Organizing science- my head is about to explode.

[Trivium Academy]

Do I split the animal books by habitat/ecosystem or by animal classification? It would be simpler to do habitat/ecosystem but then I have books like How Animals Talk. Where in the world does that one go???

I know this sound crazy but I need help.

These are the categories I have so far:

Time/Weather/Seasons (Creation)
Astronomy
Geology (rocks/minerals, archaeology, erosion, fossils, mountains, volcanoes, glaciers)
Dinosaurs (should this go under Geology?)
Agriculture
Botany
Technology & Electronics
Scientists and Inventions
Physics (force, matter, energy, mass, magnets, machines, electricity, inventions)
Chemistry (atoms, molecules, food/nutrition, compounds, substances, elements)
Human Biology (body systems, diseases, health/nutrition, exercise, growth & reproduction, genetics)

Animals????
Birds
Insects
Reptiles & Amphibians
then ....I don't know

All our science books are on the table and I want to finish this little project!
:willy_nilly:

[ArwenA]

I like to split up my books by their topic and then have a general section for the books that cover more than one thing.

[Trivium Academy]

Okay, what are your topics? :)

[ArwenA]

My topics

Biology:
General
Animals general
Plants general
Birds
Mammals
Ocean and seashore plants and animals
Bugs
Arctic and Antarctic animals
Asian animals and plants
African animals and plants
Australia animals and plants
European animals and plants
South American animals and plants
North American animals and plants
Local animals and plants
Flowers
Trees and bushes
Biologists
Human body
Experiments
Micro life
Other

Earth and space science:
General Earth
General space
Geology
Weather
Seasons
Creation
Evolution
Natural disasters
Jungles, forests, rain forests
Deserts
Beaches and oceans
Planets
Stars
Sun
Moon
Meteorite, meteor, asteroids, comets, dwarf planets
Galaxies
Universe
Astronomers
Earth scientists
Experiments
Global Warming
Other

Chemistry:
General
Atoms
Elements
Compounds
Periodic table
Neutrons, protons, electrons
Experiments
Chemists
Metals
Liquids
Gases
Other

Physics:
General
Energy
Electricity
Force
Gravity
Mass, weight, density
Speed, acceleration
Magnets
Matter

Other:
Inventors
General science
Technology
Engineering
Math

[Trivium Academy]

Habitats/Ecosystems win

POLAR
Tundra (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/tundra/tundra.shtml) - cool, treeless, and dry

TREELESS HABITATS
• Desert (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/desert/desert.shtml) - very dry, either hot or coldGrassland (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/grassland/grassland.shtml) - Windy, partly dry sea of grass with few trees, including tropical savanna (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/savanna/savanna.shtml), prairie (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/grassland/prairie.shtml), steppe, pampas, etc.
Mountain biomes: there are a lot of different mountainous biomes, from grasslands at low altitudes, taiga (coniferous forests) below the treeline, and alpine (the same as tundra)
Land Caves (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/cave/terrestrial.shtml) - cool and dark

FORESTS
Taiga or Coniferous Forest (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/taiga/taiga.shtml) - cool and dry, with coniferous trees
Temperate Deciduous Forest (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/tempdecid/tempdecid.shtml) - cool and rainy, with deciduous trees

RAINFORESTS
Temperate Rain Forest - cool and wet
Tropical Rain Forest (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/animals/Rfbiomeanimals.shtml) - warm and very wet
COASTAL
Wetlands - there are many types of wetlands, including swamps (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/swamp/swamp.shtml), marshes, moors, bogs, fens, sloughs, etc.
- Chaparral or scrub (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/chaparral/chaparral.shtml) - coastal area with hot, dry summers and mild, cool, rainy winters

AQUATIC
Freshwater Marsh (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/marsh/freshwater.shtml) - a wetland located near creeks, streams, rivers and lakes
Temperate ponds (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/pond/pondlife.shtml)
Marine (ocean or sea) - including
euphotic (sunlit) zone (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/ocean/sunlit/)
littoral or intertidal zones (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/intertidal/intertidal.shtml)
coral reef (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/coralreef/coralreef.shtml) (warm shallow salt-water environments based on coral formations)
estuarine biomes (where rivers meet oceans)
pelagic biomes (open seas near the surface)
disphotic (twilight) zone
midnight (aphotic) zone
benthic biomes (bottom)
sea trenches
sea Caves

[kristavws]

Here are my broad categories for grammar level science (if you want a further breakdown let me know):

1. Astronomy
2. Biology

Anatomy
Physiology
Microbiology
Botany
Ecology
Zoology

3. Earth Science

Geology (fossils, mineralogy, rocks, seismology, and volcanology)
Meteorology
Oceanography
Paleontology

4. Physical Science

Chemistry
Physics (electricity, energy, gravity, machines, magnetism


We studied dinosaurs under the topic of paleontology, not geology.

