Apologia Science ~ Zoology 1
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
When I was in elementary school, I don’t remember learning much about science.
Well, my first-grade teacher was a complete bird lover, so my parents remind me that I chattered about birds a lot that year! But other than that, I really don’t remember doing hardly any science activities, projects, and science learning after first grade, until I reached junior high school. I also remember that a few elementary school teachers with whom I worked also didn’t teach science in their classrooms. Some of the reasons I heard were:
“The textbooks are too boring, and I don’t have time to write my own science curriculum,”
“I’m afraid to teach science. I don’t understand it myself, so how can I teach it to someone else?”
One of the problems with many elementary science textbooks is that they are often very shallow, lack depth in content, are not written to be interesting at all, and they tend to cover too many topics – and don’t cover any topic thoroughly. Instead of getting the quick, encyclopedia summary version of a science topic, my own children would much rather dive into a topic and explore it well.
That’s the main benefit I can see by using Apologia’s “Young Explorer Series” titled, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. This particular series of science texts for K-6th grade children delves into a smaller list of concepts with a single purpose. We received a copy of this book to review, written by Jeannie Fulbright, to be used with my two daughters, ages 9 and 11.
The science curricula we have used in the past several years have all been hands-on programs that don’t include an in-depth student textbook. While we have really enjoyed the science projects and activities we’ve done so far, I knew we would eventually begin using Apologia’s science textbooks.
My husband and I were blessed to listen to both Dr. Jay Wile (author of Apologia’s high school texts) and Mrs. Jeannie Fulbright (author of Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day) at our state’s annual homeschooling conference a couple of years ago. We were very impressed with what we heard, and we had planned on using their books at some point in our girls’ academic instruction.
But…having never used science textbooks before, we were curious about how the girls would react to them. We tend to use more of a “living books” approach with history and science, so this would be something new for all of us. When the book arrived, we were all impressed with its durability being a hardbound, full-color book. Unless abused, this textbook will stand the test of time with a number of children using it. We all have enjoyed the many excellent graphics and photos contained in the book.
So, how did my daughters react to this book? They did enjoy the graphics and visual appeal. They weren’t used to a “textbook” approach to science, but once they realized that each lesson contained at least one experiment and hands-on project, they began to really enjoy the text. We were able to relax and read a science book from a biblical, Christian, young-earth perspective…and it was quite refreshing! We’ve borrowed countless animal books from the library over the years, and none of them have ever been written from a biblical creation point of view, so this was such a blessing.
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day contains 14 lessons that discuss birds, bats, pterosaurs, and insects. The author suggests that the lessons be divided into two-week segments. During week one, the students do the reading and notebook assignments, and during the second week, they will do the experiments and recording data. Instead of providing quizzes and tests for this text, Apologia prefers to encourage students to use notebooking and narration to show what they have learned in their reading and experimentation.
A handy two-page spread at the beginning of the text lists the supplies needed to complete each lesson. I found this to be very thorough, and most of the supplies will be common items you already have around your home.
My daughters have enjoyed reading through this text. While it is recommended by Apologia for grades K-6, I would suggest that upper elementary students would gain more from it and be able to better focus on what they are reading. Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day can be used independently with an older elementary student working on his own, or used as a read-aloud with the entire family.
In addition to being a well-planned curriculum for the homeschooling parent, the Apologia website (www.Apologia.com) also has a link to a set of Book Extras which contains extra materials and links for concepts and lessons in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. The link and password to this site can be found in the book introduction.
For students in the upper elementary age group, there are five books from Apologia: Botany, Astronomy, and Zoology. The three Zoology texts are Land Animals, Flying Creatures, and Swimming Creatures as well as Anatomy and Physiology. We look forward to using these texts for the next couple of years, and then we will jump into the middle school and high school texts by Apologia.
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day can be purchased for $35 from the Apologia website: www.apologia.com
If you’d like to take a closer look at what this book has to offer, you may view different aspects of this text.
At this link, you’ll be able to examine Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day’s Sample Module, table of contents, introduction, comprehensive course overview, course notebook (free notebooking pages that could also be used with lapbooking), course flashcards, and lab list by module.
Apologia also provides a free help line to answer any questions or problems families may encounter with the curriculum. They also provide a money-back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied. If you would like to contact Apologia and speak with them directly, they may be reached at 888-524-4724.
Our family highly recommends the “Young Explorer Series” from Apologia. Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day is an excellent resource to have in our home, and we are looking forward to purchasing and using additional Fulbright texts in the future.
