Nature Journal - Purple Sea Urchins

On our trip to Cayo Costa, last week, we found dozens of (dead) sea urchins strewn all over one section of the beach.  We brought home a few to add to our collection of shells and other beach finds and to learn more about them.  We wondered why so many would be washed up to shore, most of them with all their spines but some without.  They look like works of sea art.

We learned that the sea urchin have been categorized in a Phylum called Equinodermata, which means spiny skins.  They are grazers and like to eat algae.  They aren't very sophisticated animals though, as they don't have a brain at all.

In Japan, sea urchin roe, which they call 'uni', is considered a delicacy and costs over $200/lb.!  It turns out that California exports tons of sea urchin roe to Japan.  Who knew? 

All this was an opportunity to discuss a little geography to see where Japan is on the globe and how long it would take to fly a case full of sea urchin roe over there.

Emily focused on what the sea urchins like to eat and who likes to eat them... I'm wondering if she was hungry when she wrote that.  Also, see the little fish with the sad face?  I think she was the little fish and that was her view of the waves!  She was, true to her personality, very cautious about those waves and swimming in general.

We also watched this wonderful BBC video showing an army of sea urchins mounting its attack on the kelp forest off the coast of California.

Linking with Friday Blog Hop and Friday Follow.

Field Trip to Cayo Costa

I thought I'd share some of the pictures from our trip to Cayo Costa, and it has been hard to pick just a few.  We had a really good time!  The weather was perfect, the beach was beautiful, the trails were interesting and beautifully kept.

 We had the beach to ourselves most of the time.  There are miles of beaches there, and because the island is only accessible by boat, there aren't many people there.

 The kids swam from morning till evening....

There were dozens of different types of birds around us all the time.

We enjoyed taking hikes on the trails, discovering new native plants, and even a pioneer cemetery...

Pioneer Cemetery

 There were no letterboxes in Cayo Costa, so we planted one near the cemetery.  Letterboxing is one of our favorite things to do together.  We've discovered many interesting places in our letterboxing expeditions.  Letterboxers like to lead you to beautiful, out-of-the-way sites that are not well advertised, and Cayo Costa fits that description well.


Michael's first catch

 The beach was teeming with fish...  We saw large schools of them jumping out of the water.  We caught enough to make a meal out of them.

Cabbage Palm (Sabal palmetto)- Florida native, source of edible swamp cabbage

See our cabin in the background?

 I took this picture when we were about to leave.  We had a hammock on the porch and a few chairs, plus towels hanging on the line which provided shade in the afternoon.  The cabins are rustic, with three bunk beds and a picnic table inside.  There is no electricity or running water in the cabins; however, there are bathrooms and showers available there.

Osprey - sea hawk or fish eagle

  Did I mention the bird population?  We watched as the ospreys, pelicans, and seagulls fished their meals out of the water.

Scrub Morning Glory Bonamia grandiflora

Native wildflowers decorated the landscape.  These morning glories were scattered everywhere.  They are an endangered species.  It was good to see how the rangers have been taking care of this island and its native plants and animals.  Maybe this is what the entire state of Florida was like just 100 years ago. 



wild coffee (Psychotria nervosa)

There were numerous cacti and sea grapes with their edible fruits along the trails. We also found several wild coffee bushes, like this one, loaded with berries.

One of the things Cayo Costa  is known for is the abundance of shells along its beaches, and it didn't disappoint.  The girls came home with a big bag to add to their collection.  They also found many sea urchin shells, which they will be writing about in their nature journals this week.

We never caught sight of Ol' Henry, but that's not a bad thing.  We've already made reservations to go back  next year!

Here are my top ten favorite things about Cayo Costa:

1. It is remote - This means less crowds, noise, pollution, and more wildlife

2. The wildlife - It was like being on a safari...

3. The combination of beach and hiking trails - It gave us two very different things to do

4. It is a state park - there is always a park ranger on call

5. It was close to home - Only a three hour drive

6. It was inexpensive - Even though we had to pay the ferry which added to the cost...

7. The cabins - I don't really like tent, trailer, or RV camping.  RV camping generally means generator noise, plus it usually brings crowds

8. Privacy - The cabins had lots of space between them.

9. Great fishing

10. Nice beach - clear water, lots of shells, calm waters...

I'm linking with Hip Homeschool Hop, and Top Ten Tuesday today.

