I want to share about a fabulous giveaway and opportunity for a free notebooking page sampler from NotebookingPages.com.
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PLUS starting tomorrow there will be a Mid-Winter Membership Sale with $25 off a lifetime membership. Please note I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and highly recommend their products for all homeschooling families.
Entries about notebooking for your nature journal you may want to read:
Back in October our family was able to visit the state of New Jersey and what a surprise New Jersey was to us! It was so much more rural than expected and we fit in a visit to a very interesting place, Paterson Great Falls National Historic Site. It may not have been as majestic as other national parks or sites but it was by far one of the most interesting ways to look back in time to see how the natural feature of the town’s waterfall influenced history and industry in New Jersey. Paterson was the first planned industrial city in the U.S., established back in 1792.
It was a raining afternoon with showers but we were still able to get out and explore the small park. We started on one side of the Pasaic River where you can look over and see the falls. There were a few people there braving the rain but we pretty much had the place to ourselves.
We crossed over the street and found the very small visitor center that the national park service had set up. The only thing of note is that they have guided tours available or you can opt for a self guided tour of the area as you learn about the industrial history of the area.
Our son was interested in visiting the Paterson Museum which is just one block from the national park visitor center. This was a great decision! This place has so many interesting things and we took time to look at just about everything, including a sampling of the locomotives that had been built here in the past. This engine is actually one that helped to build the Panama Canal back in the day.
Of course, my son the pilot was interested in learning all about the history of Wright Aeronautics in Paterson. Amazing things to look at and learn about! The museum also catalogs the history of other Paterson manufacturers like Colt Revolvers as well the local silk industry.
Back outside we walked back down the street and then over the river to the closest viewing spot for actual waterfall which is in Mary Ellen Kramer Park. I can imagine this place after a hard rain or in the springtime being a magical place with lots of water. During our visit, the falls were not that impressive but still a nice surprise during our brief trip through New Jersey.
You can tell from the photo that the waterfall is really right in the middle of the town. I got the idea that this park is going to be vamping up its offerings so take a look at their website before you visit for any new features of the park that may strike your fancy. I was wishing I had more time to walk the town and take some “artsy” kinds of photos of the old brick buildings. I can always find something of interest wherever I go.
I am learning a great deal about the difference between a national park and a historic site. Historic sites can be interesting and beautiful but they don’t have the WOW factor of awesome vistas or natural phenomenon. For our family, we enjoy both experiences. I love to learn about most anything so visiting Paterson Great Falls made a memorable afternoon with my husband and son.
Tips
There are no entrance fees for the historic site or museum.
One of my favorite winter nature study activities is to take a hike and look for weeds left from the summer season. They are usually brown and stiff, sticking up out of the landscape even when there is a snow pack. Create a winter weed bouquet for your nature table and use the two challenges below to go a little deeper in your seed study. Create some anticipation for the spring and summer season by talking about how plants are just waiting for the right conditions to spring forth new life again.
Weeds and Seeds Study – This challenge has a free printable notebook page for you to use as part of your seed study.
After reading through each challenge linked above, choose one or two things to keep in mind during your Outdoor Hour Challenge time. Enjoy your fifteen minutes outdoors as you look for weeds and seeds. Make sure to show interest in any item your child finds to observe or bring home to your nature table.
I’m either really late with this month’s entry or really early for next month’s entry…oh well. This month has flown by in a good way filled with lots of rainy days but a few opportunities for some outdoor time as well. Read below about our brush with a tornado!!!
We took a rather spur of the moment trip to Nevada to refresh our minds and it was picture postcard perfect as we drove up and over the Sierra Nevada. The roads were clear but the mountains were beautifully covered in a layer of snow. We were cold the whole weekend long with temperatures dipping down to 9 degrees…really cold for this California girl. We bundled up and took some walks, shopped in this incredibly large outdoor store (Scheel’s), and ate lots of delicious food. It was a perfect combination of indoor and outdoor fun.
