Apologia Biology: Still working on Ecology

Bear with us!  The kids finished their food web and created a list of 100 species including their scientific names.  It took some time to look up all of their feeding habits and reassign organisms to the correct tropic levels.  They finished!  It has been raining.  So the kids come like red water samples from the pond and investigated the creek this morning.  We have had a drought and I want to do water tests while we can.  Most of the morning was spent  testing water with the Lamotte Water Quality test kits.  The last thing we did was to review the parts of the microscope for a quiz next week.  Next time, the kids are going to do several water tests and a stream assessment, including identification of benthic macroinvertebrates, following some preparation with virtual stream assessments.  My plan is to measure the stream rate, temperature, macros, and do some chemical tests for pH, nitrates, etc.  But isn't that one of the advantages of home-schooling?  You have the flexibility to conduct a field trip anytime it's convenient!  So, our group is doing a considerable amount of field work before the weather gets too cold in order to lay the groundwork for the course.

Apologia Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Lesson One and a bit of Two

Yes, it does feel like this lesson is taking forever.  Last week we weighed our apple mummies, but hadn't had enough time to do the subtraction and see who's prediction or hypothesis matched the results.  The subtraction took longer than I had estimated--much longer.  But it's worthwhile for the kids to see that the amount of moisture varied enormously among the salt mixtures.  After a quick review using questions from the notebook, we made edible cell models with graham crackers, icing, and candy instead of the one with jello in the book.  The icing was our cytoplasm.  We used hard copies of Inside the Cell from the National Institute of Health as guides to determine which candies best represented the organelles.  The kids are coloring one more animal cell for homework.

We started Lesson Two by adding the skeleton transparency to our personal persons.  The kids did the 'Try This' on p. 49.  They recorded each other's width and height on the board.  The girls' measurements were very close; the two boys' we're off by two to four inches.  Chloe suggested we check adult measurements, too.  Great idea!  We are going to check first thing next time.  My kids are making mini-books using skeletal system nomenclature cards and construction paper.  I printed the cards in black and white.  The kids cut the cards and colored the high-lighted areas themselves to paste in mini-books I folded from construction paper.  Next time, they are assembling paper skeletons and egg carton spines.  I have a skeleton from Target I bought for $15 the kids are going to examine to see how accurately it was designed.  Cool, right?

Apologia Biology: Ecology

Yes, we're still working on Ecology.  The kids worked on the food webs first.  They've compiled over one hundred species.  Now, they're putting them into tropic levels and researching the scientific names.  I allow 30-40 minutes each time for the food web.  The kids did an exercise observing species outside for 15 minutes.  We did a quick review of taxonomy and MRS C GREN.  (Do this often to help the concept gel.).  The kids are doing Experiment 1.1 at home as homework.  The Camouflage lab took a while to perform and analyze. Camouflage is fun.  We use 300 paper chads: black, white, and newsprint.  We mixed them, spread them on the classified ad page, and allowed 30 seconds to remove as many as possible, one by one. Before the lab, we discussed the number of trials and the controls in place.  The kids had the hypothesis that the newsprint chads would be fewest.  Note that the kids determined the mean for the three trials and whether their results supported or refuted the hypothesis.  Lastly, we used the claim, evidence, reasoning approach in a paragraph to conclude the lab.  The kids spent the remainder looking at an Ecology slideshow and spent time learning how to use the Pasco probeware,

Apologia Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Lesson One, History

Today, we started with a brief demonstration of Pasco and Vernier technology..  We needed to do a little history.  We took turns reading the history section in Chapter One.  Then we immediately summarized the section together.  After, I divided the kids into two groups by their reading and writing skills.  The younger kids used the journal to draw pictures and write brief notes about the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, and Europeans.  I wrote the summary on the board for the children to copy.  The three younger children copied notes, drew pictures, and colored from the junior  notebook.  The two older girls learned how to make a timeline.  We rounded the dates to the nearest hundred and used graph paper to create a timeline that spanned from 3500 B.C. To 1800 A.D.  Yes, we did include a title: History of Anatomy.  The girls included the philosophers and scientists from the book.  We looked up birth dates for the Europeans and rounded them to the nearest hundred.

All this took some time.  We did have enough time to weigh the Apple mummies, but insufficient time to analyze the data and confirm or refute the hypotheses.  The two older girls started the crossword from the notebook and are completing it as homework.  Next time, we need to do a ton of fun activities and only a little bit of note-taking and reading.

