Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
5 encouraging articles to help you in your nature study adventure
September Study Grid and Printables for your nature journals
Fall Field Trip – printable notebook page
Flower clipart for nature journal or coloring
Show and Tell from OHC Participants
Recommended study links
I have attached the newsletter download link to the bottom of my blog feed so if you are a subscriber you will receive the link to the latest newsletter at the bottom of every post for the month of September. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter link in the next post that comes to your email box. You can subscribe to my blog by filling in your email address in the subscription box on my sidebar.
Note: You can download your newsletter from the link in two ways:
If your link is clickable, right click the link and then “save link as” to save the file on your computer.
If the link is not clickable, cut and paste the link to your browser, open, and then save your newsletter to your computer.
If you need instructions on how to get started with the Outdoor Hour Challenge, you can read this entry for on the “Getting Started” tab at the top of my blog: How to Use the Outdoor Hour Challenge 2013-2014
Make sure to scroll to the end of this entry for a fantastic giveaway opportunity for a new Nature Study for Toddlers and Preschoolers ebook plan from Maureen Spell from Spell Outloud!
Check out this new ebook from Maureen at Spell Outloud! Because I highly recommend this ebook I am using my affiliate link.
This marks the last of the year as far as rotating through the nature study topics here on the Outdoor Hour Challenge. The night sky has been a thought-provoking study here in our home and one that is always enjoyed by lounging out on the deck after dark and just gazing up to notice the things going on up there at night. We spotted lots of interesting things to talk about even with friends, learning new things and sharing the information.
Carla from Inside Outside Michiana has contributed their Night Skies! entry to this edition of the carnival. She shares their experiences and some tips too!
Cristy from Cristy’s Nature Journal writes about their night sky/moon study in her entry to the carnival: Night Sky Challenge for the Outdoor Hour Challenge. They even got to see the space station streak across the sky!
Jennifer from Royal Little Lambs submits her Antelope Island Camping entry which is jam packed with night sky study and lots of wildlife too! She captured a great night sky image for you to enjoy.
Nadene from Practical Pages has put together their South African entry for the carnival: Stars and Night Sky. She shares their experiences and some additional resources with carnival readers.
Carla from Inside Outside Michiana shares their night sky entry: ETHOS:Science Sneak Peak Space. What a lot of great things going on this month related to the sky and night sky too!
Big Dipper Study
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island writes about their Summer Constellation Study for this edition of the carnival. She shares another great iPad app (Star Walk) along with screenshots that help you get more out of your night sky study.
Photo Credit: Mountain Man from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie
Moon and Craters Study
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island shares her entry: The Full Moon – August Study with carnival readers. She captured a beautiful image of the moon and its craters.
Last Days of Summer
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island shares their Night Sky and Last Days of Summer Study with the carnival. Alex shares some of her night sky plans and their progress in the Last Days of Summer activity.
Potpourri
Robin from Academia shares their 10 Days At The Pond entry with you to enjoy. She records many of their pond finds in images and words…also some drawings too!
Shirley Ann from Under An English Sky has submitted their OHC Butterflies entry. She says,”There is just no way that we could not spend a little time learning about and appreciating these insects.” I totally agree! She shares some amazing images and then their journal entries. Be inspired!
Rebecca from Down a Rabbit Trail shares her first entry with the carnival: Tadpole Hunger Games. She says, “We just put in our own little backyard tadpole pond this past month and have been very surprised by all the life that’s finding it way there.” Enjoy.
Claire from Angelic Scalliwags gives us an update on her One Year Pond Study: Week 23 had some new visitors to the pond and Week 25 is all about the Atmospheric Changes at the pond. These are some of the best nature study examples I have seen in awhile…each child experiencing the pond in their own way.
Eva Varga has submitted their South Slough Estuary entry to the carnival. She told me about this place years ago and I took my boys there to learn more about this interesting habitat. Read her entry for my information. She also would love for you to read her entry: National Moth Week-Our First Experience where she tells about their try at participating in this Citizen Science project.
