Apologia Young Explorers CNS, Nerves, and Mobile

Okay, we're doing a project from the Journal, a mobile.  The kids cuts out the terms, matched the pictures, sorted systems, glued them to card stock and created mobiles.  We started last week and spent most of the class finishing.  This was a good exercise; the kids used their textbooks to identify and match the images.  We sorted the related terms, too.  Hands-on is the way to go!  I am confident they'll have a much better idea of the parts of a neuron now. Here is Nathan's mobile nearly completed and Nora's mobile finished!

Apologia Young Explorers Anatomy: Head Start Outreach

Yeah!  Today is an outreach event about blood.  The Anatomy classed prepped another outreach event for the Head Start class.  The kids made the stethoscopes with funnels on p. 147 and let the kids listen to their heart beats.  Then the little ones listened with real stethoscopes, watched blood pressure demos, colored hearts, played with the microscope that attached to a cell phone, looked at a blood smear under a conventional microscope, and made fake blood (plastic chips for platelets, ping pong balls for white blood cells, and red water beads for red blood cells).  We worked in stations.  Fun!  I love these events.  Everyone benefits!

Apologia Bio: More Comparative Anatomy

This morning we began with Anatomy slideshow just as an overview.  I spent about an hour discussing the slides and asking questions.  If the girls cannot answer a question it becomes notes, right along with unfamiliar terms.  What type of questions?  For example, I asked the girls to differentiate between vertebrates and invertebrates, terms such as heterotrophic, and why carnivores have short digestive systems and herbivores have longer systems.  I brought up the anatomy of a ruminantto explain why herbivores have pouches or rumen to house bacteria capable of breaking down cellulose in grass or fiber out plants into glucose, useable energy.  Another question was about fish gill anatomy and surface area, which digressed into the composition of oxygen in air and water.  Here is the best discussion question: Why?  Why are there so many layers in gills?  The fish need loads of surface area to capture as much oxygen in the water as possible given the limited amount.  Yes, we digressed to the fact cold water holds more oxygen than warm water, which can account for fish kills in the summer.  The point was to expand a bit on comparative anatomy among animals before resuming research, albeit reluctantly.

NSTA Review

Here's the link for the latest review.  http://www.nsta.org/recommends/ViewProduct.aspx?ProductID=22836

I shared this rainforest book with the Head Start class my Coop works with at our church.  The little ones loved it!

Apologia Young Explorers Heart Models

Last week, we invested an enormous amount of time learning about circulation in the heart.  This week we made the heart models from the book.  A bit of a mess--okay a big mess!  We created the models, labeled the components, and traced blood flow through the heart. Yeah! We spent a little time reviewing our jobs for Head Start.  I'll post the event next time.  As for the heart model, note the position of the atria and ventricles with respect to one's own body.  Here is a completed model.  I spent time individually with each child quizzing them on blood flow through the heart, emphasizing the fact arteries take blood away from the heart and veins deliver blood to the heart.  Remember red is oxygenated and blue is deoxygenated.  Right and left atria and ventricles and pulmonary arteries and veins are confusing.  Pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.  Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood from the lungs back to the heart.  The older kids, ten and eleven, can master these.  The little ones?  Not so much.  I still had them do some copy work labeling their models.  How much will they retain?  Probably not as much as you might hope.  But, they'll be familiar with the terms the next time they encounter the material.  I think exposure is important for elementary or primary level students.  After all, they'll revisit these same ideas either in middle school or high school.  At each stage, the child is more developed and better equipped to assimilate the material.

NSTA All in a Rainforest Day Review

All in a Rainforest Day by Ellen B. Senisi is joyful with photos that capture the glamor of rainforests.  The book is organized into one day and visits rainforests all over the globe.  Each image has a simple caption.  My favorite is page eight, a proboscis monkey from Malasia, with the caption, 'Time for breakfast!'  I read the book to a group of youngsters who range in age from six to eleven, part of a Co-op.  They sat rapt!  I was confused as I read it, wondering which rainforest the book was describing.  After I finished reading, I wanted to be sure the monkey was a proboscis and located the photo index on the last page, which describes the organism and its country.  After I read the book to the children, I asked for their impressions: 'pretty and graceful', 'creepy animals' (page 10, the green vine snake eating a lizzard), and 'colorful'.  It was evident the photos were engrossing.  We decided the book would most suit young children, especially those four to six.  This book is an excellent introduction to rainforest organisms.  Children will want to learn more after they read and can travel the globe visiting rainforests around the world.  

