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.
Read pages 693-706 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lessons 192-195)). Highlight information on ferns that you would like to share with your children. After reading through the information, pick one aspect of the fern to focus on during your outdoor time (unfolding, fruiting, learning parts of the fern).
Advanced preparation: YouTube: Fern Life Cycle (Give this one a chance. It starts off a little rough but covers the information very well for this challenge.) Fern Cycle—Animated (For Fun). For students who have a background with high school biology: Fern Life Cycle.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Note:Take a hand lens and a way to carry a fern frond with you during your outdoor time.
Ferns are in the section of the Handbook of Nature Study that covers Flowerless Plants. Use your outdoor time this week to go on a fern hunt or as an alternative, look for moss which is in the same section in the Handbook (Lesson 197). Make observations using a hand lens if you have one. Take photos of the location of your ferns or other subjects.
Collect one frond of your fern (if appropriate).
Follow-Up Activities:
Allow time for a nature journal (notebook page provided in the ebook). If you would like to make this study into a year-long project, record your spring fern observations and mark your calendar to return in summer, autumn, and winter to view your fern’s changes.
Use careful observation to view the sori on the back of your fern.
Make ink prints of your fern frond in your nature journal. Step by step instructions are on my blog: Making Leaf Prints With Ink.
Advanced study: Record the story of the fern in your nature journal. Ebook users: Optional: Fern coloring page.
Additional Links: Guide to Ferns (for Georgia but information that can apply anywhere)
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.
Supporting a Global Community in Their Nature Study
May 2012 Edition: Noticing Nature in the Everyday
The Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter is a companion to the Outdoor Hour Challenges that are posted here on the blog every Friday. In this issue there are special printable activities, nature journal suggestions, additional links and ideas, as well as articles and photos from a variety of OHC participants. There are also two special offers for Outdoor Hour Challenge ebooks. I invite everyone to subscribe and get the newsletter each month in your inbox.
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 May. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can still subscribe and receive the newsletter 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.
Make sure to click and save the newsletter link from the email for future reference.
If you have trouble getting the newsletter to download, try right clicking the link, save the link, and then open it. (The link is in the email and not in this blog post.) I am not going to be archiving the newsletters at this point. You will need to SAVE the FILE on your computer each month if you want to save back issues.
New More Nature Study Book #4 – Summer Sizzle will be available on May 20, 2012!
It has been a lot of fun for me to see spring come to all parts of the world through your Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries as part of this carnival. So many of you have had an early spring which makes for a very green and colorful carnival.
Our family has enjoyed getting outside everyday as part the Go Explore Nature photo scavenger hunt. Yes, even our family needs a little push to get outside sometimes and this project encouraged us to not only get outdoors but to notice things in a deeper way. I hope that the Outdoor Hour Challenge helps your family in the same way….there is evidence in this edition of the carnival that proves that you are indeed finding joy and learning right outside your back door. Thank you to all the participants this month and I look forward to seeing your May entries as we all get deeper into this Spring of 2012.
Just a little note about the
More Nature Study Book #4
for Summer Nature Study.
I am still writing and creating furiously in order to meet my May release deadline. I have found it necessary to push the release date to May 20, 2012. I wanted to keep you informed so you can plan your summer nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge.
Denise from Grace and Truth is a fellow Californian (she is southern and I am northern) and she has put together a wonderful post to share their Spring Splendor. Thank you so much Denise for sharing your nature journal entries..inspiring! Don’t miss her beautiful images either.
Heidi from Starts at Eight would love for you to pop over and see their Outdoor Hour Challenge #1 (which is really a Signs of Spring post). What lovely collages of their spring world she has put together for us all to enjoy!
Buds/Catkins/Blossoms
Angie from Petra School has submitted their Spring Nature Study-Catkins entry for carnival readers. I’m sure we would all love to have been there for their study set in a gorgeous location with a magical place to complete our journals.
Barbara from Schoolhouse on the Prairie shares their Buds, Catkins, and Blossoms on Our Spring Splendor Walk entry with the carnival. They made some important observations and followed up with journals that will remind them of their spring walk on the prairie. Don’t miss reading her closing statement. 🙂
Kim from A Child’s Garden wrote up their account of Our March Bark Walk on the Nipmuck Trail. There are a lot of things to note in this entry but I what I noticed was how different her early spring woods look in Connecticut from what we see here in Northern California. Different trees, different colors…interesting to me.
