More Nature Study
Challenge #1 Milkweed (or any other autumn blooming plant)
Where to find it? Showy Milkweed and Common Milkweed
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| Showy Milkweed in Bloom Earlier In The Summer |
Inside Preparation Work:
- Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 491-493 (Lesson 128) on the milkweed plant. Glean some ideas from Lesson 128 for your milkweed observations. This plant is still in bloom in many areas of the country but even if it is past bloom, the seed pods should be present and a wonderful nature study lesson all on their own. Lesson 128 in the Handbook of Nature Study gives some interesting suggestions for observations.
- If you have a field guide for wildflowers, you may wish to look up milkweed in the index to learn more about your local milkweed.
Outdoor Hour Time:
- As part of your Outdoor Hour this week, look for milkweed to observe.
- Make observations of the flowers, the leaves, and/or the seed pod. If it is appropriate, break off a leaf or cut a stem to see the rubbery “milk”. Did you see any insects on or near your milkweed?
- If you don’t find milkweed, check for other fall blossoming wildflowers to observe like: Jewel Weed (Lesson 134), Late blooming Goldenrod (Lesson 132), or Asters (Lesson 133).
Follow-Up Activity:
- Give the opportunity for discussion of the Outdoor Hour time and the details of your milkweed or wildflowers nature study and then follow-up with a nature journal entry, a notebook page, or a coloring page (ebook users) to finish your nature study for the week. Note: If you downloaded the September 2011 Outdoor Hour Challenge Newsletter, you have a custom notebook page to use along with any weed study.
- Advanced follow-up: Compare the seeds of the milkweed, the dandelion, and/or the cattail.
- Advanced follow-up (Ebook users only): See the Upper Level notebook page for suggestions for additional research. Use the blank notebook page to record your information.
This challenge is part of the More Nature Study – Autumn series. All of the challenges are gathered into one ebook with notebooking pages (regular and for advanced students) and additional resources. You can gain access to this ebook by purchasing an Ultimate Naturalist membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study. See the Join Us page by clicking the link at the top of the website for more information about what comes with your Ultimate membership.
Hi Barb,
Wanted to finally show you the results of our marsh drawing for the August newsletter. Fantastic! Thanks for sharing the idea from Tricia.
http://tinyurl.com/3lvn79d
Heather
We are in Central Texas and are in the midst of a severe drought. Milkweed is typically something we can find readily but right now there is very little happening. I would love to hear ideas from others as to how they are adapting their nature study during this incredibly harsh time.
Allison
Hmm…I’m not seeing a linky for this. We were excited to get started and took the morning off to search for milkweed. Here’s the entry:
http://oursideofthemtn.blogspot.com/2011/09/outdoor-hour-challenge-1-common.html
Fun stuff!
No Mr. Linky for the weekly challenges anymore. You will need to submit your entry to the monthly OHC Blog Carnival.
We will have a monthly meet-up to share ALL nature study during the month.
We purchased the bundle today and never received an email with a link to download. The pay pal account was to one of my husband’s email accounts, if you send it over can you send it to me instead?
Thank you!
Phyllis Meredith
Phyllis-
You sent me an echeck which will need to clear before I send the links. I will send them to the email address on the Paypal account unless you email me directly and tell me where you want them to go:
harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
If you have any questions, please email me anytime.
Hi Barb!
Just stopping in again to see how ya’ll are doing. Our milkweed here in the FL Keys grows 6-8 feet tall and has a bit of a different flower. We went to a butterfly talk once and they told us that our monarchs that we see here are migrating to Cuba, not Mexico. How cool is that?
I’ve never seen the showy milkweed before. That’s such a beautiful plant. We have the common milkweed in Minnesota. One of family traditions is to spread milkweed seeds each autumn. It’s been great seeing the milkweed plants spread around our farm and seeing the monarchs spend more time at our farm. Here’s our nature study for milkweed and monarchs: http://harvestmoonbyhand.blogspot.com/2014/09/milkweed-and-monarch-butterflies.html