BIG PICTURE SCIENCE LEARNING MATERIALS

You may purchase most Big Picture Science products directly from this site (processed through Evergreen Online Solutions). Purchases may also be made through Montessori Services (North America) and Montessori Downunder (New Zealand and Australia). See Ordering for more information.

Plant Lessons: Introducing Children to Plant Form and Function, Part I

Revised May 2010. The first edition of this book came out in 2001 and quickly won praise from teachers for its clear, easy to follow lessons. The revised edition is split into two parts to accommodate the addition of beautiful color photos to illustrate the lessons. Part 1 covers the whole plant, roots, stems, and leaves. The leaf section has new lessons for describing leaves in a practical and useful manner. Over a hundred color photos help both teacher and children see the subjects of the lessons. Purchasers may print the book, including the photos, for their own use. 93 pages, letter sized.

OUR PRICE: $12.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $13.55. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

NOTE: If your school or teacher training program purchases five or more copies of this e-Book Email Priscilla about getting a volume rebate.

Outline of Geologic Time and the History of Life

Published March 2010. This 30 page e-Book gives you the information to update your timeline of life and the "Clock of Eras." It is based on the current timescales from the United States Geologic Survey and the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The information includes an overview of paleogeography and paleoclimate. The descriptions of life include lineages and relationships. Information on mammals is extensive and will help you tell the story of Cenozoic life. There is an introduction that includes important basic concepts and a listing of books and websites for children and for adult background.

OUR PRICE: $4.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $5.18. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

NOTE: For teacher education programs and large schools – Email Priscilla if you are interested in a license to reproduce this e-Book for your teaching albums or for your staff.

The Amaryllis -- An Example for Botany Studies

Description: This 12-page booklet shows the amaryllis bulb, and the developmental stages of its flower and fruit. The text on the booklet pages is for elementary children and serves as an example of the kind of information you can include in botany studies. Notes for the teacher with further information about the plant and how to grow it are on a separate page. You can print the booklet for your class. It is illustrated with color photographs.

OUR PRICE: $4.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $5.18. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

The Plant Kingdom

The Plant Kingdom – This file shows all the major groups of land plants, including bryophytes, lycophytes, the fern clade, and the spermatophytes (seed plants). It shows relationships and illustrates reproductive structures. The orders of conifers are illustrated, including those from the Southern Hemisphere. The angiosperm section shows the major lineages of flowering plants, the basal angiosperms, magnoliids, monocots, and eudicots. There are 53 PowerPoint slides that can be printed for use in your classroom. The teacher’s notes have further classification and other information to help you guide students.

OUR PRICE: $7.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $8.32. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

Flowering Plant Families

Flowering Plant Families – The flowering plant families are a vital part of botany studies. The twenty families illustrated here represent all the major lineages as they are defined by the current botany community. The characteristics of each family and a representative sample of its members are shown. This PowerPoint presentation is also useful for teacher education and background. It has 50 slides and extra notes for the teacher.

OUR PRICE: $7.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $8.32. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

Plant Form and Function

Plant Form and Function – The 68 slides of this presentation show the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds and tell about their parts and functions. The illustrations can be printed to accompany live specimens for your plant lessons. There are arrows and annotations to help you observe the parts. This collection can be used at many levels, from elementary to teacher education.

OUR PRICE: $8.95 Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total of $9.36. This is an instantly downloadable PDF file (e-Book), so you will have immediate access to the material after you check out. Click Here to Order

Kingdoms of Life Connected: A Teacher’s Guide to the Tree of Life

2nd Printing - 2009. A 198-page book that helps teachers present the Tree-of-Life view of life’s diversity to elementary and middle school students. The content includes “Coming of the Kingdoms” lessons and learning activities for all kingdoms plus the viruses. There are listings of book resources and Internet sites for each kingdom. This book includes black and white photo cards for charts that show the Tree of Life. The charts themselves are described in the book, and the files for printing them are available for download below. Email Priscilla to learn more about this book.

OUR PRICE: $29.95 Free shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
Click Here to Order

NOTE: For teacher education programs and large schools, Kingdoms of Life Connected is available in cartons of 12 copies at a discount. Email Priscilla for more information.

