Zoology: Bison and Moose

Wrapping up Zoology II with two amazing animals native to North America: bison and moose.

Here is my booklist, with notes for these two ungulates (hooved mammals) in particular and ruminants (4 stomachs!) in general.

Ruminants

Horns and Antlers
by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
"Horns and Antlers" chapter

Bison

Biome Cards of North America - Grasslands

Creature Camouflage - Hidden Endangered Animals
(the Crayola skin tone crayons are perfect for this!)



The Buffalo Are Back
by Jean Craighead George



The Autumn Calf
by Jill Haukos



The Prairie Builders: Reconstruction America's Lost Grasslands (Scientists in the Field)
by Sneed B. Collard III




The Life of Prairies and Plains
by Durward Leon Allen (pp.161-165)

Moose

Horns and Antlers
by Wilfrid Swancourt Bronson
"Moose" chapter



Moose (Elementary Explorers)
by Victoria Blakemore





The Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton Burgess (copyright 1920)
available for FREE at Internet Archive

chapter XXXVI, Flathorns the Moose

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Zoology: The Orca

I first became interested in adding the Orca to the Waldorf Man & Animal block when I was doing a consulting project for a client who lives in Australia. She wanted her Zoology blocks to feature only Australian animals.

In case you're curious, here is what we came up with:

Block I: Form

Giant Cuttlefish (Sepia apama)
tadpoles
Giant Clam (Tridacna gigas)
Giant Gippsland Earthworm (Megascolides australis)
Leopard Seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)
Red Kangaroo (Osphranter rufus)
Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)


Block II: Function

Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)
Orca (Orcinus orca)
Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)
Cow (Bos taurus, Bos indicus)

I wrote to her:

Marsha Johnson said that the three animals we pick to do in the second block of Man and Animal should represent thinking / feeling / willing as well as nervous system / cardiovascular / metabolic.

I didn't include a social insect -- which Kovacs covers in his Drawing from the Book of Nature -- but it just occurred to me that the Orca is a nice blend of cardiovascular health (apex predator) and social consciousness. So I will focus on the Orca as an intelligent and social creature. It seems to have a lot of Feeling but also Intellect.

Then the Saltwater Crocodile is a blend of the cardiovascular health (still an apex predator, and with a very interesting heart) and the digestive forces of the Cow. It seems like a very willful beast with strong digestive forces!

Platypus - all nervous system
Orca - intelligent, social, lots of caring (thinking + feeling)
Crocodile - strong heart, independent, determined (feeling + willing)
Cow - a placid beast that is nothing but digestion :-)

I also found in my notes this interesting tidbit:

Fun Fact I just learned about the platypus.
It has no stomach!

That's very funny because I chose it as a Nerve/Sense animal but it will tie in at the end with the Cow and the Digestive System. So I would wait to talk about the stomach of the platypus (and the orca and the crocodile... our big carnivores) until we get to the cow. Then we can go back and look at everyone's stomachs. Or lack thereof.

Fast forward to the present, where I am doing the Orca myself in Zoology, as an example of a cardiovascular system animal that is also very intelligent and social. I do so appreciate having my own notes to look back on!

Because there are so many interesting animals (like the Platypus), children get to choose an animal and research and write an Animal Report. That is one of our main projects these last two weeks of the school year, as we wrap up Art History, Philosophy, Fractions, Personal Narratives, and odds & ends.

Here is the Orca booklist that I recommended to her (and will use myself) as well as any references to the Orca that I found in previous blog posts:

Granny's Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas by Dr. Sally Hodson

How Whales Walked into the Sea by Faith McNulty

Creatures of Earth, Sea, and Sky by Georgia Heard ("Whale Chant")


available at Internet Archive


Around the World with Finger Puppet Animals by Suzanne Down





Plop Trumps 2 (aka Plop Trumps Extreme)


relevant blog posts:

Animals Are Amazing
Oct 21, 2023

Wild Isles Animal List
May 4, 2023

Science Titles for Young Readers
Mar 4, 2022

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Lion Booklist (and Birthday!)

The main lesson block topic for May is Zoology II and we are on the Lion!

In a stroke of absolutely perfect timing, my youngest student finished knitting her Lion on Thursday. She was extremely proud. 😊

pattern is in A First Book of Knitting for Children

Happy Birthday, little Lion!

