This unit gives students a good overview of what Earth Science involves. The lessons include
- Inside the Earth
- Earth's Tectonic Plates
- Igneous Rocks
- Sedimentary Rocks
- Volcanoes
- Earthquakes
- Oceans
- Layers of the Atmosphere
These are all topics of memory work in Cycle 1.
The rock samples that came with the complete kit came in a nice clear plastic box with a key chain microscope
. We love that microscope. It's so much better than a magnifying glass. The magnification is 20X. The rocks were nice and large and included a nice variety. The lesson book also had large photographs of each of the rocks and a description of each next to the photo. I really liked that. We were able to match the rocks to the photos, making it a much more Montessori-friendly activity.
The text of the lessons was a little too complex for my 5 and 3 year old, (it's meant for grades 3 to 6) but the activities were interesting and fun. There is a test at the end of each lesson to see what your student understood. We skip these. Each of the 12 lessons also includes a hands-on activity to solidify the concept. Most of these activities worked or will work well with my children. In retrospect though, the Hands-on Activity Books would have been a better fit for the ages of my students.
We were also sent a video of the lessons in the book. The information was interesting (at least to me) but not presented in a very interesting way (especially for a 3 and 5 year old). It felt a bit more like a high school lecture; Myrna stands in front of the camera and talks to you about Earth Science (in the order of the lessons in the book). Myrna sure knows her stuff, but I feel there could have been more visuals to help with the presentation of the lessons in the video.
Ring of Fire Science has a great collection of Earth Science lessons. The activities we got to try did a good job of cementing (pun intended) the concepts we have been learning. If you find it hard to narrow down your hands-on activity choices to complement your geology studies, you may want to go take a look at these resources.
Disclaimer: I received these items in exchange for a frank review. I was not compensated in any other way for the review.
. We love that microscope. It's so much better than a magnifying glass. The magnification is 20X. The rocks were nice and large and included a nice variety. The lesson book also had large photographs of each of the rocks and a description of each next to the photo. I really liked that. We were able to match the rocks to the photos, making it a much more Montessori-friendly activity.The text of the lessons was a little too complex for my 5 and 3 year old, (it's meant for grades 3 to 6) but the activities were interesting and fun. There is a test at the end of each lesson to see what your student understood. We skip these. Each of the 12 lessons also includes a hands-on activity to solidify the concept. Most of these activities worked or will work well with my children. In retrospect though, the Hands-on Activity Books would have been a better fit for the ages of my students.
We were also sent a video of the lessons in the book. The information was interesting (at least to me) but not presented in a very interesting way (especially for a 3 and 5 year old). It felt a bit more like a high school lecture; Myrna stands in front of the camera and talks to you about Earth Science (in the order of the lessons in the book). Myrna sure knows her stuff, but I feel there could have been more visuals to help with the presentation of the lessons in the video.
Ring of Fire Science has a great collection of Earth Science lessons. The activities we got to try did a good job of cementing (pun intended) the concepts we have been learning. If you find it hard to narrow down your hands-on activity choices to complement your geology studies, you may want to go take a look at these resources.
Disclaimer: I received these items in exchange for a frank review. I was not compensated in any other way for the review.
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