Thursday, June 8, 2017

Summer Camp Planning - Paleozoic V - Carboniferous

Please note, if you have arrived at this post out of chronological order, that this is part of my overall From Lava to Life summer camp planning.

At the bottom of the post I've updated with the actual lesson notes after teaching it... if you find my brainstorm-jumble frustrating, I hope this added information will help! Please feel free to contact me with any questions!


Already Owned:


Bought for Camp:


Planning:

    read Carboniferous book from

    fossils from collection: horn coral, fern fossil

    The Carboniferous Period is divided into two epochs. The older part of the Carboniferous Period is called the Mississippian and the younger part is called the Pennsylvanian.

    Illinois state fossil "Tully monster" is from the Mississippian
    and this thing is one of the coolest organisms of all time!
    info from Aunt Carol + updated article claiming it was a vertebrate after all

    Tully monster has to be the artwork but I can't figure out the best way to make it? modeling beeswax?

    with all that we know about the world before we got here, kids need to always keep in mind that most of this is still our best guess!

    this is important because on this day our special guest will be visiting and his scientific research is all about challenging our existing notions of how and when and where life first formed on our planet

    chalkboard drawing from Dinosaurs book
    rock samples limestone & coal

    Polar Ice Turns Shallow Sea to Swamps - review water cycle? The Drop in My Drink

    early reptiles! it would be great if we could have a frog vs a turtle to look at and touch

    giant dragonfly - always a fan fave - and the giant millipede

    fern forest stencil

    Ferns 12" x 12"

    sponge painting fern forest, add rich insect life details with watercolor pencils?

    fern sun printing - ferns are inexpensive at the grocery store

    LOVE this fern needlepoint idea


Implementation:

FRIDAY PM - tell students that the name of the next period is "Carboniferous" and see if they can guess what it's famous for (especially since we live in Carbondale), read Carboniferous Period book and look at fossils, look at examples of limestone and coal, present the nicely organized 40 piece Washington School Collection of rocks & minerals, use the Washington School Student Rock Collection set of 40 small samples and let students try to identify each of their pieces, read The Drop in My Drink, read info from Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) GeoActivities Series binder ed. by Janis Treworgy about the Illinois state fossil (GeoBit 5: the "Tully monster") and then compare with updated article from Science News on April 30, 2016 stating that it was recently discovered to be a vertebrate, form Tully monsters (Tullimonstrum gregarium) using modeling beeswax, draw giant dragonflies and centipedes using pen and ink, then use fern stencil and green paint over the top to create a fern forest with oversized insect life lurking in it



Reflection:

Rock & Mineral identification isn't for everyone but I had one little girl who just loved it! She is only 7 but she was so patient, and stayed with it until she had them all figured out!



This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!

No comments: