Biology/Life Science


Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, identification and taxonomy

Textbooks

  • For the PASS biology book (great for when you don't need to get heavy into biology at the high school level) and a few other digital textbooks, please contact me via the form at the bottom and leave your email address.
  • CK 12 - online biology, simulation, and study guides
  • Kids Biology.com  - online textbook and games (I used to use the heck out of this site and sister sites in the earlier internet days with my kids when we were overseas).
  • Biology4Kids - online textbook and quizzes

Videos/Lessons


Virtual Microscopes

Virtual Microscope - Knowitall.org - This one is neat because student can select a specimen, prep it on a slide and then view it under the virtual microscope. Great for younger kids.

Virtual Microscope  - this is a downloadable program from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.


Topics We've Studied




And don't forget to check out my Biology/Life Science Pinterest board where I have collected a lot of neat ideas!

Earth Science/Geology & Space



Textbooks

Useful Websites:




Our Earth Science Gallery:

My third grader's moon phases project (8/2016)



Notebooking page. We got the idea for them manipulative from here




For inspiration for activities and projects, check out my Earth Science/Geology & Space Pinterest Board:
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Chemistry


Chemistry is a branch of physical science that studies the composition, structure, properties and change of matter.


This is just a collection of resources that I've collected to help teach chemistry at home. I add to it as the need arises, in shaa Allah.

Period Tables

So of course you can google images for Periodic tables and find many to choose from to print out or hang up in your homeschool study space. These are just a few that I particularly liked:


Videos that teach/introduce the Periodic table



Enter an element name to find out facts about it!

Experiments

Books/Workbooks



And check out my Chemistry Pinterest board for neat graphic organizer/foldables ideas and creative teaching ideas:

Arabic Alphabet PowerPoints

Crescent Shaped Cookies

Last Ramadan, the kids and I made crescent moon and star shaped cookies. It was a fun activity. I always mean to do it every Ramadan but it's been years since we have gotten around to making them again.  The kids had fun!

We used a soft cutout sugar cookie recipe from one of my favorite recipe sites, Sally's Baking Addiction. I imagined that they were going to be difficult to make, but they were pretty easy.

The ingredients were pretty basic things I generally have on hand:

  • 3/4 cup  unsalted butter, slightly softened to room temperature
  • 3/4 cup  granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (I didn't have this, but they were still very tasty!)
  • 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
You can get the recipe from the link above. One of the things that she stressed was to make sure that you chill the dough, and she recommended rolling it out first before chilling.

I had originally intended to ice them with colored frosting but I couldn't find the colors that I wanted, so we colored the cookie dough!

We ended up making stars as well (because I had a star cookie cutter). For the crescent moons, I used a plastic biscuit cutter.



We made the crescents by using the round cutter and overlapping circles (my daughter's idea)


Then it was time to ice them. I rarely frost cookies so I happened along another site that suggested making an outline shape with the icing first, filling in some of the inside and spreading with a knife.

Our finished products!

It was mostly my teenage daughters, seven year old daughter and I making the cookies, but my 11 year old son joined in to help ice a few as well.


I hope, in shaa Allah to do more baking next Ramadan as the kids really enjoyed it.

Progress Charts & Certificates

Skip Counting!



Skip Counting, General

Skip Counting Charts

My six year old is working on skip counting now and I wanted to have something for her to use to help her with her math problems.

I wanted to try to reinforce the concept that when you are skip counting, you are really counting sets and it's a quicker way to count. So, instead of just writing the skip counting patterns as I have done in charts before, I used pictures to represent the sets.

Skip Counting by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10s Poster

If you'd like to download and use this chart, click the link below:




General Skip Counting Games/Activities

Skip Counting with Sidewalk Chalk - two fun activities to help kids learn to skip count from the PlaydoughtoPlato blog.
Skip Counting Lacing Plates - 123Homeschool4Me.com
Big List of Skip Counting Ideas

General Skip Counting ONLINE Practice/Games


Sheppard Software Balloon Pop Skip - practice skip counting by 2s, 3s 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 10s

Skip Counting by 2s


TJ Skip Counting by 2s Practice Pack
A super oldie TJ offering that I dug up...
It imcludes counting, sequencing and writing practice



Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

Skip Counting by 3s

Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

Skip Counting by 4s

Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

Skip Counting by 5s

TJ Skip Counting by 5s Practice Pack (circa 2008) six activities.


    Skip Counting by 5's Worksheets - WorksheetFun.com
    Skip Counting by 5s Number Line Worksheet - SuperTeacherWorksheets
    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 6s

    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 7s

    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 8s

    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 9s

    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 10s

    Number Bubbles Skip Counting Game - ABCya.com - choose which number to skip count by 2-10
    Fruit Shoot - Sheppard Software - choose skip counting by 2s-10s
    Balloon Pop Skip - Sheppard Software 0 choose skip counting by 2s-10s

    Skip Counting by 25s



    Also, please stop by my Skip Counting Pinterest Board for great activities and resources:

    Primary vs. Secondary Sources



    A primary source is a source of information that was created at the time under study

    A secondary source is a source of info that was created later by someone who did not experience firsthand or participate in events at the time under study.



    Primary/Secondary Source Graphical Organizers

    This is one I made for my son:
    Included in this printable is a list of types of sources that students can use to fill out the graphic organizer. 


    Worksheets

    Set of 4 Primary/Secondary Resources worksheets with Answer key - These are nice because they give specific examples of sources and students must determine if they are primary or secondary. From CommonCoreSheets.com.

    Square Roots & Perfect Squares

    A perfect square is the product of a whole number multiplied by itself
    A square root of a number is a value that, when multiplied by itself, gives that number.

    This page is a collection of resources that I have compiled (and in some cases made) to help teach my kids about square roots and perfect squares.

    Videos/Tutorials


    Online Games/Practice

    Worksheets

    • Homeschool Math.net - ready made square root worksheets and a worksheet generator, Generates answer keys as well.
    • Math-Drills.com - Square roots of perfect squares worksheets; ready made, set of 10 worksheets available, with answer keys.
    • Mathatube.com - perfect square and non perfect square worksheets with answer keys.

    Flashcards/Reference Charts

    Square Root/Perfect Square Skill Cards/Flashcards

    I created this set of flashcards which also includes skill/concept cards so that my kids could not only practice the square root/perfect square facts but also to make sure that they understood the basic concepts behind square roots and perfect squares
    Square Root/Perfect Square Flashcards
    Download-free (PDF)



    For younger students, I have a Perfect Square/Square Root Activity Pack that not only includes the flashcards and progress chart, but also two matching activities.
    Perfect Square/Square Root Activity Pack

    You can purchase this pack at my my TpT store:
    First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Adult Education, Homeschooler, Staff - TeachersPayTeachers.com

    Notebooking

    Here is an example of some notebooking we did on the subject.

    1) Frayer Models for Perfect Squares and Square Roots - I love Frayer models because they can really allow you to take a more in-depth look at vocabulary words and make vocabulary notes more organized.






    2) Perfect square/square root visualization
    I love this idea that I found on Pinterest. It can help your student visually understand what is going on with perfect squares and square roots; it connects the two concepts wonderfully, in my opinion:

    Here is is our version of it:




    You can download my templates for these three notebooking pages here. The pages also include space for students to write the first 20 perfect squares and the square roots for the first 20 perfect squares.




    For more resources on perfect squares and square roots, please stop by my 
    Square Root/Perfect Squares Pinterest board: