Advanced Nature Study Archives

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Barb — 4 Comments

OHC More Nature Study #9 Thistles

“On looking at the thistle from its own standpoint, we must acknowledge it to be a beautiful and wonderful plant. It is like a knight of old encased in armor and with lance set, read for the frey.”
Handbook of Nature Study 524

More Nature Study with the OHC #9
Thistles

Inside Preparation Work:

Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 524-526 (Lesson 141).
Read and view Common Thistle Information and Canada Thistle Information. View the range maps to see which plants you have in your area.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Spend part of your Outdoor Hour time looking for thistles or other autumn fall flowers. The thistle is a composite flower like many other autumn blooming flowers: goldenrod, aster, yarrow, burdock, chicory, and even the dandelion. If you can’t find a thistle, choose one of the other composite flowers you have access to as part of this challenge.
If you can pull the thistle up by the roots, this will be the subject of your nature study once you return home. Make sure you are pulling a thistle where you have permission from the landowner. (I suggest taking gloves with you for this part of the activity.)

Follow-Up Activities:

If you were able to bring a thistle plant inside with you, take time to carefully observe all the parts of the plant. Use the suggestions from the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study to guide your children in noticing the major parts of the thistle. In autumn you will probably need to focus on the dried flower head and seeds.
Give time to complete a nature journal, a notebook page (available in the ebook), and/or a coloring page. There are three different coloring pages available for this challenge in the ebook.
Watch this video on YouTube (Bull thistle) .
Advanced Follow-Up: Watch this video about Canada Thistle on YouTube.com.
Advanced follow-up: Sketch and compare the thistle to two other seeds you find in the autumn.

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.

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Barb — 1 Comment

Our October Bird List and Sparrow Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study

As part of our House Sparrow study, we kept track of the tally of birds who have visited our feeders. We have a regular contingency of sparrows but this month the numbers have greatly increased. We saw two kinds of sparrows this month.

House Sparrows

White-Crowned Sparrows

Using the More Nature Study Challenge for House sparrows, we did some research to see what other kinds of sparrows there are in our neighborhood. We did this by going to the Great Backyard Bird Count website, clicking the Explore the Results button at the top, and then entering our town name. This brings up all the statistics from the latest Bird Count – Bird species, number of birds, number of people reporting observations of a particular bird. I found this very helpful. According to the lists, in February there are lark sparrows, song sparrows, house sparrows, and golden-crowned sparrows seen in our town.

Advanced follow-up notebook page from the More Nature Study with the OHC ebook.

We decided to look those particular sparrows up in our field guide and note their field marks just in case we happen to see these three other species sometime in our area. The trouble is that the females all look very similar. We found the What’s That Sparrow? page on the Cornell website very helpful.

Here is the list of other October birds…we were not as diligent this month at recording our birds but I am going to try to keep it as a daily task for Mr. B the whole month of November. 🙂

October 2011
California towhee
Spotted towhee – first ones we have seen since spring at our feeder
White-crowned sparrows – increase in numbers
House sparrows – increase in numbers
White-breasted nuthatch
Oak titmouse
House finches
Turkey vultures – soaring overhead
Mourning doves
Western scrub jays
Lesser goldfinches
American robin
American crow
Anna’s hummingbirds – still coming in numbers to the feeders

Heard our Great horned owl and California quail
Along the road we saw Wild turkeys, Brewer’s blackbirds, pigeons, Canada geese, and a Snowy egret.
There were also several Red-tail hawks and a Cooper’s hawk on a drive to town.

Do any of you participate in the Project FeederWatch Program? It starts the second Saturday in November and I think our family is going to join in this year since we have made a habit of keeping track of our feeder birds anyway. Do you want to join up too? Click over and read all about it! Or watch a video.

We also are submitting this post to Heather’s Tweet and See link-up.

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Barb — 2 Comments

OHC More Nature Study #8 Fall Leaf Study – Close Up

Outdoor Hour Challenge Fall Leaf Study @handbookofnaturestudy

“Make the lesson an investigation and make the pupils feel that they are investigators…….The ‘leading thought’ embodies some of the points which should be in the teacher’s mind while giving the lesson; it should not be read or declared to the pupils……..The outlines for observations herein given by no means cover all of the observations possible; they are meant to suggest to the teacher observations of her own, rather than to be followed slavishly….If the questions do not inspire the child to investigate, they are useless.”

