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.

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.








 

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.



 

Handbook of Nature Study - Survey

Most of us are working our way through the summer challenges and enjoying the delights of this season.

As the summer goes by, I need to start thinking about which direction the Outdoor Hour Challenge is going to take in September.

I decided that a survey of my readers and participants of the Outdoor Hour Challenge might just help me make some decisions about the future course of nature study here on my blog.

Please take a few minutes to respond to the simple survey I have created. Most of the questions are multiple choice but there are spaces available for you to elaborate if you have some ideas to share or extra comments. If you need a response from me, the very last box in the survey would be a good place to comment and leave me a way to get in contact with you (email address).

Please be sure that I will keep all responses confidential and I would love to hear honest opinions from everyone. You will need to click the link below to go to the survey form on Google Docs.

Handbook of Nature Study - Outdoor Hour Challenge Survey

Thank you to all who participate in the survey.

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.

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.

OHC More Nature Study Book 3 - Vine Study

More Nature Study Book 3
Vine Study - Sweet peas, Hedge bindweed, and Dodder

Vines: Plants that have the habit of climbing upon other plants or upon sides of houses. Stems of vines are not strong enough to stand alone, seeking support to help get their leaves up into the life-giving sunlight. Some vines climb by twisting their stems around the support plant while others have special “holders” which are called tendrils. 

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read these pages in the Handbook of Nature Study to prepare you for this week’s challenge. 1. Sweet Pea: 588-590 (Lesson 164) *vines with tendrils. 2. Hedge Bindweed: 518-520 (Lesson 137) *twining vines. 3. The Dodder or Love Vine: 520-522 (Lesson 138) *tendrils with sucker.
• If you would like to start your sweet peas from seed, follow the instructions in Lesson 164. This study could then continue into the summer months and end in a study of the sweet pea flower using Lesson 164.
• Read this page and view the images: How Vines Climb. You can watch these videos on YouTube: Twining Motion of Vines, Morning Glory Stop Motion, Time Lapse of Cucumber Tendril (Beware: 1812 Overture plays loudly.)

Outdoor Hour Time:

• Use your outdoor time for this challenge to explore your yard and neighborhood looking for vines of any kind. Don’t worry if you can’t find a sweet pea, dodder, or hedge bindweed but apply your knowledge and vocabulary to any vines you do find. 
• Make sure to observe closely how the vine climbs. If the vine is a twining vine, note which direction the vine wraps itself around the support plant. If the vine has tendrils, note their color, size, and direction.
• Optional: Plant sweet pea or morning glory seeds for your own vines to observe over the next few months.

Follow-Up Activity:

• Follow up your outdoor time with the opportunity to record an entry in your nature journal with your vine observations. Ebook Users: You can use the vocabulary found on the chart in the ebook.
• Advanced study: Research more vines and how they climb (How Plants Climb). Summarize your information in your nature journal.
• Advanced study: Make your own time lapse video of a vine twining or using its tendrils.
• If you planted sweet pea or morning glory seeds, continue to record their growth over the next few months in your nature journal.

Don't forget to share your May 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.

Our Spring Fern Nature Study

Taken May 3, 2012

We actually started our fern nature study way back in January during our Silent Nature Winter Walk.

This week we walked the same trail to view our ferns. We tried to remember how many ferns there were back in January and there seems to be more ferns now and they are larger. Comparing photos I think we are correct.

Magnificent ferns on our hiking trail.

I was interested in the Western sword fern but Mr. B was interested in the California Maidenhair fern. Both are plants that we have looked at closely before. The Maidenhair fern is interesting because it has a black stem and looks like lace...sometimes you have to look twice because you think the green parts are floating in air but really they are attached with delicate black stems.

More Nature Study Book #3 Fern Study Notebook Page

We had a field guide to consult and to glean a few new facts from. Mr. B did a nature journal page for the California Maidenhair fern from our hiking trail. He thought the stalk was a purple/black...I will have to look closer the next time we hike down the trail.

California Maidenhair Fern - March 2010 (Best photo I have that shows the stalk.)

