Category: winter wednesday series ebook

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2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #3 and Winter Wednesday #3 Winter Sky

Moon 1 19 11 (1)

“After the polar constellations are learned, we are then ready for further study in the still earlier evenings of winter, when the clear atmosphere makes the stars seem more alive, more sparkling, and more beautiful than at any other period of the year.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 823

We have been enjoying the full moon and the brilliant stars just about every night this week. We also were observing the moon this morning when it was still up over the tree tops first thing….amazing. We tried to capture our moon with the camera but it is pretty tricky. This is the perfect winter study for our family and I hope you get to give it a try too.

Here are the links to this week’s challenges:

Winter Series #3 Winter Sky (stars and moon)
Winter Wednesday #3 Winter Sky (constellations)

Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity. We would all enjoy seeing your entries and even if it is at a later date, please come back to this entry and add your link. I am listing all the entries in this series on the sidebar of my blog for you to add to as you have time. You are never “late” and you can add links whenever you have the chance.

Don’t forget to check in with the additional webpages for these sets of challenges:

Winter Winter Wednesday Button

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2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #2 Winter Tree Study and Winter Wednesday #2 Snow

Taylor Creek 12 25 09 Hiking to the Lake
Get Outside And Experience Your Winter World

Here are the links to this week’s challenges:

Winter Series #2 Winter Tree Study 
Winter Wednesday #2 World of Snow 

Even if you don’t have snow…take a Winter Nature Walk. Click HERE for nature walk ideas to print out for your family. Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity.

Don’t forget to check in with the additional webpages for these sets of challenges:

Winter Winter Wednesday Button

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2011 Winter Series Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 Cattails and Winter Wednesday #1 World of Color

1 6 11 Snowshoe Cattails Taylor Creek
Cattails from Our Snowshoe Hike January 6, 2011

I have been trying my best to figure out how to link us all up with our winter nature study. I think every Friday I will just list the corresponding Winter Series Challenge and the Winter Wednesday Challenge all in one post.

Here are the links to this week’s challenges:
Winter Series Challenge #1 – Winter Cattail Study

Winter Wednesday #1 – Winter World of Color

Please feel free to complete one or both of the challenges as you have the opportunity. We would all enjoy seeing your entries and even if it is at a later date, please come back to this entry and add your link.

As you can see from the photo above, we were able to go out for a winter snowshoe hike and we found some cattails to observe. I will be posting our Winter Cattail entry and our Winter Colors entry over the weekend. It was *wonderful* to get back outdoors with some purpose. I really am looking forward to spending the next few months sharing our adventures and reading about yours.

I am sending out a really big thank you to all of you who have commented and sent sweet notes about your nature study and how much you are looking forward to finding some interesting things to learn about this winter. It means a lot to me to know I am helping other families.

Have a great week!

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Winter Wednesday Outdoor Hour Challenge Ebook Now Available!

Winter Wednesday Button

Here is what you get:

  • All nine of the Winter Wednesday Challenges conveniently gathered into an ebook. Topics include: Winter Color, Winter Snow, Winter Sky-Constellations, Tree Silhouettes, Cones, Winter Weeds, Winter Insects, Winter Birds, Mammals
  • The challenges have been redone to eliminate the need for the Discover Nature In Winter book if you don’t want to purchase it for the Winter Wednesday Challenges.
  • Nine custom notebooking pages to go along with the challenges.
  • Additional activities and links not in the original Winter Wednesday Challenges.
  • New and fresh ideas for nature journal pages in addition to the notebooking pages.
  • Additional resources suggested and linked for your convenience.
  • 26 pages in total.
  • All the challenges are flexible enough to be appropriate for children of all ages.
  • View a sample: Winter Wednesday Sample

Don’t forget the additional winter idea pages that I have built over on Squidoo:

 

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Winter Wednesday- Mammals and Hibernation

Winter Wednesday
Week 9 Winter Mammals
1. Read chapter nine in Discover Nature in Winter. Mammals in general tend to be shy of humans. In the winter, it is even more difficult to observe mammals. The chapter suggests looking for signs of mammals instead like tracks and scat. Highlight ideas for your family to try this week while you are outdoors and looking for mammals.

2. Our family is going to review the chart showing different animal tracks on page 182 and 183. We might try sketching some of the tracks into our nature journal as a reference for future outdoor time. In our area, we often come across animal scat as we hike and we are going to familiarize ourselves with the various kinds of scat by studying the illustrations in this chapter.

