OHC More Nature Study Book #4 - Monarch Butterflies

 
More Nature Study Book #4
Summer Butterfly - Monarch Study

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 305-310 (Lesson 71) in the Handbook of Nature Study. Anna Botsford Comstock really knew her insects so this section is rich with information for your Monarch butterfly study. She breaks the observation suggestions down into categories: The Butterfly, The Caterpillar, and The Chrysalis. Read through the information and highlight any ideas you plan to incorporate into your Monarch butterfly study.
• YouTube: Monarch Migration (Journey North and Monarch Watch): Part 1 and Part 2. For West Coast families, you can watch this YouTube of Monarchs overwintering in Pacific Grove, CA.
• Highly Recommend: Your Backyard The Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly -Read my review HERE. There is also a study guide that you read more about HERE.
• You may be interested in reading through or completing the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Milkweed along with this Monarch Butterfly Challenge.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Take fifteen minutes outdoors for this challenge looking for Monarch butterflies (or any other insect). Remember that depending on your location and the time of year you may look for a chrysalis, a caterpillar, or the adult butterfly. Monarchs will be found near their food source of milkweed.
• Alternate activity: Acquire some milkweed seeds and plant some in your garden.
• Advanced study: If you live in an area that has monarch butterflies, consider joining Monarch Watch (link below) and participate in the Monarch tagging activity.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Butterflies always are exciting to observe. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study lesson to take a closer look at any butterflies you find. If your child has more questions about insects, consider reading pages 294-300 in the Handbook of Nature Study. This general section on insects may give you some answers.
• Complete a nature journal entry. Advanced students can use a field guide to gather more facts or record the butterfly’s life cycle on a notebook page.
• Advanced study: Conduct additional research on the insect order– Lepidoptera. Use a field guide and complete two additional nature journal entries for insects in this order found in your backyard or local area.

Additional Links:

• Monarch Watch—Migration and Tagging
• Journey North—treasure of a website for you to use in preparation or to answer questions. The page with Kid’s Resources has links to slideshows and printable booklets that you can share with your children. 

Suggested Resources to view or print:

• Do You Know a Monarch When You See One?
• The Annual Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly
• When, Where, and How to Watch the Fall Migration
• Butterfly Wings

All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.

OHC More Nature Study Book #4: Turtles and Duckweed

More Nature Study Book #4 
Summer Pond Study: Turtles and Pondweed 

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read in the Handbook of Nature Study about Turtles on pages 204-209 (Lesson 52). Also read about Pondweed on pages 498-500 (Lesson 130).
• Ebook Users: Use the Pond Study Cross-section Notebook page as a way to generate interest for this challenge. You can complete the page during your outdoor time if you would like. Here is a link to something similar online: Pond Habitat.
• Advanced Study: Pond Life– Watch this YouTube on Wetlands/Ponds. View and read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 400-403 (Lesson 102). Use this information as you make your observations at your local pond. Here is another idea for the field: Guide to Pond Dipping.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Look for opportunities to spend your outdoor hour time at a pond. Ponds are a center of many nature study opportunities. Let your child lead your pond time (with your careful supervision).
• Use the ideas from the lessons in the Handbook of Nature Study to observe closely any turtles or pondweed that you find. Make sure to keep an eye out for anything of interest that you can follow up with in the Handbook of Nature Study (see the box below for more ideas for your pond study).

Follow-Up Activity:

• Follow-up with any interest that you found during your pond study. Use the Handbook of Nature Study as a reference for any additional subjects that came up. Make a nature journal entry for your turtle or pondweed. Ebook Users: There are two coloring pages to use in your nature journal: Pond Turtle and Box Turtle.
• Advanced Study: You can research individual turtles for you nature journal. Use this website for more information: Turtles and Tortoises of the United States.
• Advanced Study: Use the information from the Wetlands/Ponds video and create your own pond life images. You can record any pond dwellers in your nature journal. Ebook Users: There is also an additional notebook page to use if you have more to record.

Additional links:

Western Pond Turtle Project on YouTube.com
Painted Turtle Digging a Hole to Lay Eggs on YouTube.com
Painted Turtles in a tank habitat on YouTube.com—Nice way to see the turtles eating...just like a field trip to a zoo.
My Pond Study page on Squidoo.com.

