Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Now that we have all started our rock collections either by gathering rocks during our outdoor time or finding rocks we had already in the house, let’s take a closer look using a magnifying lens. This is where you are going to learn just how interesting rocks can be when you slow way down to take a careful look at them. Use the printable below to help you get started.
Rocks Up Close Printable Activity
Print the Rocks Up Close activity page and use it to guide a careful study of your rock. Sketch your rock carefully using colored pencils or markers.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #8. This challenge is perfect to go along with the Up Close and Personal challenge using your magnifying lens and the notebook page from the ebook.Have fun and learn as much as you can by looking carefully at your rocks.
Now that we are all in the midst of collecting rocks for our rock collections, I want to share my Top 5 Ways to Display Rock Collections. There are ways of attractively displaying your rocks and still leave them available for inspection and closer observation. Most of the methods do not require big investments of money since you can recycle containers and other materials needed. I like keeping our rocks out in the open because it does encourage our children to look at them and I have found visitors to our how stop to take a look and ask about them as well. This gives us a chance to share what we know about our rocks…love that kind of learning and sharing.
Jar – We love this simple way of collecting rocks when we are traveling. I simply bring along a container or two with lids (look for them at your local dollar store). I prefer plastic to glass for obvious reasons. If you wanted to you would collect the rocks in the plastic jars and then when you got home you could transfer them to pretty glass containers. I use a Sharpie marker to label the top for future reference.
Tray – Placing rocks on a tray on our nature table makes it super easy to view them, study them, and keep them organized. I have found that using a tray is much easier if you place a cloth or placemat on top before adding your rocks. This keeps the rocks from rattling around and sliding onto the floor. You can rotate the rocks on the tray to spark interest. I also add a magnifying lens or loupe to the tray so we can take a closer look at our rocks.
Window Sill – This was our method of displaying rocks when we wanted them handy for study. My sons would gather the rocks from our collections and then place them all in a line on the windowsill. The secret advantage to this method of displaying rocks is that you are limited to the space on the window sill. If you want to add a rock and the sill is full, you must remove a rock.
Vase – Many of the rocks we collect are found at the river’s edge or at the seashore. They look so very pretty when they are wet, showing the variations in color and composition. By the time we get them home, they are dry and dull and sometimes I even wonder what attracted us to a certain rock. But, I have found that if you get them wet again your see the beauty shine through. Using the rocks in the bottom of a clear glass vase, filling it with water, and then adding a splash of flowers is one of my favorite ways to bring those rocks alive again.
Shelf – In the past we have dedicated a shelf to our rock collections. The collections were either contained in nice specimen boxes or in other recycled boxes with labels. I found this the least attractive of the methods of displaying rocks because it does not really let you see the rocks easily. But, if you have younger ones who collect lots of rocks, you may for a time, need to display your rock collections in this way. I also have a shelf that has a collection of very unattractive shoe boxes with rocks stacked inside….not shown in the images above…not a preferred method.
This month’s nature study theme continues to be rocks and minerals. You can subscribe to this blog and receive your Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter with suggested rock activities, printables, and articles in your email inbox or in your Google Reader. The link to download the newsletter is in every entry for the whole month. You also may wish to read this week’s challenge: Start a Rock Collection with a free printable to make your own rock treasure box.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Rock collecting comes naturally to most children. Rocks seem to fill their pockets and many times end up in yours as well. One way to build appreciation for rocks is to start a formal collection. Honestly, your personal collection can be just a few rocks that have special meaning or interest to you. Start small. This week you are encouraged to find one or two rocks that you can add to your collection. Use a rock field guide to help identify your rocks. (See the Amazon widget at the bottom of this entry on the blog for my suggestions.)
You may wish to use some of the ideas from last week’s challenge: Rock Grid Study.
