Handbook of Nature Study Notes 2

Here are my notes from what I've learned alongside the Outdoor Hour Challenge no. 2:

From page 15, 'The Field Excursion': A very efficient field trip may be make during the ten or fifteen minutes at recess, if it is well planned. The half-hour excursion should be preceded by a talk concerning the purposes of the outing and the pupils must know that certain observations are to be made or they will not be permitted to go again. (Not sure how to carry this threat through when you're homeschooling!!

From pages 23-24, "How to Use This Book":

• The teacher should have at hand the subject of the lesson. She should make herself familiar with the points covered by the questions and read the story before giving the lesson.
• The story should not be read to the pupils. It is given as an assistance to the teacher.
• Make the lesson an investigation and make the pupils feel they are investigators.
• The 'leading thought' embodies some of the points which should be in the teacher's mind while giving the lesson.
• The direct questioning method, if not employed with discretion, becomes tiresome to both pupil and teacher.
• The best teacher will cover the points suggested for observations with few direct questions. 

Restriction by Gretchen Primack

So this is restriction: a thousand tastes
of compassion, the crisp and the dissolving,
the bowl of comfort and the bowl of bracing sour,
what is mashed and crunched, split and whole.
The zippers of wheat, the burst of a mango, the tiny
skin peeling itself from a perfect bean,
a hundred plump grains and a hundred plump
nuts and seeds, the geneses
of tall green stretches and fat green leaves.
That is what becomes my mouth
and body and my heart, and it is
my joy, and kindness, and plenty.

Love This by Gretchen Primack

If you permit

this evil, what is the good

of the good of your life?

     —Stanley Kunitz

The body floods with chemicals saying, Love this,
and she does, and births it; it is a boy
she begins to clean and nose, but he is dragged
away by his back feet. She will never touch him
again, though she hears him howl and calls back
for days.

Her breast milk is banked for others. Her son
is pulled away to lie in his box.
He will be packed for slaughter. How ingenious
we are! To make product from byproduct.
To make use of the child,
kill and pack and truck him to plates.

And when the gallons slow, we start over,
and her body says, Love this! And she does,
though in a moment she will never touch
him again. His milk is not for him.

And when the milk slows too slow,
she will join him on the line, pounds
of ground. And how we will dine!
And talk of our glossy dogs! And her body
will break up on our forks, as mothers
beg us for the grain we stuffed her with,
and children beg us for the water
scouring her blood from the factory walls.

And when her wastes and gases and panic
heat our air so hot our world stops
breathing-then will we stop? Then
will we grow kind, let the air cool
and mothers breathe?

Outdoor Hour Challenge Week 2

We reached a suitable bench in the park on our nature study morning and sat down. I asked the children to be still and quiet.

What did they see?

• trees, grass, people, benches, leaves fallen from the trees

What did they hear?

• birds singing, the wind gently blowing through the branches, people talking, cars driving along the road nearby, a lion roaring (OK, that's because the local town zoo is quite near!) 

How did they feel?

• a little cold today 

Red squirrel

We looked out for interesting things as we continued on our walk. Sophie started collecting acorns and we talked about how the squirrels were storing them up for the winter. Then we heard a noise and saw three squirrels chasing each other through the trees - one was red, one was black and one was grey. We tried to take pictures but they were too fast.

Crab apple tree

We saw lots more crab apples on the ground and collected some fallen crab apples leaves for our nature notebook.







We also saw an interesting tree we hadn't seen before. There were lots of oak leaves on the ground and Charis found a huge one that we took home.

Green moss on tree stump

We noticed lots of clumps of mushrooms around old tree stumps, and lots of trees had green moss on. Sophie pointed out a tree that had 'yellow moss' instead, which I guessed was lichen (need to check that). There were lots of 'soldier bugs' around, and we saw how some had climbed quite high up the tree trunks. We wondered if perhaps they liked the moss.

Yellow lichen?

Chicory

The chicory flowers were still out, but not many other flowers.

On the way back we saw a dead mouse. Last week it was a dead dog. I wonder what dead animal we'll see next week!

Handbook of Nature Study Notes

In combination with the first outdoor hour challenge, here are some of the interesting points that I noted down from pages 1 to 8 of the Handbook of Nature Study:

• The object of the nature-study teacher should be to cultivate in the children powers of accurate observation and to build up within them understanding.
• What nature-study should do for the child:
• give practical and helpful knowledge
• cultivate his/her imagination
• cultivate a perception and a regard for what is true and the power to express it
• cultivate a love of the beautiful
• give a sense of companionship with life out-of-doors and an abiding love of nature

