Ideas for plant/animal classification Latin project

[Laurie Lawless]

Hi! I just joined and can't wait to chat with other high school Latin teachers. I'm spending my summer working on a master's degree practicum and looking for ideas on incorporating plant and/or animal classications, developed by Linnaeus, into the curriculum. Are there projects or units out there that you've been successful with?

Ideas for plant/animal classification Latin project

[Laura Gibbs]

Hi Laurie, I have never worked with Linnaeus, but I do have MOUNTAINS of animal fables and animal proverbs which I will be glad to search and share with you, based on the animals you are interested in; I also have some plant fables and proverbs. Just let me know what particular plants/animals you are interested in, and I'll see what I can come up with that might be of interest as supplementary reading to go along with it (proverbs are especially good, since they are so short!)

You can find the Latin fables I've collected mostly at these two websites: aesopus.pbwiki.com and at aesopica.net.

The Latin proverbs and sayings I've collected are mostly here: latinviaproverbs.pbwiki.com.

I'm really intrigued by the idea of using Linnaeus.

Also, for Latin animal lore, there's a fantastic website here: bestiary.ca.

[Matthew Moore]

No, but the idea is promising - a student once proudly announced that she passed a biology test because she could identify some sort of paramecium because she could identify its activity, based on its Latin name.

[Latinum Institute]

Comenius' Orbis Sensualim Pictus might be helpful, you can find it on google books.

[vbutterfield]

Laurie: When I teach my 4th grade Latin class, every week we learn the scientific name (genus and species) of a plant or animal. I choose plants/animals that have scientific names that tell something obvious about them. I also bring in pictures of the species and give them other interesting facts about it. I have an undergraduate degree in biology, so I have some experience with this subject. My students love learning these names.

[Laurie Lawless]

Thanks! I wish I had that biology background!