For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.

  • 1. Keep a record of animal tracks you have observed in the snow or mud. Record your findings in your nature journal along with a drawing, the date, the weather, the time of day, and the type of animal if you have identified it at this time.
  • 2. Compare a dog’s and a cat’s footprints in the snow or mud.
  • 3. Research an animal that hibernates and record what you learn in your nature notebook. You can also sketch your animal and what its tracks look like.

Here is a link that will help you out with animal tracks:
Animal Tracks at Beartracker
I think this is a fantastic online resource for nature study!

 

You might want to pull your copy of Fun With Nature out and read over the chapter titled: “Rabbits, Squirrels, and Chipmunks” and also “Tracks, Scats, and Signs”. I know a lot of us have this terrific resource on our shelves and we are not using it as much as we should.

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Ultimate Ebook Library @handbookofnaturestudy

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Birds in the Winter: Our Winter Wednesday Bird Style

We recently participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count and even though this is our third year participating, we still found it a thrilling activity. The whole family participated at some point over the weekend and although it was a very snowy weekend, we saw some amazing birds. This was a great way to learn about our winter birds and we took the opportunity to combine the Bird Count with Winter Wednesday.

The point that sticks out to me this year is that we had no trouble identifying any of the birds that we observed. We have built up over the last three years the ability to quickly name any bird that happens into our yard or to our feeders. I think that is amazing!

Here is our list of birds that we saw over the weekend:
White-breasted nuthatch
Spotted towhee
California towhee
Cedar waxwing
Western Scrub-jay
Oak titmouse
House sparrows
House finches
Black-eyed juncos
American robins
American crows
Anna’s hummingbird
White-crowned sparrows
Canadian geese

We decided to learn more about the White-breasted nuthatch since it was one of the birds mentioned in the Discover Nature in Winter chapter notes. We have a pair of these that frequent our feeders on a daily basis. They are such perky little birds and have such an interesting sound. They are very acrobatic and entertain us when they climb down the tree trunks head first.

We started off with a coloring page from the Cornell University website found at this link:
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and National Audubon Society
Previously, I had printed out the table of contents and it hangs on the wall near our bird viewing window. When we observe a new bird, we check the list and see if there is a coloring page for that particular bird. Then I print just that page out for those that want one for their nature journal.

We also looked the white-breasted nuthatch up in our field guide and on the All About Birds website.

I was interested in learning more about the Cedar waxwing birds that we saw in our trees during the Bird Count. We counted 61 of them at one time! This was the most we had ever seen all in one flock. They were eating the berries/nuts out of the pistache tree.

I used a coloring sheet from the Cornell book as well and then I looked information up in our field guide and at All About Birds. I learned the meaning of the word “frugivore“.

We also learned what is meant by the term “field marks“.

We also found these feathers in our backyard this week and we haven’t been able to figure out who they belong to yet.

There is always something new to research and learn right from our own backyard. 🙂

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Even More Lovely Than I Imagined: Winter Weeds

Our Winter Wednesday – Winter Weed Study

We really enjoyed our Discover Nature in Winter reading in the chapter about winter weeds. It is a totally new topic of nature study for us. I feel like we are just getting our feet wet this year and as the years go by, we will be able to observe more subjects. I gathered a few of our photos from recent walks here at the beginning of the entry.

The one thing that the boys noticed about the winter weeds that we observed is that during this season it is not the flower we are looking at but rather the seeds.

We discussed how the seeds were important at this time of year as food for many of the animals that inhabit the area. We also talked about how the rain and the snow knock the weeds over and as they lay on the ground, they are dispersing their seeds in that way as well.

I hope that we remember to look at these particular plants in the summer to compare the differences. It would make a great nature journal entry.

These last photos are from yesterday’s family hike. We took a couple of hours to hike along the American River which was just roaring! It was the first time that all six of us were out on the trail together in a very long time.I told my husband as we hiked along that it was great to have us all spending time in the fresh air and I relished the conversations and relationships that the kids have with one another.

Here are a few of the weeds we saw as we hiked along.

It was such a great afternoon and as always, with any trip to the river, there was eventually rock skipping….so many lovely rocks to choose from.

How about a wildflower photo from the day?

I love a good purple wildflower photo. 🙂

One last treat from the day…..

A beaver dam!

I am so glad that I organized the Winter Wednesday activities. It has given our family a new perspective on the winter season and another reason to get outside and enjoy the day together.