This is my January photo from my office window and it pretty much sums up our month…rainy! I have been keeping track of our rainfall totals and so far we have racked up 26 inches of rain since the first of October! We have also had a dusting of snow, two hail storms, and believe it or not…a tornado!
Yes, back on December 24, 2015 we had an alert on our phone to take cover because there was a tornado in our area. What??!! This was a first and we decided to take shelter in our basement but the tornado ended up going in a different direction and only came within about 5 miles of our house. I have to say that it was exciting and sort of scary at the same time. In our world, we don’t usually worry about a tornado!
There were some sunny afternoons this month that allowed a few long walks with the husband and our faithful Labrador. This was a muddy hike to the river but we very much enjoyed the warm sunshine and seeing some green for the first time in a very long time. This past few years have not allowed our usual grass crops to green up very much and I am so looking forward to see our beloved California foothills covered in green grass and colorful wildflowers. I’m ready now!
I’m adding a little something different this month as part of my Outdoor Mom’s Journal, a book review. The first book I have read as part of my Nature Book Project is Discover Nature Close to Home by Elizabeth P. Lawlor. This is a fantastic book with a long list of topics that you may find very near your home: maples, pines, seeds, squirrels, starlings, goldenrod, galls, lichens, vines, chipmunks, spiders, centipedes, fungi, ants, and earthworms. This is such a practical guide to nature study that focuses on things close to home. I love the variety of topics, the straightforward information, and specific activity ideas.
Whether your family spends a few minutes a week outside or hours at a time, share what is going on in your world. I hope you have enjoyed your October nature adventures.
How Do You Join?
Answer all or just one of the prompts in a blog entry on your own blog or right here on my blog in a comment. If you answer on your blog, make sure to leave me a link in a comment so that I can pop over and read your responses.
During our outdoor time this week we went….
The most inspiring thing we experienced was…
Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)…
In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting….
I added nature journal pages about….
I am reading…
I am dreaming about…
A photo I would like to share…
Throwback to Yosemite National Park January 2014…..the winter trip when it was cold but not much snow. I have seen photos of Yosemite in the last week and they have a ton more snow this year.
I will be posting my Outdoor Mom’s Journal entry once a month. Look for it during the first week of the month each month.
Read the identification page on All About Birds for the European starling. Advanced students may wish to also read the Life History page, especially the “Cool Facts” section. Make sure to view the images on the Identification page and note the field marks for the starling.
Great Information: Discover Nature Close to Home (one of my Nature Book Project selections) – see pages 59-66. This is my affiliate link.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Take a bird walk and note any birds you observe during your fifteen minutes. During the autumn and winter, starlings have their speckled plumage and look like they have white spots. If it is the spring and summer, notice their iridescent sheen. If you happen to spot a flock of starlings, try to count them!
If you don’t see any starlings this week, make sure to take a few minutes to make careful observations of any bird found during your outdoor time. Talk about the color, shape, size, beaks, feet, or wings of the bird with your children. Give them some words to use and have them make a journal entry once you are back inside. Keep it simple and fun.
Follow-Up Activity
Create a nature journal entry for the starling. Use the notebook page in the January 2016 Handbook of Nature Study newsletter if you have access to a membership here on the website. Or, you can create a simple entry with a sketch and some notes.
Advanced study: Learn about how birds sleep! This is something that I am interested in learning more about and here is a great starting point: Where do birds sleep? Write a short summary of what you learned in your nature journal.
I highly recommend the NotebookPages.com North American Birds set for your nature study notebooks. Please note I am an affiliate and have used this product in the past and loved it.
Here you go…my Nature Book Project List for 2016. I enjoy having a plan for reading nature related books and this year is a mix of books from my shelf and a few new ones as well. As part of this project, I have created a printable nature book project planner page so you can choose your own custom list of nature books. Print it out for some suggested categories. Please note that the book links below are affiliate links. I own all of these books
This week we will be revisiting two different Outdoor Hour Challenges from the archives – Pine Tree Nature Study and Pine Cone Nature Study. Both of the challenges suggested for this week can be completed in any season and both contain a free printable of some sort to record your pine and cone study. There are links to the ebooks where each challenge is found so Ultimate Naturalist Members can download the corresponding ebooks with custom notebooking pages if desired.
