Final Version - Usborne and Cycle 3 Science Match-Up!

I created an Usborne and Classical Conversations Science Match-Up earlier, and now the full year version is complete!

Usborne & CC Cycle 3 Science Match-Up!

I'm getting SO excited about Science (never thought I'd say that)! Usborne has like a million-gazillion Science books, and it might be hard to choose the best ones when you can't pick them up and look through them. So, I thought I'd go through and pick what will work for our family this year with CC Cycle 3, take some pictures to compare my favorites, and then share them with you! And... here we go!
UPDATE!
Click here to get the FINAL version of this Science match-up! First, I made an Usborne books and Cycle 3 Match-Up:

Click here to get it! New! Click here for the updated final version!
Here are the three books that we'll be using the first semester when we study the human body:

The Usborne Science Encyclopedia (or the big boy, as I call it),

First Encyclopedia of the Human Body, and

See Inside Your Body. We'll also use (absolutely fabulous!) The Usborne Flip-Flap Body Book, but I didn't include it in the Science match-up. Instead, I tried to use just one book that would target each age group. Since you're there, and I'm here, you obviously can't flip through each book and see what will work for you next year. So, I've taken lots of pictures, and hopefully you'll get an idea of which titles would be helpful if you're considering these books. First, The Usborne Science Encyclopedia (big boy) is the perfect general reference for all things Science. This is what I use to look up definitions and find great pictures. It's also one that we won't outgrow anytime soon. This encyclopedia has 448 pages and is for ages 9 and up. Here's a peek at the inside:

Notice the pages on Digestion above in the big boy.  Now, to compare, here is the digestion page from First Encyclopedia of the Human Body:

The font is bigger, as well as the images. This is the perfect body book for elementary students! It's geared to ages 8 and up, and it has 64 pages of awesome information and graphics. Here are some more pictures of the First Encyclopedia:

Next, See Inside Your Body is for ages 7 and up, and it has 16 sturdy board pages with over 50 flaps. This book is so much fun! Here is the spread on digestion, just to compare with the other books, followed by more pictures:

Even though this book is for the younger set, it's my favorite! There's just so much to explore and make learning fun! We'll also be using The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book for some more hands-on learning. 

It has 32 pages of information plus 10 sticker pages with over 130 stickers! I like all the extra information and fun facts that are included in this one! Here's a peek inside:

I hope this little look inside some of my favorite Usborne Science books has been helpful! Don't forget to grab your copy of the Usborne and CC Cycle 3 Science Match-Up. I'll be updating the second semester page soon, using Usborne's Illustrated Dictionary of Chemistry.  More later, alligator! All of the links take you to my Usborne store. Thanks so much for your support!

Scientific Method Song with Video

Alrighty, so I've decided, like most people (I'm just assuming), that I loathe watching videos of myself. Ugh! It's like torture! I'm really my own worst enemy, and body image is something that I'm beginning to struggle with. Prayers are appreciated. I know, it sounds silly, but can any of you relate? We used to try to eat healthier, and I even juiced for a little while (loved it!), but that stuff is expensive! So, like most people, we've had to make some changes in our budget, and the organic, chemical-free food went out the window. Soooo, all that to say, here's a quick video of what we do for the Scientific Method in our class. ;)

(can't for the life of me get this video centered... sorry)

Science Review Binder

I started out the year with one big Classical Notebook. Turns out, that just wasn't working out too well for us. Mary needed to feel like she was getting through things, and flipping around in her huge binder wasn't doing the trick. So, I've broken it down into individual binders that we can put away when we're finished with that subject (and feel a little sense of accomplishment). Does that make sense? So, instead of one big binder, we have a Geography binder, Science binder, etc.

We've had the Geography binder for a while, and we do activities in it every Thursday - our Geo. day. The Science binder is relatively new, and I thought I'd give you a quick tour through it:

Freddy the Frogcaster Review

Does your child absolutely love looking outside the window and recording the weather each day? Or is she especially curious about how the clouds make rain or why it snows? If so, you may want to check out a new children's book by Fox News Channel forecaster Janice Dean, aka the "Weather Machine!"

Scientific Method Poster - Freebie!

My husband helped me make this little poster last night as we crammed like crazy prepped for our first CC day today! I'll be Mary's tutor this year, and our fabulous director has stressed the importance of focusing on the Scientific Method during Science. So, I thought this little poster might appeal to my class of littles:

CC Day - Week 17

Today was our CC Day! And since it was Mary's turn to be the Superstar Line Leader (woot!), I thought I'd share her special day with some pictures:

Above, she's helping her fabulous tutor with this week's Latin. All the memory work for this week is on the board, although we rarely spend time in front of it. Mary's tutor has them up and moving quite a bit while they're learning, which is a good thing for this young class (ages 4-7).