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Winter Wednesday-Our Winter Insect Study

We have had our eye out for insects the past few weeks.

Yesterday we actually saw two very small butterflies as we took our afternoon walk. We are going to try to take our butterfly net today and see if we can catch one to identify.

Added after today’s walk: We actually caught one of what we thought were butterflies and now I think they are moths.

Here is the best photo I could get inside the net. They are orange on the backsides of the wings. This is the first time that I have tried to actually catch a butterfly with a net and I am really glad that my son did not have a video camera. It was hilarious….I sort of felt like a tennis player, swatting at the air. Let’s just say that I got a lot of exercise. 🙂


We saw this on a bunch of leaves and we brought one home to investigate. We decided it is some sort of leaf miner that has been at work.

We found a whole section (pages 329-332) in the Handbook of Nature Study on leaf-miners!

“To most children, it seems quite incredible that there is anything between the upper and lower surfaces of a leaf, and this lesson should hinge on the fact that in every leaf, however thin, there are rows of cells containing the living substance of the leaf, with a wall above and a wall below to protect them…….The serpent-like markings and the blister-like blotches which we often see on leaves are made by the larvae of insects which complete their growth by feeding upon the inner living substance of the leaf.”
Handbook of Nature Study, pages 329 and 331

Here are a few more photos from our walk today.


So these little fungi caught our eye today on this piece of bark. They looked like little mini hamburger buns.


The manzanita is starting to bloom and the shape of the blossoms are so pretty and delicate.

I feel like we are finally starting to catch up on our Winter Wednesdays and our Outdoor Hour Challenges. We have been so busy and the weather so wet that it really distracted us from our time outdoors. It feels good to be back in the routine again.

Learn more about leaf miners in this challenge: 
 Leaf Miners and Leaf Rollers.

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Winter Wednesday-Birds

Winter Wednesday
Week 8 Winter Birds

1. Read chapter eight in Discover Nature in Winter. If you do not already have a birdfeeder in your yard, you should pay extra attention to the pages showing how to make your own birdfeeders and the differences between the variety of seeds available. You may wish to read my Birdfeeders in Winter page for some additional tips.

2. Our family is going to complete the exploration suggestions on page 162. Since we already have a birdfeeder and a birdbath, we will be continuing our observation and identification of birds that visit each day. In addition, we will each pick one bird to study more in depth by finding a book at the library to glean information from for our particular bird. There is a custom notebooking page for this challenge in the Winter Wednesday ebook which is part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library.

For families wanting to participate that do not have the Discover Winter in Nature book, I will list a few simple nature study ideas that you can try with your family.
1. Hang a birdfeeder and observe the birds that visit over the period of a week.
2. Keep a tally of the different kinds of birds in your feeder.
3. Observe one species of bird for a week and then record in your nature journal the unique behaviors of that bird. For example: only eats seed from the ground, pecks at the seeds, perches and fluffs his feathers each time, chases other birds out of the feeder, only comes to feed in the early morning.

You may be interested in viewing the other Winter Bird Study challenge here on my blog.
Winter Wednesday Button

Ultimate Ebook Library @handbookofnaturestudy

Note that this entry includes an Amazon.com affiliate link to a product I own and love!

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More Snow Experiments: Winter Wednesday

This has been one snowy week for our family. We woke up to snow on two mornings and it was gloriously beautiful.

The birds showed up for the Great Backyard Bird Count even with the snow and it was very entertaining to watch the different techniques for getting to the seed. The Spotted towhee was a master at scratching a hole in the snow and finding the seed underneath. The juncos just waited until the towhee flew away and then they took over.

The bulbs seemed happy to just hang out with the white stuff.

We took numerous opportunities to go out and measure the snow depth. We never got over three inches at any one time but it would snow, melt, and then snow again so I think our total count is somewhere about 8 inches for the season. That is actually a lot of snow for our area and we have enjoyed it thoroughly along with the Winter Wednesday activities. (Teenagers think that they can go outside wearing sandals in the snow….and t-shirts. Brrrrrrrr.)

We enjoyed a few snow walks this week and this particular one was very beautiful even if the trees kept dumping snow on our heads as it melted and fell to the ground.

There were quite a few trees and tree branches across the trail.

This is the first time we have seen water running over this waterfall along the trail. We were excited to see this on the day after the big snowstorm. The sound was the perfect little waterfall sound.

Hope you are enjoying your Winter Wednesday activities as much as we are.

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