Zany Zoology: Fun With Scientific Names (Ages 7-12)

introduction to biological nomenclature/scientific names, with a focus on zoology

I am a real-life zoologist with a lifelong love of taxonomy and classification who enjoys sharing my love of the animal kingdom with lifelong learners of all ages. (And, as a scientist, I also always teach from the perspective of evolutionary biology.)

I also have two decades experience as a home education advocate, including homeschooling my own children from preschool through high school. I am a big proponent of flexible learning, individualized education, and supporting fellow neurodiverse learners, so please don't hesitate to reach out to me with requests for accommodations or additional resources.  We all learn in our own way and time, but everyone should have the chance to learn about how cool animals are! 😎

Students will have the opportunity to share some of their favorite animals which we can then use as examples to look up and learn their scientific names, and can also choose to have fun constructing their own scientific names, such as for a Pokémon or their own imaginary creature!  Reference sheets and OPTIONAL worksheets and activities will also be provided for students wishing to spend more time learning about fundamentals such as Latin and Greek roots and/or general taxonomy (the Domain/Kingdom systems that the genus/species scientific names are taken from).

2 hours per week in class, and an estimated 1 - 2 hours per week outside of class.