Tina's Dynamic Homeschool Plus

dy•nam•ic constant change, progress, activity

Search Results for: lapbook

Review of Supercharged Science – Grades K – 8

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

If reviews ended up being about homeschool confessions then this would be one. I am the first to admit that I am a hands-on teacher. So turning over the teaching reins to somebody else, even in the form of videos didn’t interest me, or so I thought.

I had heard of Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH before, but I didn’t really understand the e-science program until now. I think what really piqued my interest in wanting to take a gander at reviewing the Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH was the way it is laid out. It utilizes a unit study or theme approach and when I heard that I just had to give it a look. The program touted too that learning isn’t based on an age or grade level but on the child’s intrinsic value. I couldn’t agree more because science textbooks would have us believe that science know how needs to be canned and boxed by grade level.

I think, in public school, is where my science aversion started because of tiresome textbooks. Science programs would have you believe that it has to be austere or rigid in order to learn. And, that unless you are just reading tons and tons of snoring boring pages you will not get it. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Though I love to read, I am a visual and hands-on learner too and the textbooks did not satisfy my desire to learn about science. My phobia of science is not a virtue that I want my sons to follow. So I have spent my homeschool journey poring over programs that were both rigorous and hands-on while keeping it dynamic and fun.

supercharged science

So I don’t  want to make you wait for my eat humble pie confession very long so I will say right now that Supercharged Science has to be one of the best science programs we have ever used. I feel it is important to tell you why though and I will in a minute.

Getting the whole picture of why my first impression of Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH was not exactly favorable may help you to understand this confession session. First, I was under the impression that the Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH was a video only program.  Like you, I homeschool my kids because I want to be a hands-on teacher. It is equally important to me that I understand what concepts my kids are learning.  I can’t help but to vision this picture in my mind about kids perched on a chair with eyes glued to the computer watching videos. It always reminded me of mummy learning and not mommy teaching.

Second, what usually follows my video only thinking is that there are no lesson plans, vocabulary or quizzes that are printable. Now, you know I got off the public school treadmill a long while back and I am not interested in repeating what we left behind, but I do want tools so that I can expand on what my kids are learning.  Sometimes I even prefer to make my own printables or lapbooks, you know that. What I am saying is that having printable lesson plans and tools is equally important to me.

Both of those things I had all wrong about Supercharged Science. It had enough printable .pdfs to make the organized lesson planning teacher part of me happy downloading while the boys could watch any video or topic of their choice. For example, though I wanted to start on an easier topic,  Mr. Awesome and Tiny chose Unit 7 or Astrophysics. I promptly downloaded all 73 pages of the pdf and reviewed it. That is just a standard I set for myself as a teacher because I want to know what they will be learning.  The difference between Supercharged Science and other video based ones I have used before is that Supercharged Science recognizes that some parents want to be involved. As homeschool parents we don’t want to be on the sidelines but in the middle of the lesson planning. The only way to do that is to see how these concepts are being built on by being able to both print the information when desired and to watch alongside our children. I was warming up quickly to Supercharged Science.

The Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH is not a video only mummy watching process either because I determine when and how long my kids watch. I can still have our 1:1 time that I cherish so highly while using the engaging and exciting Aurora Lipper to teach us all.

There is no doubt you could get easily overwhelmed on the site but that is because you see the heart of Aurora Lipper written all over it. I don’t know about you but I will take an enthusiastic teacher who obviously loves the subjects she teaches over a bit of having to swim through a lot of content.  This is a curriculum that you definitely have to start with the Getting Started section. It may sound like that is so basic but it went a long way in me understanding how to get the full benefit of the e-science program.

Don’t just read what she says either, but watch her video as she expresses best how to use the site. Doing that we were able to pick a couple of the easy “hook me onto science” projects like the flying contraption and microwaving soap. The emphasis that science is about doing and not just reading is thinking that I agree with.

Because I have to organize things and because I know I didn’t fully understand the flexibility of this program, I made this simple chart so that you can see the many options of this program.

supercharged science

Glance above at this How to Use Supercharged Science Chart and you will see that you can use it any way you want to. For Unit 7, we started by literally jumping right into it.  We chose a topic and instantly began viewing the videos. Mr. Awesome couldn’t wait to learn about time travel and both Tiny and Mr. Awesome were ready to get started after they completed a few hands-on activities.

