We decided that we wanted to do a nature journal entry for the manzanita that grows alongside the walking trail. We did a little research and found that there are 106 species of manzanita in the world. I found a page that shows manzanita for Northern California with beautiful photos and descriptions.
It will soon be blooming and the buds are all starting to form. I read in my field guide that it is one of the earliest blooming plants in our area. The flowers are a pretty shape and after they start blooming I will make another journal entry to record those. This time I drew the leaf and a very stylized version of the whole plant.
I couldn’t get the color of the bark just right….in real life they are such a smooth dark red color.
We need to record this plant as well…miner’s lettuce. The official name is Claytonia perfoliata but the nickname comes from the Gold Rush days when the gold miner’s would eat this plant to get their vitamin C. It is a great plant that makes a great addition to a salad.
During the winter season the nature study subjects are smaller in number so we thought we should take advantage of the opportunities that we do have to put something new in our journals.
Here is fun short video on Miner’s Lettuce...how to identify and harvest.
We started our birch tree year-long study back in October. (You can read it HERE.) I remember saying to one of the boys that soon the leaves would all be gone and we would be able to see the shape of the tree’s trunk and branches better. Well, time has flown by and here we are standing in the backyard looking at just those very things.
Words that are going in our nature journals: bare, thin, flexible, drooping, catkins, white.
This tree is so different in shape than our other year-long tree studies done with the silver maple and the tulip poplar. The bark on the trunk is different and the seeds are totally different. I anticipate that we are going to learn quite a bit about trees just taking a few minutes each season to observe this tree.
We wanted to take a closer look at the catkins from the tree so we brought a few inside to the table. I bumped one of the catkins and the seeds went everywhere. You can see the partial catkin in the photo above and how the seeds are attached to make it look somewhat like a little dangling cone but it is not really like a cone at all. It is a well organized bunch of winged seeds that are in the shape of a cone. We have seen finches land on the catkins and hang upside down as they nibble their treat.
After much manipulation of lights and magnifying lenses, my son and I were able to capture the seed in an image for you. Truly amazing!
Mr. B sketched the seed for me in my journal and I added color and the captions after we did the research. So much to learn about seeds and how they are part of the life cycle of a tree. I know in my head what seeds are but when you stop to think about the miracle of a complete tree growing from this one small hard to see with the naked eye structure…well, it causes me to sit and be amazed at our wonderful Creator. It is nothing short of a miracle.
It actually reminds me of this quote that I ran across and wrote down to save.
“Nature is an infinite sphere of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.”
Blaise Pascal
My Encouragement to You
If you haven’t had a chance to start, begin now during the winter. Charlotte Mason in her writings suggests choosing trees in winter to observe and compare. She says to wait until spring to identify the trees when the leaves and blossoms appear.
“Children should be made early intimate with the trees, too; should pick out half a dozen trees, oak, elm, ash, beech, in their winter nakedness, and take these to be their year-long friends. In the winter, they will observe the light tresses of the birch, the knotted arms of the oak, the sturdy growth of the sycamore. They may wait to learn the names of the trees until the leaves come.”
There are some simple ideas outlined in Winter Series Challenge #2 or you can just pick a tree and observe, perhaps taking a photo or making a simple journal entry. Don’t hesitate to jump in now!
Our typical November weather is very unpredictable. We can have warm sunny days filled with outdoor activities or we can have cold, wet day where you stand at the window and wonder when it will end. Both were experienced this week as part of our official seasonal weather observations.
Using the chart provided in the ebook, we all worked together to keep track of morning and afternoon temperatures and other factors like wind, rain, clouds, etc. Our outdoor thermometer is broken so we had to take a portable one outdoors to make our measurements each time.
Comparing our morning and afternoon temperatures was interesting because of the large span of numbers on a few of the days. We had one day with a 24 degree change in temperature within a few hours and from day to day it was widely varied as well. I am the official record keeper for this challenge since they like the observation part but not the actual writing it down in a journal part.
Unofficial time spent outdoors found us raking leaves for the compost bin, noticing how beautifully the leaves fell in a pile around the base of this tree.
Observing clouds was fun this week since we had a variety to enjoy.