Free Printable Notebook Pages

Summer Pond Study and Pond Grid 

As a bonus for this challenge I am including the Summer Pond Study notebook page and the Pond Study Grid from the August 2011 Newsletter!



All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.

Summer Bird Study - Hummingbirds

This is our busiest hummingbird feeder. They also like the flowers in the pots.

We love hummingbirds. I think we pay more attention to the hummingbirds in our yard than any other bird. They are constantly at our feeders, in our garden flowers, and flying around...front yard and backyard.

There are at least three in our yard at all times, competing for the feeders and flying fast. They sit in the trees and chirp at us when we eat dinner on the back deck. They are not afraid of us when we are out in the backyard and frequently will fly right up by us as we work in the yard.

They are year round residents.

Notebook page from More Nature Study Book #4

What aspect did we focus on this time in our hummingbird study as part of the More Nature Study Book #4 Hummingbird Challenge? We started off asking questions about their feathers and how in a certain light they are very green and in then in another light they are bright red. What makes them iridescent? But then we got side-tracked asking why the Anna's hummingbird chases the Black Headed Grosbeaks out of the seed feeders. I mean they are aggressively chasing them far out of the yard. Our field guide says they defend a 1/4 acre territory. We haven't found the concrete answer to our questions yet but we have some guesses.

Maybe Flutter is like this butterfly and has an injured wing.

Also, we were fascinated this week by one hummingbird in particular. We call him "Flutter". He has a unusual sound to his flying. Most of the birds have the familiar "hum" to their wings and the Anna's Hummingbird make a clicking sound as well. But Flutter sounds like he has a bum wing...like it is not beating like the other birds. It sounds like a fluttering instead of a humming, if that makes sense. We have yet to catch him with the camera because our thought is that if we can take a photo and take a look at his wing shape, maybe he has some sort of injury.

Moonshine Yarrow - We water this once a week.

One last thing to relate about our hummingbirds this week. I was out in the yard using the hose to water a few of the bushes since it has been extremely hot and dry. I had the hose in a fine sort of mist and in the shape of an arc. Well, a hummingbird decided that it was the perfect place to fly in and out as he took a bath! It was amazing to watch and I am hoping I get to see it again some day. Our hummingbirds are quite comfortable with us right now and they will fly right up behind you and visit the feeder even if you are inches from them.

Don't forget to send in your Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival entries for the month of July. All entries using the OHC completed in July are eligible for the carnival. You can click the button and submit using the form on the Blog Carnival website.

Thanks for all your support!

OHC More Nature Study Book #4: Hummingbirds and Nests

More Nature Study Book #4
Hummingbird Study - Summer Birds

This week is bird watching week!

You may find that your family likes birds so much that you decide to keep a running list of birds you see this summer. You can see Outdoor Hour Challenge #5-Keeping a List for more ideas. You can print a notebook page to record your birds or use your nature journal. 

Here is a video that will inspire you to start your own hummingbird feeder station in your yard:
Hummingbird Station

  
Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 115-117 (Lesson 29) in the Handbook of Nature Study. There is also a section on pages 46-47 (Lesson 7) that focuses on The Study of Birds’ Nests in Winter. Read for information and highlight questions you can use in the future when you observe a bird’s nest.
• You absolutely must watch this video of a Hummingbird Building a Nest. Most of us will never experience this in person so a video is the next best thing! You can also read the previous Outdoor Hour Challenge for Hummingbirds where we focused on their beaks. Read online: Burgess Bird Book for Children: A Butcher and a Hummer.
• Advanced Study: Use a local field guide to familiarize yourself with birds you may see in your neighborhood. You can also use this tool on the Great Backyard Bird Count: Explore Results By Location. Enter your town and the site will generate a list of birds seen during the count. Note that you may see different birds during the summer months but it will give a starting point to use with your field guide. Ebook Users: Print several of the Bird Nature Study Observations sheets included with the ebook (used with permission from HeartsandTrees).

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Take your outdoor time for this challenge early in the day and look for birds before it is too hot. If you have hummingbirds in your neighborhood, spend some time observing their behavior. Watch for any birds that visit your yard or at your feeder. Compare any birds you have to the hummingbird: size, beak, tail, food, color, flight.
• Advanced Study: Ebook Users: Use the Bird Observation sheets included with the ebook to make a careful study of any backyard birds you view for this challenge.

