Barb, Author at Homeschool Nature Study

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Barb — 22 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge #45 Mammals: Squirrels

Here comes this week’s challenge. I happen to have a squirrel that visits my backyard and from time to time he gives us a little show. You can be sure we will be doing some direct observation this week. We also noticed some signs of squirrels on our last Winter Wednesday walk so we will be looking up some information about that too.
Outdoor Hour Challenge
#45 Squirrels
(You may also like to use the Autumn Series Challenge for Squirrels for additional information.)

1. Read pages 233-237 in the Handbook of Nature Study. Use your highlighter to mark the sections with facts you can share with your children. There are plenty of observation suggestions in Lesson 57 on pages 236 and 237. Keep these ideas in mind as you take your nature walk this week.

“The squirrel’s legs are short because he is essentially a climber rather than a runner; the hips are very strong, which insures his power as a jumper, and his leaps are truly remarkable.”

“The squirrel has two pairs of gnawing teeth which are very long and strong, as in all rodents, and he needs to keep busy gnawing hard things with them, or they will grow so long that he cannot use them at all and will starve to death.”

“During the winter, the red squirrel does not remain at home except in the coldest weather, when he lies cozily with his tail wrapped around him like a fur neck-piece to keep him warm.”
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 234 and 235

Here is an additional fact sheet on squirrels:
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/eastern-gray-squirrel/#eastern-gray-squirrel-closeup.jpg

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Stories 4-6. Take a few minutes after reading each story to have your child narrate to you some interesting points from the story. Use the illustrations on pages 30, 36, and 41 of the book to get the narration going if they are having trouble getting started.

3. Spend 10-15 minutes outdoors on a nature walk. As you walk, discuss where you might find a squirrel in your neighborhood. Remind your child where a squirrel lives and what it eats. If you know you have a squirrel in your yard or at your local park, take along some nuts or seeds to put out and observe the squirrel eating. Never feed a squirrel by hand. Don’t worry if you cannot observe a squirrel this week. Enjoy your outdoor time and observe any mammals that you come into contact with during your walk.

4. For your nature journal you can write out your observations from your squirrel watching. Use the observation suggestions for ideas to include in your entry: describe the color of the fur, how the eyes are placed, what do the paws look like, how does the squirrel climb up and down a tree, the sound the squirrel makes as he expresses himself, show the tracks that the squirrel makes in the snow. If you did not observe a squirrel, you can use any of the additional resources to include in your nature journal this week.

Would you like a printable notebook page to use along with your squirrel nature study?

Squirrel or Rodent Nature Study

Note this is an Amazon affiliate link to a product that I have used and loved for many,many years.

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Barb — 7 Comments

Wednesday Walk in the Snow: Beavers and Jays

Winter Wednesday-Week 2 Snow

We haven’t had much snowfall in our area since last week so our plans to complete the snow melting measurement activity are on hold for the moment. We did observe something that the book talks about on page 28 and 29, Snow Melt and Trees.

“During the day, the tree absorbs heat from the sun. The tree radiates heat and melts the snow.”

You can see in these photos how this looks out in the woods.

Here is another photo that shows the melted snow very clearly. Right after we took this photo we saw a coyote over beyond the trees. He was hurrying past on his way to somewhere else….we did not see him again all day.

On my the right sidebar of my blog I have a photo of my summer hiking boots….now here are my winter hiking boots. These are so very comfortable and warm. Don’t they look like brand new? They are two years old! I just love LL Bean. ( I just looked up on the LL Bean website and I can’t find these particular boots there anymore….just in case you were going to ask.)

The snow was just right for snow boots. I was really glad we did not need the snowshoes today because they are a lot of work and I wanted to just relax. Next time I am going to bring them along because there is an area that I wanted to explore but the snow was just too deep. I stepped of the trail and sunk down to about mid-calf.

We stayed on the trail….isn’t this a welcoming little entrance to this part of the wilderness? (Don’t tell Brittney…this is where we saw the bear last fall.)

Several people emailed me about the beaver dam in the header of the blog. Yes, it is a real beaver dam that is along one of our regular hiking trails. I promised a few more photos to go along with the beaver story. The photo above is a good example of what a tree looks like that a beaver has worked on. This particular tree is pretty far from the creek so I’m not sure why they chose it but it is still sitting in the woods. You can tell how big a beaver is by how far up the tree he was working.