Rock Collection Box Printable
To go along with this challenge, I have put together a printable that you can use to create your very own rock treasure box using an empty egg carton. Print out it out and then decorate it with paints, markers, glitter, or any other art materials you have on hand. Use the labels to record the names of your rocks. My Rock Treasure Box Printable
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #6.
In this challenge you will find suggestions for starting and making collections of all kinds. Rocks you collect yourself during your outdoor time or while traveling are a perfect way to build up a lifetime appreciation for rocks.
Rocks are everywhere! It is hard to know where to start with a study of our local rocks since everywhere we look we have rocks to observe. But, like all nature study, our rock hunt led us to more questions than answers. Using the Rock Grid from the January edition of the Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter, we narrowed our focus to a few of the squares.
Find a rock you would like to know more about using a book from the library.
Find three rocks to bring home in your pocket.
So these were the rocks that came home…a little too big for the pocket but we have long admired them along the hiking trail. It is high time that we slow down and learn a little more about them. My husband thinks the flat ones are some kind of slate. I’m not sure…the black ones maybe but the reddish ones will be fun to research. They are definitely sedimentary rocks and break easily. The top right rock is mostly quartz and very pretty in real life. These are going on the nature table until we find a book to help learn more about them.
This is Mr. A’s rock that he wants to know more about. You cannot tell from a photo but I am guessing it is twice as heavy as the same size piece of granite we have on our shelf. It is solid! This rock is found alongside another walking trail we take every week. If you look closely, you will see it is shiny/sparkly around the edges which makes it an interesting rock. Can’t wait to learn more about it…just need to get over to the library and find a good reference book.
Here is the start of my rock journal for the year. I listed down the side all the rocks from the Rocks, Fossils and Arrowheads (Take-Along Guides) that I have decided to focus on for the year of 2013. Our family is going to be trying to locate, collect, and then study each of the fifteen rocks from the book. I made a chart to record the date we find the rock and the location.
On the other page, I watercolored a background and then I will adhere the Rock Grid Study for easy reference and as a reminder of a few things we can do while outside for our hikes and walks.
If you haven’t downloaded the January Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter with the Rock Study Grid yet, you still have time to do so. The link will be in every entry for the month of January if you are a subscriber to the blog. I already have quite a few rock-related entries for the next Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival and I invite you to join us with your entry (link on the sidebar).
A whole month spread out in front of us to focusour nature study on rocks! Preparing these challenges, I started off with a lack of enthusiasm but as they unfolded I realized I was looking forward to learning more about rocks through the activities suggested in the Outdoor Hour Challenges. If you lack enthusiasm, I suggest reading the article in the January Newsletter, How I Teach The “Hard” Subjects. It gives practical suggestions for making your rock study a success.
Outdoor Hour Challenge:
Use the Rock Grid from the newsletter to get you started with your rock related nature study this month and then play a few rock themed games. Pick a few of the suggestions and get outside with your children and see what you can accomplish. If current weather conditions make it difficult to get outdoors, you can complete the square that says, “Find a rock you want to learn more about using a book from the library.” Use a rock from your nature table or from your collection.
Special Activity: Rock Games Printable
I have gathered four simple rock games and activities for you to share with your children. These make great additions to your nature table as well. Rock Games Printable
Memory – Rock Version
Rock Tic-Tac-Toe
Sorting Games
Mystery Rock Game
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #1.Complete the notebook page that goes along with this challenge with any rock-related observations you made during your outdoor time.
There is a new year of nature study all stretched out in front of us just like a blank page! I’m so excited that the year will start with a study of rocks and minerals. If that sounds too hard or uninteresting to your family, I welcome you to download and read this month’s newsletter to read and see how other families are making their rock study fabulous! I hope you will join us for at leas the grid study and then share your experiences with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.
Contents of this edition of the newsletter include:
“Teaching the Hard Subjects” – one of my contributions to the newsletter
Information on collecting rocks when you travel
Two rock study articles contributed by OHC participants
January Study Grid and Bookmark – Rock Themed
Book Review
Rock themed nature journal idea
Show and Tell, Favorite 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 January. 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.