Follow-Up Activities:

• Use a field guide to identify any birds you observed during your outdoor time. Complete a nature journal entry for any bird you observed. If you would like to complete a notebook page for hummingbirds, the NotebookingFairy has some very simple free pages for you to print.
• Advanced Study: Complete a nature journal entry for a hummingbird you have in your local area. Use a field guide for more information. Ebook Users: There is also a notebook page in the ebook for recording more nest and beak information.

Additional Links:
YouTube: Hummingbird Chirp
YouTube: Mama Hummingbird feeds her Babies (in the nest)

Fun Facts on Hummingbirds 

Nests and Beaks Links for the Notebook Page:
AllAboutBirds—Scroll down to Nesting

World of Hummingbirds

All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.








 

For the Love of Trees: A Year-Long Tree Study

Our New Year-Long Tree Study Subject - Cottonwood Tree

Only the growing and open season is thought to be attractive in the country. The winter is bare and cheerless. A tree is weeping, gay, restful, spirited, quiet, sombre. That is, trees have expression. The expression resides in the observer, however, not in the tree. Therefore, the more the person is trained to observe and to reflect, the more sensitive his mind to the things about him, and the more meaning the trees have. No one loves nature who does not love trees. - L.H. Bailey, 1899

We have done year-long tree studies before and it is a great way to learn about a tree, to become familiar with its life cycle through the seasons. Taking a year to get to know a tree allows you to focus on a different part of the tree in each season. A year-long tree study can be as simple as making observations in each season and talking about what you see as the tree changes or transforms. Or, you can make it more in-depth by adding in additional reading in the Handbook of Nature Study and keeping a nature journal of your observations.

"Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year."
Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 52

I invite you to join our family by picking a tree in your yard or neighborhood and watching it through each of the coming seasons for the next year. Charlotte Mason suggests starting this project in the winter but our family has successfully enjoyed starting our tree study in the summer or fall.

Here is a recap of ideas for your Year-Long Tree Study.

Summer Tree Study Notebook Page - More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle

Simple Suggestions for a Summer Tree Study:
1. Sight: Look closely at the bark and leaves. Stand or lay under your tree and look up. Use a magnifying lens to look at the bark and leaves. Look for birds, animals, or insects in your tree. Look for all the parts of your tree: trunk, crown, branches, and spray.
2. Smell: Smell the bark. Rub a leaf and see what it smells like.
3. Touch: Close your eyes and feel the bark. Feel the leaf or needle from your tree and describe its texture.
4. Hearing: Quietly sit under your tree for one minute. Can you hear the leaves or branches moving? Can you hear a bird in the tree or insects buzzing near the tree?
5. Taste: If your tree has fruit, you can choose to taste the fruit.

Simple Suggestions for an Autumn Tree Study:
Compare Leaves from Two Different Trees
-Leaf shape and leaf margins.
-Leaf arrangement on the stem.
-Leaf color, texture, and size. (You can measure if you wish.)
You can take photos of your tree to put in your nature journal or you can sketch the tree in your journal.

Simple Suggestions for Winter Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and view its branch patterns and silhouette.
2. Find a tree that has lost its leaves and sketch its shape in your nature journal. This activity can be done from a window if your weather is too cold or snowy.
3. Collect some seeds from trees that may still be left over from last season. Look for sweet gum, locust, yellow poplar, ash, mimosa, or sycamore.
4. Collect twigs from different trees and compare them.

Simple Suggestions for Spring Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and look for its new leaves and blossoms if appropriate.
2. Is it just beginning to show leaves? Can you tell if your tree has all of its leaves yet?
3. Can you see any insects or birds in your tree?
4. Collect a few leaves to use for leaf rubbings in your nature journal. You could also make a leaf bouquet.
5. Compare two leaves from the same tree. Are they exactly alike?
6. Use your nature journal to record a sketch of the leaf and any blossoms.
7. How has the tree changed since autumn? Winter?


