Orchard Mason Bees
You’re never too old to learn something new. Today, I learned about Orchard Mason Bees. I’m sure we’re all aware of the dwindling numbers of honey bees and how that’s affecting crop production. Bees are the primary pollinators of the flowers of fruits and vegetables. Without them, the plants can’t bear fruit. I know personally that I’ve had less productive gardens in the past couple of years because of their scarcity.
Last year, I resorted to using a feather to hand pollinate my summer squash, and then only got a few. You have to get out to the garden very early in the morning to hand pollinate them. Like daylilies, they only bloom once a day and it’s for a short period of time in the morning. After that, the blooms fold back up again and begin to wither.
So today, I happened to see an ad for habitat houses for the Orchard Mason Bees. They won’t give you honey, but they will eagerly pollinate your fruit and vegetable bearing plants, as well as your flowers. I learned they are a gentle bee, very tiny, and won’t sting unless absolutely cornered – like getting trapped under your shirt.
The habitat houses look a lot like small bird houses. The difference is that they are frames with dozens of small tubes in them. The bees lay a single egg in a tube, fill it with food, then seal it off with a rough plug of mud. When the larva hatches, it has enough food to reach the pupae stage and it pupates inside the tube. When it turns into a bee, it chews through the mud and flies away, starting the cycle over again.
So, one of my projects will be to build a couple of these little habitat houses and hang them in the trees next to my garden to see if I can encourage these little bees to work for me.
Labels: gardening, Science
Newspaper seedling pots
You and your children may be interested in gardening and in starting your garden plants from seeds. Whether flowers or vegetables, it’s fun and inexpensive to start your own plants. It also gives the children an opportunity to watch as seedlings grow, pushing up through the earth, getting their first leaves, then getting their “true leaves” and growing stronger.
You can purchase peat pots or the peat disks that are watered and swell into seedling pots, or you can make your own newspaper pots for seed starting. This is a very inexpensive and earth-friendly way to start your seeds. The newspaper pots are easy to make, too, and the children can join in.
We have old newspapers that we use to line the rat cage, put in the bottom of our chick starter cage, or simply shred and add to the compost heap. You probably do, too. If not, you may know of someone with newspapers you can get for free just so they can get rid of them.
The pots, once filled with potting soil and then watered, are quite sturdy yet they can be planted straight into the garden where they will naturally decompose and allow the plant roots to develop.
Technorati Tags:
gardeningLabels: Homeschool families, Science
Hydroponic gardening
You know Spring is coming. Around here, there are even daffodils blooming on the roadsides. Spring, of course, makes a lot of us think about gardening.
You may want to experiment with hydroponics this spring. Perhaps you can get some metal or plastic barrels, some omegaflex metal hose, a couple of aquarium pumps, and some gravel and start your own hydroponic growing system.
I’ve had tomatoes and lettuce grown this way. The produce stays clean, grows well, and is quite tasty.
Technorati Tags:
gardening,
scienceLabels: Science
El Nino lesson plan
The weather of the past year has been a little weird, it seems. There was a nationwide drought but then there were also strong storms and floods. Winter has brought blizzard-like conditions to the South, which normally only sees a few days of snow or ice. This time, 12 inches of snow, and in some places more, fell in Arkansas beginning Christmas Day. Over 200,000 people lost power and some of that wasn’t restored for over a week.
So, does El Nino have anything to do with all of this. Perhaps your questions may be answered by implementing the El Nino Lesson Plan in your classroom. This lesson plan incorporates science, current events, vocabulary, ESL map skills, and gives students puzzles and other activities, including online research, to help them better understand this weather effect.
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
Winter weather lesson plan
Because we had a rather serious winter weather event beginning on Christmas Day, I thought it might be appropriate to guide you to a lesson plan that will last through 5 days of learning. It’s called A Week of Winter Weather and is aimed at children in grades K through 2.
