Astronomy

This year Caleb is in grade 7. One of our main lesson blocks for grade 7 is astronomy. We use the Charles Kovacs book, Geology and Astronomy, and The Constellations - Stars & Stories, by Chris Sasaki.

Caleb really enjoyed this main lesson block and loved the fact that his main lesson book had black pages.Last year he did not want to write at all, and this year he is doing it with ease.


Every Thursday for two months, we woke up early to plot the sunrise. It was interesting to see what happened.

Grade 7 curriculum: Astronomy

The Constellations Stars and Stories
by Chris Sasaki

I bought this book second hand at ABE books online. It was $1.50 plus postage. There were no customs charges as the value was so low.

This book is fantastic as it has beautiful pictures of all the different constellations. It gives lovely stories about each constellation, and how to find them in the sky. At the back of the book there are maps of the Northern Latitudes and seasonal maps for the Southern Latitudes.

Grade 6 & 7 curriculum: Natural science / Geology & Astronomy

Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs

• www.loot.co.za or www.bookdepository.com

Cost is about R100 to R150 depending on the exchange rate. Book Depository does not charge for shipping. Loot shipping is free for orders over R230 so even if the exchange rate is not doing too well, it might still be cheaper to buy from Book Depository if you are getting a single book.

The first part of this book describes the different kinds of rocks, soil and mountains found on our planet, and explores how they came into being. This section deals with the depths of the earth, and the long ages of time.

In contrast, the second part examines the heights of our universe, in the movement of the sun, moon, and stars. There bodies give us our sense of day, month, and year.

Throughout, Kovacs links the phenomena he describes with human experience, how they affect people in different parts of the world.

Geology

1. The Children of the Earth
2. The Story that the Mountains Tell
3. Young and Old Rocks: Granite
4. The First Rocks
5. Volcanic Rocks
6. The Restless Earth
7. Some Different Rocks
8. More about limestone
9. Coal
10. The Work of Water
11. The Circulation of Water
12. Winds
13. Glaciers
14. The Story of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh

Astronomy

15. The Heart and the Sun
16. The Sun's Daily Movement
17. The Sun During the Year
18. The Calendar
19. Sundials and Time
20. The Circling Stars and the Pole Star
21. The curvature of the Earth
22. Longitude and Latitude
23. The Circle
24. The Stars and Sirius
25. The Daily Movement of Stars and Sun
26. The Zodiac and Procession of the Equinox
27. The Cosmic or Platonic Year
28. The Seven Classical Planets
29. The Moon
30. Tides and Other Lunar Influences
31. Easter
32. The Planets
33. Pythagoras
34. Ptolemy
35. Copernicus
36. Tycho Brahe
37. Johannes Kepler
38. Galileo and the Telescope
39. Through the Telescope
40. Comets and Meteorites
41. The Atmosphere of the Earth

Geology would be taught in grade 6 - I would do a three week block for this - and astronomy in grade 7 - this would be about a six week block.