You can see if you look closely or click the photo to enlarge it that the rangers have come through and protected some of the tree trunks with wire to prevent the beavers from falling the trees. There are quite a few trees that look as if the beaver got started and then the rangers wrapped up the trunks to keep the tree intact.

The turn around spot on this hike was this beach. This is the beach we spend hours and hours at during the summer and fall. This is a favorite with locals so there are lots of tracks and paw prints in the snow. There were a few mallard ducks hanging around today as well as a very chattery squirrel. More on the squirrels in another post soon.

One more friend from our walk this time.

Mr. Steller’s jay is a glorious blue and even more striking against the winter’s gray. They have to be some of the most loud and squawky birds you can ever imagine but they are so pretty when they hold still for a photo. Click the link above and scroll down to where you can listen to the call of the Steller’s jay….squawk indeed.

That was our Winter Wednesday this week. We are going to make sure to remember to actually do the activities we planned from chapter two when it snows here next….maybe soon.

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

On the Trail of Some Mammals: Outdoor Hour Challenge #44

We do not have many rabbits in our neighborhood although we have seen tracks in the snow up in the mountains not far from here. We read up on rabbits but we also tried to brainstorm other mammals we might see or see signs of on our Outdoor Hour hike this week. Here is our running list:

Western Grey Squirrel
Fox
Raccoon
Opposum
Skunk
Mule deer
Mole
Gopher
Deer mouse
Coyote

Many of these mammals are rarely seen during daylight hours but we thought we might see signs of them along the trail if we looked closely.

Here is a little glimpse of what we saw along the trail as we kept our eyes out for signs of mammals. We obviously don’t have any snow at the moment so we were looking for tracks in the damp earth. My husband thought it might be a deer trail but the branches of the bushes are too low for a deer to easily slip through. I think it must be a smaller mammal…maybe a fox? We looked very carefully but we could not see any clear tracks in the mud which is even more curious to us.

We also found several holes that looked promising and this one looked freshly dug. No prints in the dirt though.

Here is a pine cone that shows signs of having been someone’s dinner. Scattered around this area were parts of the cone as well.

Now for the photos for the more serious mammal hunters. Scroll down for some scat photos or you can finish here. 🙂 Seriously, these are really graphic animal dropping photos. Don’t feel bad if you skip them.

This was full of fur and very black. After looking in several reference books, including the Discover Nature in Winter book, I think this is fox scat.

This one was full of some kind of red skins, maybe from some berries or fruit. I am not sure at all who it belongs to.

Although we didn’t see any rabbits or signs of rabbits, we had a great time looking for other mammals during our afternoon walk.

Posted on January 13, 2009 by Barb — 1 Comment

Our Winter Color Walk

The weather has been glorious the last few days so it was easy to get out and explore. I even saw a hummingbird in my feeder yesterday if you can believe it. I can hardly believe it. I am so glad that I procrastinated and didn’t take the feeder down because he was drinking deeply. My husband and I were sitting on the deck enjoying the sunshine together as he recovers from his hand surgery and we both heard the little clicking sound of the hummer as he sipped at the feeder. I am so glad that there were the two of us so I had a witness to this event. No explanation for his appearance….just admiration for his beauty.

We are finally posting our color walk from last week’s Winter Wednesday. Our world is surprisingly colorful once you start looking carefully. Here are a few colors from our own yard.
Beautiful crimson pyracantha berries in our front yard. These berries are a favorite of the local birds in the winter although they do get a little “drunk” from them and fly into our picture window. Last week we had a bird fatality at this spot and it made me very sad.

Bright yellow-orange lichen on our tree….never noticed this before in our yard but my eyes spotted it as we were color searching.

The first of the violets are blooming….mmmmmmm…..can you smell the delicate fragrance? Lovely.

Something my son pointed out….red strawberry leaves in the garden. Wow!

Orange rosehips are covering the rose bushes in the front and backyards. Did you know that apples and roses are in the same family? I am tempted to try to make rosehip tea.

This was a great activity and now we have a simple journal entry to remember the afternoon by.

Posted on January 5, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Urchins on Oaks?

We took our usual walk the other day but we found something unusual.

