Coming along well
Nov 6th, 2006 by lapazfarm
The biology project that I wrote about earlier is coming along fine. Here is a picture of the organizational scheme in progress.
I have red files for kingdoms, blue files for major phyla, and yellow certain classes which we will be covering more in depth. (When we get to plants, I imagine I will do the division files in green.)
In each file will be the cards with photos, labels, and definitions, a news article and at least one activity, plus anything else I can think to throw in. Right now I am just focusing in on finishing files for the Kingdoms Monera and Animalia, plus the Animal phyla. I have finished Porifera, Cnidaria, and Echinodermata. I am also working on a red file for Archaea.
I wanted to discuss, for those who may be wondering, that I am indeed using the older “Five Kingdoms” approach as a jumping off point, and will be discussing the various other systems that have been introduced since molecular data has revolutionized taxonomy.
Anyway, all this is going on as we await delivery……..(me waiting)……(impatiently)…. of all of our hands-on materials, including microscope, slides, and plenty of other goodies. Once I get the microscope and give it a try, I will write up a review, as several folks have asked for a microscope recommendation. I will let you know!
Meanwhile I urge any of you that are interested in doing a biology unit to be sure to get some hands-on materials yourselves. It makes a world of difference to be able to see real examples of the things we are studying. Even if you don’t like to do dissections (understandable) there are plenty of other neat things that can be done to get that hands-on experience. We will be experimenting with bacteria, growing and observing protists, having fun with planaria and triops, looking at slides, and many other activities in addition to our dissections.
Here are a couple of places to look for supplies:
Please feel free to recommend in the comments any other biological science sources that you have done business with and have been pleased with.
I’ve ordered from Edmund Scientific (http://scientificsonline.com) before, but I think they may be a little more expensive on some things than Home Science Tools.
I am eagerly awaiting your microscope review
. And thanks for the activity recommendations you left in my comments!
This Biology project is amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us! I’ve been reading your blog for about a month now, and you have inspired me to focus a lot more on our Science areas of education. Everything you do with Superboy sounds like such fun! My son and I borrowed a couple of your ideas and he had a lot of fun with them. I really want to try the mentos and Diet Coke experiment. My parents are taking us to the beach this weekend and I think we’ll try to find a few of those letterboxes. I had never heard of such a thing.
Sometimes classification can be so confusing! I just found a great article on the Elephant Shrew which has previously been classified as an insectivore (shrews and moles), ungulate (antelope) or lagomorph (rabbit). But now they are placed in their own order, Macroscelidea under a proposed superorder Afrotheria along with aardvarks and manatees.
Help! My head is spinning! LOL!
I’m so glad you are posting a few science houses, I have to confess I’ve not ordered from such a place in a long, long time. Marianna and I’ve kept busy with household science up to now.
Wow, you are amazing, Theresa. I’m so impressed (and humbled)! Thanks for such great ideas.
I like this! I will probably steal this idea (Now where can I find a good deal on a multi-colored bunch of file folders)
This system will just keep growing, and carry you all through the high school years. By the way, THANK YOU for starting the e-mail list and sharing your files. I just bought new printer cartridges ($37 … ouch!) and am looking forward to “digging in” soon. 
I may also have a few things I can add to the files, just in case anyone can find some use for them. So much to do, so little time. 
I am so happy to see this! We are focusing on classification right now too, though at a younger age. I am going to have to put this together. Maybe it will be our summer project. You amaze me with your ability to pull all this stuff together! I do well to make a chart.