NOTE: Members here on the Handbook of Nature Study have a new printable in the library: Pine Cone Investigation. Make sure to download and use this notebook page with your older students.
“Their foliage is evergreen but is shed gradually. The pollen-bearing and the seed-producing flowers are separate on the tree. The seeds are winged and are developed in cones.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 674
After reading through each challenge linked above, choose one or two things to keep in mind during your Outdoor Hour Challenge time. Enjoy your fifteen minutes outdoors as you look for pines and cones and make sure to show interest in any item your child finds to observe or bring home to your nature table.
It’s that time of year when I am publishing my annual nature study goals for all to see. This provides me with the incentive to progressively work on my goals and to keep myself accountable at the same time. There are no surprises on this year’s list because the simple goals are actually the ones that end up being the most meaningful and reachable. For those that have been readers here for the past few years, you will see a few repeats of goals that have gone unfulfilled and this year I am determined to be better at planning a way to reach my goals.
A friend of our family says to “plan your work and then work your plan”. There is wisdom in that thinking.
Nature Study Goals 2016
Complete 2 out of 4 Outdoor Hour Challenges each month posted on Fridays. I think this is ambitious goal. I will be including our experiences in my monthly nature study recap posts.
Research and learn about four birds. Learn the call, field marks, and create a nature journal.
Focus on learning my local wildflowers. Create some sort of record of each flower. I have not decided what form this record will look like but once I get started I am hoping it will come together.
Take Yosemite photos from the Yosemite photography book- Since this was a fail last year, I am going to aim to take three photos during each trip in 2016.
Visit a new national park. (You can see a list of my national parks entries below.) We are thinking Bryce Canyon, Olympic, or Rocky Mountain depending on which way we head out from California.
Visit two new state parks.
Identify three rocks from my original challenge. This has been more difficult to accomplish than originally anticipated but with a more concentrated effort I think we can really make this happen.
Read 10 nature related books!
I always love to read your goals so leave me a comment with your goals or a link to your blog if you post an entry there. Thank you for always being so supportive of my goals as the year rolls by.
Please read the following explanation outlining how to get this month’s newsletter.
The newsletter link is not in this email but will come separately. There may be a delay in your receiving the email so please don’t email me until the second day of the month if you haven’t received the link on the first. For some reason, some email providers take longer to receive the newsletter email.
If you don’t receive the separate email with the download link, you probably aren’t subscribed to the blog yet. This will take less than a minute to do if you follow the steps below.
If you are a subscriber and you haven’t received your newsletter email yet, check your SPAM inbox. Some subscribers have found the email buried in SPAM inbox.
If you need to subscribe:
You will need to go to the Handbook of Nature Study, look to the top right corner for the box to type in your preferred email address, and then confirm the email that comes to your email inbox.
Once you subscribe, you will receive a thank you email from me with the download link.
This month’s newsletter link will be available only during the month of January so be sure to download it before 1/31/16.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
Bird related resources and articles with a contribution from Shirley Vels of Under an English Sky.
Starling bird study and notebook page
Bird Tally List printable
Resources for your Nature Library: I have started to build a nature library store on Amazon that will feature by category my favorite nature study books and resources. Take a look and see if there is anything you would like to put on your wish list for your family’s nature study library: Handbook of Nature Study Nature Library Suggestions on Amazon.com.Note this is my affiliate store to items I personally recommend and have read or seen in person.
Please note that Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level members have access to members only printables each month in addition to the newsletter printables. You will need to log into your account and then go to the “Other Releases” section.
Need help getting started with your nature study using the Handbook of Nature Study? Check out the fresh “Getting Started” page here on the website!
– this one has been postponed, so no formal entry as of yet
– this one has also been postponed until a future date
