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.
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
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.
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!
1. How about a spring cattail hunt? Find your own patch of cattails and complete some observations using the Handbook of Nature Study. There is even a freeSeasonal Cattail Notebook Pageto print!
2. Look for signs of spring in your part of the world. What better way to enjoy the early spring time outdoors? Use the suggestions in the challenge and then print the Signs of Spring notebook pagefor your nature journal.
3. One of the most popular “wildflower” challenges of all time is the Dandelion Challenge from the Spring Series! Everyone loves a good dandelion study and with this commonly found plant your family can enjoy a little flower study too!
4. Here is one that all of you gardeners will enjoy…earthworms! We love digging down into the fresh spring soil and that means lots of earthworms. My boys loved to go on an earthworm hunt while I pulled a few weeds in the garden boxes.
5. Everyone has weather….you can all take some early spring weather observations no matter if there is snow on the ground or you are experiencing rain showers or you have blue skies and white puffy clouds. Print a weather notebook page and have some fun outside recording your weather and observations.
There are lots more spring nature study ideas on the Spring Tab at the top of my blog. Pick one and enjoy a few minutes outdoors this week. Have you seen some signs of spring in your neighborhood?
“They usually occur in marshy zones along lakes or streams; and such a zone is always sharply defined by dry land on one side and water on the other.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 502
We did a little research about cattails in California and were interested to find out that it is considered an “invasive weed”. I can see where it might be trouble in irrigation ditches but it is hard for us to put the cattail into the invasive weed category. They are so green and pretty in the summer and they provide such a great habitat for the red-wing blackbirds and other animals as well.
If you remember from the spring we were a little worried that our cattail patch, wondering if it would recover from some pruning that the neighbor did to clear out their ditch. Well, we returned in July to check things out.
Our patch has grown back! The ground was nice and damp which was perfect for getting those cattails going again and the green leaves were sprouting up everywhere. We were so encouraged.
Here is the actual cattail part that is usually brown but it is still green in July. The shape is there but it is not the brown cigar-shaped flower head that we are accustomed to.
As part of the August Newsletter challenge, we returned again to our cattail patch and took a look at what had changed since spring and since last month. We were in for a surprise!
The county has dug up the creek just above our patch of cattails and has rerouted the water into a pipe. Now it appears that unless there is a spring for our cattails that they might be doomed without water.
We walked down the trail to our patch and it was still there but the ground is not as damp as it was last month. The cattails have turned brown and are covered in pollen.
I could just brush the flower head and the pollen would puff out like smoke.
“These flowers may be studied in the schoolroom with suggestions for field observations. A lens is almost necessary for the study of most of these flowers.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 503.
We were able to examine the different parts of the cattail, wishing we had our hand lens. We will try to remember to throw in the hand lens for our next trip to the cattails.
Here are some other interesting things we saw on our walk.
I have no idea what this plant is but it was right in among our cattails. The tiny seeds and the way it grows make this an interesting plant to observe.
Our Queen Anne’s Lace is so small this year…the plants are small and the flower heads are small. It is amazing to see the difference in how this plant looks from last year’s crop.
The wild sweet peas are just about finished blooming and all the surrounding areas are brown. The pink really stands out as you walk the trail….the bees love it!
I look forward to seeing some of your pond studies or any other nature studies you have completed this month. Make sure to submit your entries to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. You can submit your entries by following this LINK.
I already hinted about our cattail spot….the one that was cut down and cleaned out. We were a little disappointed but not discouraged. We have two others places to check but one has so much water right now because we have had heavy rains. Eight inches from Thursday to this morning….crazy wet! The boys were upset about the cattails being cut down but there is hope if you look at the photo below.
We are going to watch this spot to see if those little baby cattails will fill in the creek area like they were before. It will be interesting to see how long it takes to have another batch of cattails to observe. If you haven’t seen Creation Wiki yet, give this LINK a try to read more about cattails.