Apologia Young Explorers Anatomy Cardiovascular System

The class is studying the Cardiovascular system.  Today was tough!  Last time, we played with the blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes, before planning another outreach with Head Start.  Then we had some vocab to tackle.  Today was the cardiovascular system.  Whew!  First I read the material from the book.  I pause a lot to ask questions and clarify terms.  It helps to explain the origin of terms with the kids.  I remind the kids that the first rule in science is that we have no imagination.  So an interventricular or interatrial septum is a wall or fence between ventricles or atria.  Once we reviewed the parts,mew wrote out the steps for the flow of blood through the heart and lungs.  I wrote notes such as arteries carry blood away from the heart and veins to the heart and the sequence artery to arteriolar to capillary to venue to veins.  We did several of the recommended activities, colored and labeled the heart, and finally wrote and verbally traced blood flow through the heart.  Then the kids prepped for next week making stethoscopes with funnels, practicing with real stethoscopes, and taking blood pressures with my cuffs.  Next time I promised we would make graham cracker models together and review blood flow again.  I sketched huge hearts on paper to use next week with yarn or crayons to trace blood flow, too.  We usually do more hands-on labs.  It's grueling to spend two hours on a single lesson for everyone.

Apologia Young Explorers: Update

This week we're catching up and planning.  The kids need to do some vocabulary, plan the next Head Start outreach, test blood pressure equipment and stethoscopes, review a book with me for NSTA, etc. Only two kids are here.  Okay, we punt.  The kids did complete a cross word puzzle and matching vocab from their respective Journals. How do I help?  I helped Liem by opening to the diagrams and reading the vocabulary definitions aloud for him to deduce the answers.  Pia-Marie struggled alone with the harder crossword.  I did the same, reminded her the Greek for cell is cute, etc.  Basically, hints more than help.

Apologia Biology: Comparative Morphology

The Bio class is dissecting and finishing the course work.  My approach is to compare representative species using a chart to organize the similarities and differences.  I use these characteristics of living beings as a guide.  If you buy a dissection set, these organisms are pretty perfect as representative species as the basis for comparison.  The board isn't big enough for all of the terms.  Leave plenty of room!  For example, earthworms are hermaphroditic-but do not fertilize themselves.  Allow space for more species and unusual characteristics.  By the way, I approach reproduction in a matter of fact manner.  For example, most fish reproduce externally.  Females release eggs and males spread sperm over the eggs.  Done.  Actually, this should lead to other questions.  How do female fish attract makes?  Is there a hormone?  What protects the eggs?  How long are they fertile?  See how nicely I skirted messy details and focused on age-appropriate science questions? Did you know the gender of some reptiles depends on the sand temperatures?  Insist the kids learn terms!  Create vocab lists as they research! Remind the kids to use their books!  The girls have homework to define all of the terms associated with earthworms, clams, and jellyfish.  We'll see.  I'm trying to draw comparisons between animals in terms of nutrition, excretion, etc.  Nephridia and nephrons maybe?  Yes, it's an up hill battle.

Apologia Biology: Mitosis and Meiosis

I'm back from a wedding in Colorado.  The girls are spending the morning drawing and comparing Mitosis meiosis or gametogenesis.  Don't let the terms defeat you!  Mitosis duplicates body or somatic cells.  Meiosis divides the DNA for gametes, sperm and eggs.  Gametogenesis just means production of gametes.  The big problem with Bio is all of the vocab.  See why Latin is so useful?  Once again, this process may seem excessive.  Have the kids draw and compare!  It works! Here are a few photos as evidence I really subject the kids to this.