Kingdoms of Life Connected: A Teacher’s Guide to the Tree of Life is also available as an instantly downloadable pdf file. This option allows you to store the book on your computer and print selected pages from it. The digital download version is also cheaper and saves trees and shipping fuel! Our digital download price: $17.95

Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
We have a few copies of the 1st Printing - 2008 of Kingdoms of Life Connected available at a discounted price of $22.00 ($23.01 including tax for Colorado residents). Purchasers of the 1st Printing will also receive via email a free digital download of the 2nd Printing -2009, which includes a revised introduction and corrects minor errors in the first printing.
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Tree of Life Charts (Companion to Kingdoms of Life Connected (above))

These charts are available for free.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

You may view the following files to use as a pattern to make your own charts. If you wish to have these charts printed, right click on the image and save the file to your computer, or simply open them directly. Copy the files to a memory stick or CD to transport them to a printing business that has a wide-format color printer. The cost of all five charts, printed in color and laminated, should be about $120. There are black and white photos that children can place on each of the colored rectangles. These photo cards are in the appendix of the book, Kingdoms of Life Connected. The photos are printed on card stock. They can be removed from the book and cut up for use on the charts. The text on the back of each photo tells where it belongs on the charts and has other information about the organism.

If you need further information or have questions, please email Priscilla.

Photo Cards for the Tree of Life Charts

These cards are a reprint of the appendix to the book, Kingdoms of Life Connected: A Teacher’s Guide to the Tree of Life. They are black and white photo cards for the Tree of Life Charts, done on the same heavy cardstock as they are in the book. There are 9 pages of cards with text, including classification, on the back of each. The chart name and the label for the box where the card fits is in boldface, so children will have a built-in guide for placing the cards on the charts. A tenth page shows the Tree of Life charts and how they fit together.

OUR PRICE: $7.99 Free shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax for a total cost of $8.36.
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A Tour of the Flowering Plants Based on the Classification System of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group

An excellent research reference for the elementary and middle school classroom. Focusing on the flowering plants of North America, with hundreds of gorgeous photographs illustrating the classification of plants in the angiosperm phylogeny group. Printed on high quality, glossy paper. Includes an excellent index, bibliography and glossary. A must-have addition to every teacher's reference materials, and a beautiful book sure to attract the attention of students. Email Priscilla for more information about this book.

OUR PRICE: $24.99 Price includes shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
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Back issues of Big Picture Science Newsletter

Selected back issues of Big Picture Science Newsletter from 1999-2002 are posted here as pdf files. Click here to reach them.

OUR PRICE: These files can be downloaded and printed free of charge.

Photocards for Botany

Photocard Set 1, Major Groups of the Plant Kingdom, has been revised to conform with botanists’ recent classification changes. The third edition gives major lineages of the plant kingdom, including bryophytes, lycophytes, monilophytes, and seed plants. This classification is the family-tree (phylogenetic) type that botanists currently use. This 40-card set has upgraded digital photos and shows the features of each plant lineage clearly. Email Priscilla to learn more about this set.

OUR PRICE: $29.95 Price includes shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
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Photocard Set 2, Introduction to the Flowering Plant Families. This set is available from Montessori Services (item EM403). It has 48 color photo cards, each of which is 4 ¼ X 5 ½. This set shows 14 families that represent the major lineages of angiosperms. Email Priscilla to learn more about this set.

OUR PRICE: $33.95 Price includes shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
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Also available: Flowers: Stamens and Pistils. This set of letter-sized images shows close-ups of 12 flowers and has text for lower and upper elementary students and background information for their teachers. Email Priscilla to learn more about this set.

OUR PRICE: $24.95 Price includes shipping inside US via media mail. International shipping and faster domestic shipping extra. Colorado residents add 4.6% sales tax.
Click Here to Order

New learning materials for Introducing Matter and Atoms

Priscilla has worked with InPrint for Children on several new charts and cards sets. You can see them at http://www.in-printforchildren.com/. They include a magnetic periodic table and cards that show everyday objects and the elements that compose them. There are also materials for learning the parts of an atom, element names and symbols, the difference between physical and chemical changes, and the classification of matter. Priscilla wrote the background information and lesson suggestions for teachers for each of the materials.

Available Through Montessori Services

Priscilla has another book which is currently available only through Montessori Services. It is:

From the Biosphere to Atoms: A Teacher's Guide to the Organization of the Living World

Click Montessori Services Store for more information and to order this book.

Learning Materials Catalog