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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 08 2012 at 12:08pm | IP Logged
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So ladies, I was delighting in Jen's new Morning Basket post yesterday and one particular author grabbed my attention: Richad Headstrom. I thought it would be nice to add him here, I didn't find him in the search engine
I've been putting together our science for next year with an emphasis on microscopes. I decided to use his Adventures with a Microscope and picked up his Nature in Miniature too.
Any thoughts on his work? This will be the first time we read him. Any other suggestions for microscope heavy life science for the middle schooler?
Also, Jen or others, I'd love to know how Nature in Miniature compares to The Living Year.
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Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 12 2012 at 6:52pm | IP Logged
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Grace&Chaos wrote:
| So ladies, I was delighting in Jen's new Morning Basket post yesterday and one particular author grabbed my attention: Richad Headstrom. I thought it would be nice to add him here, I didn't find him in the search engine |
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Mr. Headstrom was a very prolific writer on natural history topics. We should definitely add him to our oop science book (author) thread! I can find between 22 and 25 books to his credit.
Grace&Chaos wrote:
I've been putting together our science for next year with an emphasis on microscopes. I decided to use his Adventures with a Microscope and picked up his Nature in Miniature too.
Any thoughts on his work? This will be the first time we read him. Any other suggestions for microscope heavy life science for the middle schooler? |
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Here is our list:
The Microscope by Maxine Kumin, pictures by Arnold Lobel - this is really more a picture book, and suitable for elementary, but the illustrations are so good I have to list it. It's a good introduction to Leeuwenhoek.
A World in a Drop of Water: Exploring With a Microscope by Alvin and Virginia Silverstein - fantastic little book with good photo images and explanations. This would make a good book to go through a little at a time, and of course begs one to make a visit to a pond, get a sample and look under the scope.
The Microscope and How to Use It by Dr. Georg Stehl - we found this little gem when Kris (athomescience) recommended it. It's heavy on fact/information, so it shouldn't be read as a living book, but is a very well written book for introducing the microscope. It's a book that paced, could last the year. It contains 9 detailed chapters (one specifically titled, Exploring a Drop of Water, and an appendix of techniques. This would provide a great backbone of a lab-type portion of your course.
Microscope and Magnifying Lenses by Janice VanCleave - if you're familiar at all with any of Janice VanCleave's other books, then you sort of have an idea of the format of this one. I think it's more suited to an upper elementary student than a middle school student. It has very simple projects and experiments which make use of a magnifying glass or a microscope. It could be a good supplement for younger student tag-alongs.
The World of the Microscope Usborne - What you'd expect from Usborne - heavy on the graphics and info blurb. I have one child that really responds to Usborne books, so he loved this book. It's not something you'd narrate though! It is good, lots of good intro and illustrations on the microscope.
The Microscope and What You See by Martin Keen (The Wonder Book of How and Why series), copyright 1974 - we just love the How and Why books, and this is no exception. Though this book will be somewhat dated, the information is presented in a very engaging way, and my science passionate kid loves this book. Great illustrations throughout, and many very well written experiments for getting to know and use a microscope.
Grace&Chaos wrote:
| Also, Jen or others, I'd love to know how Nature in Miniature compares to The Living Year. |
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I wish I had Nature In Miniature to compare the two for you, but I don't. It sounds great though, and I can't wait for you to come back and review it!
The Living Year is well written and engaging, covering a variety of seasonal topics. What I particularly like is that Headstrom focuses on the flora and fauna that would be common to home gardens. I love the end of each monthly chapter - there is a simple list detailing natural events for each month (ie. Natural Events In March, Natural Events In April). We like to read through the list before we start reading the chapter so we have a sense of what is happening in the natural world. There are some wonderful seasonal books that take a wonderful, detailed look at the English countryside, but I have long searched for a book that did the same for the US, and this is one.
There is another book like The Living Year that I have found. C. J. (Clarence John) Hylander's The Year Round, copyright 1932. It's recommended in a 1932 issue of Boys' Life Magazine. It is another interesting book, arranged by seasons, and further subdivided into topical chapters from there. For instance, it is arranged and grouped into four headings: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. Under each season, there are different headings, with sub-headings under that.