The changing color in most all the deciduous plants in the yard like this grape vine is happening before our very eyes.
More raking after the rain came through…these are the walnut tree leaves which have a particular odor that is imprinted in your brain once you smell it.
We also took a drive over the Sierra on Thursday and saw the mountains with a fresh blanket of snow that will more than likely stay there until late next spring.
We stopped to take in the snow at the summit and it was cold! This is about an hour’s drive from our house and very near to where the Donner Party was stranded if you have read about them in your history study. I highly recommend Patty Reed’s Doll if you are interested in reading a children’s version of their survival during the winter of 1846.
Our weather study will be on-going as we keep adding to our weather chart and it will give us some great data to use to compare to our winter observations.
We finally completed our autumn observations for the Queen Anne’s Lace in our neighborhood. The challenge asked us to go back to our patch of this flower and compare the changes since our summer observations. Most of the Queen Anne’s Lace looks like this right now…dry, brittle, brown, and stiff. We cut a stem or two to take inside to observe closely and compare to our summer observations.
We had a great time observing closely the flower heads we brought in and were able to observe some interesting things. The challenge suggested using a hand lens to look more closely at the seeds of the Queen Anne’s Lace.
Each dried cluster was made up of many dried flower clusters.
The large cluster was made up of more than 70 small clusters.
Each small cluster had over 20 seeds in it.
We drew a flower cluster and a seed after viewing it with our loupe. The little seeds were sticky and I found them in the carpet and the hem of my skirt after we had finished. We thought about our dandelion seeds (akenes) and how they are blown away in the wind and compared them to the Queen Anne’s Lace seeds that are definitely spread by adhesion or attachment. Our dog regularly helps disperse the seeds of the Queen Anne’s Lace as she romps through the weeds on our walks.
On today’s walk with the dog, we found a patch of Queen Anne’s Lace that is not quite dried up yet. There is still a little greenness to the stem, leaves, and flower head. We are experiencing some unseasonably warm weather with the afternoons in the 70’s. I actually took a walk without a sweatshirt and we worked up a thirst by the time we reached home again. We will be trying to get out in the warm temperatures again tomorrow….who knows how long they will last.
The season of abundant Queen Anne’s Lace is over but we shall be watching as we enter the winter season to see if the plants make much of a change.
We were able to experience two kinds of salmon and their spawning this autumn.
The Kokanee salmon are a land-locked species that live in the high mountain lake and then return to the creek of their birth for spawning.
This shallow creek is the perfect place for laying eggs in the gravel.
The fish come by the thousands, swimming and leaping around in the water as they make their way back up the creek from the lake.
The bears are around and we are warned to keep clear of them as they come for their autumn feast of salmon after the fish have spawned and then die.
Even though these are land-locked salmon, they still go through the same changes that their ocean cousins perform. Their colors change and their jaws and teeth become more prominent.
They wiggle a little dance to court the females and then fertilize her eggs. It is amazing to watch.
There are two bridges that you can watch the fish from and on this day there were quite a few nature lovers out there viewing the fish ritual.
The ducks, gulls, and eagles all depend on the salmon spawning for their autumn diet. We didn’t see any eagles on this day but the ducks were present.
They eat the freshly laid eggs if they get the chance.
Our second salmon observing opportunity came this past weekend at the American River above Sacramento. There is a fish hatchery below a dam where the salmon will make their way up the fish ladder.
Here is the ladder the salmon will leap up as they make their way to the hatchery. The officials were waiting until the next day to open the gate that ajoins the river to the ladder.
We were a little early but we were still able to observe the *huge* Chinook salmon waiting at the gate to climb up. They were actually jumping up out of the water and slamming into the metal gate. One sign says they can leap out of the water nine feet!
The Chinook are much larger than the Kokanee and we decided it was because they have a much longer migration journey. They travel round trip 2,000 miles from their birthplace, down the American River, through the Sacramento Delta and then out into the Pacific Ocean. Two or three years later, they make the return trip and end up at their birthplace again….changing from freshwater fish to saltwater fish and back again.
The hatchery we visited has a lovely visitor’s center to learn more about the cycle of life of the salmon.