Here is my list of Lion books:

On Thursday, we reviewed the biomes of Africa with the Africa Puzzle Map and looked at the three part cards for the animals of the African Grasslands.

Note: Both of these beautiful materials are from Waseca Biomes.

If you are interested in their three part cards with examples of plants, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals for all of the biomes on all of the continents in the world, here is the list.

After imagining the African Savannah, we read Young Lions by Toshi Yoshida and drew the "Lion" lesson from Drawing Simple Animal Forms.

Note: If you prefer a block beeswax crayon drawing over a pencil drawing, I suggest Teaching with the Fables: A Holistic Approach by Sieglinde de Francesca. And block beeswax crayons in primary colors are on CLEARANCE for $1.57 each at A Child's Dream right now!

On Monday, we will read the "Lion" chapter from The Human Being and the Animal World by Charles Kovacs (chap 13), and add Lion to the MLB.

I also want to do a Dog for our Zoology block, so I've chosen the Rhodesian Ridgeback. In Zoology II, we look at specific animals that serve as pure examples of a highly developed physiological system. The human being also has all of these systems but in a much more balanced way! The Chimpunk was our first animal (Nervous System). The Lion is Cardiovascular System... and so is the Rhodesian Ridgeback, a massive dog bred to hunt lions.

On Tuesday, we will read an excerpt from Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton.

What qualities would it take -- physically and emotionally -- to hunt a lion?

On Wednesday, we will brainstorm. If there was a dog that was specifically bred to hunt lions, what attributes would it most likely have? We can talk about the Cardiovascular System more specifically (this will be a review for my students who did the Human Body in Science Club all year), and then learn about the Rhodesian Ridgeback. It is truly a remarkable dog!

Happily, there is a Rhodesian Ridgeback tile in the very lovely Dog BINGO, so we will play that as well.

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Knitted Doll (Grade 4)

It's very cold and snowy here today, so I finally finished up my knitted doll!

In my Handwork Teacher Training, this was suggested as a third grade project, but I think it works really well in grade 4 as part of the Zoology block (to go with chapter 1 of Kovacs). A doll + wardrobe are the final patterns in A First Book of Knitting for Children, but I particularly like this one because it encourages children to make their dolls unique.

It also goes spectacularly well with the Kovacs chapter, and I really noticed the children looking at human proportions to see how big to make the head and how long to make the arms.

Thank you to Nicole for this "pattern" and the lovely wording!

you will need worsted weight yarn in a variety of colors (shoe color, clothing colors, skin color, hair color, accessory colors) and corresponding knitting needles

"I can't give you a pattern for this because people are different sizes"

"we come in all different colors and so do our dolls”

"we come in all different sizes and so do our dolls”

you will begin at one of the doll’s feet

cast on 12 stitches

knit until the leg is as long as you would like, then cast on for a second

knit second leg, then join them by knitting across all rows

knit torso as long as you want it to be

knit the head smaller — fewer stitches, fewer rows — than you did the torso

k2tog across the entire row, then use the gathering stitch to complete the head

now you will make two arms

cast on 10 stitches for arms in shirt color

knit until the arm is as long as you would like, switch to hand color at end of arm and then use the gathering stitch to complete the arm

notes:

for a smaller doll, cast on 10 instead of 12 stitches for the legs (in which case use 8 stitches instead of 10 stitches for the arms)

for a variety of textures, you could use garter stitch for skin but use stockinette stitch (knit a row, purl a row) for the shoes and clothing

the doll can be made so that he/she is completely clothed already (for slower knitters) OR made with skin and undergarments like tights/undies and then you can have fun inventing and knitting separate clothing and accessories

do NOT make the doll all in skin color such that he/she is naked

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Poisonous or Venomous?

Maybe you already know that Seth Meyers has spent a lot of time on this. But just recently, a Jackal wrote in with the best explanation I've ever heard... and since it's good to know when teaching Zoology (grade 4) and Botany (grade 5), I thought I would share it!

If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous.

If it bites you and you die, it's venomous.

Another tip for poisonous is to think about Snow White and the apple.

And for venomous, someone pointed out that the letter V looks like fangs!

the poisoned apple for Snow White
(I needle-felted this back in April 2016)

Illinois Exotic Species Coloring Book

Looking through my resources for the Southern Illinois block (grade 4 Local Geography, History & Industry), I came across this lovely coloring book.

