» The next big thing…biology! LaPaz Home Learning

The next big thing…biology!

Nov 3rd, 2006 by lapazfarm

This could take awhile, so bear with me!

We are getting ready to start a systematic study of biology. I know this type of thing is usually reserved for high school, but I was talking to Modgirl lately and she was lamenting the fact that she couldn’t remember a thing she learned in her biology class last year. I think (and she agrees) it is because they have to cover so much info in so short a time (one semester!). She basically crammed it in for each test, aced the test, and then it all fell right out again. Well, I do not want the same thing to happen to Superboy, so I decided to sart now, so that we could take our time and he could learn it all well enough for it to stick with him. Plus, he LOVES this stuff just like his momma!

So…I present…

BIOLOGY 101, Lapaz Farm Style!

(this is a work in progress, so please keep that in mind!)

We began with the animal kingdom, specifically the invertebrates. Why? Because of Pagoo. Superboy loved the book so much he wants to learn more about all the critters in the book, which are by and large, invertebrates. Now, this is not the usual place to start a systematic study, so what we will do is take a break soon to go back and catch up on simpler life forms, beginning with bacteria, moving on to protists, etc, etc.

But anyway…

Superboy spent some time this week making up this chart:

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It has columns for major invertebrate phyla and classes. He will then concentrate on one column at a time, adding pictures of the creatures as we study them. He began with Echinoderms because he finds them fascinating.

First he looked at all the scientific names in the column and made a list of the root words and looked up their meanings. He then made cards (like English from the Roots Up) for each with the root on the front, definition and examples on the back.

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This turned out to be VERY beneficial for Superboy because he can now EASILY remember that the class asteroidea is the starfish because aster=star and oid=shape or form, while the class echinoidea is sea urchines because echin=spiny and oid=shape or form. Easy, right? Well, it works for Superboy, anyway.
Then comes my part, so I made this for him:

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This is part of a system I am working on for him to learn biology. It is a series of folders, one for each phylum, with the following:

Montessori-ish three-part cards with photo, name labels, and definitions for each class.
Self-checking sheets for photos and name labels (definitions are on back of cards for self-checking).
An article from the news about some critter in the phylum.
At least one activity related to the phylum.
Anything else I can dig up to add to it!

The folders are color coded by level, with blue being the phylum level (shown above).

I have red folders for each kingdom (or part of a kingdom-I made seperate folders for invertebrate and vertebrate animals) and yellow will be for when we go in depth on a certain class (as we will certainly do for insecta and arachnida!)

I have only finished a few, as it takes quite a while to assemble the materials. Making the cards is especially time consuming-hunting up the pictures, cutting and pasting onto cards, typing out the definitions… I know there are stores that sell this type of stuff pre-made, but I really want it done MY WAY, so that’s what I do.
Here you can see Superboy working with the Invertebrate materials…

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And here he is working with both the invertebrate file, and the Echinoderms…

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And he already has all the names memorized! What a smartie pants!

BUT THAT”S NOT ALL!

Did you think I would forget about my commitment to hands-on learning? Oh, no!

I also placed a really large order to several biological supply houses to get the following:

A higher powered microscope to compliment our dissecting and field scopes.
A set of prepared slides for biology
A bacteria study set
A protist study set (with instant mixed protist powder! Yum!)
Hydra
Planaria (fun little flatworms)
Triassic triops (we’ve ben wanting this for awhile)
not ordered yet, but soon: A dissection set for most of the animal kingdom (earthworm, crayfish, clam, etc…).

Of course we will continue to try to tie in any living books that we can, too, but those will mostly be focused on our American History studies which also begins soon.This should be a great adventure!If you care to join us, I would love to share my files as I make them. I just need suggestions as to how to best share them. emailing them individually takes forever with Yahoo mail, so I’d rather have a way to post them online for anyone to access. And it needs to be free. Any suggestions?

Posted in Curriculum or Lack Thereof..., nature study | 20 Comments

20 Responses to “The next big thing…biology!”

on 03 Nov 2006 at 4:53 pm1 Andrea (admin)

Want me to check on how much space you have left here? You can upload more than just pics. (If not, all I have to do is go change a setting somewhere)
on 03 Nov 2006 at 5:17 pm2 Leonie

Wow – I admire all your work and prep and it looks like a great unit.

Can’t help with the online thing – unless you set up a separate blog just for biology?
on 03 Nov 2006 at 5:37 pm3 Taffy

Theresa this looks AWESOME! You are an answer to a girl’s prayers to how to teach sciences in a way that my LogoBoy can appreciate! I’m going to shamelessly plagerize this idea!

About putting your files online… how about starting a geocities website? I’d tinkered with one in the past – it’s really not hard and is a great place to put up static pages. You can have more than one site if you need extra space and can provide links to all of the seperate site on the main page. I don’t know how to put pdf files into it though.

BTW – Would you be interested in collaborating on creating the news pages, info cards, etc.? It might make the work go a bit faster and I’d be so interested. My background is a degree in Animal Science and a diploma in Veterinary Technology (formerly known as Animal Health Technician or veterinary nurse) if that matters. Email me and let me know!

And I’m still going to copy this idea anyway. You are so smart!

Lapazfarm says:

Thanks, Taffy! I would love any help you’d like to give. I just need to figure out the upload issue and then we can collaborate away! I think it will be important that they are formatted similarly. If you wanted to do some of the news items, that might be a great way to start as formatting won’t be as important. Ideally I’d like to find one article for each phylum, with more for phyla like arthropoda (perhaps one per class at least.) Then we just need a way to share the files.
on 03 Nov 2006 at 7:03 pm4 CM Blogger

Sounds like a great study! I bet your children will love it from start to finish!
on 03 Nov 2006 at 9:14 pm5 Marjorie

Theresa, this is wonderful! Caddie and Scarlett would LOVE this! I completely understand your enthousiasm. I have been wanting to integrate more hands on montessori type activities for my older children, but didn’t know how to begin or in what subject. Both girls (OK and their Mom) live and breath nature study so this would really work well. I am not an expert on anything internet or computer related, but you could start a yahoo group and upload the files to the group file section. Those interested could select and download the materials This also gives a nice calendar if you want to show a progression, photos etc. Plus it is free to upload and to access. Please keep us posted on this fabulous work.
on 03 Nov 2006 at 9:24 pm6 Sue

Wow! That is great! My kids think your kids are lucky! lol Can’t wait to see it.
on 03 Nov 2006 at 10:35 pm7 Angel

You might see if you can donate them to montessorimaterials.org . All the stuff on the site is donated and free.

It really looks great, Teresa. I have been itching to get my kids into classification for a while now. I bought some 3 part cards for fungi from Montessori Services, but of course I don’t have any big charts breaking down the different kingdoms, etc. We’re gearing up to do the Timeline of Life here (we do teach evolution at our house, but in line with Catholic teaching), and hopefully I can integrate classification with it. (Honestly the problem isn’t my Katydid, who would probably *jump* at the opportunity to work with your stuff, it’s getting my Gareth to do anything that doesn’t interest him at the time! LOL) Which is all a longwinded way of saying, I’m interested, too!

(BTW, do you have any recommendations as far as microscopes go? We’re in the market!)
on 03 Nov 2006 at 10:51 pm8 Donna Marie

Wow! I would love to know how to do this too!
see me smooshing my nose up to the glass? ;o)
Wonderful ideas Theresa!!
on 04 Nov 2006 at 3:11 am9 Steph

This is awesome! I have been trying to find an intuitive hands-on way to teach animal/plant classification for several years. I have a card game – of sorts – that deals with this (it’s still on the computer hard drive – never printed. LOL!) and a lapbook I made on the kingdoms of life (that never really impressed the kids all that much.) That’s as far as it got. I can’t wait to see your files.
on 04 Nov 2006 at 8:03 am10 Rebecca

Theresa, this is so well thought out and thorough. I am starting the same topic with my son and had printed out all of the classification cards from the Montessori materials site. Yours look wonderful! I will be checking back here often for inspiration and ideas!
on 04 Nov 2006 at 8:30 am11 Valerie

Once again, Theresa, you have not failed to inspire me! I would love access to your materials…looks like just the right thing. I’ve always been intrigued by the 3-part Montessori cards that are all over the place. I really like our system with the folders. Why didn’t I think of that???
on 04 Nov 2006 at 9:00 am12 CamianAcademy

Awesome! Thank you so much for being willing to share your incredible ideas!
on 04 Nov 2006 at 10:06 am13 Jennifer

Theresa, anything I can do to help, let me know! Marianna and I were just talking about focusing on Science for a while and giving History a bit of a break…
on 04 Nov 2006 at 11:02 am14 Big Brother

Remind me and I’ll send you the Powerpoint presentation for the seminar I’m giving later in the month in Chapel Hill on the on the hydrodynamics of copepods. Umm…once I figure out what I’m going to say. It’s Ph.D. level stuff, but he’ll probably get something out of it.
on 04 Nov 2006 at 11:47 am15 woodstone

Wow, what an awesome unit study! I might have to “borrow” some of your ideas. ;o)

I’m glad you stopped by my blog and saw the lapbooks we just finished, thank for your feedback. You were the inspiration for those… Thanks for getting us started with such a fun and meaningful way to learn!
on 05 Nov 2006 at 1:26 am16 Alice

Theresa, this is FABULOUS!!!! You may be sure I will be signing up for the file sharing. {{{{{{Hugs}}}}}} from me to you! Thanks!
on 06 Nov 2006 at 11:23 pm17 Meredith

This is incredible, are you a teacher or something??? You really have it going here girl, what a lucky duck that Super Boy is, great job, looking forward to seeing the progress!
on 07 Nov 2006 at 12:08 pm18 Karen E.

You’re incredible.
on 09 Nov 2006 at 4:29 pm19 About Our Educational Week | A Room of My Own

[...] In addition, their dad is doing semi-structured weekly Biology and Chemistry lessons with both kids, using the Noeo Science curricula. I am also delving into The Lapaz Farm Biology Project. (This lady is my home schooling heroine! ) Stay tuned! [...]
on 27 Nov 2011 at 10:42 am20 Phylum journaling | Grmetromanagem

[...] The next big thing…biology! LaPaz Home LearningNov 3, 2006 … It has columns for major invertebrate phyla and classes. He will then … It is a series of folders, one for each phylum, with the following: … [...]