Trout are filling the holding ponds of the hatchery at the moment. There are steelhead and rainbow trout to view. In a month or so the steelhead will start their journey up the fish ladder and we may take time to visit again.
We had an additional observation of the rainbow trout a few weeks ago at a local pond that they stock for the kids to fish in. They are such beautiful fish and very tasty too. (I’m surprised I didn’t encourage us all to taste test the salmon and the trout…next time.)
So for our Outdoor Hour Challenge we were able to compare two different species of salmon as well as the salmon to the trout.
Our favorite is still the Kokanee salmon in its wild habitat and its unique cycle of life.
Here is a nature journal entry I made a few years ago featuring this colorful amazing fish.
I don’t usually enjoy the fall season…it is a melancholy time for me. I love the barefoot days of summer and the hot afternoons working in the garden or swimming in the pool. I would much rather be hiking in the green, green hills with wildflowers blooming at my side in the springtime. The promise of spring and the activity of summer are much more likely to gain my vote for “favorite season”. Winter is the enduring time, the time for preparing for spring and summer.
Autumn days are soon filled with colored leaves, falling leaves, and raking leaves. It seems to creep up slowly but then you wake up one morning to find that the leaves are starting to turn colors…..oranges, reds, yellows, golds, purples.
Observing autumn trees and looking close though, you will see spring’s leaves preparing for the winter.
So here we are in the middle of our autumn challenges and making the best of what the season has to offer. We gathered a few leaves to compare and my son reminded me that we did an in-depth study of leaves and their parts as part of our biology study.
I went to the shelf and pulled out his biology notebook and his nature journal and we thumbed through to find our completed study.
So now what could we do to learn more about leaves?
First of all, I shared with my son the idea that I gleaned from Amy at The Teachable Heart and her family’s study of autumn leaves. She actually color copied the leaves for their nature journals and they looked wonderful. I thought maybe we could do the same for our tree and other fall leaves that we were comparing just for a change in our journals.
We had already decided to choose another tree to study for a year-long tree study, the birch tree in our backyard. We gathered a few leaves and took a closer look at the tree while we were out there.
Welcome to our new tree for the year! We are excited to see what we can learn by looking at and comparing this tree to our previous tree study subjects.
These catkins are such interesting things to look at and we looked up some more information in our tree guide after our outdoor time.
We brought some inside to look at with our loupes and to draw in detail in our nature journals.
While we were out we looked at several other kinds of leaves….the dandelion growing in my pot is such an interesting shape in comparison to our tree leaves.
How about these leaves on the broccoli? Amazing gray-green color.
Our coleus is still giving us blazing amounts of color in the container garden on the deck. It makes me happy just to look at these leaves.
It had to go in my nature journal.
Watercolor pencils are fun to work with in your nature journals and we always have a set sitting on or near our work area table. It is easy to sketch quickly and then come back later to add water and details.
I will end my entry here since this journal is getting quite long. We are enjoying the connections between our biology study and our nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenges.
We took advantage of a perfect sunny warm afternoon to spend some time enjoying our backyard. I decided to focus on the colors of yellow and orange for my nature study time. I used my camera to record the many shades of yellow and orange that are visible in our garden. These colors are really starting to pop and it was an easy assignment.
Mr. A wandered around the yard with his dog Kona, trying to find something to be interested in. He observed some sort of beetle on the concrete before it escaped under the pincushion plant. He found a spot in the yard where we think the squirrels are making a stash of walnuts…it is either the squirrels or the Scrub jays. We looked at the leaves on the sweet gum trees. He picked some strawberries and I picked some tomatoes.
It was just a nice few minutes outdoors…since this is his last official year of homeschooling I try to savor all the moments we spend together. I asked if he would like to sketch something for his journal and he sort of gave me one of those unenthusiastic teenage looks but then I noticed he had his journal and was outside for a little while longer.
Sitting on the lawn he sketched a trumpet vine blossom for his journal. The words of the Handbook of Nature Study echoed in my head and I didn’t push him to make it fancy or add to the entry in any way. The nature journal is his record and not mine.