Free Seasonal Tree Notebook Page

Handbook of Nature Study- Tree Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Not Quite Sand Nature Study - Creek Gravel and Rocks

Creek with Poppies and Sweet Peas

We have not made it to the ocean yet this summer. We have big plans to go later this month but we had the opportunity to do some dirt, gravel, and sand gathering this past weekend up in the Sierra Nevada. We took a day trip to Grover Hot Springs State Park which is a complete blog entry all on its own. I will save that for later in the week.

For this post I will share a little of our nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Sand and Soil from the Summer Sizzle ebook series. We used the creek running next to the picnic area to enjoy some rock, sand, and gravel observation time. This is an interesting geological area which we are planning on going back to explore some more.


This was a creek that meanders a bit and we tried to find some animal prints but we had no luck. There wasn't much sand on the banks but it was more like gravel or pebbles. There were little fish and lots of insect larvae in the small pools along the banks.


The creek was very shallow and perfect for sticking hot toes in while you explore the smooth rocks of varied colors.


We used an empty water bottle to collect a bit of "dirt" which is mostly decomposed granite gravel and a bit of the "soil". My hubby found that doing this left his hands super dirty with a fine dusting of soil. He of course used this as an excuse to wash his hands in a waterfall.

I am going to wait until after our beach excursion to do the up close observation with the hand lens, having Mr. B compare the dirt we collected from the creek with the sand we collect from the ocean beach. I think this will make it a bit more interesting and give him something to record in his nature journal.


Summer nature study is at its best when you can combine it with an outdoor family adventure. It becomes just an extension of what you do to make your time outdoors more enriching. We didn't take nature journals or field guides this time but the atmosphere was one where we were always alert to find something interesting.

Like the rock in the photo above....just one of the many interesting rocks that we saw on the hiking part of our day. We also saw some wildflowers, a few butterflies, heard and observed quite a number of birds,  and ended up sitting in the natural hot springs. Yes, this was a great day....more soon!

Source: kindergartenkindergarten.com via Barb on Pinterest

Here is a wonderful idea for taking a closer look at your soil samples! I think you could make your own sifter with kitchen or thrift shop objects. I have an old window screen that I may cut and put in a cardboard frame to sift our sand and soil samples. If you make a sifter, send me a link to a photo or entry and I would love to share it in the next newsletter.




Don't forget the Summer Photo Challenge! Here are the details and here is the Pinterest Board. 

OHC More Nature Study Book #4 - Mouse Study

More Nature Study Book #4
Summer Mammal Study - Mouse

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 224-228 (Lesson 55). Additional information for more advanced students can be found at: Animal Diversity Web. Note: The Handbook of Nature Study includes quite a bit of information on trapping mice-this may not be appropriate in every family.
• Listen to Burgess Book of Animals Chapter 15-Deer Mouse and Field Mouse or Chapter 18-Pocket Mouse and House Mouse.
• Optional Online Listening (or MP3 download or PDF): Thorton Burgess’ Whitefoot the Woodmouse.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• This is one of those challenges that is hard to plan ahead of time for direct observation of the topic. If you have access to a real mouse to observe, use the suggestions for the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study.
• If you don’t have access to a mouse, use your outdoor time to observe any mammal and compare it using information you know about a mouse: teeth, feet, tail, color, size, behavior, diet.
• Remember: You are always successful in the Outdoor Hour Challenge if you take time to be outside with your children for a few minutes each week. You can use your outdoor time this week to sit on a blanket in the shade, read about mice, and then make a few notes in your nature journal. Snacks are always welcome during the Outdoor Hour Challenge as well and you can see OHC Challenge #10 for more ideas for a nature study/picnic activity.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Complete a nature journal entry with any information you learned from your mouse study. You can sketch any signs of mice that you observed in your yard like tracks, scat, or a mouse hole. You can also click this link, click and print the image of the house mouse to include in your notebook: Nature.CA—House Mouse or you can color the page for the Whitefooted Mouse in this ebook.
• If you observed any other mammal and would like to follow-up with more nature study, you can check the list of previous mammal Outdoor Hour Challenges for more information using the Handbook of Nature Study. You may wish to use the free Mammal Notebook Page available on my blog.
• Advanced Study: Research the Rodentia order and the Muridae family. Record your results in your nature journal.

