Zoology I, Week 1: Cuttlefish, Nautilus, Snail

Here are some notes from our introduction to Zoology I. This block is also sometimes called "The Human Being and the Animal World."

For homeschool families, this block is a particularly fun one to plan and to teach! I have a detailed page about this main lesson block on my website; you can look at plenty of examples of Waldorf watercolor paintings, chalkboard drawings, and main lesson book pages at my Pinterest page; and you can also find a complete teachers training manual for this block online as a free PDF from The East African Walodrf Teacher Development Program.

Monday, January 7

• introduction to the three-fold human being from Roy Wilkinson's book, pages 13-14 (chapter 1 of Charles Kovacs' book is very similar)
• watercolor pencil drawing of Self Portrait as a Celestial Being, inspired by this picture

For watercolor pencils, I like Derwent Inktense ink pencils for details and Stabilo woody 3-in-1 for backgrounds.

Tuesday, January 8

• review three-fold human being, read from chapter 1 of Charles Kovacs' book The Human Being and the Animal World, "The Head, Trunk, and Limbs," pages 18-21
• add The Head, Trunk, and Limbs to MLB
• read chapter 2 of Kovacs, "The Cuttlefish," pages 23-27

Thursday, January 10

• review the cuttlefish
• use the Nautilus hand puppet by Folkmanis to demonstrate how the cuttlefish (and the nautilus) moves through the water
• look up additional pictures of the cuttlefish, collect student questions (how does it reproduce, how long ago did it evolve, does it have a brain / heart / teeth, when did its ancient relatives still have a shell and what was it called back then, what are its predators, why is it called "cuttlefish," what does it eat, how does it communicate, how do its colors match its feelings, where does it live)
• have students rough draft their cuttlefish two-page spread while I looked up the answers to their questions:
  Cuttlefish (Wikipedia)

  Squid Evolved in Marine Wars More Than 100 Million Years Ago

  Cuttlefish Husbandry: Part IV - How Do Cuttlefish Reproduce?

  Habitat: Where Cuttlefish Live

  How Does [a] Squid Shoot the Black Ink Out of It?

  Cephalopod Ink (Wikipedia)

• add The Cuttlefish to MLB
• define and list the cephalopods, look at pictures of the nautilus, look at the Wooden Nautilus Puzzle by Grimm's, notice its resemblance to the snail (its cousin and another part of the mollusk family)
• explain that the nautilus continues to build its shell as it grows larger and thus it spirals out
• read and discuss "The Chambered Nautilus" by Oliver Wendell Holmes in The Waldorf Book of Poetry, page 163

Friday, January 11

• finish up nautilus and cuttlefish miscellany: look at how the Nautilus Hand Puppet can retreat into its shell, examine piece of cuttlebone, look at ammononite fossil, look through my Geologic Periods Book Set to find the evolution of the earliest nautiloids (Ordovician Period)
• read Houses from the Sea by Alice Goudey, look at a shell
• read first part of chapter 4 of Kovacs, "The Snail," pages 39-41
• practice drawing spirals freehand
• use 6 x 6 inch square Gelli printing plate to make snail spiral monoprints

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