I actually posted this, but I guess it didn't go through!

Here is the
book
list I was telling you about for the Germ week in CHC science. Suitable
for up to 3rd grade:

GERMS:

Experiment:

Also, if you need a cute germ experiment and have some glitter hanging
around, let your child put it in the palm of their hand and shake hands
with
people. The way the glitter spreads on other people's hands is just like
the way germs are spread. Also, when you wash the glitter off, it washes
off just like a germ, which is NOT killed, but simply washed off down
the
drain or wiped off with drying towel afterwards. Only alcohol directly
kills the germ.

Books:

1. I know how we fight germs by Kate Rowan

2. Those mean, nasty downright disgusting but invisible germs by Judith
Anne Rice
3. Germs are not for sharing by Elizabeth Verdick

HYGIENE:

1. Wash, scrub, brush by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (very funny
for little boys to read)
2. Keeping Clean by Sharon Gordon (real life pictures and easy words
for First Grader to read out loud.
3. Barney Video -- Good Clean Fun!

5 Senses tying in with Germs:

1. You can't smell a flower with your ear by Joanna Cole (great little
instant-experiments !)

These were all available through our local library. I do order in

advance
through our library online system which is very convenient.

Anybody have suggestions for MATTER for 1st grader? Coming up next week.

For CHC Science, a book suitable for 1-3rd grade:

SLEEP is for Everyone! By Paul Showers.

Texts on the Matter unit

Matter, by Chris Cooper; an Eyewitness Science book by DK Publishing;
1992
From Glasses to Gasses, by Dr. David Darlin; Dillon Press; 1992

Literature Links
Who Sank the Boat? By Pamela Allen
Amazing Water by Melvin Berger
I am Water by Jean Marzollo
Puddles by Jonathan London (illustrations by G. Brian Karas)
White Snow Bright Snow by Alvin Tresselt
Wilbur¡¯s Space Machine by Lorna Balian

She actually created an entire unit on matter. I can see if she will
allow me to forward it to you and/or others.

We just started First Grade last week and science was a blast using Easy
as
1,2,3. We got a mammal video at the library set for younger kids. It was
very good. Then we got just one mammal book from the library that had
the
most pictures. I didn't want to overwhelm him as we have plenty of
actual
mammals at home (we live on a little ranch). Also, we have our own
library
with many animal books.

Then we did the CHC Bible History lesson which is Creation and that fit
right in with God making mammals on the 6th day (my son came up with
that
theory). And, we learned that Man is NOT an animal even though he IS a
mammal based on the scripture readings to look up in Daniel, etc. These
readings clearly point out that the animals are animals, but God made
man
last and Man worships God differently than animals. Such great concepts
that came together perfectly. He wouldn't get that in school.

We also: Made a collage of mammals which he made by himself and gave to

his
Grandfather for his birthday. He went through our old magazine pile and
cut
out animals, then he sorted them. It was great fun for him.

We also: For a little writing assignment he wrote on lined paper the

things
that made a mammal a mammal. I didn't worry about spelling, just that he
got the concepts right, which he did from just watching the video. It
continually amazes me how much that boy gets from watching a learning
video.
Much more than I do.

Please note that all of this was over a 3 day period, and we spent no
more
than 20 mins or so on each thing. Keep it light and simple.

Mrs. Suzan Doer

__________________________________________________________________
I don't actually have Easy as 1,2,3 but I do have the grade one lesson
plans. I can tell you what I've planned for mammals the first week.

We will read about mammals out of the Usbourne Children's Encyclopedia

(it's
cartoony and I like the animal section), then we will sort a small
selection
of the stuffed animals into mammals and not mammals. The next day I will
ask her to select one book about mammals for her read-aloud and we might
answer the mammal questions out of the Complete Book of Animals (a very
nice
book on the topic of animals and also a good . We are lucky enough to be
close to a zoo so we will be visiting it during the animals section.

Other things that I've done in the past with her older sister on the
topic
of mammals was a collage of mammals (I made up a clipart sheet of many
different animals and my daughter sorted them). Another idea that I just
thought of would be to make a scene (say savanna, desert or North
American
forest) adding the appropriate animals along the way. I've the Complete
book of Science:grades 1-2 which has patterns for such things (the
publisher
gives a limited right to the purchaser to copy items from the book, same
with the Complete Book of Animals).

Emily
___________________________________________________________________
I have a first grader and a almost 4 year old and started Easy as 123
science this year. We love it. It is very simple and allows you to go as
deep, or not, as you wish. Since my first grader was in Kindergarten
last
year in a public charter school, I would compare Easy as 123 science as
right at grade level.

The best thing about it is that you can pre-checkout the books you may
want
from the library via the computer at home, and pick them up the week you
want them. So for example, the first week was mammals and I just went
online and pre-ordered some mammals books to pick up that week as well
as
the following week's subject study: birds. We checked out mammal, bird,
fish, reptile, amphibian videos each week, read funny story picture
books
that had animals in them, and the kids would tell me what classification
of
animals were as we learned them; ie, we watched Dr. Suess's One Fish,
Two
Fish; Are You My Mother?; Goodnight Gorilla; and read similar books. We
listened to Mr. Popper's Penguins on audio book throughout BIRDS week as
we
traveled to library and to church, etc. in the car.

Now, in addition to this, we were studying Creation in CHC Bible

history.
So, the kids learned what day each animal classification was created.
Finally, the art for that week would tie in beautifully with science
because
we studied artists who did paintings that were also habitats. We could
look
at the pictures and guess what habitats it would be for what types of
animals.

Please know we only spent 20-30 mins a day, 3 days a week on these
subjects.
(Not counting watching the video on it).

I am VERY happy with Easy as 123 science for my boys and think that it
gives
the mother great flexibility without losing sight of the overall monthly
focus, which was animals. Also, it ties in with the other subjects so it
was like a unit study that just happened!

p.s. My younger 2 sons were incidental, of course. But I do want to say

that they picked up a huge amount of information from all of this by
just
playing around the table and mostly listening to their big brother
talking
about it to anyone who would listen.

Oh, and my husband surprised us with a visit to the Zoo last week which
was
a great finale for tying the whole month together. Reptiles weren't
actually part of the month yet (learned in 2nd grade), but my son
discovered
them at the zoo so we had to come home and this week learned about
reptiles
and amphibians. Please know when I say "learned" , it is very basic on
all
these subjects. So for example, we learned that lizards, turtles, and
snakes are reptiles and that they have scales and are cold blooded like
fish
we did last week, but lay eggs on land and have 4 legs. Frogs and
salamanders are amphibians and don't have scales at all, just skin, and
lay
their eggs in the water. Also cold blooded. That's it! Nothing more
except looking at all the cool pictures and watching the videos. He gets
to
count pictures of them out of the library books, decide what is what,
and on
his own began to learn the habitats. Finally, we went to
www.enchantedlearni ng.com <http://www.enchante dlearning. com/> which
we are
a member now, and printed fun worksheets on reptile math, animal
counting
books, and which-animals- live-where page. Also, we "flew" over the
planet
using google earth http://earth. google.com <http://earth. google.com/>
to
see what deserts, rainforests, oceans, etc look like from above. (Please
do
yourself and your child a huge favor by facing NORTH when you look at
maps
or while using google earth or you can mess up their directional- sense
forever. This told to me by an old teacher who taught geography,
history,
and science.)

Today is Thursday and we're done with art, science, and bible history
for
the week. We also found a Catholic ABC Animals coloring book at the
Catholic bookstore on Tuesday so the boys get to pick what pages they
want
to color, do cut-outs, etc this week from that. We live in the country
with
lots of chickens, so they collected feathers and hair from the horses,
dogs,
and goats and pasted them on their pictures as appropriate. We used
pieces
of tinfoil for scales for the fish pictures.

I am NOT a crafty/teacherie type of mom at all, much rather be outdoors

or
doing business, so please know that I am stressing that we spent a max
of 30
mins on these fun things. But if you called me today, my son(s?) could
probably tell you what animals were what and why in a first-grader kind
of
way. 209-669-0777

I am very much in support of Easy as 123 Science and all of CHC's

curriculum
because the work builds on itself each day and week and this seems to be
the
fairest way for my boys to learn at this time.

Mrs. Suzan Doer

husband Ken

3 little boys

We just finished the MATTER unit in Easy as 123 Science with Catholic
Heritage Curricula, and I wanted to recommend two resources that were so
exciting for my First Grade son to use and learn:

1. http://www.sciencew iz.com/books/ chemistry. htm This is available at

Target for $14.95 and is awesome for teaching Solids, Liquids, Gases. It
is
called Chemistry and includes a book with 36 activities and experiments
that
you can do at home, recommended for ages 5-10. It includes the odd
things
you might not have for the experiments such as the balloons, marbles,
wax,
and other things. Well worth the money and be used over and over again!
We
did 5 experiments in 45 minutes and boy was it exciting for my 3 little
boys. My son was able to repeat the experiments by himself for his
Grandfather and visiting great-uncle from Texas. They were blown away by
that. My father, who was not supportive of homeschooling at first, now
was
showing off to his brother how his Grandson was doing in homeschool. It
was
very fun morning. Also, we did the Trinity thing with water being ice,
water, steam: A signature of the Holy Spirit in science. Very cool to
use
a teapot since the steam makes it whistle. Note: We also got the
Electricity and Inventions kits. See here for list
http://www.sciencew iz.com/books/ books.htm As for the age thing, I
think a
child older than 10 would think it very fun and cool. The balloon blows
up
so fast with the baking soda/vinegar thing, that it had everyone
clapping!
What a way to view Gases!

2. Now for two great books! (a) Solids, Liquids, Gases by Louise
Osborne and Carol Gold. Nice pictures, easy read, and experiments easy
to
do. (b) Solids, Liquids, Gases by Charnan Simon. Great book that my
first grader was able to read by himself for the most part. The cover is
the Ice Water Steam picture which was perfect for the Trinity topic.
Very
simple reading with full page picture on each page and large text.
Highly
recommended!

For those of you who are members of www.enchantedlearning.com

<http://www.enchantedlearning.com/> , they have a wonderful Solar System
book, perfect for Easy as 123 Science Unit Study! The link is:

http://members.enchantedlearning.com/books/science/solarsystem/

They have more Solar System things too!

I found this short video on the 2018 Space Moon Trip being planned at
NASA.
It's geared for elementary age and shows rockets being lauched, very
cook,
and FREE!

Here is the link:

http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/hands-on_ math/orion_
space_capsule/index.php