Eva shares on last entry to the carnival for this edition: Apples, Pears, and Bears, Oh My! With a title like that, don’t you just want to click over and read? Don’t miss her entry.
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in September are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 9/29/13 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).
I am excited to share a brand new ebook from Maureen Spell – Nature Study for Toddlers and Preschoolers! This is an area that I have not addressed much here on the Outdoor Hour Challenge and I love that she has filled that need with this wonderful ebook with loads of printables and activity ideas for families that have younger children. Take a look at the ebook and then enter to win one of two copies I will be giving away. Enter now because the giveaway will end on Tuesday, September 4th, 2013 at Midnight. See the Rafflecopter gadget below (you may need to click over to the blog if you receive this entry in an email) for all the details. At $3.99 you can’t go wrong!
Location: Lake Tahoe, evergreen forest habitat
Fieldmarks: white stripe over eyes
Song: chicka-dee-dee or tsick-adee-adee
This busy bird is always seen and heard along our favorite hiking and biking trails at Lake Tahoe, especially in the Fallen Leaf Lake and Tallac areas of the Tahoe Basin. I have grown to know the sweet little song of the chickadee and regularly hear it during each of the seasons, even winter during the snowy months.
I created a nature journal page and used the coloring book image from Cornell’s bird coloring book to make an accurate drawing of this bird. This is an easy way to cut and past a line drawing to use for your journal if you are not confident about your drawing skills. Feeder Birds Coloring Book
Still working on my nature study goals for 2013…learning ten new birds and their calls during the year.
This week I had fun gathering lots of interesting images from the garden to share with you. I have been trying to work my way through the Summer Nature Photo Challenge and one of the topics is “something prickly”. The cactus on the left I call Hairy and he lives on my deck…I inherited him from a relative and we think he is over thirty years old. The image on the right is one I actually took at Home Depot as I browsed in the nursery. I love the patterns of the prickles on this cactus!
I have a wide variety of sunflowers this year and they each have their own unique charm…ruffles, bendy petals, variations in color and leaf size…so much to enjoy about our sunflowers.
This is the time of year that I take a morning walk with my cup of coffee, exploring for new things in the garden. As you slow to really enjoy each flower, the patterns of color, petals, and seeds make an impression. Learning to share these things with your children and watching them grow in appreciation is something we all can do and it is easy if you have a cutting flower garden. Let your children cut a single flower, bring it inside and find a vase for it, and then set it on your kitchen table for closer observation and enjoyment.
Climbing vines are a big part of my summer garden. After studying vines with the Outdoor Hour Challenge, I have learned to notice how the vines twine and which direction they twine around the stakes. Each plant is uniform in its twisting direction. I also have a passion flower vine and it doesn’t twine but it uses tendrils to grab onto the stakes.
One last image for you to see….this one is my thistle plant that is blooming and is super pokey! The birds (finches) love the seeds from this plant and I hated to pull it out but I had to. My husband does not always share my love of all things that grow in the yard. He is right that it had already spread enough seed to ensure that there will be more next year without letting the whole area get filled in with thistles. I am a reasonable person so we pulled it all up.
I encourage you all to take a look with fresh eyes at your yard or neighborhood…find some prickles, patterns, and vines to point out to your children. Let them make some oral observations and perhaps gather a pretty flower or two for you kitchen table.
Following a year-long study of cattails is another way to learn more about your local habitat. As you find and then observe your patch of cattails you learn just what a cattail needs to thrive. We have had two year-long studies of cattails in the past, each in a different part of town. One patch was within walking distance of our home and alongside a busy road in the ditch. The second patch was growing just to the edge of our local walking trail and we watched it every week noting the changes.
This year I spied a new patch that is thriving next to a road I travel just about everyday in the car. There is a pullout nearby so I stopped and took a few photos and I recorded a quick sketch in my nature journal.
The great thing about a cattail study is that there are so many other topics that can come up as you slow down and observe your cattail patch.
