Building a library of field guides for your reference shelves is something that you can do as you work through the Outdoor Hour Challenges or as part of creating a homeschool library. You don’t need to invest a lot of money all at one time but choose a topic of interest and search out a good field guide as you can afford it. It is an investment in your family’s growing interest in nature study that will enrich your life for many years to come.
What is a Field Guide?
First of all, what is a field guide? A field guide is a book that helps you identify wildlife like plants and animals or other objects you find in nature like rocks or weather phenomena. It is usually created to cover a specific region or area of the world. The guide usually has photos or illustrations of the object along with descriptions of the subject that help the reader identify it. Field guides are usually arranged to group subjects by color, shape, or habitat. Each guide will have introductory pages to explain how that particular field guide is organized.
Our collection of field guides has grown year by year. I will share three choices that there are for field guides to use alongside the Handbook of Nature Study: Audubon Society Field Guides, Peterson Field Guides, and Golden Guides.
Separate section with thorough descriptions for identification
Vinyl cover for more durable wear or carrying in your day pack
Some topics available in Western or Eastern North American editions
My favorite: Birds
Peterson Field Guides (This link will take you to a list of all the series available.)
Illustrations of typical specimens
Field marks for birds
Leaves, nuts, cones, needles shown for identification in the tree guide
My favorite: Trees
Golden Guides (This link will take you to the list of guides available.)
Compact size and interesting to look at
Illustrations in color
More than a field guide with help in getting the most out of each study
My favorite: Pond Life
Which field guide would I recommend you start with? If you are looking for a field guide to purchase as a starter and to go along with the autumn nature study series we are currently using, I would recommend a tree field guide. For the next three weeks, there is the opportunity to learn more about our autumn trees.
Shrub with thorns, growing 2-9 feet tall.
Flower pink to white and about 2 inches across. Five petals. (not seen during September)
Fruit is a red rose “hip” about 1/2 inch in diameter.
2,500 – 10,000 feet in elevation.
The hips are edible and an excellent source of vitamin C, usually made into a tea or jelly.
This rose is a pretty pink rose that we see along our favorite trail at Taylor Creek. This time of year it is covered in bright red rose hips….which we at first thought were berries until we stopped to take a closer look.
It was an evening filled with smoky air from the Rim Fire at Yosemite. Quiet and all alone on the trail, we enjoyed the peaceful beauty of a late summer walk after dinner.
This time of year you can recognize this shrub by the hips, the leaf shape, and the thorns!
This is the fourth shrub I have recorded in my nature journal this year as part of my nature study goals. One more to go! I am not doing so well on my study of trees….need to get busy.
Note for those that coming up on their spring season, you can use the Spring Cattail Study if you would like!
Additional Activity – Cattail Acrostic Poetry Activity
Just for fun, I have created an acrostic poetry notebook page for you to use to go along with your cattail study. For each letter in the word “cattail”, have your child write a word or phrase that describes the cattail. Use the box on the page for a sketch, a rubbing, or a photo. This is meant to be a fun way to extend your cattail study so you might offer to help your child or you can skip it until a future date.
Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started Ebook, you may wish to completeGetting Started – Challenge #9 Small Square Study. You can use the ideas in this challenge to complete a small square study at your cattail habitat. Use the accompanying notebook page to record your results.
“The asters, like the goldenrods, begin to bloom at the tip of the branches, the flower-heads nearest the central stem blooming last. All of the asters are very sensitive, and the flower-heads usually close as soon as they are gathered.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 507
I love a good flower study! Reading in the Handbook of Nature Study I learned that the aster has both a disc flower and a ray flower…like a sunflower. Aha! I can see it now that I have slowed down to really look at this pretty flower from the aster family, a Shasta Daisy or an Ox-Eye Daisy…not sure which
We happened to be at the beautiful summer garden found at Tallac Historic Site and I was excited to find a whole range of asters to observe. We had been on a quest to find some goldenrod but settled for any flowers in the aster family we could find. (We did find some goldenrod…see last flower photo.)
Can you see the disc and ray flowers?
I think you can really see the disc flowers once the ray flowers wilt back. This daisy helps show the way the different kinds of flowers grow in this daisy flower head. Point that out to your kids the next time you see an aster.
Purple Coneflower
How about this flower in the aster family? The Purple Coneflower is one of my favorites and I grow it in my garden every year….well actually it just comes back to life in the spring so I don’t have to do too much to it.
So now come a bunch of images that show the variety that this flower family can produce. Starting with this really large yellow aster with the long ray flowers.
These were some of my favorites! I love the multi-colored flowers and the Black-eyed Susans all mixed together. I am going to make sure to plant an area of my garden with seeds like these so I can enjoy their beauty all summer long.
Drooping ray flowers really show this flower off at its best! I am going to put this one in my nature journal…watercolors or markers? Not sure yet.
Edit to add my journal—I ended up with colored pencils.
This aster was not in the garden at Tallac but was on the trail around over by Taylor Creek. There was a whole section of them blooming. I love the classic lavender and yellow color combination. This may need to go in my nature journal too.
Eureka! We finally saw some goldenrod in bloom. We had seen lots of dried up goldenrod during our hike but this was the first blooming plant we spied. The goldenrod completed our hunt for all kinds of flowers in the aster family.
NOTE: If you haven’t read the narrative section in the Handbook of Nature Study on the goldenrod plant, you are missing out. Make sure to read the Teacher’s Story for Lesson 132 before you study your goldenrod flowers.
Here we are…the intrepid aster hunters. My oldest and youngest went with me this time and it was great to have them along. They are both a lot of fun.
Mr. B took a break from flower hunting to stack some rocks and strike a pose. Like I said, always a lot of fun with these nature-loving kids.
Don’t miss out on the chance to do your own goldenrod, aster, or chrysanthemum study this month. Pop over to the challenge and print out the free Autumn Garden Nursery Mini-Book printable if you need to make this a quick and easy nature study week.
On our July visit to Yosemite National Park, we found an interesting bush along the Panorama Trail. I decided to take some images and then research it when we returned home. There were lots of unique characteristics to this shrub and to my delight it was not very hard to identify.
This is Chinquapin and is found on dry, rocky slopes. There is a famous intersection where Glacier Point Road and the road to Wawona intersect that is named for this prevalent shrub. Castanopsis sempervirens
We observed growing in-mass along the Panorama Trail, below Glacier Point in elevation.
Here another view of a large patch of Chinquapin. This shrub is an evergreen and has flowers and then an amber colored burr that develops later in the summer and ripens in September and October.
Here is a close-up of the burr. The burr will turn into a golden brown chestnut like burr with thorny spikes. Eventually they will hold several round nuts.
This plant is in the beech family and forms long cream-colored fluffy catkins in the summer. I wish this image wasn’t so blurry but it is the best one I have.
So if you are following along in my progress, this is the third of five shrubs that I intend to observe and identify during 2013 as part of my nature study goals.
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:
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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
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