Parent’s Guide to BioFables Books
We are updating illustrations, tables and explanations of Biofables’ lesson categories; you should find them to be more intuitive and user-friendly than the current system we originally developed. Thanks for your patience and understanding as you may encounter discrepancies from one page to another until the update is completed.
Introduction
For a quick look at all the BioFables books published so far, please click on the Series 1 Book List tab at the top of each page or click here. Click on any book’s cover image to go directly to that book’s own home page on this site. Each book has two dedicated pages:
1) it’s own “home page” with a brief excert from the book and general information;
2) the 100 or so mini- (or pop-up) lessons within each book according to where they fit within the three Key Study Fields – Science, Humanities, or Values.
We custom-built a system of natural learning categories for the BioFables books. Its structure is similar to a library’s Dewey Decimal System; each BioFables book’s specific lessons reside in an organized arrangement of classifications, from the most specific and detailed, to the most general of each category. Our goal in building this system is to provide you a tool that you can use to
This site’s BioFables Books Resources
You will find about 100 mini- (or pop-up) lessons in every BioFables book that are scattered among the stories. These are what we call “Knowledge Nuggets.” Your children will think of many of them as fun things to know. These Knowlege Nuggets can point to many more fun things to DISCOVER! This web resource is here to help you help your children maximize the exciting learning opportunities in each book.
Untangling BioFables Books’ Knowledge Nuggets
Natural learning takes place all around us. Your child picks up a beautiful orange leaf that has fallen from a tree. Some of the leaves on that tree are still green. Hmm. What’s going on? Your child now knows that leaves can turn colors from green to orange or yellow. That simple lesson is what we call a Knowledge Nugget.
What causes this change? You might talk with them about the seasons (weather) or chemistry (chlorophyll). On the other hand, your child might point to the tree and ask what kind of tree it is (botany, or plants, which is Biofables’ child-friendly terminology). Or, a squirrel under the tree might attract your child’s attention. The squirrel is busy burying a nut. It’s back to seasons, or maybe squirrel behavior (animals).
You can see how organizing lessons like these could get pretty confusing. It needn’t be, though. Rather than formal terms, we use child-friendly terminology. For example, in the Science category, you will find the term Plants instead of Botany, and Weather instead of Meteorology. Parents, you may find this system helpful in tracing the origins of a given Knowledge Nugget back to its roots in one of the three study fields in Science, Humanities or Values. While any learning category can spark curiosity in your children to learn more, the Knowledge Nugget usually will be their first and most memorable encounter.
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- Knowledge Nugget: a specific mini-lesson
- Discovery Branch: a larger group that shaers similar characteristics with the Knowledge Nugget
- Exploration Path: the wider category that the Knowledge Nugget and Discovery Branch belong to
- Knowledge Gateway: major subjects within the Key Study Field
- Key Study Field: the most general classification of: Science, Humanities, or Values categories
- Knowledge Gateway: major subjects within the Key Study Field
- Exploration Path: the wider category that the Knowledge Nugget and Discovery Branch belong to
- Discovery Branch: a larger group that shaers similar characteristics with the Knowledge Nugget
- Knowledge Nugget: a specific mini-lesson
Let’s take a look at the pyramid to the left (Science Key Study Field). We’ve named the Knowledge Nugget at the top Geyser Ingredients. Do you know how many different ingredients it takes to make a geyser? (You’ll find the answer and a drawing that 7-year-old Mallory made of his “teapot geyser” on Page 26 of BioFables’ first book: Whoosh; Old Faithful Uncovers a Mystery).
Starting at the bottom or the pyramid, you’ll see that there are eight science Learning Gateways: the 5 subjects on the left of the pyramid are called Basic subjects. Math, in the middle is a Hybrid subject because math is used in all the other 7 subjects. Technology and Engineering on the bottom, right side of the pyramid, are Applied subjects because they use Basic and Hybrid subjects, such as Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science and Math, and may even use Biology and Space Science in building bridges and other structures.
You can follow the dotted line to trace Geyser Ingredients, at the top of the pyramid, all the way to its Science Subject (Earth Science, bolded), at the base of the pyramid. The two pyramids, below, show examples of the other two basic study fields, Humanities and Values. They follow the same design as the Science study field.
Grandpa teaches Melody and her 7-year-old twin brother Mallory how the Sun and “Pointer Birds” help find their way through a maze.
Pumpkins, Mazes and…Grandpa’s Big Surprise, (Book 7) offers some hints on important life skills, not to mention the Big Surprise.
Mallory discovers something buried in a “living” sand dune. Rufus, the family’s black Labrador, helps to dig it up. When Mallory’s Dad comes over to see what’s happening, he has a pretty good idea of what it is. Sure enough, it’s a money sack.
All sorts of thoughts run through Dad’s mind, but his finer instincts win out. “We need to report this,” he tells Mal, and they drive to the local police station. Find out more in Books 3 and 4 (Sand Sack and Palisades Excapades).
The lists and tables that we compiled for each of the seven books published so far will help you identify , by subject group, where each of nearly a hundred Knowledge Nuggets fits in the overall system of learning.
Each book has its own unique set of lists and tables that identify the subjects, definitions and specific Knowledge Nuggets appearing in that book. The first three lists will help you see at a glance each of the learning branches and the sub-branches in each book. A fourth list is actually a 3-column table; it gathers the instances of all three learning branches and their associated sub-branches for a bird’s eye view of the entire book.
TABLES
Here are snippets of tables from Science (Book 6), Humanities (Book 3), and Values/Behaviors (Book 2):
Each of the these three tables offers parents an organized view of each book’s learning possibilities. Highlighted background and colored text distinguish each category’s major branches and their short, practical definitions. One or more sub-branches and brief descriptive snippets of the mini-lessons appear beneath its major branch. Note that Technology in the first table lists both Physics from which the technology is derived, and Mechanics (a sub-branch of Technology). See the full Science and other tables for Book 6 here, Book 3 here, and Book 2 here.
The first table offers parents a chapter-by-chapter view of each book. Here’s a snippet from Book 5:
A brief abstract follows the chapter title. Links to outside resources include child-friendly links identified in orange. Major branches are color-coded, followed by one or more sub-branches. The full combined table for Book 5 is here.
LISTS
Parents can review the lists that precede the three tables quickly to see which branches and sub-branches under each of the three major learning categories. The list preceding the overview (chapter-by-chapter of all three tables), however, is more comprehensive. Here’s a snippet from Book 1:
The combined list identifies the Basic, Hybrid and Applied categories for the three major classifications we use for BioFables: STEM, Humanities and Values. Since Math (STEM), Health (Humanities) and Learning/Knowledge/Skills (Values) span both basic and applied knowledge, we have placed them in their own hybrid category. The branches and sub-branches of the other tables follow the category order of the combined list. See the full combined list for Book 1 here.
You may have noticed that some subjects or topics appear in several categories; this is because of the inevitable overlap among the smaller divisions of the knowledge branches.
Click on any of the book titles in the drop-down menu in the tab Series 1 Book List or at the right list of site pages and scroll down to the resources section.
We use every-day language for the subtopics, rather than formal taxonomic nomenclature (see what we mean?), that would speak to all readers.
To order any BioFables book, click on the link to the book’s page (the list of pages appear in the right-hand column) and then click on the book’s image. You’ll be taken to that title’s page at Barnes & Noble.
Updates of the information resources provided for each book is an ongoing process.