Jen from Snowfall Academy has been conducting a tree study of a tree they can see from their apartment window (in France!). See their Spring Tree Study entry and be inspired.
Janet from Across the Page is sharing Cornell Pilgrimage Part 2: Hawks for us to enjoy. I loved this entry and it inspired me to make our plans in the near future to visit Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Stay tuned for more information from Janet on the Cornell Lab in the May edition of the Handbook of Nature Study Newsletter.
Amy from Across the Page gathered several nature study sessions into her entry: April Nature Notes. Her robin image is gorgeous and her girls followed up with some very carefully done nature notebook pages. She also shares a few of their images from their photo scavenger hunt from Go Explore Nature.
Tricia from HodgePodge has put together a jam-packed entry with so much nature study goodness it makes my heart swell: Spring is Full of So Many Things. Take a look at their robin study and follow-up Robin Patel artwork (shown above).
Barbara from Schoolhouse on the Prairie has submitted their All About Birds entry for carnival readers to enjoy. I really loved seeing how birdwatching is a such a part of their everyday life. There is also a nice shout out to the Hodgepodge family…
Leslie from Two Cowgirls shares their Farm School – Raptors entry with this edition of the carnival. You must click over and see their nest images and hear how they are incorporating interest driven learning.
Jen from Whimsical Blessings wants carnival readers to see their Nature Study – Robins entry. Did you know that robins are the state bird of Michigan? She also includes their Signs of Spring Journals…excellent job!
Spring Flowers – Poppies, Buttercups, and More
Shirley Ann from Under an English Sky shares their Dandelion Study with carnival readers. They had a wet day to complete their nature study which included observations, collecting, and journals. She has a printable Dandelion Notebook Page to share with you all. Enjoy!
Angie from Petra School wrote up their Spring Flower Study-Learning the Parts study for us all to enjoy. What a beautiful visual entry! She has some images of their Forget-Me-Nots and up-close images that are going to inspire you to give your spring flowers a good inspection. Her boys have made wonderful nature journal entries too.
Here is an inspiring entry for those of you with younger children: Nature Study with Spring Wildflowers from Jen at Whimsical Blessings. Their family uses a more formal science program during the winter and then nature study the rest of the year, building on interests and subjects that they have in their own backyard. They also incorporate nature study with their art time…perfect!
Rachel from All Things Bright and Beautiful shares their Wildflowers Everywhere entry with carnival readers. They took a hike and captured some beauties! Rachel’s daughter has also put together a blog entry all her own: The Buttercup. Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful entry!
Dogwood Study
Amy from Hope is the Word has written and submitted their Dogwood Tree Study. She says, “One of the toughest things I have to let go of as a homeschooling mother/tutor/teacher is that I will always have all of the answers.” I think that is the lesson we all learn over time…hard to let go of it though. Thank you for submitting your dogwood study and showing examples of your nature journals.
Dogwood Nature Study and Chalk Pastels Sketches from the Hodgepodge family will inspire you to look more closely at your flowering trees (and maybe even follow up with an art project!). Make sure to see their beautiful dogwood blossoms.
Shirley Ann from Under an English Sky was surprised to find ferns for their OHC – Fern Study in their neighborhood..in fact, their own backyard! She relates how this was a surprise to her and they now will be able to watch the fern throughout the year. They did an excellent job on their nature journals, capturing in great detail their fern study.
Annette from Life With the Grubb Worms has shared their Outdoor Hour Challenge #1! Welcome to the OHC community and thanks for sharing your outdoor time with carnival readers.
Brandy from Half a Hundred Acre Wood wants to help you Make a Botany Book. They started their Dogwood Study early and have included a tutorial and a free printable tree notebook page in their entry. She also has submitted their Tree Study for you all to enjoy. Thanks Brandy.
Good Friday Garden and Choosing a Tree – Another great entry from the Hodgepodge Family. They are keeping up a family tradition while planting seeds and starting another tradition with their youngest and his personal tree study. Wonderful ideas.
Learning to Study Nature from Lisa at Looking At Life Creativlei is their account of the Spring Splendor Walk. They really saw some interesting things. I hope to see another entry from their family soon!
Amy from Barefoot in the Park has submitted their Spring Green collage for carnival readers to enjoy.
Christy shares their Spring Nature Walk and Fairy Houses entry from her blog Crafty Cristy. What a great setting for enjoying a little spring sunshine and creativity. They also had a whopper of a grasshopper visit this month and she shares her Serendipitous Nature Study of a Grasshopper entry with the carnival. I love to see families find a subject and then pull out the Handbook of Nature Study to learn more…excellent!