The first option above was the part that I did not understand that was offered by the e-science program. For me, there are moments in science when I want the boys to ponder what the Creator has done. I want to discuss with them and have them dwell on their Bible based beliefs before I give them the answer or before they watch a video. Choosing the first option gives me the flexibility to decide when that is important to me.

It’s relative to mention right now too that Supercharged Science does not profess to be secular or Christian which I too happen to appreciate. From the website: (Note: We focus on how to build the robot, take data and measurements, work a microscope, launch the rocket, why a laser works…basically sticking to the physics of what’s going on and how to build the projects. The e-Science program does not cover creation nor evolution so all families may participate.)

It covers K-12th grade Physical Science, Chemistry, Life Science, and Biology. The beauty to this program is that it takes all the work out of lesson planning unless you want to lesson plan. The themes referred to as “Study Units” range in topic from mechanics, motion, energy, sound, astrophysics to life science, chemistry and biology.  There are over 900 experiments to choose from and enough to keep us busy for hours as we pore over science topics.

supercharged science

I know exactly what I want from a science program and that is key to determining if this will work for you. If you are not sure what you want from a program then all of them will be similar. I know hands-on is key for me like I mentioned in the beginning but also I want rigorous standards. So it is a bonus that Supercharged Science meets and even exceeds some state’s standards and is aligned with the National Standards for Science. Not to be overlooked by any means is the engaging attitude of Aurora Lipper as she leads the lessons. She is not like any science teacher I ever had in school. Both Mr. Awesome and Tiny find her witty, entertaining and likable. Did I mention she use to work at NASA and teach at a university? She is not like any professor I knew either.

Supercharged Science Activities - 1

Not only do the units range in variety from topics about life science to  energy and robotics but there are over 1000 videos. So one secret I have been keeping from you are all these pictures of hands-on projects we have been doing. The boys have been so thoroughly captivated by all of the hands-on projects in this program and we have not been doing much else.  I do think this why I am behind on finishing my Home Management Binder but I don’t mind. The boys have literally been jumping from project to project and I have been letting them do so because of their curiosity and thirst for these topics.

The last thing I need to talk about is one slight rub about this program. I received 18 emails in the 5 weeks I reviewed this program. Each email is filled with nuggets of information I want to glean for the benefit of my kids. However, with the other emails I need to read for homeschooling in addition to those, many of them got overlooked. Now, I have created a special file in my inbox and just move them over in there as they come in to save and read later. I know that I would appreciate a newsletter maybe once or twice a month regularly that can be anticipated and planned instead of many emails scattered each week. If new members signed up, they could access the archives as an added membership bonus in case they joined in between emails.

It is no doubt Aurora Lipper is one of the best science teachers my boys have had and her talent shows in her emails. The communication emails could be such a treasure trove if they were all bundle up as science reading tips on a regular basis.

It has been hard to label my metamorphosis about this product into anything other than a mini story.  Summing this all up, this is what I heart about Supercharged Science.

  • At every step of the process, I can adapt the Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH to how I want to use it.
  • I do not have to give up the teaching reins but use Supercharged Science as a superior tutor.
  • I do not have to give up the time I spend 1:1 nurturing my children, but add to their love of science by using engaging and well thought out topics to ignite their passion for it.

supercharged science

  • As Not Technical Tina, I cringe when Mr. Awesome and Tiny said they wanted to make the Hydraulic Pneumatic Earth Mover. However, Supercharged Science took us step by step through the process in the video. We could watch and pause the video and come back anytime. We probably have the most colorful hydraulic pneumatic earth mover ever but my sons won’t ever forget it.
  • I appreciate that we don’t have to keep pace or in sync with any lesson plans. We determine which unit we start on and decide how long to stay and when to move on. We can spend as much or as little time on each topic.
  • All lesson materials are there for me as the organizer so I can print off contently in my curriculum planner and plan. In addition, there is a material lists that can be printed off for each unit.
  • One of the best parts we are finding too is that so many of the experiments can be done with simple things you have around the house. For example, when making the hydraulic pneumatic earth mover, we used diet coke lids as wheels. Dad had clear tubing from our bathtub business and the one thing I had to pick up were syringes from the pharmacy. Everything else we had among the junk stuff in our home.
  • I appreciate the fact evolution or creation is not addressed because I have always preferred adding our own Bible based views.
  • The program can be used by ALL the children in your home without paying extra. What a deal. Whether you have 3 or 6 kids, it can be used for all ages.
  • Even homeschool moms need substitute teachers once in awhile.  With Supercharged Science I can let the kids watch the videos, do the hands-on experiments while I take a teaching break.
  • Last but certainly, not least with over 900 experiments to choose from and with study units still coming like Bonus Advanced Astronomy, Earth Science and Advanced Robotics Lab, Supercharged Science will keep science both fun and captivating for my boys.

