Biology: Ecology Introduction

This coming Fall I’m teaching Biology again.  The first unit is Ecology; the kids create lists of local organisms as their summer assignment.  Let me share some of the resources we use in addition to the textbook, Exploring Creation with Biology, from Apologia.  Below are the first few activities for Ecology.

1. The first day of class the kids do a lesson about Levels of Organization or Organization of Multicellular Organisms.  I use cups.  The styrofoam cups were my inspiration; I have sets of plastic cups I reuse each time I teach Biology.

 

2.  Another early lesson is the Owl Pellet Dissection.  Owl pellets are a terrific means to teach about food webs.   We make lists of the organisms from the owl pellets, such as moles, voles, and small birds.  The kids research these animals’ diets.  The kids create food webs.                                                                    

3. Taxonomy and dichotomous keys are part of Ecology.  I teach the two topics together.   Kids create their own mnemonic to remember  Kingdom Classification.  Mine is Katie poured Coke in Father’s Good Suit.  We do loads of dichotomous keys: Jelly Belly Dichotomous Key, Pamishan Creatures, Salamanders, Pine Trees and more, Pasta, and Buttons.  The kids make their own dichotomous keys from a random bag of buttons.  These instructions about Sorting Objects explain the process of making your own key.