Technology for Science

Does your Co-op or home-school class use science technology apart from You-tube videos or Khan Academy.  Don't get me wrong; both are awesome resources.  I'm talking about probe-ware to collect and analyze data.  Really.  One point of departure is a TI 84 graphing calculator.  Enlist a math teacher to help navigate some of the apps.  The TI 84 comes loaded with Easy Data software.  Start with the Easy Temp sensor or probe, which connects to the TI 84 with a micro USB link located on the top.  Once connected, the calculator recognizes the prope and opens the Easy Data app automatically.  Viola!  You have a digital thermometer!  Do you have a laptop?  A Go! Temperature sensor with free Logger lite software will get your started with these activities. 

I bring just these technology tools to my Co-op to expose my classes.  I don't want them to be intimidated in college when their peers may have had previous experience.  Level the playing field!  Scour eBay for a probe and Good Will for a TI 84 calculator.  Bring the sensor and calculator out in class, admit your ignorance, and get thing rolling!

Apologia Biology and PBLs

I'm a fan of Project-based Learning or PBLs.  In fact the Biolgoy class's Watershed Project and children's book are both examples of long-term and short-term PBLs.  The Bio. class is immersed in writing the children's book as a tool to learn more about animals.  We haven't gone into any depth about the Watershed Project except to learn more with an Enviroscape Watershed model.  Our class is in the early stages learning tools and techniques to pave the way for more inquiry and PBLs.  But, I ran across  this Timbuktu Case Study PBL and wanted to share the link.  It looks promising for the genetics units with the genetics materials from Bryn Mawr.  Just wanted to share!

Young Explorer: Human Anatomy Lesson One

Our first class! Did we accomplish everything I had planned?  Nope!  The five children range in age from six to eleven.  I love a challenge.  We are going to draw activities from both the Junior and regular notebooks with the Human Anatomy textbook.  My approach today was to read together from the text stopping to review terms and try activities.  Reading aloud is going to be a bit of an issue.  No problem.  We can read a bit and discuss a bit.  I had the kids label a piece of paper with Anatomy and Physiology and we defined the terms together.  The kids either paraphrased or copied directly from the board.  Writing is another issue. Good to know.  Some copy-work will benefit the younger children.  We decided to do the first Try-it and jump into experimentation.  I decided to make the apple mummies into an open-ended or inquiry-based lab.      
Now, the kids haven't been exposed to experimental design.  No better time like the present.  I told the kids that the salt used by the Egyptians was called natron, a mixture.  I brought Epsom salts, Arm and Hammer washing soda, baking soda, and table salt.  I guided the kids to come up with different combinations: each salt alone, each salt in combination with each other, and finally combinations of all three.  I have two digital scales-this inexpensive balance works well.  We used 60 g of the salt or salt mixtures.  We did cut the apples into about 10 g pieces.  The kids weighed and recorded the masses.  The students liked taking masses with weigh boats they zeroed on the scale.  We'll look at the apple pieces next week and weigh each sample.  The kids made predictions or hypotheses as to which salt mixture would draw the most moisture and make the best apple mummy. Does this sound too open ended for you?  Try this apple mummy lab instead.

Since the lab took about one hour.  We had already invested one half hour reading, notes, etc.  the last half hour of class was spent drawing the cell and labeling it.  We did not take time to review each organelle and its function in detail.  Instead, the class used the textbook, and hard copies of Inside the Cell.  Next week, we'll weigh our apples and determine which salt or salt mixture worked best and spend more time learning about cells. During the last five minutes, the kids cut out bodies for their personal person and glued them on to construction paper.

 I plan to divide the class up to have the older elementary kids work on a formal time-line and the crossword puzzle while the younger ones do a little coloring and copy work.  I like a challenge!

Apologia Biology: Module 1

 The Co-op class is in early stages.  It's only the second week.  At this point I am introducing a number of techniques, ideas, and approaches to the kids.  Our class is growing; one student's brother is joining us.  He doesn't want to be lumped with the younger children in Human Anatomy.  As a bright 7th grader, he may be up for the challenge of Biology.  I've had younger siblings audit the class before.  Nathan's sister, Sophie, is bringing him up to speed.

Today, the kids mostly worked on Ecology topics: food webs, vocabulary concept maps, and dichotomous keys, with a little taxonomy.  Apologia's textbook uses a five kingdom model for classification.  I showed them a six kingdom model.  The main difference is instead of Monerans are Eubacteria and Archaea (Archaebacteria, in some references).  The Archaea consist of bacteria which live in extreme environments, such as extremophiles.  I wrote KPCOFGS for them to identify Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.  I took a minute to review Binomial Nomenclature.  Reinforcement and frequent review is important in Biology owing to the number of terms.  It helps to point out Latin and Greek etymology whenever possible.