This is a pretty full lesson plan, with lessons and activities for each of 5 days. The topics are:
- WEATHER WORDS
- TODAY’S TEMPERATURES
- SIGNS OF THE WIND
- WHAT MAKES THE WIND BLOW?
- FOLLOW UP
They give you a good list of supplies and materials needed in the classroom for each day. They also give you the daily summaries and goals up front as well as other pages to go to for more information. Each day’s work is completed in one class period, so it’s not too much to deal with that way.
Labels: Lesson plans, Math, Science, Vocabulary
Learning with yeast
One of the things we did as a homeschool family was bake bread. Now, I don’t mean just for something yummy to eat, but for a way to study yeast and how it works.
Yeast is a living animal, which means it reacts to its environment (heat and cold) and it feeds on sugars to grow. It also needs water to help it along. Then, as it feeds and grows, it gives off gases which cause the bread to rise and become the light, airy loaf of goodness you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
Another way to use yeast in a science experiment is by following the instructions on NASA’s Planets in a Bottle lesson plans. These were designed for grades 2 through 4, and are really interesting.
Of course, if you still want to use yeast, flour, water, and sugar to make bread, you could probably bake it in laboratory ovens that may be available in your school science lab. Either way, it’s a lot of fun and a learning experience!
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
Animals preparing for winter
Even here in the South, our nights are turning quite chilly and our days have grown cooler. This is a good time of year to teach your student or students about how animals get ready for winter.
Following the link will give you a good starter lesson plan. It includes vocabulary, online resources, questions to ask, activities that help with gross motor skills, and recommended reading. Of course, you should go through the plan and visit the online resources, preparing your own unit or lesson plan and gearing it toward the ages you are working with, whether they are preschool, kindergarten. or elementary age.
Some of the activities will seem too immature for middle elementary, so you should develop some of your own activities, but this is a really good place to start.
Technorati Tags:
lesson plansLabels: Lesson plans, Science
Tomato hornworm lesson
Even though it's late in the summer...fall, actually...it doesn't hurt to begin a study of the tomato hornworm or tobacco hornworm. They may still be found in your garden.
This is a pest that can do a lot of damage to tomato crops and should be dealt with. However, they are also just about the easiest caterpillar to use for close up study of their life cycle.
You can find a lot of information online at places that help you identify, with pictures, the tobacco or tomato hornworm. It's a good idea to look for other resources as well to complete the study, of course, but with so much information out there, you shouldn't have any problems designing a science unit study around this interesting, though crop-damaging, creature.
Things to search for:
- Reproduction
- Diet
- Life stages
- Season
- Identification
One of my first encounters with the moth that develops from the caterpillar was at night, in my garden. What looked like a hummingbird was flitting from flower to flower among the pepper plants. He/she was hovering and even flying backwards. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought it was a fairy. Perhaps, that's where the notion of fairies came from!
You may be fortunate enough to still be able to capture a hornworm and feed it, and watch it develop through its stages into the large moth it becomes.
Labels: Science, Unit Studies
Snakes free lesson plan
When you live in the country, you have a pretty interesting life. This morning, we found a chicken snake in with our quails. He had killed three, with the third one caught in his constrictive grip. When it comes to something like that killing what we are trying to raise, we have no choice but to send it to varmint heaven. Otherwise, he'd just come right back, and maybe bring friends!
While I'm on the subject, it's always a good idea to be able to identify wild animals, and snakes are really important if you want to stay safe from the poisonous ones. A chicken snake isn't poisonous at all, but it will eat eggs whole and it will eat young birds. A chicken snake is able to unhinge its jaw in order to open its mouth wide enough to swallow its prey. In the case of eggs, it will swallow a whole chicken egg then crush it as it goes through its gut, digesting the egg white and yolk.
You can look up what kinds of snakes your state or area may have, as we did when we were homeschooling. This helps to identify poisonous, non-poisonous, constrictors, and snakes that prey on other snakes. You can also follow the snakes lesson plan for a full and interesting study of snakes. This lesson plan comes complete with online resources, vocabulary you can listen to, teaching standards, and ideas for implementing the plans. It's listed to be for grades 6 to 8 and to be completed in two class times.