Thank you to Supercharged Science and to Aurora and Al Lipper. My family was completely immersed in this review and it is our privilege to be part of this wonderful e-science program. All of your hard work and dedication to the children and to science is obvious once you enter the warm and inviting doors of your website.

{Remember to go to the bottom to click the graphic to try a sampling of the e-science program.}

Product Name: Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH

Website:Supercharged Science  –Online Homeschool e-Science Program SH

Price:$37.00 per month for the K-8 or $57.00 per month for K -12. {Note: During the first month of e-Science K-8 and e-Science 9-12, members get access to the first 7 units, plus additional sections like “The Scientific Method”. In addition, if there is a later unit or two that someone wants to access early, they can just drop us an email and we’ll give them free access to it immediately. This way, if someone is working on a certain topic, they are never made to wait months to have access to it.}

Ages: My review was for K-8, but the program includes K-12.

Type of Product: Online video curriculum for K-12 graders BUT LOTS of pdf downloads and teacher’s notes for the teacher in you.

Free things you’ll love:  Get Your FREE Homeschool Science Guide With Over 30 Fun Activities!

Customer Service: My email with download arrived promptly as promised and I had a log in problem that was corrected immediately. Customer service was prompt and excellent.

Religious Perspective: From the website: (Note: The e-Science program does not cover creation nor evolution so all families may participate.  The focus of the program is on how to launch the rocket, build the robot, use a microscope, take measurements and data, etc.)

iPad or iPhone: Not available yet, but they are working on it.

Technical Requirements: The e-Science program works well on a variety of computer and browser platforms. E-Science supports the following operating systems with the latest available versions of the indicated browsers: Windows Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10Mozilla Firefox 10.0 or higher, Macintosh OS X Safari 3.0, 4.0, 5.0Google Chrome OS Google Chrome

Hugs and love ya,

All product information is correct and accurate as of the date of this review.

 

 

Homeschool Review: Lone Star Learning: Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 & Free Notebook Cover

| 1 Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

Curriculum collecting junkie that I am, I thought I knew just about all of the homeschool friendly vendors that hail from my home state, the Lone Star state.

Photobucket

So I was plain giddy to review Set 1 of the Science Vocabulary Pictures from Lone Star Learning because I had not heard of them. I know this is not suppose to be a review of all the products they have, but you’ll have to take a peek at their other products.  They are so swoon worthy.

Look at this Create-A-Folder. Can you say digital lapbook? I just had to take my time looking at everything on their site while I waited for them to ship me the Science Vocabulary Pictures.

When the vocabulary word cards arrived, the first thing I did was to try to get as many of the Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 cards in a picture for you as I could. There are 40 cards in each set and they are not small either. They are 5.5″ x 8.5″ and in full color.  I am so pleased with the quality of the paper and how durable they are because I know they will hold up after much use.  We could not put them down as we wanted to go over each one and study the pictures.

I think the biggest reason I was so tickled to review these cards was because I wanted to say: FINALLY!

Finally, somebody gets the way that a lot of children learn and that is visually.  I feel teaching vocabulary is not just about writing tons of sentences over and over again as if only using it in a sentence is going to demonstrate mastery of the word and the definition. It makes me think of an example I share a lot in my workshop about teaching a foreign language. If a person does not understand a foreign language, then will showing them more words by flashing them faster in a flashcard set make them learn quicker? Will just displaying a word on a page with the definition make them suddenly “get it”. It’s crazy, but even seasoned veterans do this when we teach our children vocabulary. We write a word on a page along with a definition but provide no visual association. So the point I make in my workshop is that the age old method of learning a foreign language is picture association. I believe that learning vocabulary is like teaching a foreign language. Picture/word association makes the connection for a learner.

