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.
If you have been too busy this month to keep up with the Outdoor Hour Challenge, you many want to consider this week a time to get a few final April nature study activities. If you blog about it, you are welcome to submit your link to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.
Five Easy Nature Study Suggestions for the End of April
Just get outside and take a walk! Informal nature study done while spending time together as a family is often the most meaningful. Get outside for a quick walk when you have a few minutes to spare. Printable Scavenger Hunt available from Hearts and Trees:Spring Nature Walk. You can also use my free Signs of Spring Notebook Page to follow up your walk.
Keep track of temperature for three days in a row. Record it in your nature journal to compare with future months. You can print and use my free Printable Weather Chart Notebook Page.
Observe clouds over the course of a week. Print out a Cloud Chart (scroll down and there are two choices). Record your cloud observations in your nature journal with sketches.
Finish the grid suggestions from the Apri 2012 Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter. Note: You will need to subscribe to my blog to receive the download link for the newsletter at the bottom of the next blog entry email.
After Sunday’s snow, it is hard to believe we are at the first day of spring for 2012. We have had a crazy weather year but it is going to be fun to record our spring thoughts today..perhaps even taking a long walk this afternoon.
Here is a printable notebook page to inspire some springtime nature study or at least some looking out the window time today on this first day of spring.
I would love to hear how you incorporate a little nature study or outdoor time into your first day of spring. Leave me a comment or send me a blog link!
“The Field Lesson. When planning a field lesson, three points should be kept in mind:
First. The aim, to bring the children into sympathy or in touch with nature, through the study of that part of nature in which they have been interested.
Second. The conditions out of doors, where the children are at home, where they must have greater freedom than in the schoolroom, and where it is more difficult to keep them at definite work, and to hold their attention.
Third. The necessity of giving each child something definite to find out for himself, and of interesting the children so that each will try to find out the most and have the greatest number of discoveries to tell.” Nature Study and The Child, Charles B. Scott, 1900.
I am finding that for my high school aged son there needs to be a different sort of follow-up to our observations…more than just a nature journal. He is using his past experiences with nature study and making some connections. This has led me to going back to the internet to research more closely how nature study develops into upper level science. I am finding it fascinating. I am excited to share my findings and show how I am implementing the ideas learned with my son as we go along (see the printable below).
“But true science work does not stop with mere seeing, hearing, or feeling: it not only furnishes a mental picture as a basis for reasoning, but it includes an interpretation of what has been received through the senses.”
Nature Study for the Common Schools, Wilbur Samuel Jackman, 1891
This is the part of nature study I find most meaningful for my son. When he can take something he already knows and build on it with new information, he develops an interest. If I am merely telling him a fact, no matter how interesting the fact is, he is not as impressed. He needs to find the answers to his questions.
“Adults should realize that the most valuable thing children can learn is what they discover themselves about the world they live in.” Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 61
My research found that this pattern – observation, reasoning, expression – is nothing new or unique to nature study. This pattern is the process that all science is built upon. Watching my son work through the More Nature Study ebook challenges has brought this into focus for me. I wrote the challenges to include advanced study and just happened to present it in this three step pattern.
If you haven’t yet downloaded and read my Nature Study-Three Steps To A Better Experience, I invite you to now. It outlines in simple form how to build a lifetime habit of meaningful nature study.
When I released the very first Outdoor Hour Challenge ebook, there was also a set of free notebook pages that was offered by my friend Tina Joyce. Since then the files were somehow deleted from Lulu.com and it was not until this week that I was able to get them uploaded to my file share site.
Thanks so much Tina.
You should now be able to download each page for free.
Nature study in winter can be a challenge. February is always a hard month to get through as we anticipate the coming spring. My free printable is all about learning age-appropriate activities for nature study with a special focus on advanced study. I show you how to adapt nature study to all ages of children and to get the most out of your time outside. I hope it encourages everyone from beginners to experienced nature study families.
I have teamed up with five other bloggers to bring you some mid-winter encouragement to get outdoors for some refreshing nature study. Each of us has put together a free printable download for your family. We are encouraging you to visit each blog and take advantage of the opportunity to get a variety of stimulating ideas to use in your family.
No strings attached…just free downloads. If you feel encouraged, please leave us a comment, give us a Facebook like, share on Twitter, or pin this post on Pinterest. We appreciate your help in spreading the word about our Nature in Your Notebook Printables Link-Up.
You are invited to subscribe to my blog and receive my free monthly nature study newsletter too!
Here are my partners…a great group of women bloggers!
I have noticed that most of my bulbs are springing up early. If we get our wet or snowy weather, it will be interesting to see what the flowers continue to do.
Last month was the driest December since 1883 in our part of California…according to my dear husband. As a wildland firefighter he keeps an eye on the weather and the humidity. Right now our area is VERY dry and the potential for fire is going to be high until it rains. This is not a typical winter.
I looked it up on the internet and the article I found said that our warm weather is because of a summer-like high pressure ridge that has remained in place since early December 2011. Here is a video: Dry December.
I looked up our normal temperatures for this time of year:
Normal high is 51 degrees.
Yesterday the high was 66 degrees!
We are going to start keeping track of our highs and lows and any precipitation we do eventually get. Keeping a weather record chart is a great tool for your nature journal and allows you to look back and make some conclusions and comparisons. This is an easy nature related study that you can do wherever you live.
Would you like a free downloadable Weather Record Chart?
This free mini-ebook explains how to get more out of your nature study experience by showing you three easy steps to use as your family grows in confidence. I invite you to download your copy today.
I am very ready to get into summer mode with our nature study. My bee garden is growing and my “artist’s garden” is coming along….my paints and markers are just itching to get started.
Last year we studied dandelions as part of the spring series but this year I wanted to make sure that we are all on the look-out for our Queen Anne’s Lace. This is a plant that we started observing last summer and then continued through autumn and then winter.
If you studied Queen Anne’s Lace in the past, you may wish to pull out the completed notebook pages to remind yourself of the appearance and location of your Queen Anne’s Lace.
Read pages 542-545 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 148). Glean some new points about this interesting plant that is considered a weed by many people.
Remind yourself what Queen Anne’s Lace looks like by using the accompanying notebook page or the Handbook of Nature Study. More information can be found here: eNature or the USDA.
Outdoor Hour Time:
For this challenge go back to your Queen Anne’s Lace patch and make some springtime observations. If this is your first season of observing Queen Anne’s Lace, you may need to wait until the flowers bloom before finding your own patch. Still take your 15 minutes outdoors and find any wildflower that you can observe in your yard or neighborhood.
Follow-Up Activity:
Spend a few minutes talking about your outdoor time. Did you see some Queen Anne’s Lace? Did your child have any questions about things that they found interesting during your outdoor time? Use this time to complete a nature journal entry or you can use the Spring Queen Anne’s Lace Notebook Page available HERE.
Planning Ahead!
Here is a link to a Squidoo page that shows exactly how to color your Queen Anne’s Lace with food coloring. I love this idea and we will be doing this over the summer. You may wish to add it to your seasonal activities: Queen Anne’ Lace
You may also be interested in my Spring Nature Study Ebooks!