Additional Links:

• Optional activity: You may wish to complete an Owl Pellet dissection as part of this study. Many times the owl pellets include mouse bones that your child can identify as part of this study. Please see my Outdoor Hour Challenge for Owls for more information (Summer Nature Study 2010 ebook). You can see our family’s owl dissection here with a good look at the mouse bones: Raptors of the Night.
• Sources for owl pellets: Home Science Tools or Acorn Naturalists

More Helpful Links:
Owl Pellet Bone Chart (free printable)


If you haven't taken my Handbook of Nature Study survey yet, I would greatly appreciate a few minutes of your time to give your thoughts on the direction of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. Thank you for your input!

Handbook of Nature Study Survey


All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.



 

Summer Nature Study: Something New Every Day

"Children are quick. In fifteen minutes, they will have finished with their sight-seeing exercise or imaginary picture painting. Other than that, an occasional discovery that the mother shows them with a name and maybe a dozen words about it at just the right time are all that's needed; the children will have formed an interest in something they can continue on their own. Just one or two of these discoveries should happen in any given day."
Charlotte Mason, volume 6 page 78

We spent our fifteen minutes everyday this week outside in our own yard. Here is a short list of the things we noticed and enjoyed from our time outdoors.

• There were robins in the grass after the sprinklers turned off.
• For the first time this year, we observed a tattered Monarch butterfly in our garden.
• Our sunflowers started blooming..some yellow, some orange, some almost brown.
• We noticed the first blooming morning glories in the front container garden.
• We saw Painted Lady butterflies and Western Tiger Swallowtails too. There were a few more but we had to pull out the field guide so we can identify them the next time we see them in the garden.
• The zucchini is blossoming.
• The Starlings are back and eating the little fruits off the tree on our fence line.Noisy birds.
• Hummingbirds in the butterfly bushes and the Red Hot Pokers. Amazing to watch.
• Day lilies, day lilies, day lilies!
• Big black bees in the lavender...had to cut it back off the walkway. 
• The winds on Tuesday and Wednesday were not cool at all...hot! The breeze on Friday was cool and from a different direction.

Those are just the discoveries we brainstormed as I was typing this up. This informal everyday noticing of nature related subjects taking just a few minutes a day adds such joy to our busy lives. As my boys grow older, I love that we have established this habit of noticing the seasonal changes and the cycle of life in our own backyard. You don't always need to do lots of talking and follow-up to make nature study meaningful. Sometimes it is just the time spent together and enjoying a moment during your day.

We truly do discovery something every time we make the effort to get outside.

Give it a try! The Outdoor Hour Challenge July Newsletter is going to have suggestions for nature study when it is hot and humid. Make sure to subscribe to this blog for your free copy of it the minute it publishes.

To subscribe to the Handbook of Nature Study, you can enter your email in the box below and you will receive each blog entry in your email inbox. Thank you so much for reading and supporting this blog!

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I am submitting this entry to the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival and if you have any entries you would like to submit, you can send them to this email address: charlottemasonblogs@gmail.com. The official blog carnival site is not working so you will need to send them directly to this email.

OHC More Nature Study Book 4 Summer Sand and Soil

A Grain of Sand video on YouTube.com

More Nature Study Book #4
Summer Sizzle
Sand and Soil


Inside Preparation Work:

• Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 760-764 (Lesson 216). (Note this section was not written by Anna Botsford Comstock.) Focus on the section, Kinds of Soil, on page 763. The information in the lesson will give you some ideas for collecting soil samples and then using suggestions #1-6 make plans for your outdoor time.
• Read the instructions for conducting a soil experiment in the ebook or at this link: Dirt Discovery. This experiment might be interesting to do with samples of soil, sand, and gravel from various places.
• Optional videos: PBS Kids: Rivers. Sand Under a Microscope (older students).