Bethany at Little Homeschool Blessings shares their latest addition: The New Momma. Check out their little colt!
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in May are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 5/30/12 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).
Also, the May Newsletter link will be in tomorrow’s blog entry so make sure you are subscribed so you can download your copy as soon as possible. There are lots of great ideas for nature study, a new nature journal suggestion, and several articles contributed by Outdoor Hour Challenge participants.
We are still noticing all the greens of our garden so this was the perfect assignment for us to do this month. You can see more about spring greens in our nature journal: Spring Green Nature Journal Ideas.
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.
“One of the most interesting performances to watch that I know is the way this poppy takes off its cap before it bows to the world. Like magic the cap loosens around the base; it is then pushed off by the swelling, expanding petals until completely loosened, and finally drops off.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 563
Way back when I was planning the challenges for the More Nature Study Book #3, I had no way of knowing what perfect timing I would have with this particular Poppies and Buttercups Challenge. We were treated to two events this week in connection with our poppy study.
1. We took a day trip to Yosemite National Park and even though parts of the park still have quite a bit of snow, when we left the park through the southern El Portal entrance and out Hwy 140 there were millions of poppies blooming along the hills that run alongside the Merced River. It was breathtaking! I have lived in California all my life and I have never seen such a display of poppies…miles and miles of poppies in bloom.
2. The California Poppies in our front yard garden decided to start blooming on Monday. I am serious….Monday, right on cue! We took some time to closely observe the way the caps tip to reveal the petals (see the top photo in this entry). We marveled at the light shining through the bright orange petals. We peered into the inside flower parts and remembered Anna Botsford Comstock’s remarks about sleeping inside a poppy. We observed the lacy leaves and decided to do some sketches and rubbings of the leaves in our nature journals. You can view a previous more thorough study of poppies in this blog entry: CA Poppies-Using the Handbook of Nature Study.
“The insects in California take advantage of the closing petals and often get a night’s lodging within them, where they are cozily housed with plenty of pollen for supper and breakfast..” Handbook of Nature Study, page 564
As part of the advanced study suggestions for this challenge, we are keeping a spring list of wildflowers in our nature journals.
Mr. B also completed an additional notebook page for the Hound’s Tongue wildflower that we saw blooming this week on our hiking trail. This is one of the early wildflowers that we see in our local area. It’s distinctive leaves make it an easy flower to identify. The flowers are almost blue which is unusual and beautiful.
I enjoyed the lupine on the way home from our Yosemite trip. We had a wonderful week of focusing on wildflowers, increasing our desire for spring to really come and stay in our part of the world.
The spring world just begs to be sketched in our nature journals. The colors of the flowers as they blossom in the warming sun just cry out to us to observe them closer, to see their intricate details. As I gather a few of our early spring flowers to record in my nature journal, I am struck the with the varying shades of green that appear in the leaves of these springtime beauties.
Each stem and leaf is a different shade of green, or they are even a mixture of greens that need our careful scrutiny if we are going to get them just right in our journal. Some leaves are olive green, some are emerald green, and some are dark green. I invite you to look at your garden greens and see if you don’t notice it too.
I count myself a very careful observer of nature. I spend lots of time in my garden enjoying the many varieties of plants, bushes, and trees, but I didn’t even notice the reddish edges on this leaf until I brought it inside to sketch into my nature journal. This illustrates the value of slowing down and taking the time to keep a nature journal…you are blessed with better powers of observation.
This is true in adults and also in children. We can help train our children to have better observation skills in all areas of their life if we use nature journaling as a skill-building tool.
Out of sheer self-indulgence I decided to make a couple pages in my journal with all the different greens I have in my colored pencil collection. I made small little sample splotches of color for each of the greens in my watercolor pencil and regular colored pencil sets. I labeled each color patch with the name on the pencil or in some cases the number on the pencil. This way I can use it as a reference whenever I need to find just the right green for a sketch. The color palette of spring is very different than that of autumn or winter.
Note to self: I think I have a lot of shades of green pencils…no need for any more.
Now I am ready to make some nature journal entries!
You may be interested in seeing my fall color palette. I did a similar nature journal entry last fall with my fall colors nature journal.
You may wish to include this nature journal idea as part of your Spring Wildflowers study.