Handbook of Nature Study, page 23

More Nature Study #8
Fall Leaf Study – Close Up

Inside Preparation Work:

Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 9-10 (The Lens, Microscope, and Field Glass As Helps in Nature Study).
Have on hand a magnifying glass to use as part of this leaf challenge. You can see more ideas on my: Squidoo Lens on Magnifying Lenses.

Outdoor Hour Time:

Spend your Outdoor Hour time in your own backyard or neighborhood.
Look at the various kinds of leaves and have your child point out several that capture their interest.
Choose four or five leaves to collect and bring home to look at with the magnifying lens.

Follow-Up Activity:

Use the hand lens to make careful observations of your leaves. One at a time have your child describe what he sees as he looks at the leaf carefully. Record your results in your nature journal (or use the notebook page in the ebook).
Press your leaves to add to your nature journal at a future date. You can watch my YouTube video to learn how to do this with simple household items.

Advanced Follow-Up: Use this LINK and scroll down to the section, “Taking a Closer Look At Plant Cells”. Make your own leaf slides to look at under your microscope. Ebook Users – Use the Leaf Morphology page and the notebook page to complete your study.
Advanced Follow-Up: Read this article on Wikipedia: Leaf. Read this page that illustrates Leaf Margins and Shapes (love this page with the clear images).

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Posted on October 21, 2011 by Barb — Leave a comment

OHC More Nature Study #7 House Sparrow

More Nature Study #7
House Sparrow (English Sparrow in the Handbook of Nature Study)

Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read pages 83-85 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 20 English Sparrow). Highlight some points you can share about the house sparrow with your children.
2. If you have a bird field guide, use the index to look up the House sparrow and any other sparrows you may have in your area.
3. Let your children see an image of the House sparrow and have them describe what they see. (You may use the information in the Additional Links section below.)
4. Younger Children: Read the Burgess Bird Book chapter on the English(House) Sparrow online. Listen to an MP3 recording of the chapter.

Outdoor Hour Time:
1. Seize the opportunity to observe a House sparrow during your week. This may need to be done from a window at first but outdoors is always better if you can keep still and quiet as you observe. If you have a pair of binoculars, take them along with you so you can view the sparrow’s features. Try to observe their color, size, beak, tail shape, and behavior. Look for House sparrows in your yard in bushes or hedges, in parks, or even around buildings in urban areas.
2. If you don’t have a House sparrow to observe, choose another bird and have your child describe its features. (It is always good to compare size, shape, beak, and tail.)

Follow-Up Activity:
1. After your Outdoor Hour time, take a few minutes to follow-up your bird observation time. Pull out your field guide and learn a little bit more about any birds you were able to view.
2. Allow the opportunity for a nature journal entry, a notebook page, or time to color the accompanying coloring page.
3. Advanced follow-up: Compare the House sparrow with another sparrow in your neighborhood. You can use the accompanying notebook page for your notes (ebook users only).
4. Advanced follow-up: Watch for the House sparrow in all four seasons. Keep a record of what months you see them in your yard or neighborhood.

Additional Links:
All About Birds: House Sparrow
My HubPage on birdfeeders: Birdfeeders in the Winter
Advanced students—for research: House Sparrow

Please note these are affiliate links to products I love and highly recommend.

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Posted on October 16, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Found My Orb Web!

We were busy pulling all of the dead and brown things out of the garden when I spotted it! The most perfect spider web I have seen in a long time was right next to the hose reel. I actually touched it before I saw it and it startled me.

The sun was shining just right to see most of it in a photo so I ran inside and snapped a few images to share here on the blog. I called Mr. A and my husband over to take a look and we admired the preciseness of the web and we talked a bit about how it was constructed with a frame and then the web spun around and around.

I took the opportunity to see if the inside threads were sticky like we read about in the Handbook of Nature Study.

Isn’t that grand? I love learning new things alongside my boys….