Before we tackle the biology key in the text, the class keyed Pamishan creatures (Answer key).  I've used this non traditional key for years.  It is fun and helps kids understand dichotomous keys.  Ask them to tell you the point to these discrete activities.  No, they aren't 'busy work'!

The girls worked on their children's book project and were introduced to the Enviroscape watershed model.  I introduced characteristics of living organisms with the mnemonic MRS C GREN.  (Note some biology teachers represent the 'C' by cells and others by circulation. I chose cells.).  I introduced  CER or Claim Evidence Reasoning with an example.  Then, I asked the class to predict what would happen to the shark population in an aquatic ecosystem, if the phytoplankton population died.  The girls understood immediately that the shark population in turn would die, making a claim.  Now, the evidence is trickier.  We speculated and drew up a simple food web for this ecosystem.  Then, the kids reasoned based on the food web's hierarchy, a collapse of the producers would have a domino effect on the entire ecosystem.  See how this approach allows for a deeper understanding?  Three hours goes by quickly.  We had a full morning.  Notice, our class is still working through Ecology.  I'm using this as a vehicle to introduce a variety of tools and techniques early on.

Young Explorer: Human Anatomy Lesson Five Health and Nutrition

Lesson Five is all about health and nutrition.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't be so excited.  But, my kids are going to work with 19 four year olds in a Head Start class which meets on our church campus.  Cool, right?  Certainly, we're going to work through our lessons and labs.  But, the kids will plan appropriate lessons for the little ones to coincide with their objectives.  Yes, there are loads of activities out there.  Let's select a few meaningful lessons.  Naturally, I look for Montessori lessons, such as these fruits and vegetables three part nomenclature card, a curriculum overview, this dairy album description, grains (in black and white), and this blog on food groups. What about food classification?  The site has food cards to sort into groups.  Perfect for more nomenclature!  Some of the little ones are English language learners.  Look!  Books!  Won't the elementary kids have fun selecting lessons?  I imagine a field-trip to the library!  Wouldn't your Co-op love to teach, too?

Young Explorers Human Anatomy: Notebooks

This fall, I'm teaching a class of elementary age children with Apologia's Young Explorer's Human Anatomy.  The series has companion notebooks for both younger and older elementary students.  So, I'm going to use both the Junior and regular notebooks with the class.  My emphasis is always to use 'hands-on' instruction; the book series suits me.  What's new for me is the integral focus on notebooks.  Don't get me wrong.  My kids have used notebooks for their classes.  I've never had a dedicated workbook I liked and which have some flexibility.  Apart from science camps or college courses,  I haven't taught mixed aged classes either.

Here's my plan.  First, I want to include book activities and photos of activities from class to make the notebook more of a scrapbook or lapbooks-ideal for portfolio submissions.  We'll add Montessorri album ideas, mini-books, and pockets.  Montessori Three Part Cards are useful to introduce nomenclature, such as these three part skeleton cards.  My kids will be making pockets for these types of cards.  We start class tomorrow and I can't wait to see how things go--beginning with these animal cell three part Montessori cards.

Apologia Biology: Module 1 Introduction

I promised to share our lessons after we finish.  I brought a month's worth of lessons to Co-op because of my pent-up desire to teach.  Was I ready!  First thing we did was to take a walk.  Really!  I had the class identify as many different organisms as possible.  I pointed out a few species, evidence of succession, a wetland area, and an oak grove.  (Our church property is lush!)  the girls went back inside and spent five minutes listing as many species as possible.  After sharing each girl's list, we brainstormed 100 organisms.  (Some of ours are on another page.)  Next, we discussed how to create food webs.  One tip is to create the food web in pencil to be able to make changes.  Another tip is to make each tropic level a different color.  I'll post ours when it's finished.

We set aside the food web to review binomial nomenclature.  Next week, we plan to research the scientific names for our species in the local ecosystem for the food web.  I didn't want to spend the whole morning on one activity.  Next, I placed a number of objects out for the girls to select five a piece.  Then, they had to write detailed descriptions.  Once they finished, we had Sophie get her sister and brothers.  The girls read each description and had the younger children see if they could pick them out.  The purpose is to help the kids see how important it it to make careful notes based on close observations.

Next, we planned the children's book project.  I review books frequently for NSTA and AAAS.  I brought several nonfiction books for the girls to examine.  We determined the rubric or guidelines together.  I like to create rubrics with the kids.  The girls agreed to work together on a book with penguins, polar bears, and pandas.  A few rounds of 'rock, paper, scissors' determined who got to pick first.  Right now, the girls are going to work together.  Part of the homework is to research their respective animals, it's habitat, and interesting facts.

Lastly, we started the watershed project.  Today, we only had time to brainstorm ideas.  Next time, I'll post my plans and follow-up with the results.