• If nature-study as taught does not make the child love nature and the out-of-doors then it should cease (!!)
• Out-of-doors life takes the child afield and keeps him in the open air, which not only helps him physically and occupies his mind with sane subjects, but keeps him out of mischief.
• Out in this, God's beautiful world, there is everything waiting to heal lacerated nerves, to strengthen tired muscles, to please and content the soul that is torn to shreds with duty and care.
• In nature-study any teacher can with honour say, "I do not know; let us see if we cannot together find out this mysterious thing. Maybe no one knows it as yet, and I wonder if you will discover it before I do."
• In nature-study the work begins with any plant or creature which chances to interest the pupil.
• Nature-study does not start out with the classification given in books, but in the end it builds up in the child's mind a classification which is based on fundamental knowledge.
• The nature-study lesson should be short and sharp and may vary from ten minutes to half an hour in length. There should be no dawdling; if it is an observation lesson, only a few points should be noted and the meaning for the observation made clear.
• The lesson should not be repeated unless the pupils demand it. It should be done so well the first time that there is no need of repetition.
• In nature-study, the observation of form is for the purpose of better understanding life.

I like the last point. Nature study is not just about identifying and naming things. We identify them so that we can better understand their life and purpose.

Starting the Outdoor Hour Challenge - Week 1

We've just completed our first week of homeschooling for this new academic year (yippee!). Friday mornings are going to be our nature study mornings, and I'm planning to base them around the Outdoor Hour Challenges found on the Handbook of Nature Study blog.

Today we were supposed to just find a couple of things that interested the children that we could investigate further. Charis (3) said she liked the pretty blue flowers we saw. I think they were chicory - I've looked them up before. Sophie (5) liked all the tiny crab apples we came across on the path.

I forgot to take our camera with us, so there are no photos, unfortunately. I'll try to remember next time!

We did also see a dead dog in the lake, which led to a conversation about how dangerous water is and how important it is to learn how to swim, but I'm not sure that that comes under 'Nature Study' per se!

Learning more about Birds

Here's the next section of the reading in HONS, pp 35 - 47:

1. Describe something you learned about Migration by reading this
section.

I loved reading about the Artic tern, who nests in the Artic and winters in the Antartic, making a round trip of 22,000 miles each year and has more hours of daylight than any other animal on the globe! Migrants are either summer residents in our area or winter residents, or 'visitors' if just passing through. Some species have a different migration route south than the return one north.

2. Do you have any unusual birds who migrate through your area?
Describe.

I'm not aware of any yet.

3. How does a bird’s eye sight compare to a human’s?

All birds have much better eyesight than humans. Birds such as hens cannot see the same object with both eyes at the same time, which is why they often turn their head to look at us with their other eye. However, she can see all around her all the time.

4. Does a bird have a distinguishable ear?

Birds' ears are usually just a hole in the side of the head, covered with feathers.

5. Compare and contrast the hen’s beak and its uses with the duck’s bill
and its uses.

A hen's beak is sharp and pointed so that she can use it like a pick on the soil and like a pair of nippers. The duck's bill, on the other hand, is broad and flat and much softer. It's used like a sieve to strain out the water leaving the food in the birds mouth. Both birds use their bills for cleaning and oiling their feathers and also for fighting. They also use them to turn over their eggs and make nests.

6. Where are a bird’s nostrils and does a bird smell well with them?

A bird's nostrils are situated in the beak near the base, but we don't believe they have a very keen sense of smell.

7. What is the danger of “teaching” too many details during nature study
for elementary school students?

The danger is it may take out the life and spirit of the work for the child.

8. How many toes does a bird have? Describe anything new you learned
about chicken or duck feet.

A bird has 4 toes, 3 in front and 1 behind. Ducks' legs are shorter and placed further back than that of a hen, which is why ducks walk more awkwardly when on land.

9. Which sex of bird sings most often? Are there certain conditions
which must exist for the bird to sing?

Usually only the male bird sings. Birds prefer to sing in spring and early summer, usually early in the morning, and often from a particular place in their territory.

10. Does anyone recommend a particularly good resource for learning bird
songs?

I don't know of any yet.

11. Do you have any plans to attract birds to your yard this year? If
so, how?

We put up a bird feeder during the winter, but our young dog often barks at the birds and frightens them away. I'm hoping to put up a bird bath table on one of the trees. Our garden does seem to attract a few birds, particularly since we have a lot of trees and places to perch.

12. In what ways are birds useful to humans?

Birds bring us delight, through their songs, their colourful plumage and their interesting habits. Birds are useful in consuming insects that might harm our plants and trees, as well as weed seeds. Birds of prey regulate the numbers of small pests, and other birds like vultures and gulls help to dispose of corpses and other rubbish.

13. List the main points of inquiry when studying birds’ nests.

Nests should not be examined in the summer while the birds are still using them, lest they be frightened into abandoning them. Empty nests can be documented by noting where it was found, in what kind of tree and how high from the ground.