We came across something that was interesting. Our retaining wall had started to fall over and Mr. A helped me fix it but in the process we realized the problem was caused by a system of vole tunnels directly underneath the cement blocks. The wall is right near the birdfeeder (find the green in the photo and then you will see the post) and the voles are tunneling up underneath…in fact there was a hole earlier in the year that came up directly under the hanging feeder and the spilled seed just went down the hole, a very convenient set-up for the vole. Not sure how to solve the problem but we got the wall back up and we will see how long it lasts.
How about a couple pretty images to end this entry?
We have had quite a variety of birds at our feeders during the month of March…lots of Lesser goldfinches, even in the cold snowy weather we had last week.I am keeping a list of our birds observed for the month to post on Heather’s Tweet and See.
They are one of my favorite feeder birds right now and I cannot stop taking photos of them.
We are going to have an on-going study of cattails again this year because I think we can glean some new information for our nature journals.One thing we will research is how they reproduce and how the seeds are spread…..which we sort of know a little about already but we want to have some concrete facts to include in a future journal entry.
Hope you have a chance to check out your cattails soon!
Start thinking about observing your spring time cattails. We were horrified to discover that one of our cattail spots had been cut down and cleaned out! It is funny how you become attached to a place once you have learned about the plants, animals, and trees that live there. We are going to watch to see if the cattails come back.
Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 500-502 in the Handbook of Nature Study if you have not done so before. It might also be beneficial to read it again this season and highlight the parts that contain information about the leaves of the cattail plant. We will be focusing this season on where the cattail grows and what the leaves look like as they grow up from the plant. Prepare yourself for this week’s outdoor time by reading #1, #2, #4, and #5 suggestions for study on page 502.
(In the free version of the Handbook of Nature Study, the cattail section starts on page 551. If you are using the free version from HomeschoolFreebies, you need to look in Plants and Trees, page 65)
Outdoor Hour Time:
Enjoy your outdoor time this week at your cattail spot. If you have been participating in the year-long cattail study since last autumn, you will know just where to look for cattails. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to talk a little about the habitat where your cattails are growing.
Some Suggestions for a Spring Cattail Study
How wide a strip of land do the cattails cover?
Are they near a stream, brook, or pond?
Observe the kind of soil where your cattails grow.
How are the leaves arranged-growing opposite or alternating?
Describe the leaves’ texture, color, shape.
Have your child make as many observations as they can during your outdoor time of the cattail. (Keep it fun.)
Follow-Up Activity:
Make sure to allow some time after your outdoor hour to discuss any subjects that your child finds interesting. Encourage the completion of a nature journal entry recording your observation of your cattails. You can use the notebook page included in the Spring Series ebook or a blank page in your journal.
Make sure to encourage your child to sketch the cattail leaves. Also try to include a little of the habitat that your cattails are growing in during this season. Include in your sketch any insects, birds, or animals that you observed near your cattails during your outdoor time. Here is a link for more information on Broad Leaf Cattails.
Here is a Spring Nature Walk Worksheet for you to use with your family. If you had trouble with this download last week, try again this week!
Can it truly be the last season of our year-long cattail study? This year has really gone by fast. I can remember the autumn study we completed for our cattails and how we noted so many interesting new things about them for the first time. The advice in the Handbook of Nature Study to study plants and trees over an entire year, watching in each season is one that we have learned so much from in our family.
We have now spent a complete round the circle observation of a patch of cattails just around the corner from our house. We drive by several times a week and each time I notice the cattails and how they change with the season.
After looking back on our previous entries, our cattails in summer look pretty much the same as our cattails in autumn. The biggest changes were from winter to spring.
The habitat was definitely wetter in the spring and the other vegetation was tall, thick, and green. Now the surrounding area filled in with berries and thistles. We realized that there is a path that some sort of animal has made to get down to the little creek, probably a mule deer. There is a family of deer that live along this stretch of the road and we see them several times a week. Fall Study
We used our senses but the thing that impressed us the most was how smooth and long the leaves were. We noticed upon looking closer at the arrangement of the leaves and how they are attached to the stalk. Somehow we missed that observation in the other seasons. We tried to remove a leaf from the stalk and we were not successful. Usually someone has a knife in their pocket (that is what happens when you have boys) but not this time. We had to go back another time to get a sample to observe closely.
