Winter Study #8 - One Small Square

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Winter Study #8 - One Small Square

We decided to do 3 different squares for our study this week. At first my kids limited their discoveries to the obvious things - leaves, sticks, rocks - but we were surprised by all the details we found when we more closely examined them - little seeds, different colored sand, shapes, symmetry, patterns - it was a beautiful nature study!

Square #1: In the flower bed

Square #2: In the sandbox

Square #3: In the grass

Winter Series #6 - Salt Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Winter Series #6 - Salt Study

We tried the salt experiment suggested in the Handbook of Nature Study. We dissolved salt in water and then poured it into two shallow dishes. We kept one on the kitchen counter and the other one we put on a windowsill. Because we live in the desert (dry dry dry) our salt crystals had started appearing by the next morning. We will probably let the dishes sit for a few more days to observe as the water continues to evaporate.

Here are some backyard discoveries we made during our outside time:

A dandelion!!

We continue to have lots of night time deer visitors and they leave behind tracks and other not so desirable gifts (a couple of which are shown in the top right corner of this picture).

Several mullein plants that have been wintering over!

While we were outside it started to rain and hail - in the middle of this picture is a piece of hail.

And time outside wouldn't be complete without bubbles!!

We also have also been watching several tulip plants that we brought inside a couple weeks ago. The outside bulbs haven't started growing yet - must be too cold still!

Winter Series #7 - Winter Birds

Outdoor Hour Challenges - Winter Series #7 - Winter Birds

We weren't able to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count because we had family visiting us and lots of activities going on. But we did pick a bird to focus on for this challenge. We noticed the European Starling has started returning to our neighborhood. Last year many of the houses in our neighborhood could boast a starling nest built in the eves of the house. I posted about it here - I talk about the starlings the last half of the post.

Here is a recent picture of some starlings on a neighboring house:

To learn about the Starling's migration we went to All About Birds - European Starling - Life History. They don't have a very exciting migration, but the kids were interested because we noticed when they left this past fall and now they are coming back. They also thought it was neat that all starlings found in North America originated from 100 birds released in the state of New York in 1890, and that starlings can mimic the calls of other birds.

I printed out coloring pages from Cornell's Bird coloring book for the kids to color, cut out, and glue into their journals. They wanted extra pages so they could cut them out and have "pets." When they were done coloring I asked what other colors they could use to make them more like a starling and they quickly corrected me "We colored juvenile starlings, Mom, not adults!" Silly me!

A's-N's-

Today we went to a local park to feed the ducks - We were happily surprised to see a few additions to the group of 8 we have been visiting this winter, which caused a short discussion on where they could have come from.

My kids are wondering if this bird is a goose - anyone know? We are trying to identify it online and in our bird guides, but no luck so far!!

Winter Series #5 - Pine Trees

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Winter Series #5 - Pine Trees

On a recent trip to a local park we spent time examining and discussing the pine trees. We focused on the questions used to get started in the challenge.

After the park we drove around looking for more pine trees. We stopped and talked about several that were different from the ones at the park, and to collect some pine cones!!

At home we worked on our nature journals.

N's journal-

A's journal - He isn't very excited about drawing so I'm pleased when he decides to participate. This day he traced the pine cones and filled in some details.

Some seeds from the pinecones we found when we were cleaning up.

We also spend a few minutes at the computer reviewing what we learned from a Winter Wednesday Challenge we did last year about pine trees - Week 5 - Trees Part 2.

Winter Series #4 - Winter Weather

Outdoor Hour Challenge - Winter Series #4 - Winter Weather

I am behind in my challenge blogging!! We have still been working on our challenges. Luckily, for this challenge we have had a wide variety of weather lately - snowy days to foggy mornings to rainy afternoons to chilly sunny days.

The week of the challenge we put together a chart similar to the one we used during our Autumn Series - Weather study. Over a few days we kept track of the temperature in the morning and evening, recorded whether it was snowing, raining, or windy, and what the weather was overall for the day. This has made my kids more aware of weather changes, and with all the ones we are experiencing we are talking about the weather everyday.

We are also having some wonderful signs that spring is on its way - a good thing because I don't care for the cold, but also a not-so-good thing becase we do live in a desert and the mountains need all the snow they can get!! Also, we could enjoy nice weather this month and get slammed with snow storms next month. Weather is amazing!!

Some pictures from our walks-

Phlox starting to flower

We watched a squirrell scavenging seeds from the bushes one day at the park. He was climbing up the bushes to get the ones at the very top. In the picture, he is sitting on the rock to the left behind one of the bushes.

Lots of new green!!

Easy Geography

During lunch today N wanted to listen to our Wee Sing Around the World CD. We ended up pulling out our maps while we listened and I helped them find the countries for each song. We all really enjoyed doing this! We also had a couple great discussions - a couple countries are now known by different names (Yugoslavia & Zaire) so we talked about how this happens; and we talked about why the song for Hawai'i wasn't included in the North American songs sections, but in Oceania instead.

Winter Sky & Stars

Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Series ~ Winter Sky & Stars

Due to cloudy skies (and evenings where I'm too tired to do more than put everyone to bed), we have spent several nights looking at and discussing the Moon.

"If we could be shot out from a Jules Verne cannon and make a visit to the moon, it would be a strange experience." --A Visit to the Moon, Handbook of Nature Study, pg. 856

A & N really enjoyed imagining they were on a visit to the moon, and we had a great discussion about what the moon would really be like if we did get to visit.

This next picture is the night of Friday, January 29th, the "Biggest and Brightest Full Moon of 2010." We were traveling to Idaho when the moon came up and it was amazing to see how big it seemed, especially with wide open fields in front of it.

We plan on watching the moon over the next few weeks to see it changing, and we want to get in some star observations if we have some clear skies!!

For anyone with an IPhone - I recommend downloading the free app "Moon Globe," it is a map of all the mountain ranges, craters, plains, etc. of the moon, and uses your position on earth to show you the side of the moon you are looking at.