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Find a place outside in your backyard, at a pond, river bank, or at the sandy shore to take your outdoor hour observing soil, sand, and/or gravel. Collect some samples to use in your soil experiment. Materials needed: Clear plastic container with a lid like a peanut butter jar or mayonnaise jar, small trowel, pen for labeling collection location if you do more than one. (Supervise children whenever you are near water.)
• If you have a sandy beach, gather a sample of sand to bring home to use in your follow-up time. We use small containers like Altoid tins, old film canisters, or Tic-Tac boxes to collect small amounts of sand for our nature table. Make sure to label the container with the location of the collection site.
• Make sure to allow plenty of time for unstructured time outdoors enjoying the summer sunshine. Please supervise your children carefully wherever water is present.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Complete the What is Sand? activity from this website. (Materials needed: Sand, black and white paper, magnifying lens, and magnet)
• Start and observe your Soil Experiment, recording your observations in your nature journal or on the notebook page in the ebook. If you collected more than one sample, make sure to include comparisons you find as the soil and other materials settle. 
• Alternate activity: Carefully observe your sand or soil with a hand lens, looking for living, non-living, and man-made components.
• Advanced Study: What is Sand Made Of? Use these images or additional ones to examine your local sand. Try to determine what your sand is made of and record your results in your nature journal.

Image from Adam Hally on Flickr


Additional Links:

• Mud Painting! - Gather some dirt, water, brushes, and paper and make your own mud paintings for your garden. Some instructions can be found HERE. This would make an interesting nature journal entry. You could collect mud from various places and put a little mud painting sample of each color in your journal.
• The image above is from a sand collector. If you click the image it will take you to Flickr where the bottles are labeled with the place the sand was collected.

Don't forget that tomorrow is the Great American Backyard Campout!
Check out the Camping with Kids Link-Up for some wonderful family oriented ideas.

Garden Flowers with the OHC - Our Iris Study

The Iris Study from the Spring Splendor series of Outdoor Hour Challenges made us look deeper into a garden flower we see every spring. According to the Handbook of Nature Study, the garden iris is "quite valuable for this lesson." We will be on the lookout for wild iris but for now we took a closer look at the garden iris.

Did you know that the word "iris" is Greek for rainbow?

 
We have been noticing the variety of colors and sizes of irises in our neighborhood this month. They started blooming earlier in May and now most are past prime but I tried to remember to take a few photos for our official study this week.


Hello in there! This is what the bees see as they fly in for some pollen....rubbing up against it with their backs. We marveled at the design and beauty of it all.

"The bee alights on the lip of the sepal, presses forward scraping her back against the down-hanging stigma, then scrapes along the open anther which lies along the roof of the tunnel. The tunnel leads to the nectar-wells at the very base of the sepal."
Handbook of Nature Study

This one is our favorite color combination...in my dad's front yard. He promised he would share a bulb with me for next year's garden. If you have a friend who will share bulbs, here is a video on How to Divide Iris Bulbs.


That looks easy enough to do and I know just where I will plant these beauties.



Another close up image for you to really see the parts and delicate details. These were actually right alongside our walking trail...not sure who would have planted them but they were very pretty to see with the sunset behind them.


Okay. Does this look like a Georgia O'Keeffe painting to you?

"In some varieties of iris there is a coating resembling plush on the style which forms the floor of the tunnel. Through a lens this plush is exquisite-the nap of white filaments standing up tipped with brilliant yellow. Various theories as to the use of this plush have been advanced , a plausible one being that it is to keep the ants out, but the ants could easily pass along either side of it."
Handbook of Nature Study

We were not able to observe any insects in our irises but you can be sure we are going to keep our eyes out next year when they are blooming. In the meantime, I am going to try to draw an iris in my nature journal using watercolor pencils.

Mr. B used the link in the original challenge to look up the Pollinator Partnership. We came up with this list of flowers to add to our garden to encourage bees to visit. I know that the Native Plant Society has a plant sale periodically in our area and I bet we could try there for some natives to add to the garden.

• Blue elderberry
• Showy milkweed (we have tried this in the past and not been successful)
• California goldenrod
• Western blue flag

We already have quite a few of the plants suggested on the Pollinator Partnership list and hundreds of bees to observe. There is always room for more.


Just a few reminders to participants of the Outdoor Hour Challenge. There will be no challenge posted this week...the next one will be on June 8, 2012 with the start of the Summer Sizzle series of challenges.

Don't forget to send in your May blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival by Wednesday, May 30, 2012.

The latest edition of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter will publish on Friday, June 1, 2012. You must be subscribed to the blog in order to receive the download link. It is a beautiful and informative edition that I know you are going to want to have in your collection. You can subscribe on the sidebar of my blog. 






Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!

OHC More Nature Study Book 3 - Iris Study

It hardly seems possible that this is the last challenge from the More Nature Study Book 3 Spring Splendor series! This season has gone by so very fast. Let's all make an effort to get outside this week and view some garden flowers whether they are in our own backyard, at a near-by park, or at a garden nursery. Take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy this last spring challenge outdoors with your family...fifteen minutes can be squeezed in first thing in the morning or right after lunch if that works for your schedule.

Thank you so much to all the participants who have shared their outdoor adventures this season through the links of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Keep sending in your entries! We will be taking a little break from the challenges until June 8, 2012 and then we will start our Summer Sizzle series of challenges at that time. The new ebook is available and ready for you to download in preparation for a summer of enriching nature study. I hope to see some summertime entries from all the OHC families!


More Nature Study Book 3
Garden Flower - Blue Flag Iris

“Each iris flower has three side doors leading to the nectar wells; and the bees, in order to get the nectar, must brush off the pollen dust on their backs” Handbook of Nature Study

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read Lesson 157 in the Handbook of Nature Study (pages 571-574). View the diagram on page 573 showing the parts of the iris labeled. 
• View these YouTube videos: Blue Flag and Iris and Bee. 
• Advanced Study: You can determine what kind of native irises you have in your area by viewing the maps at the bottom of this page: USDA Iris.

Outdoor Hour Time:

• This lesson is valuable for learning about wild irises and garden irises as well. Take your outdoor time for this challenge and view an iris if possible. The lesson also suggests that observations of the flower can take place inside but the viewing of the bee visiting the iris is the most interesting way to learn about this flower. You may need to file this study away until you can visit an iris in person. 
• Alternate activity: Spend time watching insects and flowers in your garden or at a near-by park. Use the information about the iris and the information you learned in the Poppy-Buttercup Challenge to make comparisons between flowers. Remember to use proper flower part vocabulary in your conversation. Ebook Users: You can use the Spring Flower notebook page if you would like as part of this challenge. 
• Watch any pollinators in your yard and observe their behavior.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Allow time for a nature journal entry where your child can sketch and record their iris study or complete a coloring page. This site may be helpful in carefully drawing the iris and labeling its parts: The Iris Flower (USDA). Advanced Study: Use colored pencils and draw your iris in your nature journal (see an example HERE). How about a video?
•  Discuss any pollinators you viewed as part of this challenge and record any interesting thoughts in your nature journal. See the list of questions above. 
•  Advanced Study: If you live in the United States, you can use this website to determine what plants and pollinators you have in your neighborhood: Pollinator Partnership. View your guide to determine five plants that you can add to your garden to encourage pollinators to visit. If you already have native plants, make a list of them in your nature journal. Alternate activity: Record information in your nature journal for one native iris to your area.

Additional Activities:
Great Sunflower Project: If you enjoy watching bees visit your garden flowers, you may be interested in participating in this citizen science project. It is simple enough for even very young children to get involved with and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Click over to their website to learn more.

Blue Iris Time Lapse video (for fun).



Don't forget to share your Spring Splendor Walk blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in May are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.

More Nature Study #3 Garden Snail Study

Image Source: Flickr

More Nature Study Book 3
Snail Study

“Perchance if those who speak so glibly of a ‘snail’s pace’ should study it, they would not sneer at it, for, carefully observed, it seems to be one of the most wonderful methods of locomotion ever devised by animal….The snail carries his dwelling with him, and retires within it in time of danger. He can climb on any smooth surface.”
Handbook of Nature Study 

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read the Handbook of Nature Study pages 416-422 (Lesson 106). There are lots of interesting details about the snail’s life history and its behavior. Highlight a few things you can share with your children.
• Choose a few of the suggested activities to use as part of your snail study.
• YouTube videos for preparation and building interest: Garden Snail Video (excellent), Escargot, and Two Garden Snails and this one (preview) Garden Snail. 

