Learn About Maine Marine Life

If you would like to learn more about Maine marine life, there are some wonderful free resources on the web. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has a very nice Teacher's Guide to Marine Life of the Gulf of Maine which has information about clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, crabs, shrimp, lobster, sea stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, sea cucumbers, and more. Another great resource is the Gulf of Maine Marine Coloring Book. If you want to learn more about lobsters, you can print the free Lobster's Life Coloring Book for younger children and a Lobster Booklet for older children and adults.


Don't forget to read some great stories from Maine such as:
Blueberries for Sal
One Morning in Maine
Time of Wonder
Andre the Famous Harbor Seal
Miss Rumphius

Starting a Nature Journal

I have been waiting for spring to start a nature journal with Jacob. I know we could have started one in the winter but I am not a huge fan of being outside in the cold and thought it would be much easier in the spring. I got the book, Keeping a Nature Journal, out of the library and that has been a great help in inspiring me to begin and giving me ideas on directions we could go in. We are keeping it simple right now and Jacob has been drawing pictures of flowers, birds, worms, bugs, etc. that we have seen in our yard. I have Jacob write the name of the plant or animal and the date he drew the picture. We have looked up more information about some of the things we have found in our yard on-line and also in our copy of The Handbook of Nature Study. You can go here to download a free copy of the book to view on your computer. It is a wonderful book and Jacob has enjoyed having me read sections from it.

Jacob has been more enthusiastic then I thought he would be regarding keeping a nature journal. We have been going on nature hikes since he was little and sharing our love of nature with him which he seems to have caught. He has also developed an interest in drawing this last year since I started him with the Usborne I Can Draw Animals book. We then moved on to Draw Really Cool Stuff which has helped him learn how to draw bugs, birds, and animals. I think this year was a really good year to start a nature journal because Jacob is now able to draw things quite well without getting frustrated. I give him simple drawing technique suggestions every once in a while but I mostly just provide him with drawing books, paper, and drawing pencils and let him do his own thing. I have included a couple examples from Jacob's nature journal and some other helpful websites below.













I highly recommend visiting The Handbook of Nature Study Blog for inspiration and ideas. If you want to learn more about starting a nature journal then head over to Home-Made School.

Our Nature and Science Table

This last week, we took a break from most of our regular homeschooling schedule but we still managed to find time for some fun learning. I decided to try out a couple creative ideas which I had read about and the kids loved both ideas. The first idea is the nature table which I turned into a nature and science table. As you can see from the picture, I spread out our shell collection on a small table with a lamp on it. I placed a magnifying glass and a shell identification book beside the shells. The kids were really interested in the shells for 2-3 days and spent a number of hours interacting with them. Rosa spent a lot of time looking at the shells and other objects around the room with the magnifying glass. She also spent some time looking at the shell book.

Jacob was inspired to create his own shell book. I made a simple blank book for him out of a few sheets of paper stapled together and he sketched out eight different varieties of shells and labeled them. He made a cover for the book out of an old scrap of wallpaper. Next Jacob sorted the shells by size and then by the type of shell. None of these ideas were suggested by me so I was extra happy to get to record in our homeschooling planner that Jacob had covered science, writing, art, and a bit of math all during vacation.

Some other ideas for a nature/science table are rocks, leaves, and other natural items found outside such as moss, lichen, acorns, and pine cones. Don't forget the magnifying glass and an identification book if you have one. You could borrow one from your library if you don't. We are going to do a magnets table in the future. I might also use this idea to get my kids interested in my collection of coins from other countries and my old stamp collection. There are lots of possibilities. I found that putting a collection of items out in an attractive way generated a surprising amount of interest in my children.

Human Body Unit: Muscles

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about our human body science unit. After learning about the skeleton, we moved on to study muscles and made more fun models from The Body Book. We made a model of a muscle contracting and relaxing and also a model of the bicep (shown in the photo). The model of the bicep allowed Jacob to see how his arm moves when the bicep contracts and how the bicep is attached to the shoulder blade and the radius. We did an activity called "How Muscles Move Your Body" from Janice VanCleave's The Human Body for Every Kid: Easy Activities That Make Learning Science Fun. We have used activities from this book throughout our study of the human body and I really appreciate how most of the activities can be done with items you already have around the house.

We learned more about muscles from the books "You Can't Make a Move Without Your Muscles" by Paul Showers and Muscles: Our Muscular System by Seymour Simon. Unfortunately the first book is no longer available from Amazon.com but you can probably get it through your library. Jacob is really enjoying the combination of good books, hands on activities, and model making as we study the human body.

Human Body Unit: The Skeleton

Jacob has been interested in human anatomy and physiology since he was around four years old. This is a subject I enjoy because anatomy and physiology was one of my favorite courses in college. There is a great resource available which makes a unit about the human body come alive. It is called The Body Book:Easy-To-Make Hands-On Models That Teach and it is filled with fun models to make including models of the tongue, eye, ear, skin, skeleton, brain, digestive system, respiratory system, heart, urinary system, joints, and a tooth. We are currently studying the skeleton and will be moving on to other areas of the body shortly. The picture above shows Jacob with the skeleton model he made from "The Body Book" and he enjoyed it so much that he asked to make a second one. This book says it is for Grades 3-6 but Jacob is in the 1st grade so I would say it is also for advanced 1st and 2nd graders who have good scissor skills.

I thought I would share some other great books about the skeleton to go along with "The Body Book". They are below and you can click on them to read more about them. Jacob gave the Bones book five stars but I would say it is more geared to the typical 3-6th grader. I will be adding more blog posts in the future about our Human Body Unit with pictures of the fun models we are making and other recommended books.