Notebooking Archives

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Autumn Cattail and Small Square Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Autumn Cattail Study with a Small Square Study Too!

Here is the original Autumn Cattail Nature Study Challenge from 2009.
Optional free notebook page in the Autumn 2009 Free Notebook Page
You could use this opportunity to make some Seasonal Pond Study observations and use the free printable to record your results.
Another idea is to use the Small Square Study-Living vs. Non-Living at your cattail habitat. This challenge includes a free printable notebook page.
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.

Cattail Acrostic Poetry Printable Activity

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.

Save

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Seasonal Cattail Nature Study and Printable

For this challenge, start a seasonal year-long study of cattails. This challenge from the archives will help your child learn the life cycle of the cattail in your neighborhood. Find a patch of cattails that you can observe in each season. Starting your study in the summer will be easy because they will be very recognizable.

See the suggested nature study ideas in this 2010 Challenge: Year-Long Cattail Study.

“It is an interesting process to take apart a cattail plant; the lower, shorter leaves surround the base of the plant, giving it size and strength. All the leaves have the same general shape, but vary in length. Each leaf consists of two parts; the free portion, which is long and narrow and flat toward its tapering tip but is bent into a trough as it nears the plant, and the lower portion, which clasps the plant entirely or partially, depending upon whether it is an outer or inner leaf.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 500

Printable Notebook Page – Seasonal Cattail Nature Study

Use this notebook page to start your Year-Long Cattail Study with the summer season. Complete a new notebooking page in autumn, winter, and spring to see the complete life cycle of the cattail. You can also take photos of the cattails with your child and insert them into their nature journal.

Cattail Seasonal Nature Study Notebook Page

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. Why not enjoy a picnic during your cattail outdoor hour? We have cattails at a local park and it would be fun to eat outside after making some cattail observations. Make it simple and fun….make some memories!

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Goldfish Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Goldfish Nature Study

This is a fun challenge for those of you who have aquarium goldfish. If you don’t have goldfish of your own, you can be creative and visit a local pet store and observe the goldfish there or you can even use the video below to get a taste of what goldfish are like. However you decide to use this challenge, I look forward to seeing your entries in the next blog carnival (see instructions at the end of this challenge).

Goldfish YouTube Video – Watch full screen!

Printable Goldfish Nature Study and Notebook Page

This two page printable will outline a study of goldfish using the Handbook of Nature Study. You can complete the study and then record your observations on the notebook page provided.

Handbook of Nature Study Goldfish Lesson and Notebook Page

If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. After your goldfish observations, use the directions in this challenge to help your child express their experience in words. Afterwards, record some of their words on the accompanying notebook page.

You are welcome to submit any of you blog Outdoor Hour Challenge blog entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. Entries for the current month are due on 7/30/13.

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Fish Grid Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Fish Grid Study (July Newsletter Printable)

Use the Fish Grid Study printable to start your fish nature study off, choosing just one or two ideas to complete with your children. Use your own aquarium fish, fish at a pet store, or fish at a local pond to learn more up close and personal.

Printable Copywork Page

This printable can be printed and used to learn the characteristics of a fish. If you would rather copy the list into your nature journal and then have your child illustrate the page that would be great too!

Fish Copywork Notebook Page from Handbook of Nature Study

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #1. Use your outdoor time this week to enjoy a spot in your area where there are fish…a lake, a stream, a pond. Enjoy your time outside with your child and follow their lead in exploring this place. Follow up with the notebook page from the ebook.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Weeds and Seeds Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
We are going to look for weed seeds this week….shouldn’t be too hard to do this time of the year in most areas. I took a walk last week and I noticed a lot of them along the trail. Take a few minutes to walk outside with your children and follow their lead. Point out some seeds and then challenge them to find some too. Keep it light and fun.

Special Activity:Weed Seeds
This week you can go on the hunt for weed seeds. Look for three different kinds of seeds and write about them in your nature journal. You can use this printable page if you have access to the Ultimate or Journey level membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #9. Complete a Small Square Study as part of your Outdoor Hour time this week. Pick a place that has some weeds and look carefully at the ground underneath, observing and recording all that you can see.

Please note that I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com. I have used and highly recommend their products!

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge- Seasonal Milkweed Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
We are going to revisit a challenge from the archives this week.
Milkweed (from the More Nature Study Autumn Ebook)
Use the information in this challenge to get you started looking for milkweed in your own area.

Need help in finding milkweed? Here are a couple of links: Showy Milkweed and Common Milkweed

Seasonal Milkweed Notebook Page Printable

Use this printable page to record your seasonal milkweed study in each season. Start with your summer milkweed and then revisit it each season to observe the changes.

Milkweed Seasonal Study Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, completeOutdoor Hour Challenge #8. Take along your magnifying lens when you observe your milkweed. Use it to get a really good look at the milkweed’s leaves, flowers, stem, and any insects you see on the milkweed. Record your observations on the notebook page in the ebook.