Then my praise for this product doesn’t stop here as I recall another struggle in my journey when I taught Mr. Awesome to read. Showing him the “A” flash card, explaining the short a sound and pointing to the “apple” was so much for him to take in. It is like he had too many mental steps to take to get the letter/sound association. Until I switched to alphabet letter people that were “objects or pictures” as one unit, he didn’t make progress.

So what I noticed immediately about the Science Vocabulary Pictures was that the word and definition are “one” in picture form. The word is not on the front and the definition on the back. You can decipher the meaning of the word from the shape or picture form of the word. I was elated and kuddos to Lone Star Learning for promoting products that our children can actually learn from.

I think it’s important for you to know too that the definitions come with the package but they are all on one card size page. It is more like a list or reference tool for you. If you are thinking about your child copying the definition, the text is not real big on that one page.

If you want your children to have the definition strips and work with matching them up to the word, you can purchase them separately like I did. They are shown here above with the vinyl pockets that I did not get.

The definitions come on a page style with 6 strips per page. I appreciate that because then I can decide if I want them laminated or not.  I will show you in a minute though what I did with these sweeties because you know I have to organize and store them.

We started using the cards right away. Because we were studying the Inuit and about the Arctic, the vocabulary cards worked right into our unit study.  The activities we focused on at the beginning was to sort the words and understand their definition in how they related to the Inuit and the Arctic. So Tiny sorted through the cards, grouping them into two piles.

One pile we focused on immediately because it was related to our Inuit and Arctic study and the second pile I saved later because it was not as relevant to our immediate topic.

Another day we focused on including all of the cards to learn but we used them to try to form acrostics as they related to our unit study. He was tickled to get the word I C E from the cards. If you have not worked with your children a lot on teaching vocabulary words or are coming to that in your journey, then check out the free section that is called Conference Handouts . It has several free downloads but the one titled Vocabulary gives you some tips on how to teach vocabulary.

Before I show you how I am storing the Science Vocabulary Pictures, I need to mention to you that because of a shipping mistake we received the Target Vocabulary Set 1 originally instead of the Science Vocabulary Pictures. Though we both know that any vendor is not required to let you keep a product when a mistake is made, Lone Star Learning did let me keep this second set of vocabulary cards.  It is rare when I am speechless but I was because of the generosity of Lone Star Learning. It sets a tone for customer service that means a lot to me if I do business with somebody.

Photobucket

I was as equally impressed with the Target Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1 as I am with the Science Vocabulary Pictures. The Target Vocabulary Pictures are math vocabulary words presented visually like the Science Vocabulary Pictures. You know I told you we use Math U See for part of our math program and all of my boys, including my high schoolers, had to play with these math cards when we got them. Both sets of cards lends themselves to games like matching. We took 7 of the cards turned them face down along with the definition and then Tiny tried to see if he could match the definitions. Learning is suppose to be fun, hands-on and interactive and Lone Star Learning makes that possible.

We focused on learning the Science Vocabulary Pictures and their definition since there are 40 in the set and we will be working more with the Target Vocabulary Pictures for math more because they are 57 cards in the set we got. I have a complete unit for both math and science with these two sets.

If I could change some things about this product or should I say the description of the products I think I would focus on using the term visual learner. The website says in several places for their digital products that they help with students of special needs.  Maybe so. However, I feel we live in a very visual world and technology is catching up with that because of how many of us use an iPad in our school and use more online resources than ever before.  I don’t feel we should ever do away with print or paper as I have always said I am a paper girl living in a digital world. But using a term like visual learner to explain their products, instead of focusing on special needs only, encompasses a lot more us who have strong visual modes as part of our learning style. I think it is best to learn through many modes and visual needs to be seen as more than just for special needs.

Also, I had emailed them a question I had about my product and they informed me that they have been doing some website revisions but I feel, it would be easier to navigate the products if they had more uniform product names. I wasn’t sure if that was being worked on or not. Maybe because of my need to organize but I feel the Target Vocabulary Pictures should match in product name to the Science Vocabulary Pictures. Target Vocabulary makes me think of words in general and not math concepts. I may have overlooked the Target Vocabulary Pictures about math just because of the title. A term like Math Vocabulary Pictures makes it easier to remember. Though each math card may not have pictures on them, each word is presented in a visual manner, so the term is pretty consistent with the Science Vocabulary Pictures.