These little pink growths were attached all over the leaves on the ground and we brought one home to identify it. I had an idea that it was gall of some sort but I thought it would be interesting to see if we could come up with an exact identification.

I Googled “pink gall oak” and here are a few of the things I found.

CalPhotos: Urchin Gall
Bingo!

Nature’s Oddballs
Fascinating article with a great explanation of galls.

So there you have it.
Urchin Gall Wasp Antron quercusechinus

“There are many forms of these gall dwellings, and they may grow upon the root, branch, leaf, blossom, or fruit. The miraculous thing about each of them is that each kind of insect builds its magical house on a certain part of a certain species of tree or plant; and the house is always of a certain definite form on the outside and of a certain particular pattern within.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 335

You can read more about galls in the Handbook on pages 335-338.

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Barb — 4 Comments

Winter Snow Hike: Joyful Refreshment

There is much to be said for a walk in the woods in the snow….no trails to follow and no one else to distract you. The crunch, crunch, crunch of the snow under your feet and the bite in the air that reminds you that it is winter. I know these woods well but something about the whiteness or the stillness captures me and draws me to go deeper and farther and find something new each time. You know by the tracks that someone has been there before you….human types and mammal types and probably some rodents too. That is okay since all they left behind are some prints and dents in the snow and you can choose to follow or you can choose to meander. We did a little of both.

We were alert to the many different kinds of tracks in the snow and it was fun trying to guess who they belonged to. It didn’t really matter if we were correct or not because it was fun to imagine who the creatures were and what they were up to. Tracks inspired talk of bears, foxes, rabbits, mice, coyotes, and beavers. It is a fun game to play as you walk through the snowy woods.

This was the most surprising find of the day…a beaver dam in the creek. We have seen evidence of a beaver here before with trees gnawed on and sometimes even a tree cut down but this dam was magnificent. Be sure to click the image to get a better look. You can really see it clearly now that the leaves are gone from the trees and bushes. This is almost the same spot that we saw a bear last fall when the salmon were spawning in this creek.

Have you ever seen something so colorful as this lichen? It really stands out against all the winter drab. Just beautiful.

I never fail to look up as we hike along and this was what I was given for the effort, a brilliant blue sky with fast moving clouds overhead. The trees were perfectly silhouetted as you looked across the horizon.

We had our eyes out for interesting things to discover and here are some little cones we found hanging on a bush.

Reflections have a way of creating a different dimension to a landscape. The stillness of the water made me feel peaceful and I took a few moments to say a little prayer of thanks to the one who created all these wonderful things for us to enjoy. What a gift…what a gift to enjoy as a family.

I told you on this afternoon we had the place to ourselves but there had been others before us. This area leads down to the lake but right through an eagle habitat and we decided to steer clear…are the eagles still here or do they migrate? I know, so many questions to answer. These tracks are probably all covered over by now since a storm blew in overnight.

This short video shows the creek where it is moving fast over the rocks. There were birds wading around in the water above this spot but we saw no real signs of life right here on the bridge.

Just so you know it wasn’t all peaceful and idyllic on this walk, one last photo of what happens when a teenage son nails his dad with a big snowball….a little of what my family affectionately calls “snow tussling“.

Boys will be boys. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Posted on January 2, 2009 by Barb — 3 Comments

Winter Break Walks-Time That Speeds By

“The teacher may judge as to her own progress in nature-study by the length of time she is glad to spend in reading from nature’s book what is therein written. As she progresses, she finds those hours spent in studying nature speed faster, until a day thus spent seems but an hour.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 7

She is not a little pup anymore. She is only six months old but she is a good size dog already. She loves to walk with us on our rambles in the woods. She loves to explore and sniff and encourage us to go a little further each time. My son affectionately calls her the Lovable Labrador but her real name is Kona.

Even though we have been on a break from our regular school studies, we are still making time for lots of nature walks. It is the perfect time to enjoy each other’s company and to share some adventures.

Today on our walk we had the unmistakable scent of a skunk just about the whole trip down the canyon and back up again. We didn’t see the skunk at any time but he was very close by. We have been seeing signs of other animals along the trail….some holes scratched in the trail’s bank and lots of mole holes in the little clearing. The buckeye fruits are starting to be nibbled on and left by the side of the path. The trails off into the woods are becoming more distinct as the ground become wet and the animals follow the same path every time….muddy trails up the banks and off to the deep part of the wood.

