Animals in the Freshwater Ecosystem

A few weeks ago, I would take the boys in the park for nature walks.  And we would always stop by in this huge pond were we get to see different animals and insects like swans, flies and ducks.  It’s a good thing that we previously had Insect Unit as Mavi was always on the lookout for insects and identify them. 

So I was thinking then that since we have the Marine Animals, why not talk about the animals in ponds, lakes, streams etc.  And that’s what we exactly did yesterday.  I made picture cards similar to our Marine Animals Cards and talk about each of the animals in the picture and identify in which freshwater ecosystem it belongs.

If you would like to have a copy, simply click on the image below

And this is how Mavi interprets the pond in our park.

 

 

 

For books here’s the list:

• Ponds Nature Trails
• Oceans
• Rivers and Streams Nature Trails
• Seashores Nature Trails
• What is an Ocean?

Hope you like the file. Enjoy!

Animal Exploration: A Study Guide

One of my objective this year is for Mavi to have a bigger understanding of the animal kingdom.  During his preschool and totschool days, I introduced animals via themed activities which he truly enjoyed.  But there was a point that he would asks more complicated questions and I just knew that I have to put “depth” into our lessons.

So let me share with you our outline of study which I considered as a guideline whenever we have a study about animals.  Now, this outline is for elementary level and I would not recommend this to preschoolers.  Familiarization is the first key for preschoolers to understand about the animals and the themed activities are best for this.

ANIMAL KINGDOM (Blog Post, Animal Kingdom Chart and Cards)

• VERTEBRATE SORTING (Blog Post, Vertebrate Sorting Cards)

 

• Study of Birds (Bird Unit I, Bird Unit II, Bird Activities, Bird Printable Pack)

 

• Study of Fish
• Study of Reptiles
• Study of Amphibians/Frogs
• Study of Mammals
• Animal Lifecycles (Blog Post, FREE Animal Lifecycle Cards )

 

• MOLLUSCS:  The Study of Snails  (Part One, Part Two, Snail Nomenclature Card and Definition Booklet)

• ARTHROPODS (FREE Arthropod Chart)
  • ARTHROPODS: The Study of Insects (Part One, Part Two)

• Butterfly Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet (FREE)
• Insect Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Grasshopper Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Ant Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Caterpillar Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Crustaceans
  • Crab Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Arachnids
  • Spider Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Chilopods
  • Centipede Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet

We also looked into the habitats of these animals:

ANIMALS AND THEIR HABITATS (Part One, Part Two, Animal Habitat Learning Materials )

 

For animals in freshwater and marine animals:

ANIMALS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM (Blog Post, FREE Animals in Marine Ecosystem Cards )

ANIMALS IN FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM (Materials Used, Blog Post)

There are fields that we haven’t touched yet, and I am hoping that we could explore them before the year ends.

Hope that you find this post helpful.

Linking to:

Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
Home + School = Afterschool!

Golden Beads Addition (Static and Dynamic)

In this post I am going to present how to do static and dynamic addition using the Montessori Golden Beads.  I purchased our Golden Beads at Absorbent Minds UK and I am happy of the materials despite the price. These materials can be purchased in any Montessori Shop.

ADDITION STATIC

Mavi would work on this in the morning. I find it hard to make him do Montessori activities in the afternoon as he tends to be tired or prefer to have  free play.

Anyway, we would set up the materials together  and he could finish the task with little assistance from me.  I prepared the equations before heand in Post-Its rather than using the small number cards. During the entire session he would pick 4 to 5 Post-Its in our magic box and would solve the equations one by one.

Shown below is an equation he worked recently.

So given the equations Mavi will layout the beads. We read out the quantity of the beads from left to right.

Now to add, combine the two sets of beads.  Emphasize  that addition is putting together. Once the beads are combined, count the unit beads first, and work through the tens and hundreds (to thousands if available).  Here Mavi would take note of the quantity by getting a large number card to represent the quantity. He would do the same with the tens and hundreds. Now note that we are currently doing addition up to hundreds only. 

To represent the sum Mavi stacked the number cards together as shown below. We would the  read the number together. Now we do this most of the time because he keeps on forgetting how to read large numbers.  If number cards are not available you can always use printable number card or just let the child write the sum on the paper.

DYNAMIC ADDITION (REGROUPING OF ONES)

Dynamic addition is commonly known as the process of addition wherein we need to carry over an amount.  In Montessori they do this by regrouping. The process is similar to static but the regrouping takes place when we now combine the beads.