After the kids' weekly presentations, we head out to the gym. Two classes are combined here for a little bit of Science. The tutors explain the parts of a volcano and then the kids watch it erupt (thanks to a baking soda mixture).

One of the tutors just said, "Who wants to make their own volcano?!"

Ha!

Mary's lava was yellow. These little mini volcanoes were very cool (and super easy!).

After Science comes Art. This week, we're studying Michelangelo, so the kids painted a Biblical scene while lying on their backs. 

Mary got pretty messy, but I'm sure Michelangelo did, too. ;)

They were asked to paint a picture of the Garden of Eden. She said her painting was of "the darkness." Um. . . yeah. . . maybe like the darkness before Creation? Not sure on that one.

Class picture! We're missing some special friends, but we hope their families get well soon.

My artist!

After washing up, it was time for some review. To go over the parts of a volcano again, the tutor handed out various hard candy to represent different parts. The Life Saver was the crater, the Laffy Taffy was the billowing cloud of gasses, etc. To end the fun day, the kids played Toy Story Bingo and answered review questions together. Mary was the first one to Bingo and win a trip to the treasure chest (the tutor's treasure stash is much better than ours at home!). She picked out a bracelet and was beaming the rest of the day (she is such a girly-girl, and I am so not). :)

I really just can't express enough how much our family is loving CC and the community - just everything about this awesome program works for us. I love the academic structure of the memory work combined with the weekly camaraderie of meeting in a small group with other families who are learning the same material. I truly feel as though God has led us here, and I'm so thankful to Him for this opportunity to learn alongside my children. Good times!

On another note, do you have leftover Valentine's Day candy? I've got an easy review idea you may like:

I taped the names of our subjects to the candy. If Mary wants a piece, she has to correctly answer the review questions (one on each side). Now I don't feel so guilty about letting her have a piece of candy every once in a while. :)

And on one final note, I'm leaving.

No, not forever, ha! I've been blessed with the opportunity to go on a moms' retreat this weekend (for a whole TWO days and nights!). Needless to say, I am excited beyond words to get away with some of my closest friends and get into God's Word together. I can just sense that God has a lot to say to me, which isn't always easy, but I'm ready for it. My mom is coming over from Mississippi to help the hubs with the girls, but if you think about it, please keep them in your prayers this weekend. I know they'll appreciate it.

Have a happy rest of the week, friends. And as my grandpa says, you've got to make it great!

Volcano Day!

We just started our Week 16, so today is Volcano Day! 

We started off by watching two videos on youtube:

10 Most Active Volcanoes

and

Explosive Volcanic Eruptions with Music - this one has a great song that Mary quickly caught onto and sang along! Although the beat, in my opinion, is a little too 'happy' for volcanic eruptions, but who am I to judge, right? ;) This video was Mary's favorite, and it was the most educational - I highly recommend!

Then we did a really cute craft that helped Mary remember the four types of volcanoes:

 

I pulled this awesome project off of C3:

file name: Types of volcanoes to decorate.pdf

user name: grismar

She also has some great flashcards that go along with this week's Science memory work; grab those, too, if you go on C3 for this week. Just search by user name and her stuff will pop up quickly.

(Just so you know, I download and print almost everything from grismar. If I don't use it this time, I store it in my Cycle 1 box for next time! She's one of my C3 Superstars! Love you, girl!)

Next, we made our volcano! Eeeekkk! This was so cool! I used a small Starbucks bottle from Target, and we formed the green play doh around it to make our mountain.

We decided that this project would be more interesting if we added a little Squinkee town at the bottom of our volcano. Ha! 

Then we used this recipe:

1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide

some squirts of dish soap

drops of red food coloring

Mary then helped me mix 1 package of Rapid Rise yeast in warm water. And finally she added that to our Mount Stroud: 

Kaboom! Mount Stroud blew its top:

Poor Squinkee Town! It suffered many casualties today. ;) Mary played and played just like this for at least 20 to 30 minutes. She loved it! 

After the volcanic eruption, Mary ate lunch while I read her, in my opinion, the BEST book to explain volcanoes to little ones:

Volcanoes - Mountains that Blow Their Tops

I've looked at LOTS of volcano books, and this one is the most to-the-point and still interesting. Mary liked it so much she asked me to read it two times in a row. Winner!

At the end of school today, Mary said something that really made my day:

"Mama, I didn't know today was going to be as fun as Funday Monday!"

Yes, our little Volcano Day was pretty awesome.

Have you made one yet? It's not too late; go for it, friends!