I have received quite a few emails asking me what kind of journal I prefer to work in to record our entries. I have used several different kinds but my favorite is a small spiral-bound book with sketch paper.
I have to admit that I do use it for watercolors so the pages bend up a little when they dry. I think it adds to the charm of the finished product. If a painting makes the page curl up too much, I just don’t sketch on the back of it and leave it blank. (Yes, that is a feather sticking out of the side of the journal…what can I say?)
I also have a three ring binder that I add to when I use notebooking pages or I want to save large items like bigger pressed flowers. The binder is my catch-all for things that don’t get recorded in my sketch journal.
Maybe tomorrow I can ask Mr. B to go outside with me and we can have another adventure in our backyard.
The Star thistle is in full bloom and if I even see a hint of it in my hard it comes out. I do not think I will develop a loving relationship with this weed/wildflower like I did with the mullein.
They are pretty though with their happy yellow flowers. I will enjoy the view as long as it is out along our walking trail but not in my yard.
I will also enjoy the star thistle in my nature journal. 🙂
Autumn Series #1 Nature Journal-How To Get Started
“A field notebook may be made a joy to the pupil and a help to the teacher.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 13
Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 13-15 (The Field Notebook). In this section Anna Botsford Comstock helps us with a detailed description of her idea of a field notebook or nature journal. She also states that if done properly “they represent what cannot be bought or sold, personal experience in the happy world of out-of-doors”. Make note of any suggestions you want to implement with your children.
Read page 17 in the Handbook of Nature Study (The Correlation of Nature Study and Drawing). Highlight the points that will help you with your nature journals. “Too much have we emphasized drawing as an art; it may be an art, if the one who draws is an artist; but if he is not an artist, he still has a right to draw if it pleases him to do so.”
Decide what kind of nature journal or nature notebook you will be keeping for this series of challenges. Some families prefer a blank journal to record sketches, words, and images. With this series of challenges there are notebook pages provided for each challenge and these can be inserted into a three ring binder. Some families combine blank pages with notebook pages to give variety to their nature journals and keep it in three ring binder as well. If you would like more ideas about nature journals, examples of pages, and links to more resources, you can visit my Hubpage for more information: Nature Journals-Tips for Simple Journals.
Outdoor Hour Time:
For this challenge you are going to spend 15 minutes outdoors with your children in your own yard. Take a walk around your yard or down your own street. Enjoy being outdoors. Look up at the sky, look under rocks, listen carefully for sounds, touch some leaves, sit in the grass, stand under a tree, smell a flower, collect some acorns, and just see what happens. Remember you are building your child’s powers of observation and trying to stir up some interest. Keep your words and attitude positive. If you have younger children you may need start off with just 5 minutes of outdoor time for nature study but you can gradually build up to 15 minutes or more.
“She should say frankly, ‘I do not know; let us see if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing.’ She thus conveys the right impression, that only a little about the intricate life of plants and animals is yet know; and at the same time she makes her pupils feel the thrill and zest of investigation. Nor will she lose their respect if she does it in the right spirit.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 4
Follow-Up Activity:
After you come inside, take a few minutes to follow up on any interest your child has from his observations outdoors. Listen and take note of any future nature study subjects you can cultivate from their comments. Offer to help them sketch something they observed into their nature journal and help them find a few words to describe their outdoor time. Start small and as time passes your child will have more and more to record in their journals. You can use the general notebook page provided in the Autumn 2010 ebook or your own blank nature journal to record your outdoor time.
If you would like, pull out your Handbook of Nature Study and see if the item your child is interested in is listed in the index. If it is, look up the information for yourself and then relate interesting facts to the children sometime during the next week. You can also look up information at the public library and share some books on their topic of interest. Remember it is okay to say that you don’t know the answer to a question they have but you can model how to find the answer as you gain confidence in your own nature study knowledge.
If you would like to own this ebook, it is part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!
I have been going through all my photos from the summer, organizing and printing. I found several sets that I haven’t shared on the blog yet. These photos are from a dinner picnic we had at the lake. My daughter and I enjoyed a little time with watercolor pencils and paper….
Same subject, different perspectives. I love how we each have a different view but both are spectacular.