“The radii or spokes, the guy-lines, the framework, and the center of the web are all made of inelastic silk, which does not adhere to an object that touches it. The spiral line, on the contrary, is very elastic, and adheres to any object brought in contact with it. An insect which touches one of these spirals and tries to escape become entangled in the neighboring lines and is thus held fast until the spider can reach it. If one of these elastic lines be examined with a microscope, it is a most beautiful object. There are strung upon it, like pearls, little drops of sticky fluid which render it not only elastic but adhesive.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 440.

Thanks Anna Botsford Comstock for bringing such an amazing detail to our attention. We have a heightened sense of awe over something we have overlooked our entire lives. Now I can rest our web study for the season, unless a new web presents itself.

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Barb — 2 Comments

Our Pear Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge

Our study has been actually on-going since the spring when we first noticed that our pear tree was loaded with blossoms. We have been eagerly watching the progress since then and it culminated this week with actually eating the pears…but not until after we had closely observed them and dissected them as part of the more advanced suggestions in More Nature Study #3.

We took a quick trip outdoors to snap a few images of the leaves and bark but the highlight was to come inside and actually take a close look at the fruit.

Mr. B was willing to complete the dissection lab with the pears from our backyard tree and he did a great job recording his results on the notebook page. I think taking the Outdoor Hour Challenges up a notch with the more advanced ideas is a great way to keep them interested in nature study. We actually talked about seeds as they relate to what he studied in biology and we also talked about how growing fruit can be so very satisfying. Tend the tree, pick the fruit, enjoy the labor. What a great lesson in life.

Notebook Page from my More Nature Study ebook

I love watching him sketch. Makes me glad that we made nature study a part of our high school plans.

Nature study that ends in eating your subject is always a good thing when you have a teenage boy around.

We will look forward to seeing this sight again in the spring!

I look forward to seeing your results and hearing how your observations went.

If you are interested in more Crop Plants study, I have a series of Outdoor Hour Challenges listed here on the blog. You can find them listed HERE. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the list.

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Posted on September 23, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

OHC – More Nature Study #3 Pear Study

More Nature Study #3
Pears/Fall Tree Study

Inside Preparation Work:

For the pear challenge there is no lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study. You can read about pears online: Pear Varieties and Pear Fact Printable.
As an alternate or supplemental activity, you can read the section, “How to Begin Tree Study” in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 622-624. Pay attention to Lesson 72—Autumn Work (#1-#5). Take note of some observations you can make during autumn.

Outdoor Hour Time:

If you have access to a pear tree in your yard, neighborhood, or near-by orchard, spend your Outdoor Hour time observing the tree: tree shape, arrangement of the branches, trunk, leaves, fruit/seeds.
If you don’t have access to a pear tree, use the information from the Autumn tree work section in the Handbook of Nature Study to observe any tree you have in your yard or neighborhood. You can use this tree as the subject of a year-long tree study if you wish. You may wish to read the information from the Autumn Tree Observation Challenge 2009.

Follow-Up Activity:

Have on hand a pear and an apple for each child to observe up-close. Use the suggestions on the notebook page (ebook users only) to compare these two fruits.
For Pear Study: Give the opportunity to make a nature journal entry recording any observations made about pears. Suggestions for discussion: shape of the pear, size, color, smell, markings on the skin, and the stem. Cut the pear in half and draw the inside of the pear in your nature journal. There is also a pear coloring page included in the ebook
For Autumn Tree Study: You can use the Autumn Tree Study notebook page linked above. You may use it for any tree you observed during your nature study.
Advanced follow-up: Complete the Dissection Lab notebook page with a pear (ebook users only).
Advanced follow-up: Make a dry brush watercolor of the pear and either its vertical or cross section.

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Posted on September 16, 2011 by Barb — 3 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #2 Leaf-Miners and Leaf-Rollers

Here comes the second challenge in the new series of Outdoor Hour Challenges! I will be posting one new challenge each Friday and you are welcome to jump in and work through the challenges as you have time.

Inside Preparation Work:
1.Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 329-334 (Lessons 77 and 78). Pay special attention to the “Leading Thoughts” and the “Methods” sections in each lesson. These will give you hints and ideas for searching for Leaf-miners and Leaf-rollers.
2. Optional YouTube Video: Watch a leaf roller HERE. One short one showing it up close HERE.
3. Preview this YouTube video of a leaf miner at work: The Good, The Bad, the Ugly…Larva. Awesome! Watch it full screen if you dare.