Use discount code = discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase at NotebookingPages.com

Please note I am affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and I recommend them after years of using this wonderful product with my family.

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Garden Flowers Focus – Using Notebooking Pages

We have studied many of the garden flowers listed in the Handbook of Nature Study over the years. Using the simple ideas in each lesson make it enjoyable and memorable. For this challenge (Focus on Garden Flowers), we picked just two flowers to study more in-depth- Salvia and Petunias (which will be the star of the next OHC this Friday).

Guess what? We have never had salvia in our garden before so a trip to Home Depot was taken and we found several varieties of salvia to choose from. We picked this purple salvia which we are hoping will apply to the salvia in the Handbook of Nature Study. From the label we learned it needs a sunny spot (6 hours of sun) and water every other day. It blooms summer to fall and will grow to a height of 10-36″.

I decided to plant my saliva in a pot so I won’t forget to water it and so I can watch it grow and blossom and hopefully watch the bees in it. It is a perennial so I will eventually add it to the flower garden.

From the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 161), we looked closely at the flowers, looking for the corolla-tubes, stamens, and anthers as described in the narrative. The bees apparently have to push their heads agains the inner arms of the stamesn to lift them which causes the anthers to leave a streak of pllen along the bee’s fuzzy sides. The bees then have to crawl almost inside the tubes to get the nectar. I’m not sure that my variety of salvia will provide such a show but we will be watching.

I will be on the lookout for some Saliva as described in the Handbook of Nature Study so we can really get a good look. I printed the salvia notebook page from NotebookingPages.com’s Wildflowers, Weeds, and Garden Flowers set.

While we were at Home Depot, I picked up some more seeds to plant in the garden. They had some larkspur seeds and I will plant those and use along with the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study, hopefully later this summer. There were two other seeds that caught my eye and I will be planting those today along my fence-line- Hollyhocks and Black-Eyed Susans!

Our garden is all planted and I hope to get a garden entry done sometime in the next week to share all the lovely Renee’s Garden seeds that we have tucked into their garden beds…just waiting!

I am an affiliate for NotebookingPages.com and highly recommend this set for your Wildflower, Weeds, and Garden Flowers study.

Use discount code = discount5 to save $5 on your $10+ purchase at NotebookingPages.com

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Barb — 1 Comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Seasonal Pond Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This week you will need to find a local pond to explore. I might suggest taking a look at the Turtles and Pondweed Challenge for a few ideas. This challenge also includes a free printable Pond Study which will expand your study beyond turtles and pondweed.

Printable Activity: Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page

Use this notebook page to record your spring pond study observations and then revisist your pond in each season to compare plants, insects, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians.
Printable Seasonal Pond Study Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #10. This week take an opportunity to get outside and enjoy a picnic lunch or snack. Use the ideas in this challenge to create a fun nature study experience for your family. Complete the accompanying notebook page for your nature journal while you are outdoors!

Posted on April 24, 2013 by Barb — 3 Comments

Focusing on Reptile and Amphibian Nature Study

Last week’s Focus on Reptiles and Amphibians challenge was to start a focus study of reptiles and amphibians in our local area whether that was actually going out and finding a subject to investigate or to use this week’s challenge as a preparation for a future outing. We were fortunate enough to have two different snakes cross our trail (literally) last week and for my nature journal I used the printable reptile notebook page from the Reptile and Amphibian Grid Study entry earlier this month.

I pulled out our field guides and did some research into our two snakes and recorded the information and a couple of quick sketches for my journal. Snakes are not my favorite nature study subject but it is helpful to know a little bit about these two common snakes that live in our area.

I started a “reptile and amphibian” section in my nature notebook and I plan on adding to it as subjects arise. I have a short list of things to research and record as I have time over the next few weeks.

You can read more about how we organize our nature notebook pages in a binder in this entry:
How to Organize Your Nature Notebook Pages.

Have you seen any reptiles this month?

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Frog Nature Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
You can reference the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Frogs from the Summer Series for pages to read in the Handbook of Nature Study, observation ideas, and some follow-up activities. Pick and choose which ones are appropriate for your local area and weather. Please make sure to save this study in case you don’t have tadpoles or frogs to observe in person. This is a wonderful long-term study that your children will love.

Outdoor Hour Challenge – Frogs

Printable: Frog Field Guide Notebook Page

This week’s free printable is one that even your older students will enjoy using along with a field guide. Pick a local frog to learn more about and record your findings for your nature journal using this free printable notebook page.
Frog Field Guide Notebook Page

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #7. Take time to read through this challenge and contemplate how you could use your reptile and amphibian study to make a field guide of your local subjects. This could be a long term project that you add to as you come across new things to learn about.

Tag: Notebooking