Monday, August 1, 2011

Ecojournals

_MG_1154-1

The Kids Ecojournal series by Toni Albert has been one of the staples of my kids nature study.  There are four in the series, one for each season.  Dated for each week of the year or so, Toni tells tales of her home on the twenty acres she calls Trickle Creek with her husband and their two pets.  The illustrations are by Margaret Brandt and are an incredible addition to the books.  Each entry there are tidbits of info to have the kids get out into nature and simple projects to enjoy.  I have seen many ‘study nature with your kids’ books, and these four thin installments of real life nature exploration have been my favorite by far.

As part of Cyan’s first grade science curriculum we made our own ecojournal from this example.  I still look back on that as one of the most fun homeschool experiences we have had yet!  Following the craft instructions in these books, we made a window bird feeder, put out new things for animals to enjoy, raised butterflies, and discovered just how many birds liked to visit our numerous gardens.

Yesterday I added it into Logan’s curriculum.  We spent an hour out in the sun watching pollinators… and then with instructions we got to become pollinators with paintbrushes.  He just loved it!  He got to use a magnifying glass for the first time for school and he loved watching the bees from up close and talking about how pollination works. 

2011-07-301

Then we brought samples in to the school room and dissected the poppy and cosmos to see the parts of a flower.  Logan was especially excited that pollen fell on the table.  He yelled “Mom!  Look!  You pollinated the table.”  lol!   When I explained that it had to hit another flower to really work he instantly brushed it up with the paint brush we had been using outside and ran out to pollinate another poppy.

It looks like we will be going through these amazing books again soon.  :)

SHARE:

3 comments

mandi said...

Thanks for this resource! they look wonderful! Do you find that the flora and fauna used are regional? OR is this even a component in the book? Often times the nature books we select use birds and flowers from the northern states which makes things tricky.

learningtable said...

Thanks for the recommendation--I just ordered all four!
:)

Val in the Rose Garden said...

Mandi - I think she is geared more towards the northern states although her info isn't state specific. Trickle Creek is in PA, so many of the creatures she is talking about are also East Coast critters and yet I haven't had any issue using them living outside in the Pacific NW (Seattle). So I think they are pretty universal, but not knowing where you are I couldn't be more specific.

Blessings,

Val

Blogger Template Created by pipdig