THE NATURAL WORLD

Time requirement:  Two weekly lessons of approximately 30 minutes. 

Teacher involvement: You will need to work with your child for these lessons

Key Texts

TBA: Book on plants

Science With Plants (Usborne Science Activities)

The Burgess Bird Book for Children, by Thornton Burgess

UK Alternative: Wayland Book of Common British Birds: a Photographic Guide by Nick Williams

Provisional: The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery

Home Science Adventures: Discovering Birds

Home Science Adventures: Discovering Insects

Further Resources

Fun With Nature by Diane Burns, Mel Boring, Leslie Dandy and Linda Garrow

More Fun With Nature by Diane Burns, Mel Boring, Laura Evert and Christianne Tibbits

Wild Monthly - online nature newsletter from MacBeth Derham

Note: Some of the books included in the optional reading lists are books we know and can personally recommend. Others are titles that sound promising, but that we have not been able to pre-read.

READING (One lesson weekly)

TBA

UK Alternative

Provisional: A Child's Guide to Wildflowers by Charlotte Voake

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)

Science With Plants (Usborne Science Activities)

Week 1: Starting to grow (2 pages)

Week 2: Growing (2 pages)

Week 3: Plants and water (1 page)

Week 4: Make a bottle garden (1 page)

Week 5: Using light (1 page)

Week 6: Looking at leaves and leaf prints (1 page)

Week 7: Flowers (2 pages)

Week 8: Trees (2 pages)

Week 9: New plants from old (2 pages)

Week 10: Plants leaving home (2 pages)

Week 11: Plants and soil (2 pages)

Week 12: Useful plants (2 pages)

Optional Extras

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots, by Sharon Lovejoy - gardening for children

Catholic Traditions in the Garden by Ann Ball

Mary Gardens - website with lots of information about how to make a Mary garden, and flowers associated with Mary

Spirit of the Forest: Tree Tales from Around the World by Eric Maddern, Helen East and Alan Marks - short traditional tales

The Flower Hunter: William Bartram, America's First Naturalist by Deborah Kogan Ray

Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers: How a First Lady Changed America, by Kathi Appelt

Wildflowers and the Stories behind their Names by Phyllis E.Busch (out of print)

Flower Fairies books, by Cecily Barker

UK: See British Nature Study page for more resources.

READING (One lesson weekly)

The Burgess Bird Book for Children, by Thornton Burgess

UK Alternative

Wayland Book of Common British Birds: a Photographic Guide, by Nick Williams

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)

Home Science Adventures: Discovering Birds (12 lessons)

Note: Lesson 3 optional; Lesson 14 to be done before a family trip

Optional Extras

Non-Fiction

All About Owls by Jim Arnosky

Looking for Seabirds: Journal From an Alaskan Voyage, by Sophie Webb

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies

Fiction

The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B.White

Coot Club by Arthur Ransome

Pigeon Post by Arthur Ransome

Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard Atwater

The Wheel on the School by Meindert de Jong - story about storks set in Holland

There's an Owl in the Shower by Jean Craighead George

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat

Poetry

I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices, by Paul Fleischmann

UK: See British Nature Study page for more resources

Links

Birdsongs

Coloring pictures of birds (American)

Bird pictures

READING (One lesson weekly)

[PROVISIONAL] The Tarantula Scientist by Sy Montgomery

EXPLORATION (One lesson weekly)

Home Science Adventures: Discovering Insects (13 lessons)

Optional Extras

Non-Fiction

Simon and Schuster Children's Guide to Insects and Spiders, by Jinny Johnson

Big Book of Bugs by Theresa Greenaway

The Tarantula in My Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets by Jean Craighead George

Fiction

Charlotte's Web by E.B.White - classic fiction about a spider and a pig

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Poetry

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischmann

UK: See British Nature Study page for more resources