SpringThe Story of the TadpoleFrom eggs to frogs,-and toads.
The Tree Frog
The Wood Frog
The Spring Peeper
The Leopard Frog
The Pickerel Frog
The Green Frog
The Bullfrog When Trees Have FlowersWhy do plants have flowers?
Etc........ It covers a variety of topics, and is quite informative, but I don't find it quite as engaging as Headstrom's book. Still, it's quite good and another wonderful seasonally arranged book.
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Well, this post is scattered and random - from microscope studies to oop seasonal books.  I'm going to quote some of this info in our OOP Science Books - recommended authors thread.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Wildflowers and Marbles
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keac
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| Posted: March 17 2012 at 8:34am | IP Logged
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We used Adventures with Microscopes this past year and really enjoyed it.
Here is how we used it:
*I knew that actually doing the "adventures" as he describes them in the book would not happen here. He tells how you can go to a pond and dip for pond scum and let it settle and then prepare your slide. It truly appeals to me, but I had to be realistic.
*So, I purchased a biology slide set from Home Science Tools. This gave us experience using a microscope (which was a goal of ours) as well as enjoying the study of biology (another goal).
*I do have blank slides and instructions so if someone wants to prepare their own slides, they can pursue this.
*For those adventures that I did not have a slide, we would do a search in Google Images and always found plenty to choose from.
*We did not finish the book this year, so we might just keep going with it next year.
*If you are interested in a list of the adventure topics (to help identify slides needed), PM me your email and I'll share mine.
Have fun with it!
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Karen in Kansas City
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 17 2012 at 11:55am | IP Logged
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Thanks Karen,
I'm so glad to hear how you used the book. I was thinking the same thing about the prepared slides. I've been skimming the books and already thinking of spots we could hike/nature walk and collect specimens, but don't want to disrupt the flow of the book by not having something prepared as back up.
How many times a week did you use the book?
Did your three older childern participate?
I'd love to hear if you used any thing to supplement or happen upon as a rabbit trail?
I'm really excited about this microscope focused time 
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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Grace&Chaos
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| Posted: March 17 2012 at 12:01pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Jen, for the list. I've been looking at some already. I'm really excited about Nature in Miniature. It is set up like the Living Year: the chapters are divided by month and speak to appropriate seasons. I'm looking forward to using this one as well.
I also found Through the Magnifying Glass by Julius Schwartz and illustrated by Jeanne Bendick that I think my 8 yo dd can use as a spine. 
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Blessings,
Jenny
Mom to dds(00,03) and dss(05,06,08,09)
Grace in Loving Chaos
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keac
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| Posted: March 26 2012 at 10:07am | IP Logged
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Grace&Chaos wrote:
Thanks Karen,
I'm so glad to hear how you used the book. I was thinking the same thing about the prepared slides. I've been skimming the books and already thinking of spots we could hike/nature walk and collect specimens, but don't want to disrupt the flow of the book by not having something prepared as back up.
How many times a week did you use the book?
Did your three older childern participate?
I'd love to hear if you used any thing to supplement or happen upon as a rabbit trail?
I'm really excited about this microscope focused time |
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Sorry I didn't notice your follow-up questions earlier, Jenny!
We started this book in the fall so we didn't get much opportunity to do any real field-work over the winter here. We would once a week read an adventure, view slides under the microscope and describe what we saw either orally or drawing a diagram. I used this with my 11 and 9 year old boys. My oldest really likes having his own work to do and works best independently so I let him have his separate work from what the rest of us do. The 11 year old read in the Usborne Book of Microscope on his own. This was not meant to be a full science work for the year, but it wouldn't have been difficult to extend it, adding in other books like already mentioned above to make a full "course" of it.
(My 11 year old has plans to take samples from a nearby pond to examine as soon as we are out that way next, so in my mind, the unit accomplished what I set out which was to empower them with some idea of the possibilities and experience using the microscope.)
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Karen in Kansas City
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Richard Headstrom :: Microscope Studies
