Sunday, June 16, 2013

Planning Our Own Science Curriculum Part 2

As I mentioned in a previous post I am planning an out of the box 9th grade science curriculum with an in depth study of birds. You can find Part One of this post here. So far this is what I have come up with:




                  





The five selected books Grace will read then write a 1- 2 page report.


I have selected many movies from Netflix to watch:

Owl Cam: The Hidden World
World of Raptors
Wild Kingdom: Hunters of the Sky
Nature: Birds
Nature: Birds of the Gods
Birds, Birds, Birds!
The Life of Birds
Amazing Birds of America
Home School: Birds
Bird
Birders: The Central Park Effect
Animals in the  Wild: Bird in the Wild
Penguins: The Birds that Wanted to be Fish
Bird Park
So Many Feathers: Bird Watching
Flying Free
The Legend of Pale Male
Winged Migration


This will be the first book of the study I will have her read as an introduction to birding.
This is a log she will enter information in from the different birding field trips we will take during the year as well as the birds that visit our backyard on a daily basis.

My hopes are that this activity book will give Grace some jumping off points for her reports, and ideas for the two projects she will need create during the year. The last decisions I need to make for the upcoming year are what field trips to take and field work activities to be counted as lab time. One of the trips will definitely be to the Atlanta Zoo with their small bird aviary as well as 14 other birds.






9 comments:

A Candle to Read By said...

Love this approach! Whole books!Looks like lots of fun, too.

LJS said...

I am going to be building some courses of my own and I thank you for sharing how you are doing it. This is a first for me!

JNPmommie said...

Thank you for sharing so many wonderful books about birds. I also very much appreciate the list of Netflix videos. We'll have to catch some of them.

a49erfangirl said...

I really like the selection you chose for this bird study. You also picked a nice selection of movies on netflix. I hope you daughter enjoys it!

Unknown said...

What a great idea! All your planning is really going to pay off.

Beth B. said...

I don't know if it's available on Netflix, but you might look for Water Birds--one of Disney's True Life Adventures that won the Academy Award for best short in 1952.

conversaving.com said...

Sounds like you may live near me. I recognized the used book sale tag on one of your books! If you are looking for a great place to take a birding field trip, check out Callaway Gardens in Hamilton, Ga (near Pine Mountain). You can find them online. I have seen some info about birding things there and they have an awesome Birds of Prey show. If you contact them they may be able to tell you if they have any birding gatherings or guided walks, etc. Beautiful place with butterfly exhibit as well.

Sandra said...

My dd aged 12 is a keen bird lover. We're just starting Wesley the Owl and really enjoying it. I'll definitely bookmark this post since you've got some great resources I want to remember to strew for dd from time to time.

dstb said...

We're listening to Wesley the Owl on some long car trips. Very informative (although the guys could have skipped the part about the blender).

Another video to consider would be Ghost Bird about the ivory-billed woodpecker. There are also a number of books on the subject. I read The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. I thought it was quite good. Note that this book was published in 2004, right around the time of the controversial new sightings, so that info is not included.

This sounds like a great plan! Enjoy!

Sarah