There are plenty of interesting things to look at as we walk along. This winter weed is pretty all brown and full of velcro-like stickers.

The ferns are really growing now and the shades of green found in the different varieties are showing very clearly.

With all the leaves gone from this oak, you can see clearly the mistletoe growing up on the branches.

Here is a try at a close-up of the mistletoe hanging up high in the tree. I could not find any information on mistletoe in the Handbook of Nature Study which surprised me.

I am testing out a new book (see below) for my boys to use in their nature study….something with a little more depth than the Handbook. I am looking for a book that will supplement the Handbook of Nature Study when it does not cover particular subjects that we have in our area of the world. I am beginning to think it is totally unreasonable to expect any one book to cover all the bases and that is why I am going to be checking out a few other resources for our family to use. I will keep you posted how this book works out for us over the next few months.

Posted on January 1, 2009 by Barb — 9 Comments

Wilson Bentley: Snowflake Man

Recently I have become acquainted with a man who seems like a kindred spirit. He lived a long time ago but I think we both share a fascination with nature, snowflakes in particular. He had a mother that encouraged him in his interests and gave him a great gift. May we all give our children this same gift….one of helping to feed their passions.

Here is a YouTube video with Bentley’s own words and story. I invite you to watch this short video.

This is another video you may enjoy watching too.You will have to click over to YouTube to watch this one. I have not watched all the videos that come up after this one so please preview any other videos that may pop up.
Masters of Photography: Wilson Snowflake Bentley
Edit to add: My daughter on her blog, Hearts and Trees, shared a short video on how to catch snowflakes last year. Here is your link:
Snow Day Science

Posted on December 31, 2008 by Barb — 2 Comments

Additional Options for Outdoor Hour Challenge 43 Growing Molds

We haven’t completed Outdoor Hour Challenge 43 yet but I wanted to give some additional ideas for options to the original challenge.

Here are some additional ideas to get you started with observing molds for Outdoor Hour Challenge 43.

Here is a YouTube video that shows mold growing on bread and then an orange. It is a short and sweet video. Please remember to preview.

How about some clipart for your notebook?

This diagram shows the parts of bread mold.

Label for this one:
“Showing One of the More Common Molds found on Fruits and Bread. The tiny stalks grow vertically into the air. The end of each thread swells into a small round knob, from the inside of which hundreds of minute bodies, called spores, burst. As a is seen a large knob filled with spores.” — Blaisedell, 1904

Here is a link to a whole list of information about puffballs and there are fantastic images to view as well.
Puffballs at MushroomExpert.com

If you are brave, you can grow mold in your own Mold Terrarium. I would love to see your results. We have conducted this experiment before and we found the best place to put our jar was in our laundry room cupboard where it was usually warm and dark.

Here is a complete booklet on fungus/mushrooms for you to look at using with your child. Preview it before printing the whole packet out since there are a lot of pages. I especially like page 17, 18, 21, 22, and 25 to print out and put in your nature journal.
How the Mushroom Got Its Spots

Hope you found something here to spark your interest.

Posted on December 26, 2008 by Barb — 3 Comments

Sierra Cement-Icy Morning

Just like many parts of the country, we are experiencing very cold weather. In the Sierra Nevada foothills where I live, the snow is rarely the fluffy flakes you see in winter storybooks. The snow we experience is very wet and is lovingly called Sierra Cement by skiers (watch the short video for an explanation). We had a few snow showers yesterday and that left behind a nice layer of snow and ice….brrrrr it is cold, well for this California girl anyway.

On my morning walk I was entranced by the ice on the deck railing. I could see with my naked eye the beautiful crystals.

So I brought out my camera with the macro lens and was able to capture the ice to share with you.

It really is like a whole little icy world down there.

“The ice on the surface of a still pond usually begins to form around the edges first, and fine, lancelike needles of ice are sent out across the surface….It is equally interesting to watch the formation of the ice crystals in a glass bottle or jar. Water, in crystallizing, expands, and requires more room than it does as a fluid; therefore, as the water changes to ice it must have more room, and often presses so hard against the sides of the bottle as to break it.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 811

Ice, snow, hail, sleet….all great subjects for winter nature study.

Author: Barb