Well, my first-grade teacher was a complete bird lover, so my parents remind me that I chattered about birds a lot that year! But other than that, I really don’t remember doing hardly any science activities, projects, and science learning after first grade, until I reached junior high school. I also remember that a few elementary school teachers with whom I worked also didn’t teach science in their classrooms. Some of the reasons I heard were:
“The textbooks are too boring, and I don’t have time to write my own science curriculum,”
“I’m afraid to teach science. I don’t understand it myself, so how can I teach it to someone else?”
One of the problems with many elementary science textbooks is that they are often very shallow, lack depth in content, are not written to be interesting at all, and they tend to cover too many topics – and don’t cover any topic thoroughly. Instead of getting the quick, encyclopedia summary version of a science topic, my own children would much rather dive into a topic and explore it well.
That’s the main benefit I can see by using Apologia’s “Young Explorer Series” titled, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. This particular series of science texts for K-6th grade children delves into a smaller list of concepts with a single purpose. We received a copy of this book to review, written by Jeannie Fulbright, to be used with my two daughters, ages 9 and 11.
The science curricula we have used in the past several years have all been hands-on programs that don’t include an in-depth student textbook. While we have really enjoyed the science projects and activities we’ve done so far, I knew we would eventually begin using Apologia’s science textbooks.
My husband and I were blessed to listen to both Dr. Jay Wile (author of Apologia’s high school texts) and Mrs. Jeannie Fulbright (author of Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day) at our state’s annual homeschooling conference a couple of years ago. We were very impressed with what we heard, and we had planned on using their books at some point in our girls’ academic instruction.
But…having never used science textbooks before, we were curious about how the girls would react to them. We tend to use more of a “living books” approach with history and science, so this would be something new for all of us. When the book arrived, we were all impressed with its durability being a hardbound, full-color book. Unless abused, this textbook will stand the test of time with a number of children using it. We all have enjoyed the many excellent graphics and photos contained in the book.
So, how did my daughters react to this book? They did enjoy the graphics and visual appeal. They weren’t used to a “textbook” approach to science, but once they realized that each lesson contained at least one experiment and hands-on project, they began to really enjoy the text. We were able to relax and read a science book from a biblical, Christian, young-earth perspective…and it was quite refreshing! We’ve borrowed countless animal books from the library over the years, and none of them have ever been written from a biblical creation point of view, so this was such a blessing.
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day contains 14 lessons that discuss birds, bats, pterosaurs, and insects. The author suggests that the lessons be divided into two-week segments. During week one, the students do the reading and notebook assignments, and during the second week, they will do the experiments and recording data. Instead of providing quizzes and tests for this text, Apologia prefers to encourage students to use notebooking and narration to show what they have learned in their reading and experimentation.
A handy two-page spread at the beginning of the text lists the supplies needed to complete each lesson. I found this to be very thorough, and most of the supplies will be common items you already have around your home.
My daughters have enjoyed reading through this text. While it is recommended by Apologia for grades K-6, I would suggest that upper elementary students would gain more from it and be able to better focus on what they are reading. Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day can be used independently with an older elementary student working on his own, or used as a read-aloud with the entire family.
In addition to being a well-planned curriculum for the homeschooling parent, the Apologia website (www.Apologia.com) also has a link to a set of Book Extras which contains extra materials and links for concepts and lessons in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. The link and password to this site can be found in the book introduction.
For students in the upper elementary age group, there are five books from Apologia: Botany, Astronomy, and Zoology. The three Zoology texts are Land Animals, Flying Creatures, and Swimming Creatures as well as Anatomy and Physiology. We look forward to using these texts for the next couple of years, and then we will jump into the middle school and high school texts by Apologia.
Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day can be purchased for $35 from the Apologia website: www.apologia.com
If you’d like to take a closer look at what this book has to offer, you may view different aspects of this text.
At this link, you’ll be able to examine Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day’s Sample Module, table of contents, introduction, comprehensive course overview, course notebook (free notebooking pages that could also be used with lapbooking), course flashcards, and lab list by module.
Apologia also provides a free help line to answer any questions or problems families may encounter with the curriculum. They also provide a money-back guarantee if you are not completely satisfied. If you would like to contact Apologia and speak with them directly, they may be reached at 888-524-4724.
Our family highly recommends the “Young Explorer Series” from Apologia. Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day is an excellent resource to have in our home, and we are looking forward to purchasing and using additional Fulbright texts in the future.
DISCLOSURE: While I will never be paid to write a product review (gasp!), I did accept a free copy of Flying Creatures of the 5th Day for me to use in our home and then write an unbiased review.