Technorati Tags:
snakes,
lesson plansLabels: Lesson plans, Science
Climate change
One thing that's at the front of the news lately is climate change. Some have blamed this summer's excessive heat and drought conditions on what used to be called global warming. The thing is, global warming does just the opposite. It melts the polar ice caps, cools the oceans, and sets in motion storms and cold weather in locations where it had previously been temperate.
Still, it's a lot to think about when the weather patterns seem to be going haywire. You can download and print a free 2-week unit for grades 6 to 8 that teaches Climate Change. This covers not only the weather aspect, but also the social and economic aspects of this planet-threatening issue.
This same website also offers other units free to download.
Labels: Science, Unit Studies
Life cycle of the mosquito
Spring and Fall are the two times of year when mosquitos are particularly abundant. At least that's true for my part of the country. With West Nile Virus a real threat lately and people even dying from it, I thought it would be a good time to study the Life Cycle of the Mosquito.
These lesson plans are PDF so you'll need Acrobat Reader to access them. It's free to download.
These plans will guide your student through the life cycle of the mosquito from egg to adult. It will help your student understand the habits of this biting insect and could help you learn how to prevent them from reproducing and spreading the deadly virus.
This is recommended for grade 7.
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
Enter the fall garden
It's August, which is technically still a summer month. However, if you are using gardening in your curriculum, then you probably also know that it's the time for planting the fall garden. This will be produce that sprouts quickly and comes to maturity before heavy frost sets in. You can also create a cold frame or put up a small greenhouse to further extend the gardening season.
There are other things you can do to accomplish fall gardening in the south. Clean out garden beds, add to your compost heap, and move some plants inside. It's never too early or too late to enrich garden beds and the soil of potted plants. I do this organically using rabbit manure and my own compost.
Technorati Tags:
gardeningLabels: Homeschool families, Science
Radio waves lesson
If it hadn't been for pioneers and scientists, much of what we take for granted today wouldn't even exist. One of the most groundbreaking discoveries was that of radio waves. In this Discovery radio waves lesson plan, your student will learn the science behind the waves.
Designed for children in grades 6 through 12, this lesson plan is designed to be completed in two or three days and fills a gap in their science curriculum. It centers on electromagnetic radiation and how it is used and found in our everyday lives.
This is a complete lesson plan and takes minimal materials to accomplish. It includes resources and extensions, plus evaluation objectives.
Technorati Tags:
science,
radioLabels: Science
I have seedlings!
It's pretty exciting to grow your own plants from seeds. So far, about 95% of my seeds have sprouted and they include several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, squash (I think zucchini but I couldn't make out the writing on the paper bag they were in), and even tobacco seeds.
I have more seeds being shipped now, all heirloom, non-gmo varieties of good vegetables. The seedlings that have started are ready to put into larger containers so they can really take off. Then, I'll have room in the table-top greenhouses for the new seeds that need a head start.
I've planted two kinds of lettuce straight into one of the raised beds -- buttercrunch and black seeded simpson. Because they are outdoors, it will be a bit longer before they sprout, I have also planted onion sets in various places around the yard, in beds. They are so easy to just poke in the ground. Both lettuce and onions enjoy cooler weather so they should all do very well until it gets hot later in the spring.
Planting seeds is a great way to learn a plant lifecycle, and there are lessons in the link to help you begin and log results in your classroom. There are also little movies to watch and activities for classes and for families.
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
Compost Challenge
I was browsing the web, looking for garden related content, and came across this Compost Challenge. This is a really nice unit for students in grades 6 to 8, and covers a science base.
My own thought is that "compost happens", even if we don't help it along. This unit, however, will help your child or class discover exactly what composting is, the microorganisms involved in the process, and how we can reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by using composting techniques.
