Product Overview

Designed with our easy cut system - 5 cuts or less. Requires only 3 cuts.
Printed on premium thick card stock. May be used unlaminated or laminated

Classified nomenclature for the External Characteristics of Nematodes. Used in the study of zoology in the elementary. This set focuses on just the Nematodes.

Includes:

1 Wall Chart
Control picture and label
Control definition and label
Matching picture with label, and
Matching definition with blanks and label

Since the control charts and control cards are included, we do not include a booklet.

A child peers through the classroom microscope at a wriggling silver thread in a drop of garden soil.
“Look— a roundworm!” you say, adding, “Scientists call it a nematode; its flexible cuticle and fluid-filled pseudocoelom help it move like that.”
With a single name, a fleeting moment of curiosity becomes a springboard for careful observation, exact language, and ecological insight.

1 • Builds a Precise Scientific Vocabulary

Root-rich terms that travel – Words such as cuticle, ecdysis (molting), stylet (piercing mouthpart), and pseudocoelom expose children to Greek-Latin building blocks they will meet again in zoology and even medicine.
Clarifies structure–function links – Labeling the pharynx that pumps food or the dormant dauer larva ties names directly to survival strategies.

2 • Sharpens Observation and Classification

Form → function reasoning – Noticing the smooth, unsegmented body and learning that a pressurized fluid “hydroskeleton” replaces bones invites questions about design solutions in nature.
Criteria-based sorting – Distinguishing nematodes from superficially similar annelids rehearses grouping by internal plans rather than outward shape.

3 • Grounds Abstract Ideas in Concrete Experience

Pinned slides, live Caenorhabditis elegans cultures, and three-part cards labeled mouth, intestine, anus, and cuticle turn invisible anatomy into something children can trace and name under low power.

4 • Fosters Systems Thinking and Ecology

Soil engineers – Bacterial- and fungal-feeding nematodes release nutrients that boost plant growth and keep soil food webs humming.
Parasite & host stories – Learning the term root-knot nematode lets students connect swollen plant galls to reduced crop yields, while heartworm links veterinary care to parasite life cycles.

5 • Cultivates Respectful Stewardship

Specific names breed empathy. A child who can explain that “these nematodes recycle nutrients, but Meloidogyne can harm tomatoes,” will reach for balanced solutions—cover crops or beneficial microbes—rather than blanket pesticides.

6 • Integrates Seamlessly Across the Curriculum

Curriculum Area	Practical Tie-In
Language	Root study (nema = thread, tode = form); sentence analysis using nematode vocabulary.
Mathematics	Counting thrashes per minute, graphing population growth, measuring root-gall diameters.
Cultural Studies	Nobel Prizes won with C. elegans research; traditional plant remedies against parasitic worms.
Art	Microscopic sketches of cuticle patterns; clay models showing mouth-stylet variations.
Practical Life	Preparing soil extractions, monitoring pet heartworm prevention logs, maintaining C. elegans agar plates.

7. Prepares for Higher-Order Research

Early mastery of terms gives older elementary students confidence to navigate field guides and citizen-science apps—and even to read simplified papers on why C. elegans became a model for genetics and neuroscience.

RESOURCES

Look at our Science Flow Chart for Upper Elementary and that for Lower Elementary to see how this work fits in with the traditional Montessori curriculum.

STANDARDS
View the Standards met through this material