Printed on nice heavy card, these beautiful illustrations come with helpful information on the back. Some of them would work very well in other blocks too, such as "Night Crawler" for Zoology, "Queen Anne's Lace" for Botany, or "Teasel" for Fibers & Clothing (teasers were an early tool used to card wool).

Here is the complete list:

Dame's Rocket

Eurasian Watermilfoil

Rusty Crayfish

Buckthorn

Japanese Beetle

Musk Thistle

Ruffe

Round Goby

German Yellowjacket

European Starling

Rock Dove

House Sparrow

Reed Canary Grass

Gypsy Moth

Chinese Mantis

Goldfish

Common Carp

Daphnia

Zebra Mussel

Asian Tiger Mosquito

Mute Swam

Multiflora Rose

Night Crawler

Kudzu

Asian Longhorned Beetle

Teasel

Garlic Mustard

Purple Loosestrife

Honey Bee

Wild Parsnip

Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle

Queen Anne's Lace

Monk Parakeet

European Corn Borer

Norway Rat

House Mouse

Ring-necked Pheasant

The book's introduction clarifies the difference between an exotic species and an invasive species.

Written by Michelle Garland, Carolyn P. Nixon, and Philip L. Nixon
Illustrated by Carolyn P. Nixon and Loren Kirkwood

The Seal Painting

Yesterday was Halloween, and Zac and I were looking back through photos from October 31st to see what costume he had worn each year...

And we discovered something amazing!

Come to find out that his beloved big sister Leah painted her famous Seal Painting for Zoology on October 30th, 2015.

We gasped and looked at the chalkboard. Yep. Ten years -- to the day -- later, Zac was painting his Seal Painting for Zoology. October 30th, 2025!

This painting is a favorite Zoology activity, and I just love how Leah's turned out. It is inspired by the Live Education lesson Animals Among the Elements.

Photos of every page of Leah's two Man & Animal MLBs are in the blog here.

Inside In: X-Rays of Nature's Hidden World

Ms. Megan just recommended this book to me and I'm obsessed with it!

Inside In: X-Rays of Nature's Hidden World
photography by Arie van 't Riet

We have a lot of human and animal X-rays for the light table, but this book takes things to a whole other level. A must-have purchase for Zoology!

So that I remember about this book as a resource, I'm making a list of all the animals included in it. That way it will show up when I search the blog.

Arthropods and Mollusks

scorpion, giant prawn, bumblebee, dragonfly, butterfly, centipede, snail

Fish

eel, silver pomfret, roach, perch, garfish, barracuda, small-spotted catshark, John Dory, anglerfish, catfish, sole, ray, seahorse

Amphibians

marsh frog, tree frog

Reptiles

tegu, bearded dragon, long-tailed grass lizard, monitor lizard, python, crocodile, chameleon, red-eared slider turtle, constrictor

Birds

barn owl, wagtail, long-eared owl, buzzard, pheasant, jay, duck, magpie, jay, crow, blackbird, thrush, starling

Mammals

bat, mouse, rat, shrew, vole, rabbit, hare, mole, hedgehog, weasel, squirrel, fox, deer, squirrel monkey

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Common Garter Snake

There are many fascinating snakes in the world; we are looking at two.

On Thursday we learned about the Prairie Rattlesnake by reading Patulous, the Prairie Rattlesnake by Jonathan Kahn. Jonathan wrote and illustrated this national award-winning book when he was just nine years old!

Today our topic is the Common Garter Snake. Here is what we are doing:

Winter, Awake!
by Linda Kroll



Winter Bees and Other Poems of the Cold
by Joyce Sidman
"Snake's Lullaby," pp.8-9



The Animal Book: A Visual Encyclopedia of Life on Earth
"Snakes," pp.150-153
19 snakes, including garter snake, shown to scale with a 57 inch child



All Creation Waits
by Gayle Boss
chapter 15

I have a complete blog post listing all of the wintering animals covered in All Creation Waits. This is an extraordinary book, and works well as a classroom read aloud if you live in the temperate forest biome of North America (we do not read the final chapter, which is very religious). Each day in December, as we read about an animal at snack, we hang up the ornament of that animal. It's a lovely tradition!

Here are all the Advent Tree Photos.

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