Now if I get to dream of new products on the site, I would wish for sets of cards that would be theme or unit based. I love, love, love the fact that the cards are not grouped by age level or grade but by needs. Would it be a stretch to wish for a “rain forest theme only” set, a “chemistry theme only” set or “plant theme only” set?

Because these two products are keepers in my home and because we will be using all of the cards for a while longer, I needed a place to organize my newest babies. I thought about Avery’s Protect and Store Mini 1 inch binder that is 5.5 by 8.5 inches . You mean not everybody  keeps binder sizes in their heads and dreams about what they can store next in a binder? Weird.

Organization heaven. The math cards fit right into the storage pocket on the left side of the binder. Then, I purchased some Avery sheet protectors and added two Science Vocabulary Pictures to each page, front and back. It is the perfect tool for storing these beauties.

The definition strips I purchased separately fit in the pocket and we can concentrate on the ones we want to learn each day by matching them up, taking them out of the pocket or leaving them in so they can be memorized. LOVE IT!!!

Then I had to make a pretty cover so it matches my school room decor. Would you like a free pretty cover for your notebook? I used the title Science Vocabulary Pictures since our focus is on the science.

Download here a front cover, a binder side insert, and a back cover for your mini notebook.

I hope you love the cover. Here are some quick facts at a glance in one spot about the Science Vocabulary Pictures so you can locate them easily.

Photobucket

Product Name: Science Vocabulary Pictures, Set 1

Website:  Lone Star Learning

Price: From $29.99

Grades/Ages to use it for:  They are not arranged by grades but by sets. Again, I love this part. Look over each set to determine what your needs are. So you have an idea though about grade level they are intended Grades 3-8.

Type of Product:  Available in 5.5″ x 8.5″ full color, coated cards that show the word and its meaning in picture form. Digital products available too.

Accessories you will love:  Vinyl pockets, Vocabulary Definition Strips, and Vocabulary Spanish Word Strips.

Customer Service: My question emailed to them was answered quickly and thoroughly the next day.  My experience in customer service was excellent.

I already purchased the definition strips and know that I will be purchasing more items from Lone Star Learning. Overall, I was delighted with both of the products I received and would highly recommend them to you if are struggling to teach your children science or math or if you don’t want to begin to struggle. Again, be sure to look over all of their products. I have my wish list going already and I can’t help but say that I am proud to give you a shout out about this vendor from my home state.

Hugs and love ya,

{Disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.}

 

The Inuit & Arctic Circle Hands-On Activities

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I thought we were going to skate passed the icky sick season this year because we were doing so good, but it seems like we got a touch of it. Not anything though near like my poor mom. She ended up in the hospital and so as life happens, that threw off our scheduling.

The Inuit & Arctic Circle Hands-On Activities

But I happily make my chicken pot pies anytime my mom requests them if it makes her feel better. Since she is still pretty sick and I am driving back/forth out of town helping my dad to take care of her, I had to shorten this unit study a tad bit.  I wanted to share a few more hands-on ideas that I had kept and saved because we can always come back to this unit. Too, if you are still moving ahead with it, hopefully these ideas can help you.

Me? I am getting spring fever. I have been itching to get my hands on my Home Management Binder as it needs some spring updating and the kids are excited about starting on our ancient civilization unit for this next month.

Let me share these hands-on ideas I have though for this unit in case you can use them.

Look at these beautiful, simple, fun and free {did you get all of that} crafts from LearnCreateLove.

(Pic Att. LearnCreateLove)

Click here for Printable Albatross from LearnCreateLove

(Pic Att. LearnCreateLove)

Click here for Printable Polar Bear Craft from LearnCreateLove.Click on the Winter Crafts for some more easy ideas and printables.

Also, check out this next site called Polar Husky that has free movies, pictures and sound clips of the Arctic. It looks like some of the movies they took down, but there is still so much on the site. To hear the voices of the Inuit and look at their natural surroundings makes you feel like you are there.

This next site, the Donna Ward site has information on it about how to build a game played by the children of the Inuit called Iyaga. The site says: A hollow piece of bone is attached to another thin bone by a sinew cord. The thin bone is held in the hand and the hollow bone is tossed in the air. The player must catch the hollow bone on the thin bone. Click here to go there and make this game.