Hints: Look on sumac, basswood, and witch hazel for leaf-rollers. We have found leaf-rollers on our crepe myrtle and coneflowers. For leaf-miners, look on nasturtium, columbine, lamb’s quarters, dock, and burdock. You may also try pine needles for yellow tips. We have found leaf-miners on oaks.

Outdoor Hour Time:
1. Go outside with the intention of looking for and observing some insects. Keep in mind the images of the leaf-miner and the leaf-roller. Look for signs of these kinds of insects on the leaves in your garden or in your neighborhood. There are many varieties of each kind of insect so you may wish to consult your field guide before you head out.
2. If you don’t find any insects to observe, take a few minutes of your Outdoor Hour time to examine various leaves with a hand-lens. Look for anything that has damaged the leaves and describe what it looks like. Many things can damage leaves besides insects.

Follow-Up Activity:
1. Insects are hard to identify but the point of this challenge is mainly to look for Leaf-miners and Leaf-rollers and how they use leaves during their life-cycle. If you can see the larva or the insect itself, you may have a good chance at identifying it. On the other hand, you may just need to talk about the behavior of this kind of insect and give the opportunity to sketch the leaf and your observations. You can use the accompanying notebook page for convenience (ebook users only).
2. Advanced Follow-Up: Read this link for more information on leaf rolling insects: Leaf Rollers on Ornamental and Fruit Trees ( UC Davis). Complete the Upper Level notebook page with your research (ebook users only).

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Posted on September 14, 2011 by Barb — 10 Comments

Our Milkweed Study – Featuring the Pods

Showy Milkweed pod and dried flowers – Yosemite Valley 8/2011

Nature study while traveling is a gentle way to learn more about a new place, or in this case, a familiar place. Our family spends quite a bit of time at Yosemite National Park and consider it part of our big “backyard”. Learning flower names, tree species, more about the mammals who live there, and how they all work together has been a layer of understanding that over time has given us much pleasure. We KNOW this place and appreciate the beauty and awesome balance found in this most special of valleys.

As part of our milkweed study, I remembered an abundance of Showy milkweed in Yosemite Valley…whole patches in the meadows. We made a special walk along the Valley floor to observe an abundance of milkweed…it was hot in the sun but that is part of the late summer experience at Yosemite.

I was wishing were not a national park so we could pick some pods to dissect….we restrained ourselves and used our eyes and camera to capture our experience instead. There is so much to learn by using your senses.

Things we found interesting to think about and research a little more:

Insects we observed: milkweed beetle, some sort of bee/wasp
Size of some of the pods…was it a “good” year for milkweed?
How long until the pods burst open and shed their seeds?

Mr. B did a comparison of the milkweed seeds (images from a previous encounter and internet research), dandelion seeds (found in our backyard), and the cattail (gathered at our local patch).

We also have a small pot of milkweed on our back deck that we have been nurturing for two years. It did grow a bit better this year but still no blooms or pods. I am going to try again next year with new seeds but after reading about milkweed in the Handbook and online, we may plant them directly in the garden.

All in all, I think the new Advanced Follow-Up suggestions went rather well for this challenge.

If you would like to see another milkweed entry we did a few years ago, you can click over here:

Milkweed (Challenge #30 Weeds and Seeds)

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Barb — 8 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #1 Milkweed

More Nature Study
Challenge #1 Milkweed (or any other autumn blooming plant)

Where to find it? Showy Milkweed and Common Milkweed

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.

Tag: Advanced Nature Study

OHC More Nature Study #9 Thistles

Our October Bird List and Sparrow Study Using the Handbook of Nature Study

OHC More Nature Study #8 Fall Leaf Study – Close Up

OHC More Nature Study #7 House Sparrow

Found My Orb Web!

Our Pear Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge

OHC – More Nature Study #3 Pear Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #2 Leaf-Miners and Leaf-Rollers

Our Milkweed Study – Featuring the Pods

Outdoor Hour Challenge – More Nature Study #1 Milkweed

Outdoor Hour Challenges for families since 2008!