Spring- cattail leaves, more spring ideas here: Cattail Study
This is the perfect study to go along with a year-long pond study if you want to combine the two together. Seasonal Pond Study with printable notebook page
Whatever you do, keep your eyes out for your own cattails to get to know over the next year. Seasonal Cattail Nature Study – free printable notebook page included
We returned to our milkweed observation spot at Yosemite Valley….and it was full of maturing milkweed! I have included lots of photos below so enjoy our summertime observations, complete with Monarch butterflies!
Depending on where the milkweed was, it would have blossoms or pods and blossoms. Above you can see the growing seed pods with a few old flower blossoms.
Here is some Showy Milkweed in blossom. I can even see some buds still waiting to bloom near the top.
We saw many Monarchs over the few days we were there but this one was willing to pose for us right on the milkweed. What fun to watch these beautiful insects doing there thing!
This plant had the leaf broken off and you can see the milky sap dripping down the plant. You can also see if you look closely a Cobalt Milkweed Beetle, a shiny blue metallic insect that is common on the milkweed.
We found this sign out in the meadow where our milkweed is growing which shows the complete life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. What a great sign…hope more people stop and read it and learn how fascinating the life of a Monarch is and what part the milkweed plays even there at Yosemite Valley.
We will be updating our study in the autumn and of course I will share.
Gigantic Ebook Bundle – Includes My More Nature Study Autumn Outdoor Hour Challenge Ebook! (Also includes 3 of my Harmony Fine Arts Mini-Units.)
This is a fantastic deal for all parents who want an ebook library of resources for all kinds of learning and fun. This ebook Omnibus bundle includes over $590 worth of ebooks for just $25. Act fast because this Omnibus is only going to be available until August 25, 2013…that is next Sunday.
Don’t miss the other nature study related ebooks included in this ebook bundle!
Here are all the ebooks you get with this bundle for $25!
Additional Resources: Codes and Links Provided After Purchase
From Fortuigence: Get kids ready for writing! Grab access to a short online course that supports you in setting a powerful setting for your kids to become strong writers. A $79 value — yours free!
Also from A+ TutorSoft: download a free ($21.99 value) math supplement that helps to build a strong foundation and close learning gaps for struggling students.
From Bright Ideas Press: Free media shipping with an order of $30 or more.
Step By Step Instructions for the Outdoor Hour Challenge
Starting September 1, 2013
Receive the monthly newsletter on the 1st of the month (subscribers to the Handbook of Nature Study blog).
In the newsletter, view the printable Challenge Grid for the four topics for the up-coming month. If the topic is from the archives, I provide the link to the challenge on my blog and the link to the ebook it is from if applicable.This way you can prepare for the challenges ahead of time if you wish.
If you own the applicable ebooks, you can open those and print the coordinating notebook pages to use during the month. This is not required but would supplement the current month’s work.
Print and cut out the newsletter Study Grid or other printable for use during the month.
Complete the challenges at your own pace and create your blog entries as you have time.
Submit your blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge blog carnival.Become part of the global community of nature study families that participates in the monthly carnival of entries sharing how you spent time outdoors with your family.
Big Picture for the Outdoor Hour Challenge
Seasonal Studies: Each month from September 2013 to August 2014 – I am going to be recycling challenges from the archives, pulling them from older nature study series and ebooks. Each month will not be topical but have a variety of nature study ideas that fit the season (Northern Hemisphere). I will also give you ideas from the Getting Started Ebook if you already own that and would like to use it instead or in addition to the seasonal ebooks.
Monthly Newsletter so you have the topic, the challenge ideas ahead of time, and the newsletter printables. The newsletter is free to all who subscribe to my Handbook of Nature Study blog.
Handbook of Nature Study book by Anna Botsford Comstock – I recommend the edition linked on the sidebar of my blog.
Optional but recommended: The seasonal series or ebook that coordinates with the season we are currently experiencing (see schedule below). All of the challenges are available for free here on the blog (see the seasonal tabs at the top of the blog) but each ebook gathers the challenges and includes coordinating printable notebook pages.
Optional: A copy of the Outdoor Hour Challenge Getting Started ebook. Of course, the challenges in the ebook are available on the Handbook of Nature Study blog for free but if you want the notebook pages you will need to purchase the ebook.