Based the on equation that my son was working on, 8 and 7 sums to 15, which 10 and 5. Now, what we did here is to replace the 10 units a ten gold bar and retain the 5 unit beads. Add the new ten bar to the left and you can now start counting the total sum by counting the regrouped beads ( start counting from the right).

 

DYNAMIC ADDITION (REGROUPING OF TENS)

Similar process is applied when you need to regroup the tens. Replace 10 ten gold bards to a hundred bar and move it up to the left.

Then count the total sum of the beads from right to left.

And that’s it! So simple! You might think it is complicated but once you started working on it, it’s fun and can be addicting… well, that’s according to Mavi :)

Happy Monday!

Animals in the Marine Ecosystem (FREE Cards)

Previously, Mavi and I explored the animals in the marine ecosystem.  He had a wonderful time learning about the animals that lives in the shorelines, temperate and tropical ocean.

Here’s the file we used in this lesson.  Just click on the image below to access the link for the file download.

And here’s how I code each set of the animals for the control of error.

Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoy using this.

Exploring Animals in the Marine Ecosystem

 

A sudden change in weather made us look into the world of marine animals.  Per usual, we use Safari Toob Animal Figures (Safari Ltd Coral Reef Toob and Toob Toobs Sharks Miniatures ), Marine Animal Cards which I created a long time ago, books from the library (see affiliate list for the details) and some paper crafts for our mini project.

 

For books here’s the list:

• Ponds Nature Trails
• Oceans
• Rivers and Streams Nature Trails
• Seashores Nature Trails
• What is an Ocean?

Again, it is FREE DELIVERY if you purchase books via BOOK DEPOSITORY.

First things first, we look at pictures of shorelines, tropical oceans and temperate oceans.  As we do, we differentiate the temperate and tropical oceans and mark their location in the globe.  Seen below Mavi trying to draw oceans and the shoreline.

 

Since we seldom go to the beach (once a year?), I am not surprise my son doesn’t know what a shoreline is.  I guess, the next time we visit Philippines, we have to go to the beach everyday (my parent’s house is near the beach!).

 

We talked about animals adapting to their habitat, and this lead to look into aquatic and terrestrial turtles.  As seen below, aquatic turtles have flippers instead of feet.

Take note though, that as we are having this activity, our little Vito is having a good time with our toob boxes LOL.  I will talk about him and his activities next week as I am still finding space for his toys and materials.  You see have a very limited space at home so as much as possible I don’t purchase stuff that much as well.

 

To wrap up our lesson, we created the marine ecosystems in paper crafts (Mavi’s work is on the right).

          

Easy Rock Projects

We’ve accomplished three projects during our Rock Study. We had activities that can identify minerals in the rocks and an activity that familiarizes with the famous monuments and rock formations.

Activity 1:  Acid Test

What you need:  rock samples, vinegar and bowl.

Drop a rock into the vinegar.  If gas bubbles form, then it contains minerals called carbonates.

 

It’s unfortunate my camera cannot capture the bubbles this rock produces.  Mavi was ecstatic when he saw the bubbles coming out!

Activity 2:  Specific Gravity Test

What you need:  rock samples, weighing scale, notepad and pen, measuring cup/jug, water.

Choose a rock and weigh it.  Make a note of its mass (in grams).  Fill the measuring cup/jug to 200ml mark with water and carefully place the first rock sample into the water.  Look carefully at the scale on the cup/jug to read off the new water level.    Make a note of the new level of the water.

          

By dividing the mass of the sampled rock by its volume gives you its specific gravity.

Activity 3:  Modeling Rock Formations

What you need:  Playdough/Clay and Rock Formations picture cards

Finding Balance

For a healthier me, I've been running/strolling lately and I took the boys with me. Mavi scoots and Vito rides in his buggy.  With less than 3 months of this glorious heat, we're not wasting it at home... we'll grab the opportunity of enjoying this summer heat by spending our afternoons outdoors.  I grew up in a tropical country and I never stayed home when I was their age :) In a nutshell I am an outdoor person and believe it or not I get sick when I am physically inactive. 

That’s what I’ve been showing Mavi and exposing him to mother nature.  As I said , it’s healthier… not just for the physical body but for the soul as well.  Being with nature helps me commune with our Creator and keeps me calm.

But no worries, we’re still doing home “school” activities in the morning so there’s still something to look forward to. It’s just that I have less time to blog and read other blogs as well :(  I will try my best to catch up.

Oh and Mavi will be joining the football camp this summer as we are not yet sure if there’s still a place in the swimming class.  I am so excited for him!

What about you, how do you find balance in your life?