Free Animal and Science Curriculum At The National Zoo

If your kids are like my kids, then they love animals. We frequent the National Zoo website often, to watch the live animal cams. While I was nosing around looking what else they have to offer I found free curriculum and lesson plans covering conservation, panda bears, grasslands, urban habitats, wetlands. The conservation program is done completely online, the others you download and print. Some are for younger children but a lot are geared towards older learners. I will be using the Giant Panda lesson for both kids next year, and DJ will be doing all of them as part of his Science curriculum. Let your kids visit the National Zoo website and watch the live cams. It is FREE! While your at it let them enjoy the video of the Red Panda, below, from the National Zoo. Enjoy and happy learning!

The Return of Wolves To Yellowstone Week 2

DJ will continue this week with parts four, five and six, of National Geographic's series on the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. Plus he will have a reading and question on the next biome Deserts. Next week will be The Wetlands for the last biome before Christmas break. He is also doing Saxon Math 54 Lesson 46 reading fractions and mixed numbers. I have stopped the Spectrum math workbook for now, and am just concentrating on the Saxon math. While the Spectrum is challenging for him, it was too much, and he was losing focus. If I want him to excel in math, I have to back off a bit. For today Caitlin will do mostly computer educational games.

Biomes: Life In The Grasslands

Tomorrow for Science class DJ is starting Biomes, which is basically a fancy way of saying animal habitats. This will be an easy four weeks for him, because he can probably teach it. Tomorrow's biome is the Grasslands. The video below is for him and his sister to watch. Use it and enjoy it in your lessons. Caitlin is doing insects and the Grasslands. Since the first is on Wednesday I will be sharing our two new ideas for Advent Calendars for the 25 days of Christmas. Be sure to check back, I am ultra frugal, so anyone can make these.

Lesson Plans For 11/30/10:

DJ:
Science: Biomes: Life in the Grasslands
Math: Fractions, mixed math
Spelling: List 9 write each word three times each
Sign Language

Caitlin:
Science: Dinosaur lapbook with last drawing, Grasslands, insects
Printing Practice
Spelling: List 9
Language Arts: Blends, compound words
Read sentences to color the picture: WS
Sight words, clock work, calendar work, skip counting

Desert Plants and Animals

Tomorrow we only have a half day of school, and a good part of it is History and Math. The video below is quite long, but suits the needs of both of my children. We have been traveling around the world, learning about different countries. We are currently on Mexico, and tomorrow they are learning about the Mexican peso, and plants and animals of the desert. Since I couldn't find a video directly on Mexican deserts I chose this one because it is NM and AZ, close enough to Mexico. Plus Caitlin is learning about animals, and habitats, so this suits her needs as well. I will be doing a review on a cool dog book tomorrow, so be sure to check for that. If you have cable be sure to record History Channel's show on Thanksgiving, it is very good. We will also be making Native American shirts and dresses, to be worn on Thanksgiving Day. If you buy a plain white Tshirt then cut the bottom and sleeves to make fringe, then let your kids paint and design them you can have Indians for dinner too. The hats are easy. Just measure around your child's head then cut construction paper to correct length. Glue or tape to fasten. Then either make a feather, or print one off and fasten to the headband. Then we bought some big bold jewelry to go with the outfit. The kids are excited about this, and I will share pictures.

Animal Classification Review

Tomorrow we start our review for Science class. We have to go all the way back to the beginning of the year, and we first started with animal classification. This is sometimes confusing to children, and adults. There is a lot of information to remember. The two videos below help simplify it, and can be used for young children learning animal habitats, like Caitlin.

I am glad it is a new week, last week was kind of stinky. Why does everything happen at once, anyways? Is there some reason stinkiness can't be stretched out over months, rather than it all happening at once? Life is funny sometimes, that is for sure. Of course my stinky week does not compare at all to all those poor people stranded for five days due to the volcano erupting in Iceland, or the many earthquakes people have been experiencing over the last several months.

Lesson Plans For 04/20/10:

DJ:
Science: Animal Classification review
Math: Identify addend and sums, weight ounces and pounds
Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary
Sign Language Review
If time permits learning games, music, and or education software

Caitlin:
Nursery Rhymes
Animal Classifications
Color the picture following directions
Math: Addition with number line
Reading: Choose two books from reading list
Phonics: Short A
Flash Cards
Site Words

London Bridge Is Falling Down, Animal Habitat Frogs

One of the things I have really put off with Caitlin, as part of her kindgarten curriculum, is nursery rhymes. I really don't care for nursery rhymes, so I have been putting it off. All this week, since we are on vacation, I am compiling nursery rhyme videos for when we start again. The first one is London Bridge is Falling Down. Also, Caitlin has finished her animal book, so now she will start to learn about their habitats. The first one on the list is frogs. Of course frogs live in many habitats, and ecosystems, so watch the video below to learn some more about frogs, and their habitats. Have fun, and have a great Sunday.