This post is about some of the things we explored, and collected while visiting the East & West Coasts of Canada. I decided to let the photos do much of the talking here.
The next few photos are from the West Coast, British Columbia. These pictures were taken at Witty's Lagoon in Victoria BC. Below that are some pictures from our East Coast adventures, and lastly the shell and seashore study that evolved when we got home. I am making available a free copy of our various cards that we used in our studies 😃
This was an incredible learning experience for the children, and for us as well. The sand was so beautiful and filled with tiny creatures tracks and remnants of plant life.
The rocks at low tide were encrusted with barnacles and sea anemone. In posts to come I will share some of our exploration at the Vancouver Aquarium and The Shaw Ocean Discovery Center. Just amazing!!!
It was just incredible all of the treasures we were able to experience!!
Below are a few pictures from the East Coast Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. We did some major collecting here!!
Above Xander is checking out a few goodies while we were on a whale watching tour in St. Andrews New Brunswick. Below is an amazing trip to see the the Flower Pot Rocks at Hopewell Cape, NB. This is an incredible site to visit. At low tide you can climb down a massive staircase to sea level and explore. It's amazing to see how the sea has shaped the rock overtime.
Below is the beach we spent time collecting on in Prince Edward Island.
We had a lot of shells that we wanted to keep and display!! The tall glass vase contains some East Coast shells and sand, and the large glass bowl are from the West.
So I put together a selection of shells in a tray, a few good books. I created a set of shell matching cards, and parts of a univalve and bivalve cards with definitions.
Xander loved the Junior Science Book of Shells (above). It's an older book, but written so well and stocked with great information that Xander really enjoyed reading.
We were given an incredible set of books called The Illustrated Natural History of Canada. We included the books The Pacific Coast and The Atlantic Coast in our study. These books are so wonderful and filled with beautiful pictures!! I was able to locate only one in the series on amazon below.
This book looks amazing and one I would love to add to our collection.
I do have this book on order. I bought the Smithsonian Rocks and Minerals and was not disappointed this looks wonderful!!
Some of the contents are from our trips, and some were purchased or from my husbands vacations as a child.
Learning about nacre.
Getting in a little closer
Xander spent a great deal of time checking out and identifying the shells, and understanding various definitions as you can see below. This is a great link list of a huge selection of shell resources that I found helpful.
Xander was weighing, measuring, comparing, drawing shells and making notes. He made a little shell science booklet to contain his notes.
He was very interested in barnacles. We spent a lot of time studying their anatomy, life cycle, feeding and habitat.
We did a basic image search on the iPad and found all kinds of amazing information and images. The iPad has found it's way into the majority of our research and study.
We had a small cluster of barnacles from BC.
I created Univalve & Bivalve definition cards for sorting.
Ava did tons of exploration!! I photographed our shells and made a set of matching cards. These are all common shells named by family so they may be of use to those wishing a copy.
Our shell cards are a sort by type of shell.
Someone had a tasty dinner through this hole!!
We have all learned so much from our time on the beach, aquariums, and museums!!
If anyone would like the following materials you are welcome to download them for free!
All of the photos used in the making of our cards are my own. The shell sorting cards are in two different tones and this was for our children to highlight the shells we found on the West Coast.
The cards cover primary & elementary work given the age range of our two children (you decide what works for you) and include:
- a set of shell matching cards with the type of shell family that they belong to
- univalve & bivalve definition cards with sorting headers
- parts of a bivalve & univalve shell cards with descriptions and definitions these cards are a little more elementary
If you do not have shells available for the object to card match, you can still do card to card matching. These can also be cut into two part cards for more elementary work or 3 part for earlier introductions.
We are using the above cards as two part cards for Xander. He matches the definition to the cards. I also have a control set that we use more like a nomenclature book.
I hope you find these useful!
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This post is linked up at Living Montessori Now!!
Love the shell cards. Could I please get a copy? Cquincer@comcast.net
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thank you!!! I'll send them off to you :)
DeleteWhat an awesome unit study, Cherine! And thanks so much for sharing your wonderful cards! Please send me a copy: debchitwood@gmail.com.
DeleteI'm so glad you link up with Montessori Monday. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page.
We love beach combing. The photos of your trips are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI would love a copy of the cards, please. Thank you for sharing them! juliecerdas at gmail dot com
The beach is just magical!! If was so wonderful to photograph them there thank you!! Sending off the docs:)
DeletePlease may I have a copy of the shell cards too. Many thanks, Pamela
ReplyDeleteI'll send them off to you Pamela - could you send me your email address:)Thank you!!
DeleteI love how you followed his interest in the beach home. What wonderful learning moments you had.
ReplyDeleteWe did have such a wonderful time! I wish we lived closer to the ocean. Thank you:)
DeleteCould I please get a copy of cards too? They are great! biuro@wroclawchildrenshouse.pl
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Thank you!! They are on the way!!
DeleteThese are wonderful and perfectly timed for us too! May I also have a copy of the cards please? aimee_erwin at yahoo (dot)com
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome!! I hope they are useful to you:) Just sent them off!!
DeleteThese cards are a wonderful resource. I would love a copy. Thank you for your help and offer. My email address is jessmks@gmail.com Thank You, Jessica
ReplyDeleteThank you Jessica!! We really enjoyed them. I make so many printables for my guys and really hope that some of them will be helpful:) I'll send them off to you!!
DeleteGreat pictures!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my giveaway
http://olivesandpickles.blogspot.com/2013/07/montessori-services-for-small-hands.html
patty
Thank you!! I love taking photos!! I just checked out your giveaway and it is amazing. I love the idea of the magnetic mosaics. Ava love the adhesive mosaics in kits so this would be wonderful for her:) Thank you for sharing this with us!!
DeleteWhat beautiful photos and great hands-on learning going on! We live in NB and although we're inland we have family on the coast and we love exploring the beaches there.
ReplyDeleteLucky you!!! We absolutely LOVE NB!! It is just beautiful there:)We had planned to go again this summer and still might!!! Thanks Ann :)
DeleteYou have such an amazing blog Ann!! I am so glad you left a comment!!
DeleteI would love a set of the cards too please! Thank you so much :)
ReplyDeleteKelly
e: kellyinlaos@gmail.com
Thank you for stopping by Kelly!! I'll send them off to you:)
DeleteWonderful ideas! We would love a copy of your 3 part cards.
ReplyDeleteI would love to send them to you!! Please reply back with your email and I'll get them out to you:)
Delete