We will be studying the life sciences next year. I intend to break down the study of animals by habitat, but this decision relates more to how I want to pull together the study of zoology and ecology. Sorry if that doesn't make since. The ideas are still in my head, and have not quite made it to paper yet!

Krista

[nestof3]

I have both animal categories and biome categories.

My biomes will at times include animals that we typically study with that biome -- like penguins go with the polar regions category, and water creatures are generally kept with biome. But, I like to keep all felines together, for example.

My animal books that are just about animals are categorized in a taxonomical fashion because this is how we study individual animals. When we study biomes, I can always pull animals from the animal shelves.

Each kingdom is next to each other, further divided into groups.

For animal, I have invertebrates and then vertebrates. Within invertebrates, I have them organized like:

NOTE: I keep all porifera, cnidaria, echinoderms, water mollusks, crustaceans and horseshow crabs with water biomes. I know to go there when studying these invertebrates. I find land animals much more difficult to separate into biomes because they crossover so much. You will never find a sea jelly on land (unless it's dead)

Porifera (sponges)
Cnidaria (sea jellies, coral, etc)
Echinoderms (sea stars, sand dollars, etc)
Worms
Mollusks (shelled ones and octopus, etc)
Arthropods
Divided into:
(1) Ones that are not arachnids and insects (pillbugs, centipedes, scorpions)
(2) Spiders
(3) Insects (these are grouped together like this: general insects; butterflies & moths; bees & wasps; ants; cockroaches/grasshoppers/crickets; beetles; flies/termites/dragonflies

Vertebrates are organized like so:

reptiles (I keep sea turtles with water biomes)

amphibians
(in front of those two categories are books about both, people tend to group them together a lot)

birds

fish (these are kept with water biomes)

mammals (these are separated into:

monotremes: ex. platypus

marsupiala: ex. kangaroo

insectivores: moles, hedgehogs

chiroptera: bats

primates: monkeys, apes

edentata: anteaters, sloths, armadillos

rodents: obvious

carnivora: these are separated into groups like dogs/wolves/foxes; bears; racoons, weasels/otters/skunks/badgers; hyena; cats

proboscidae: elephants

perissodactyla: horses/zebras/asses/tapis/rhinoceroses

artiodactyla: pigs/hippos/camels/deer/giraffes/cattle/sheep/goats/antelopes

pinnipeds (walruses, seals), whales, dolphins, manatees are kept with water biomes because that's when we study them for the most part)

The microorganisms, fungi, etc are in a separate little section.

Here is the website I use for mammal breakdown:
http://www.earthlife.net/mammals/families.html

[Trivium Academy]

Will you organize my books for me? (Batting my eyes) Please...lol Wow Dawn!

[Trivium Academy]

thank you Krista, this is very handy! I think with everyone's posts I have a good handle on it now, before my head kept spinning with all the -ologies and Wikipedia was NOT helping. Every science has something to do with another...

[Mom2legomaniacs]

Why is this so funny to me. Your head exploding? I am such a goof! I just don't know why that image is so stinking funny to me!:lol:;)

And I am looking at what you are coming up with for ocean stuff. My older ds is interested in studying marine biology.

Hope your dh is recovering nicely!:001_smile:

[Trivium Academy]

I have over 300 books on my dining room to organize and every time I pulled up information on HOW to classify the books it would lead me to another science topic. Ecology leads to biology leads to chemistry leads to physics leads to earth science, URGH! lol.

[MelissaMinNC]

Am I the only one who just says, "Hey, dd, here are the science books, what would you like to read?"

I mean, obviously, this approach won't work forever, but for these early elementary grades....someone tell me why this is a bad way to do things. Please. Because if I need a system like Jessica's (and if I need to collect 300 science books), I'm going to have to go check out our local ps. I just can't keep up.