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Go on a snail trail hunt! Although snails are nocturnal, you can look for snail trails during the day which may lead you to some snails hiding in moist places like pond areas or near the garden. Continuous trails are from slugs while trails with breaks belong to snails. Snail trails will glisten in the sun or shine at night with a flashlight.
• If you find a snail or a snail shell, make careful observations. If you have a container, gather a snail for more indoor observations. Use a magnifying lens to view the snail’s eyes or other body parts. Handle the snail carefully and wash your hands afterwards. Use the suggestions from Lesson 106 to guide your careful study of the snail.

Follow-Up Activities:

• If you found a snail, record your observations in your nature journal. Describe the color, size, and behavior of your snail. Put it into a clear container with some leaf litter and source of moisture like a can lid filled with a bit of water. Put in some bits of lettuce and watch the snail eat. Watch the snail as it climbs the clear walls, observing the underside of the snail.
• If you found an empty snail shell, take careful notes of its appearance. Advanced study: Identify the type of snail you found. Draw your snail shell in your nature journal. (See link below.)
• Advanced study: Research the Phyllum of Mollusca. Record your findings in your nature journal along with a list of other mollusks.
• Advanced study: Develop a question about snails that you can answer by observation. Design an activity or experiment to answer your question. Carry out your activity and then record your results in your nature journal. For example: How fast does a snail crawl? How does it eat? How does a snail protect itself? How does a snail react to light? Ebook users: Notebook page included in the ebook.

Additional Links:

• Excellent website with images of land snails (UK based but relevant to the US as well).
• Snails are Easy to Draw
• Read about snails and color a snail online at Enchanted Learning
• Moon Snails (aquatic snails) on YouTube.com 

Don't forget to share your May OHC blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in March are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.




This is an awesome and fun YouTube video: Snail Art

Learing about Vines With Nature Study

Vine Study with the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Our world is full of vines...I never noticed how many vines there are in our neighborhood until we focused on vines for the past few weeks during our outdoor time. The vine above is a Common sulphur pea that grows wild in our area and is a native plant. I always just call them sweet peas. These are growing on our hiking trail and they don't bloom very long since they are on the sunny dry side of the trail. They are a delight while they last.


Blackberry vines - This tangle is right alongside our walking trail. They don't get a lot of water here on the dry side of the hill so they aren't very sweet and plump. The wild critters benefit from these patches of blackberries.

I think these are Himalayan blackberries and are an invasive species in our part of the world. I have them in my yard...creeping in wherever I don't whack them back or chomp them down. I keep a very small manageable patch in my front yard for the birds and for my own early morning picking pleasure in the summer. Nothing like a freshly picked, sun-warmed blackberry for your breakfast.  


Sweet peas - These are the purple-pink sweet peas that grow wild alongside the walking trail. They come back year after year. I am cultivating a nice patch of them in my backyard, hoping they will fill in a spot with their brightly colored flowers. We read in the Handbook of Nature Study that studying the sweet pea should be a garden lesson so we will save it for the summer. (We did a previous sweet pea study and you can read it here along with my little video.)


English ivy - This is a vine that grows over and through our fence from our neighbor's yard. We spend quite a bit of time cutting it back since we really don't want ivy taking over our yard. It is pretty and green but that is about all I can say nice about it.



Hedge bind weed - We have this growing under our birdfeeder. We are watching it grow and then in a few weeks after it has bloomed we will pull it all out. (I am keeping just a few of the hedge bindweed plants on the advice of a fellow gardener who told me it could quickly take over.) We did a previous study of this plant here: Hedge Bindweed if you want to take a look.


Vetch - This was the plant that led to a complete afternoon of study. We actually have two varieties of vetch along our hiking trail. The one above is Hairy vetch and then we also have Spring vetch.


The spring vetch almost looks like a small sweet pea (same family, different genus). It took some time to find information on these two vetches because neither plant was in our wildflowers field guide. I presume this is because they are non-native plants. We found this interesting because these two plants are seen everywhere in our area. I have started keeping track in my nature journal of native vs. non-native plants...interesting exercise.

We decided we needed to keep this as an on-going nature study and we will be watching as the hedge bindweed and sweet peas in our garden as they mature over the next few weeks. We have had fun noticing if plants twine in clockwise or counter clockwise directions. It becomes sort of an obsession. Keeping a focus always adds an enjoyable layer to our outdoor time and nature study.




Don't forget to share your Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in May are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/12 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com.