Now do you want to see some of our California wildflowers from further up the trail? We were busy this time stopping and noting all the colorful flowers there are right now.

This is a colorful time of year in our part of the world.

I am keeping a running list of wildflowers seen on this particular trail for the whole year of 2012.

Keeping a list...nothing fancy about this page in my journal.

I just add to my list in my nature journal when we get back from our hike. It is interesting to see the patterns and successions of blooms.

Making fern prints with ink. See link below.

We will be revisiting ferns again this summer as we visit several spots in California that have ferns. I think it will be fun to add to our collection of fern prints that we started back in January.

It is not too late to join in with your own fern nature study..... If you own the More Nature Study Book #3 for spring, there are plenty of simple ideas to glean more information about your local ferns or prepare for the future when you may encounter ferns during your travels.




I am linking up to a new to me monthly meme at The Homeschool Scientist. Click over and join in.

Goat Nature Study? Where Are The Goats?

No photos of goats but we did spy some awesome insects in the garden.

This week we were hoping to complete the Outdoor Hour Challenge Goat Study. 

We had every intention of finding a real live goat to observe for this challenge...we had several ideas but none of them panned out. We did the next best thing and prepared for the time the opportunity does arise. Mr. B is always up for a research project so this was agreeable to him.



We went through the challenge and narrowed the research to these few things:

1. Read in the Handbook of Nature Study about goats (lesson 65).
2. He viewed the videos linked in the Goat Study Challenge. His favorite? Fainting goats, of course!
3. Research and record information on ruminant animals (animals with four stomachs).

In my experience, after preparing for a particular nature study, we will have an opportunity to use our goat information in the near future. It always seems to work that way, maybe because we are looking for the opportunity with clear eyes.

We had our first swallowtails in the garden this week.

We have had plenty of outdoor time this week as we have worked in the garden, taken a long drive in vineyard country, and walked our trusty Kona dog ( who stood in for our mammal for this study).

Remember to send in your Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries completed in the month of May to the OHC Blog Carnival. Deadline for submitting will be 5/30/12.

Latest edition: April 2012: Spring Splendor

Newsletter Challenge: Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Extraordinary Defined: 

Going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary. 

Noteworthy or remarkable. 

The Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter for May 2012 builds on the theme of Noticing Nature in the Everyday. One of the activities from the newsletter is to find something extraordinary in the ordinary....by using the May Grid and Printable Bookmark. I encourage you to spend time in your own backyard, helping your children find something of interest.

I wanted to expand that a bit with this post and offer a printable notebook page to use to follow-up your Extraordinary in the Ordinary outdoor time. I challenge you to find at least one thing to take a closer look and to then complete a notebook page or nature journal showing what you learned. My family will be participating in this challenge too!

See if you can find something extraordinary right under your noses.

You can see a past example from my post: Extraordinary in the Ordinary.

Free Printable Notebook Page: Extraordinary in the Ordinary - In Your Own Backyard.


Please feel free to submit your entry to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.

Note: If you would like to receive a copy of the May 2012 Newsletter, please make sure to subscribe to my blog and you will receive the link to download the newsletter in the next blog entry emailed to your inbox. 


Now is the time to renew or purchase a membership to the Notebooking Treasury. She is offering 25% off and three extra months PLUS you will have access to all the new features when they become available June 2012. At that time, they will be releasing The Notebooking Publisher, a new web-application for creating, customizing, and completing your own notebooking pages. With The Notebooking Publisher, your children can create and complete their notebooking pages on the computer!

OHC More Nature Study Book 3 - Ferns

More Nature Study Book 3
Fern Study 

Inside Preparation Work:

• Read pages 693-706 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lessons 192-195)). Highlight information on ferns that you would like to share with your children. After reading through the information, pick one aspect of the fern to focus on during your outdoor time (unfolding, fruiting, learning parts of the fern).
• View this animation: The Life Cycle of the Fern. This one is also interesting: YouTube: Time Lapse Fern Unfurling.
• Advanced preparation: YouTube: Fern Life Cycle (Give this one a chance. It starts off a little rough but covers the information very well for this challenge.) Fern Cycle—Animated (For Fun). For students who have a background with high school biology: Fern Life Cycle. 