This next site, Beyond Penguins is so comprehensive it is hard to mention all that is on it.

But here is a snippet above so you can see you will be kept happily clicking away on resources for any topic you want to delve into deeper. Click here to go there and be sure you have lots of time when you visit.

This next free download is a fine arts lesson on how to draw a reindeer and how to show the sky in your drawing depict the aurora shift. Click here to download.

This next site on Sea World has the fun zone. It has games, mazes and puzzles. A really helpful site. Click here to go there.

This printable makes a great minibook for your lapbook or notebooking page.  Click here to download this free Animals of the Arctic Tundra wheel.

{Pic attribution: Royal Baloo}

And because we need to cover all ages when studying this unit, grab this free sweet collection from Royal Baloo for the little folks. Click here to go there and download Arctic Animals for Toddler, PreK and Kindergarten.

Also coming next is my free Inuit and Arctic lapbook.

Hugs and love ya,

Inuit Art, Arctic Circle + 10 Notebooking Pages & Free Resources

| Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

We kept on rolling with a unit study on Inuit Art, Arctic Circle and 10 Notebooking Pages

Focusing on some of the beautiful art work of the Inuit, we learned about soapstone carving and scrimshaw.

The Inuit often carved beautiful and elaborate masks and sculptures.

They used bone, ivory and animal antlers. Today, soapstone (a soft rock) is used too.

I find this point made by the Eskimo Art Gallery helpful in rounding out our definition of soapstone carvings: People frequently ask us for ‘soapstone carvings’, but this term is generally a misnomer. When Inuit Artists began sculpting in stone on a larger scale, their art became known as “soapstone carvings,” regardless of the stone used.

If you get a chance, look at some of the beautiful artwork done at that gallery.

Also, the Free Spirit Gallery was educational in understanding about the materials the Inuit used then and what they use today for their native art.

Picture attribution.

A lot of the shapes, as we learned, were quite simple and emphasis was put on enjoying the process of either telling stories through their handiwork or just being at one with nature.

Whale ivory was a popular material used too to carve figures either of their environment or even mythological creatures.

We also learned about the art of scrimshaw which is basically carving or etching bone used by Native Americans and then staining the surface.

Scrimshaw is also using pictures that told stories and they are usually carved on ivory walrus tusks and whale bones.

The boys tried their hand on simple carvings since we had a couple of bars of ivory soap laying around. I wished I had the bigger bars because it would have been easier to carve, but these worked too.

The boys heard the words carve and gathered up their dissection kit to use. I think any true wood carver might shudder at the sight of the tools they gathered to use in this project.

They tried a simple drawing first like the polar bear and are still working on perfecting it.

In the meantime, I have new printables ready for you. 

I have 10, well actually 11 notebooking pages. 

The Map It page is made in duplicate because one page provides blanks to label for some easy geography and the other Map It page has been labeled already so there is no writing involved.

The second page can be used as a reference page or by a younger child or because you feel your child has done enough writing.

The first set of printables focuses on the Arctic Circle, some basic geography and Inuit Art. The second set of printables focuses on the animals of the tundra.

Download here About the Arctic and Art

Download here Animals of the Arctic Tundra

I have a lapbook coming too on this unit and wanted to give you a heads up on some other minibooks I have created for animals. You may prefer to use the ones I have coming instead of the notebooking pages or you can use them in addition to the notebooking pages.

Do you remember this meander book on my Westward Ho unit? Well, this unit just calls for a tiny set of books like I used in the Westward Ho unit because there are so many more animals that we can mention. So if your child doesn’t want to use the animal notebooking pages, I have some meander minibooks coming on animals that will go in the lapbook.

Here is a glimpse of one mini meander book I have prepared on the Atlantic Puffin. As you can see, it will be just big enough for a few words to describe about each animal. Tiny still loves this meander mini book. And if you are like us you are doing lots of writing anyway, so I try to keep the lapbooks fun and light on writing.

I also wanted to give you a few more free resources that I have used this week and that have been particularly helpful in doing this unit study. Anymore there is so much free on the internet, it just takes a tad bit of time to organize it and that is normally all I have.

I was especially delighted to stumble upon these two free ebooks from the Free Spirit Gallery. Just addy your name and email to get them.