Our recent trip to Oregon let us sample the different kinds of beaches there are along this section of the Pacific Coast. The coast of Southern Oregon has become our summer getaway of choice. We enjoy the break from the hot temperatures at home and we cooled off with the misty foggy days of the Oregon summer.
Would you like to see some of the beaches we visited along with some of the treasures we found to observe and record in our nature journals?
Let’s start off with the most southerly location we visited, a little gem of a beach with lots and lots of agates and pebbles, McVay Rock. This has become one of my favorite rock beaches and it has tidepools too! The boys enjoyed searching for the most colorful or interesting rocks. This was a great location to start our Outdoor Hour Challenge on Rocks. Although we didn’t examine any granite, we took advantage of the time to closely examine some other rocks.
On the other side of Brookings, Oregon we spent some time exploring Whaleshead Beach. The sun was out and we walked the sand, climbed over rocks, and watched the sea birds flying.
There were colorful flowers and grasses growing along the rocky cliffs. It hardly seems possible that this dudleya can grow right on the rocks but it does.
This is a close-up of another beach we visited at the Pistol River in Oregon. It was early morning and we had the beach to ourselves. We had to walk over sand dunes and then over a flat area to get to the shore. There were lots and lots of empty shells…the birds must feast here when the time is right.
Here is a view down the beach with the shorebirds in the distance poking their beaks in for a morning meal. We have friends that come here to go clamming but we were just on a refreshing beach walk as we traveled up the coast.
Here is another beach we camped at on our trip, Bullards Beach near Bandon, Oregon. This image is in the evening and if you look closely you can see horses in the distance and a family having a bonfire up sheltered in the pile of driftwood.
Here is another section of the beach early in the morning. Look at all that driftwood!
This is the lighthouse at Bullards Beach and you can see the sandy dunes and grasses that border the actual shore. Behind the lighthouse is the Pistol River outlet which is where all the driftwood comes from during certain parts of the year.
Farther up the coast, we visited Cape Arago and Simpson Reef. It was a wet day but we braved the rain to observe the sea life down on the rocky islands. I had my binoculars and we were able to see sea lions resting on the rocks and in the water.
Rocks and shells are rather difficult to draw in my nature journal. It is an exercise in slowing down and really looking at the object before you put your pencil or pen to the page.
We had a great time looking for rocks on this trip. Not much granite to look at but we did see many things to capture our interest and to look up in our field guides.
Just looking at these photos makes me want to turn around and go back to Oregon.
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We have not made it to the ocean yet this summer. We have big plans to go later this month but we had the opportunity to do some dirt, gravel, and sand gathering this past weekend up in the Sierra Nevada. We took a day trip to Grover Hot Springs State Park which is a complete blog entry all on its own. I will save that for later in the week.
For this post I will share a little of our nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Sand and Soil from the Summer Sizzle ebook series. We used the creek running next to the picnic area to enjoy some rock, sand, and gravel observation time. This is an interesting geological area which we are planning on going back to explore some more.
This was a creek that meanders a bit and we tried to find some animal prints but we had no luck. There wasn’t much sand on the banks but it was more like gravel or pebbles. There were little fish and lots of insect larvae in the small pools along the banks.
The creek was very shallow and perfect for sticking hot toes in while you explore the smooth rocks of varied colors.
We used an empty water bottle to collect a bit of “dirt” which is mostly decomposed granite gravel and a bit of the “soil”. My hubby found that doing this left his hands super dirty with a fine dusting of soil. He of course used this as an excuse to wash his hands in a waterfall.
I am going to wait until after our beach excursion to do the up close observation with the hand lens, having Mr. B compare the dirt we collected from the creek with the sand we collect from the ocean beach. I think this will make it a bit more interesting and give him something to record in his nature journal.
Summer nature study is at its best when you can combine it with an outdoor family adventure. It becomes just an extension of what you do to make your time outdoors more enriching. We didn’t take nature journals or field guides this time but the atmosphere was one where we were always alert to find something interesting.
Like the rock in the photo above….just one of the many interesting rocks that we saw on the hiking part of our day. We also saw some wildflowers, a few butterflies, heard and observed quite a number of birds, and ended up sitting in the natural hot springs. Yes, this was a great day….more soon!
Don’t forget the Summer Photo Challenge! Here are the details and here is the Pinterest Board.
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.
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.
Friday came and we were planning a snowshoeing day, but recent rains had washed all the snow away. It isn’t much fun to snowshoe in one inch of snow. We regrouped and the boys decided that hiking was definitely their choice for the day so we packed up our lunches, camera, binoculars, and map to head to somewhere new for some springtime exploring.
Mt. Diablo is not the highest or most spectacular mountain in California but it is a landmark that many of us have grown up seeing even from a distance. On a clear day it is visible to many who live in Northern California and most definitely those that live in the San Francisco Bay Area. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Golden Gate Bridge and perhaps see all the way back up to Sacramento as well. We were not disappointed.
What a treat to see so many early spring wildflowers as we climbed the winding mountain road up to the summit. We shared the road with bicyclists of all shapes and sizes. We visited the information center and observation spots at the summit before heading out to do our hiking.
We chose to hike the short interpretive trail first that circles the summit. This was a wonderful way to view the different habitats, geology, and plants of this interesting place. Hiking is such a great activity with teenage boys. They enjoyed spotting different landmarks from the trail and with the binoculars they viewed quite a few birds too.
Nature study takes the blinders off and makes you see so much more about the wonder we have right in our own part of the world. We enjoyed seeing the different rocks along the trail…this one especially was interesting. We read in the trail guide that it is called chert which was a new rock to us.
The spring wildflowers were so colorful. Mr. A captured this Western Wallflower along the summit trail on the sunny side of the mountain. Glorious.
The next trail we took was in the Rock City area of the state park. This is a place we are going to enjoy exploring in the future because we didn’t have nearly enough time to do all the hikes and climbs we would have liked to on this one afternoon.
There are caves and rocks to climb on….my boys loved it! What is it with boys and rocks? I am guessing the challenge and the adventure have something to do with the attraction. I was content to see them from the bottom and take some photos.
The boys also climbed Sentinel Rock while I took a rest on a warm sunny corner of the trail. There are steps and a chain rail to assist the climb and the boys spent some time at the top just enjoying the view. While I rested, I was treated to bird song and soft breezes.
We took one last hike out the Fossil Ridge Trail. We didn’t have a good enough idea of where we were going and what to expect when we got there so we ended up hiking to the top of the ridge and then turning around. Next time we will be better prepared and actually see the fossils.
We did observe some beautiful wildflowers and a spectacular view of the San Francisco Bay Area from the trail which made it worth the effort. The flower above is Baby Blue Eyes.
So ends our hiking trip this first week of Spring 2012. What a great way to get ourselves going with the new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges. I feel like making things new and fresh for teens is worth the effort and I want to keep it going in our family. This is the time of their life when they can find interests that will extend into their adult years.
So back to our part of the world… about a three hour drive across the Sacramento River Delta, across the San Joaquin Valley, and up into the Sierra Foothills.
You can still join the More Nature Study Book #3 challenges. We just got started with the very first one this week: Spring Splendor Walk. You can take your walk in your very own backyard if you would like or perhaps at a near-by park. I encourage everyone to get outside this week for just a few minutes with your children to start this season of nature study with some fun outdoor time.
I am linking up to a new to me monthly meme at The Homeschool Scientist. Click over and join in.
that I have decided to focus on for the year of 2013. Our family is going to be trying to locate, collect, and then study each of the fifteen rocks from the book. I made a chart to record the date we find the rock and the location.