Eek! Joking, only kind of.
:)
Melissa

[Trivium Academy]

I'd rather read titles I select than just any book on the library shelf b/c it's available and there. I want to be able to pull a book off the shelf if the interest is there but I want to be to find it too! Lol

[Daisy]

LOL, Melissa, I am the exact same way. I point them in the direction of the science books and I say, "We need to study animals. How do you want to do it? Shall we do habitats, scientific classification, days of creation, what the animals eat, etc? Doesn't matter to me." We read tons of books on science, the kids notebook, build their vocabulary, and create their own connections without my having created an entire unit around it. But that is just how it works at my house.

I agree Jessica, I want to be able to FIND the book when I want it. I understand your desire to organize them. I also understand wanting to be discerning in what libarary books you use.

[MelissaMinNC]

I'd rather read titles I select than just any book on the library shelf b/c it's available and there. I want to be able to pull a book off the shelf if the interest is there but I want to be to find it too! Lol
Oh, I totally get this, and I hope you don't think I was criticizing you or your system. I just don't think I can do it. Not right now, at any rate. We seem to have a really good library selection, and we've been able to pick out quite a number of really wonderful things from there. And I do own some...but I don't have the money or space to build a huge home library in any subject area right now.....as much as I would like to.

If I did have 300 science books...I'd want them organized so I could find what I needed also. I guess I just don't feel like it's necessary for us to own that many right now, or to have our science studies so thoroughly planned out. But, I've known for a long time that I'm not the natural planner you are, Jessica...that's why I steal YOUR lesson plans! ;)

Hugs,
Melissa

[MelissaMinNC]

LOL, Melissa, I am the exact same way. I point them in the direction of the science books and I say, "We need to study animals. How do you want to do it? Shall we do habitats, scientific classification, days of creation, what the animals eat, etc? Doesn't matter to me." We read tons of books on science, the kids notebook, build their vocabulary, and create their own connections without my having created an entire unit around it. But that is just how it works at my house.

I agree Jessica, I want to be able to FIND the book when I want it. I understand your desire to organize them. I also understand wanting to be discerning in what libarary books you use.
Whew! So glad, LOL. Actually, this year (first grade) we've been following WTM recs for our formal science lessons, but whenever we go to the library, dd just gravitates to the science area. We come home with books on seashells, dinosaurs, lemurs, the arctic and inventions all in one week. I just let her read them or I read them to her. I figure....how is she going to know what she's interested in if I restrict her exposure to stuff? But I don't feel the need (at this point) to have all these interests incorporated into our actual studies.

Which is completely different from Jessica's original post, which was about how to organize the resources she has, LOL. Sorry, Jessica! I'm tired tonight, and I have a cake to decorate! (Leaving now, really...)

:)
Melissa

[hsmom]

I am by no means an expert at this, you have my head spinning in circles. :confused:
I think you are going in the right direction with doing it by habitat, that way you can hit all of the classifications of the animals in that habitat, maybe even hit some earth science while you are there and knock off a couple topics with one hit.
Now personally if I was sitting at the table with 300 science books I would be :banghead:, yep that is right banging my head on the wall wondering where to go next.

I wish you all the luck. Let us know how it all turns out. Judging by the way the rest of your lesson plans are it will be spectacular!:001_smile:

[kristavws]

We do not have anywhere near 300 science books......yet. We do have a lot however, and yes, they are organized by the topics I previously mentioned :) My son and I are both very Type A and like to have our books organized! It would drive me nuts if I was looking for a book and could not find it. Probably at least half of the books on the boys' shelves are science related. My boys just seem to gravitate towards science topics. When we go to the library, I have to practically make them pick out at least 1 fiction book.

I second the stealing of Jessica's lesson plans - they are great!

BTW...Jessica, my copy of The Sea Around Us came in the mail today. I can't wait to start reading it. Unfortunately, we are getting ready to put our house on the market, and I fear it may cut in to my personal reading time :(

Krista

[Trivium Academy]

BTW...Jessica, my copy of The Sea Around Us came in the mail today. I can't wait to start reading it. Unfortunately, we are getting ready to put our house on the market, and I fear it may cut in to my personal reading time :(

Krista

My copy should be here soon, I realized that I had gotten it from BookMooch.com so it will be mine but I also have The Sense of Wonder coming too. Giddy...Prayers for you and your family to have a profitable and quick sale of your home!