They explain about some of the art and materials use and are a very nice free resource.

All About the Inuit for Kids. This is an overall good and easy site to understand about the art, music and animals of the Inuit.

Venture Arctic Educational Supplement is a  10 page download that explains the soap lesson. This is easy enough to do with multiple ages. You don’t have to use a slice/dice kit like my boys wanted to, you can use simple toothpicks.

Here is another lesson plan on soap sculpture that is a 9 page download.

Here are some sites I will be using this week and in upcoming lessons.

Biomes: Land of the Inuit  A good lesson plan to compare modern day Inuit to those of the past. Most cultures like to be seen as progressive and the Inuit are no different either. This helps to move our children beyond thinking that the Inuit only live in igloo huts.

History Through Arts – 10 page download. The first few pages of this download are about the Inuit and gives an explanation of scrimshaw. It has vocabulary words and it is one of my “keepers” for this unit as reference because of the easy explanations.

Another soap sculpture lesson plan but this actually focus on stone and not soap. It helps to explain artistic style by viewing different angles.

Arctic Unit Free Guides & Resources

| 2 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see my full disclosure policy.

I was trying to put off this unit study on the Arctic Circle and the Inuit until we at least got our annual 2 days of winter here in Texas. We wanted to get in a winter sort of mood but like I mentioned last week it has been so spring like here, it has been hard to do that. But anyway, we are going forward because we are really excited about starting this unit study. Well at least Tiny and I are but not so sure about my older boys though. They are killing me I am telling you by staying on their topic of choice, the FBI.

Also, go here to the finished Unit Study Arctic and Inuit Lapbook.

When I start a unit study, I like to start off listing or picturing a lot of my resources. That way if you decide to trail along you can. Here are some of the books and magazines I have in my home library that I will be using. Some I have had for a while, others I collected prior to starting because I had an idea of what we wanted to study for this year.  Recently, I added in the collection of Julie of the Wolves. I didn’t have the collection but Kelley mentioned it and I bought it because unlike my older two boys Tiny has an interest in reading it. One book that is pictured above and is a keepsake is The Book of Indians by Holling C. Holling written in the 1930’s.  Beautifully written with rich language as is the style of all of his books, this book explains the different types of Native Americans: northeast woods, plains, desert and northwest coastal. Though he still uses the word Indian instead of Native American, the stories and sketches are still just worth poring over. So without even hitting the library which I don’t like to have to do all the time, I have enough resources in my home to start this unit.

Am I the only that doesn’t like having to go the library every time? True, it may get expensive but I look at my reference books like my curricula instead of always choosing laid out curricula.

Then the next step in starting my unit is to locate resources that are not just free but that are some better choices. This unit is rich with geography and animal and plant life. But there are other topics too that can be included for the older kids.

Like this lesson plan above that is for grades 5-8. It has a template for snow goggles and talks about limiting sunlight.

Click here to download the free 29 page guide.

This next download which includes the two pictures above gives the background of the Arctic region along with case studies on the caribou and the Arctic Tern.

Click here to download the 15 pdf.

This next guide or I should say guides talk about the Arctic animals listed above. There are two guides or grade levels on this teacher’s guide from Seaworld. These guides are real informative along with having picture cards of the various animals to cut out. Having these guides makes learning this unit easy because a lot of the work is already done.

Click here to download Arctic Animals 4th-8th and here to download Arctic Animals K – 3.

I also see some vocabulary words emerging here. Look at both of these teacher’s guides on the Arctic Animals because they include vocabulary for each level. Each person’s list will look different depending on what you think your children need to focus on. Here are some of mine I am brainstorming for my youngest.

Arctic Region. (You know a lot of kids, mine too when they were young and we were going over continents, got this mixed up thinking it was a continent instead of a region encompassing several countries). Also, we will focus on: tundra, Inuit, kayak, permafrost, lichen, diapause, scrimshaw and blubber.

I think too this unit just screams a lapbook, don’t you think? Yep, lapbook coming this month too on this newest unit. I have lots more links and hands-on ideas to share with you as we plod along on this unit.

Next post, I will share our first hands-on project for this new unit.

I love this winter quote today:

“I like these cold, gray winter days.  Days like these let you savor a bad mood.”

  ~Bill Watterson~

You may also like to read:

Hugs and love ya,

Signature T