurance at church prohibits any experiments.)

I've known these kids for years and many have taken class or science camp with me.  We'll review lab safety--but unlike public school, I won't have to spend an entire class.  Our first class is all about Ecology and draws ideas from BSCS.  (These plans are quite detailed.  Some of my home-school friends like detailed lessons.) The church property is huge with woods.  The first day, the kids are going outside to each collect 10 specimens and jot down observations.  I plan to do the BSCS 1.1.  The kids are going to label each specimen with a letter and record observations and descriptions separately on slips of paper.  The kids will switch and attempt to match the descriptions with the specimens.  I'll ask each student to keep a key for their specimens and check to see if the other students could match their descriptions with the specimens correctly.

This POGIL Pyramid activity  and Energy through Ecosystems exercises dovetail well will Ecology.  POGIL gets kids thinking!

Next up is the food web I mentioned in an earlier post.  The kids may go outside again to make observations.  The challenge is to compile a list of 50-100 local organisms for a food web.  I'll take time to review food chains, food webs, trophic levels, and scientific names using the genus and species names.  This activity takes time.  The kids will need guides and wifi.  As they do research, encourage them to see what the organism eats and add those species to their food web.  Here is a list of organisms which live near our church: raccoon, opossums, chipmunks, owls, kestrels, hawks, robins, sparrows, bluejays, preying mantis, crickets, wrens, beetles, wolf spiders, daddy long-legs, flys, toads, box turtles, frogs, salamanders, voles, moles, mice, shrew, bats, cardinals, oak, maple, dogwood, redbud, hickory, pine, tulip poplar, monarch butterfly, lunar moth, blue birds, fox, skunk, deer, mosquitoes, ants, bees, grasshoppers, Queen Anne's lace, black willow, asters, violets, milk weed, sumac, and poison ivy.  Note the variety of species represented.  Brainstorm together.  You may want to invite an expert forester or guest from Audubon to lead a nature hike before constructing a food web.  This list should spark more ideas for local species.