There were birds all around the cattails but not directly on them. The boys think the birds were attracted to the thistles, berries, and water that were available in the area that the cattails grew in big clumps. In the spring we had heard all kinds of insects in this area and now it was silent. We were hoping to see some frogs too, or at least hear them on this outing but it was very quiet.
I love these year-long studies that give us time and incentive to watch a common plant more closely.
Sight: Observe the cattail’s habitat. Look for birds, insects, and animals living or resting in or on the cattails. Look for nests. See if you can find the cattail flowers.
Smell: Sit or squat near your cattails and close your eyes. Breathe deeply and see if you smell anything.
Touch: Feel the leaves, edges, and spikes of the cattails.
Hearing: Take a minute to listen as you stand or sit near your cattails. Can you hear any birds or insects? Water running?
Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 500-502 in the Handbook of Nature Study if you have not done so before (starting on page 551 if you have the free download version) . It might also be beneficial to read it again this season and highlight the parts that contain information about the leaves of the cattail plant.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Enjoy your outdoor time this week at your cattail spot. If you have been participating in the year-long cattail study since last autumn, you will know just where to look for cattails. Use the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study to talk a little about the habitat where your cattails are growing.
Is your cattail still growing in water or has it dried up?
What does the “cattail” parts of the plant look like now?
What color and shape are the leaves?
Do you see the cattails seeds or balloons?
Can you pull some of the fuzz from the cattail and observe it more closely?
How do you think the seeds spread, by wind or water?
How crowded are the cattails growing together?
Please note: If you do not have any cattails to observe in your area, you may wish to choose another local plant to observe in each season throughout the next year.
Follow-Up Activity:
Make sure to allow some time after your outdoor hour to discuss any subjects that your child finds interesting. Encourage the completion of a nature journal entry recording your observation of your cattails. You can use the notebook page and coloring page created for the Summer Series ebook, the notebook page from Autumn, a blank page, or any other general notebook page listed on the sidebar of my blog. You may wish to pull out your other cattail entries and compare the year-long changes in your cattails.
If you would like all the Summer Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. Here is a link to a complete description: Summer Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges
This is our third season for studying our little patch of cattails. Actually, we are watching two different patches, one patch around the corner from our house and one on our regular walking trail. They both have sprung to life over the last few weeks.
The first spot….
This area is alongside the road and it has been easy to watch the cattails growth as we drive by a few times a week. We actually walked over to do our observations of the cattails so we could take our time and really look at them up close. Well, so much for getting up close. The grasses are about chest high and the ground is sloppy wet. The creek is running and everything is so green! We compared these photos with the ones we took in the winter and it is amazing how different the surroundings are for our little cattail patch.
Here I zoomed in with the camera a little so you can see the cattails but as far as getting close to examine them, no way. We will have to watch and see when the water levels go down and then make an update.
The second patch is green and ankle deep in water, so muddy that none of us wanted to wade over to investigate further. We did hear some red-winged blackbirds and some robins near-by as we stopped to observe the cattail’s leaves more closely.
There are quite a few growing and it seems like there are more now than when we started observing this patch in the autumn.
Here you can see the slippery mud alongside the walking trail. One thing we noticed this time is that there is a certain smell to this area, perhaps the mud has a particular odor but even just typing about it brings the scent back to mind. It is a peculiar smell and not unpleasant. Marshy growing things….if I had to pick a way to describe it.
We were treated to a reptile sighting on this walk. This sort of reptile does not bother me as much as the two rattlesnakes we saw on our walk last weekend. Rattlesnakes are a common snake in our area but I have rarely seen them out and about as we walk. Today though, this alligator lizard stopped scurrying along so I could take his photo.
Our journals are in the works but I wanted to get this entry up before this week’s challenge posts.