Early morning in the garden is my favorite time to stroll the boxes looking for what treasures are to be found…you are welcome to view some images from the last week. Above hangs my new birdfeeder, a gift from my husband and my gift to my backyard birds. They love this new feeder and I love that it is larger than my last one so that means less times filling it each week.
Sunflowers and morning glories are the in the main box this year and they seem to like living together. The vines creep up the poles as well as the sunflower stalks and each morning I have a new blue flower waiting for me to enjoy.
This is the Mailbox Mix from Renee’s Garden and her heirloom collection. This is a winner in my yard!
The zucchini box is full of gorgeous plants and squash this year. We planted Renee’s Garden Tricolor Mix so we have dark green, light green, and yellow squash to enjoy just about every day.
Our tomatoes are starting to produce lovely red fruit and just a few at a time so we can enjoy them in our sandwiches and salads. Tonight…bruschetta!
Our fig tree has another crop of figs to pick. I am not a fig lover but I share with my friends and family that are…they love me for sharing.
Our pear tree has just a handful of pears this year but they are beautiful to look at and hopefully tasty to eat. Our apple tree dropped its apples last month which was weird. My sister said hers did the same thing.
I love the bright orange squash flowers and apparently so do the bees in my yard.
More squash to come!
My dad and I have both found that our green beans are not producing even though we have blossoms. My dad called Renee’s Garden customer service to see if they had some tips on getting our plants to set fruit. They suggested we add some fish fertilizer which I had on the shelf. I mixed up a couple batches and fertilized all my veggies in the garden so we shall see if it helps.
Someone had emailed me asked what I use in my garden for fertilizer so here is a photo of the bottle.
This is my dad’s flower garden which I am envious of. His lantana and dahlias are amazing! Up above he has his fenced in veggie garden which is producing lots of okra, corn, zucchini, eggplant, strawberries, and peppers. I have been helping him a bit in the garden since he had a fall last week and was not moving around too well. What a joy to help him in his garden.
These are just a few of his sunflowers which are Chocolate Cherry variety from Renee’s Garden.
I better stop there…so many garden delights this time of year to share with you. Until next week and the Tuesday Garden Party.
During our last trip to Yosemite National Park, we made a stop on the way there at Mono Lake. There at the Visitor Center they have a display of local rocks right out in front of the building. There were three large specimens to really look at closely and two of them are on my list of rocks from my nature study goals.
As a side note: This is an awesome Visitor Center and it does a lot of things right in my opinion. There is an interesting display of natural as well as cultural items. They have a video that they play that gives you a great sense of just how special a place Mono Lake is in so many way. It is also a fantastic birding spot! If you happen to find yourself on the east side of the Sierra Nevada, don’t miss this stop at the eastern entrance to Yosemite National Park.
Rhyolite is a volcanic rock that can be pale gray, pink, or yellow. The chunk they had at the Visitor Center was reddish with gray and black.
In this area there is a large rhyolite dome that we are anxious to go back and see up close. We were unable to collect a rock here so the photos will have to make due for this time around. I did look in the gift shop for a rock to purchase but they didn’t have anything but a small collection of rocks for the Sierra Nevada….which I bought and am enjoying a lot.
Interesting facts
(which makes sense now that I have done some reading)
The glassy rhyolites include obsidian, pitchstone, perlite, and pumice.
Obsidian is the pure volcanic glass formed from rhyolite
Pumice a volcanic rhyolite glass that has cooled in the form of bubbles.
We are planning on going back to this area again and exploring the differences between rhyolite, obsidian, and pumice. The specimen above is a large hunk of obsidian found at the Visitor Center.
Now that I know the relationship between these three kinds of rocks it makes it much more interesting.
The photo above shows obsidian on the top and rhyolite on the bottom with a very different texture. The photo was taken at Panum Crater which is near Mono Lake.
So even though we didn’t actually collect a samples this time, we feel like we can check this rock off the list. We are continuing to work our way through the Rocks, Fossils, and Arrowheads book.
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book by Anna Botsford Comstock – I recommend the edition linked on the sidebar of my blog.
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