While the complete project would take more time that indicated on the lesson guide, it doesn't have to be done every single day. In other words, the "Day 1" and "Day 2", etc. can be accomplished over a longer period of time. Those are just days when certain parts of the project are done.
The site offers a printable version so that the lesson and the worksheets are available to you.
Labels: Science
USGS videos
To further enhance your school curriculum in geology and other sciences, you can tap into the USGS videos and animations. These are offered in a variety of formats including .wmv, QuikTime, and mp4.
Use these videos to illustrate what's being learned in the teaching modules you're using. They include lectures and videos covering topics such as careers, astrogeology, biology, climate change, environments, earthquakes, geology, geomagnetism, and much more.
These are, for the most part, public domain presentations and maybe be downloaded and copied free of charge.
Labels: Science
Gardening modules
For now, because spring is quickly approaching, I'm going to skip the next USGS offering and direct your attention to spring gardening. I found a really nice unit on gardening which includes .pdf activity sheets you can download and print, It's called Integrating Horticulture into Elementary School Curriculum.
The course covers
- container gardening
- fun with plants
- garden ecology
- garden pests and problems
- growing fruit
- growing seeds indoors
- help sheets
- herb gardening
- kitchen garbage
- nutrients for plants and people
- windowsill gardening
Using the resources provided, your class can learn about a wide variety of topics including feeding plants, soil, composting, whether lipozene is a soil nutrient, and many more things related to gardening. Having a class or school garden spot reinforces what's being taught in gardening theory, and could even encourage budding gardeners (pardon the pun) to grow more of their how food and be more self-sufficient.
For sure, it teaches children that food doesn't have its genesis at the grocery store!
Technorati Tags:
gardeningLabels: Free stuff, Lesson plans, Science
USGS secondary level modules
We are still being plagued with minor earthquakes in our part of the country. None are really large and damaging, but they are pretty well startling those of us who aren't used to this kind of earth activity. Last night, we experienced a 3.6 magnitude quake that startled a number of people from a sound sleep. A friend of mine lives less than a mile from the epicenter of that one, so it really shook her house.
I heard a muffled boom from a distance away before friends began reporting on a social networking site that they'd felt the shaking. It seems that always precedes these quakes and it's rare that I hear it from where I live. However, the quake wasn't too far from me so the sound did carry, although I didn't feel the shaking.
This prompted me to continue offering USGS teaching modules for your homeschool classroom. Perhaps, there are those of you who teach in private or public schools who can also use the USGS secondary level teaching modules. They cover a lot of information, and not just about earthquakes and seismology.
- Ecosystems
- Biology
- Geography
- Geology
- Water
As you can see, they can be easily incorporated into a science curriculum. Most resources are free, but there may be a few that require a small fee for joining an online learning course.
Technorati Tags:
earthquake,
scienceLabels: Science
USGS teaching modules
Due to the fact that our area has been inundated with earthquakes lately, I thought it might be timely to share the USGS primary lessons. There are a lot of lessons and resources to be had at the USGS site. The folks there have gone the extra mile when it comes to assembling this information and giving you resource symbols to tell you if the resource is free, if it contains classroom activities, if it utilizes the web, and if it is a complete teaching module.
They cover ecosystems, biology, geography, geology, and water.
My thought is that using these resources, a homeschool parent/teacher can create a pretty complete science curriculum for students up to the sixth grade. They include coloring pages, games, and outdoor activities, as well.
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
Lunar eclipse lesson plan
On December 21, 2010, the day of the Winter Solstice, there was also a total lunar eclipse. This is a rare occurrence, and the last time was 382 years ago. It's not that the eclipse was rare, but that it occurred on the shortest day of the year.
It might make an interesting science unit, using the Lunar Eclipse Lesson Plan. This lesson plan takes 3 weeks plus 45 minutes to pull all the lessons together for a summary. The student will learn the phases of the moon, what a lunar eclipse is, and new vocabulary words. They will use language arts in their writing.
Labels: Lesson plans, Science