Outdoor Hour Time:
Note:Take a hand lens and a way to carry a fern frond with you during your outdoor time.

• Ferns are in the section of the Handbook of Nature Study that covers Flowerless Plants. Use your outdoor time this week to go on a fern hunt or as an alternative, look for moss which is in the same section in the Handbook (Lesson 197). Make observations using a hand lens if you have one. Take photos of the location of your ferns or other subjects.
• Collect one frond of your fern (if appropriate). 

Follow-Up Activities:

• Allow time for a nature journal (notebook page provided in the ebook). If you would like to make this study into a year-long project, record your spring fern observations and mark your calendar to return in summer, autumn, and winter to view your fern’s changes.
• Use careful observation to view the sori on the back of your fern.
• Make ink prints of your fern frond in your nature journal. Step by step instructions are on my blog: Making Leaf Prints With Ink.
• Advanced study: Record the story of the fern in your nature journal. Ebook users: Optional: Fern coloring page. 

Additional Links:
Biology of a Swordfern (references to evolution)
Guide to Ferns (for Georgia but information that can apply anywhere)

Printable Parts of a Fern

Fern vocabulary

Backyard Ferns 

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.

Our Beloved Dogwood Tree - Blooming Right on Schedule for Our Nature Study

Our Dogwood Study with the Handbook of Nature Study
(It is not too late to join us if you still have a dogwood blooming in your neighborhood.)

Funny how we all have had our favorite spring Outdoor Hour Challenges. For me? This dogwood study has been about two years in the making. I have always wanted to have a dogwood tree in our front yard but it wasn't until we did our massive front yard remodel that I was able to find a dedicated spot for the dogwood tree. We choose one with white blossoms...my favorite.

You can see our front yard transformation here in this post: Removing the Lawn.


We waited last year for it to flower but we only had leaves. This year....ta da! A dozen or so creamy white blossoms to enjoy and now study.


We read in the Handbook of Nature Study about how the flowers have been waiting inside the bracts all winter long, protected and sheltered until conditions were right. I have spent the last month or so going out almost daily to check the branches for any signs of opening. What a gift once we saw the bracts changing!

See the notched bract? This is another thing discussed in the Handbook of Nature Study that I would have never noticed if it wasn't pointed out to me. 


I had to convince Mr. B that the true flowers are the ones at the center and not the big white bracts. We counted the flowers and found there were 25+, some open and some closed.

Notebook Page for More Nature Study Book #3

The Handbook of Nature Study said that this was a perfect lesson to use a hand lens for so we brought ours out and took a deeper look. Amazing! If you haven't yet done your dogwood study, I highly recommend this activity. You might note it in your ebook to do for next year as well if your dogwoods are no longer blooming.


How fun is this? Don't the leaves look like a bird? I was busy standing on top of my retaining wall to take photos of the dogwood and looking down on the leaves....it truly looked like a bird!


Now for a few fun images from our evening study. Here is a colorful view of our front yard right now....hubby brought me home a new garden flag for the front stairs. I love it! We did have a swallowtail in the yard a few days ago so it won't be long now until butterfly time! The Kona dog is taking a rest from helping us weed and water.


I don't think I shared my new addition to the rock garden. We took a new hike up into the mountains and into an area where you can collect rocks, a true rockhounds paradise. We brought home this big piece of serpentine which is the California State Rock. Isn't an amazing shade of green? Our rock garden has become its own little micro-habitat with insects and critters living around and under the rocks. In the evenings there is a very loud cricket chorus in our yard. It is a comforting sound and I stand on the deck and listen in the dark and imagine where they all are as they sing.


What a wonderful study! It all started back when we decided to remodel the front yard a few years ago and we put on paper our list of plants and trees we hoped to include. The dogwood came two years ago and this past week we added a California redbud. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and mature...maybe next year it will bloom for us.

I invite you to take a closer look at your dogwood using the Handbook of Nature Study!




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