Pine Trees

Finally getting back into our nature study!  We were so excited to have a plan and get moving along!

So after looking at the Winter Study ideas on THIS blog – we decided to take on Challenge #5 : Pine Trees. 

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Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #5

Pine Trees in Winter

Inside Preparation Work:
This week read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 670-675 to learn more about pine trees. Even if you don’t think you have any pines in your area, it is still interesting to read the information for future reference. Make sure to note the ideas suggested for studying pines in the lesson at the end of the section.
Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15 minutes outdoors this week with your children in your own yard or on your own street. This week you will have two suggested activities.

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We chose this one primarily because we have lots of our own pine trees.  I hope to go back and do a few of the other challenges because we really are enjoying this one!

What we learned :

What a conifer is : a cone bearing tree.  We talked about how the lead branch of the tree (the one that grows the tallest and is the “leader” ) had a beetle that likes to eat the top, bore into the branch, and then eventually kill the branch.  ~Interesting!  Another interesting part is that another branch then will take over the leadership role and lead the tree.

{We learned all this from our Handbook of Nature Study by Anne Comstock}

We also learned that the Pine Trees on the West coast grow about 100 ft taller (200-300 ft) then those on the East Coast (100-200 ft).  This was interesting too, since we were able to talk about the trees we saw in person last year in Maine and Oregon!

I hope to sketch some pine cones later this week – maybe a couple different kinds.

Yesterday we did enjoy watercolor painting pine trees though :

Painting Trees VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

So, I am looking forward to working through many challenges each season as we are more deliberate about getting out and studying the nature right here in our yard!!

A Look Back : Maine

It has been a while since I have posted anything here, so while sorting some pictures for J’s blog I found some good ones from Maine.  We spent about 2 weeks in Maine in 2010 and took many great pictures of our explorations.  We always get to see, touch and examine many life forms native to that part of the country! 

One of our favorites is when we are in Maine for the Friendship Day celebration.  There is a conservancy organization that comes out with a salt water baby pool full of creatures found by the locals (mostly Lobster –men).

We have held (or touched) lobsters, crabs, horse-shoe crabs, flounder, cod, sea cucumber, star fish, and more than I can remember.  Last year, a lobster-man pulled up while we were there with a yellow lobster – they are super rare!  About 1 in 500,000 are yellow.  It was pretty cool to see such a rare one!

View Full Album

The kids favorite part of Maine is playing in lowtide at the house.   This past year, they took buckets down with them, filled them with a little water and then made their own touch tanks!  Theirs did not vary as much as the one in Friendship, but it was fun!  Mostly they collected hermit crabs, who Uncle Brian taught them to find.

 

 

Maine is our favorite place in the world, aside from home.  We love to see all the fun stuff we find in tide pools, or get to explore along the coast in general!

getting back into a routine

Today we actually went out and did some nature study!

We took our classroom to the pond and sat on the dock with our pencils and our nature journals – here is what I saw

Two boys sitting on the edge of the dock drawing the view

A sweet boy filling in his picture of a deer by the pond

 

Here they are all comfortable adding some color to their pics - 

Here is my quick and simple sketch of the trees behind the pond – I was “helping”

Hope we get into a routine with this nature study – we are sure enjoying our day to day nature study right here in our backyard!

Some more favorites

Most of these were taken by Jacob – a few by mom!  Taken about 2 blocks from our house at the park.

some new finds

Study of Bamboo

We have lots of this very close! In our backyard!

So I thought I would start simple and the kids journaled about the bamboo in our yard - this week.

Here is what we learned about bamboo:

Bamboo fiber comes from the bamboo plant, a member of the grass family native to cold mountains as well as hot tropical regions across East Asia through to northern Australia, and west to India and the Himalaya , sub-Saharan Africa , and the Americas from the southeast of the United States south to Argentina and Chile, They are of economic and high cultural significance in East Asia and South East Asia where they are used extensively in gardens, as a building material as well as a food source. In Africa , bamboo fibers have traditionally been used in handicrafts and art, from basket weaving to bag making. Bamboo is very quick growing and does not usually require the use of pesticides and herbicides to thrive. The process of making unbleached bamboo fiber is very light on chemicals that could potentially harm the environment.

Next we may have to find something to make with our bamboo!!

New Year : Restart

Okay, we are going to restart our nature blog. I am excited, while we had a crazy 2009 - we had tons of living nature study! I hope to share some pics and events, but at least we will share what we are doing starting today. I hope this is a year of some great nature studying! The kids love it and so do I! I am looking forward to following along with THIS blog. Hope you enjoy our journey!!