Gasparilla Island Weekend

I've been busy this week getting ready for a four-day adventure.  The kids are beyond excited.  We've reserved a small cabin at Cayo Costa State Park, off the coast of Florida, just about two hours south of us. The entire island is part of the Florida State Park system and can only be reached by boat.  I expect there will be very few people there tomorrow and Friday, since only one other cabin has been reserved for those days.

The island has miles of isolated beaches, famous for great shelling and natural beauty. We'll be shore fishing, star gazing, cooking out, swimming, biking, hiking, going on a guided beach walk with the park ranger, bird watching, and of course -  collecting shells.  The kids are super excited about our little adventure. You see, Cayo Costa, also known as Gasparilla Island, has an interesting history...  The island was named after the pirate Jose Gasper, who settled on the island in the 1700s with his pirate friends. They used the island as their cove.  Legend also has it that there is a big shark called Old Henry who roams about at dusk...

The weather forecast looks great... 

We will be out of range for the next few days - no phones, computers, tv...  just a park ranger to connect us with the mainland in case of emergency. 

Go to Outdoor Wednesday to see what others are doing in the great outdoors and come back next week to see the pictures!

Nature Journal - Wally the Worm

Fearless nature journalist and her subject - Wally the Worm

Out on our nature walk this morning, the girls spotted this earthworm crawling accross our driveway.  It was a perfect opportunity to learn about earthworms.  Of course, they had to name "him..."

Wally the Worm under the magnifying lense

 Throught the glass, they discovered that worms many rings, and that they are a mark of their age. 

We read from A Handbook of Nature Study, all about earthworms - diet, function, habitat... 

Then they debated on what to do with Wally.  Michelle was all for putting him in one of the garden beds, but Emily wanted to feed him to the chickens.  We had  to call an impartial judge to the rescue.  Dad got the last word...

"...back to its home!"

Wally now lives underground in our vegetable garden where he will spend the rest of his life contributing his castings and plowing the soil.


 Emily drew Wally's release for her nature journal...

Michelle's worm is down in its burrow surrounded by flowers and leaves stored up for its meals.  Down at the bottom she wrote, "God made earthworms to help man." 

I am so thankful that she can stay home and learn science as a study of God's Creation!

Nature Journal - Camphor Tree

On our Friday nature walk, we went looking at trees.  The Camphor tree that grows near our back door is a favorite with the kids because of its low branches; it's the perfect climbing tree.  It also caught our eyes because it has a few red leaves, a reminder of fall colors in other parts of the country.  We decided to focus on it and learn more about it.

Michelle was interested in its branches because she has been learning how to draw texture in art class, and drawing tree branches was part of her assignment.  I love it when we can bring several subjects together.  Her drawing of the Camphor tree would do double duty - I color copied it, so she could use it for her nature journal and her art assigment.

We discovered that the Camphor tree is an evergreen, native of South-East Asia - China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. 

This motivated Michelle to go to the globe and locate those countries.  One of the beauties of the Charlotte Mason method is that kids are eager to learn and discover things on their own, it instils the love of learning in them; and that is one of our goals in education.

We also found that camphor oil comes from the Camphor tree, and it has medicinal uses.  The girls got to smell the crushed leaves where the oil is extracted from.  The wood from Camphor trees is supposed to be nice for building furniture.

 One of the things we like about this tree is that the leaves, when they come out and they're new, have a nice redish tone to them.

Emily's drawings and labels of the Camphor Tree

 I read in Floridata that Camphor trees are an invasive species in the South East United States, so I used the opportunity to talk to the girls about the problems we have here in Florida because of plants and animals that are brought from tropical areas in other countries, like the Burmese Python that has invaded the Everglades, and how important it is to not allow exotic animals or plants to be brought and released into the wild where they can disrupt native species. 

I am not sure how our Camphor tree ended up in our back yard except that our home's previous owners loved trees and planted a variety of them everywhere.  They were from out of state and missed the trees they were used to seeing in their home state.  They actually travelled there and brought trees home to plant.  As a result, we have lots of nice trees, and most of them are great additions.  The birds love nesting in them, and we enjoy watching and listening to them.

 We will have to decide whether we can keep the tree.  If we do need to cut it down, maybe we will keep some of the wood and have something made out of it...

I am linking with:

Monday Mosaic

Nature Journal Blog Hop #1!

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If you are joining my Nature Journal Blog Hop, please copy and paste the picture or html code above in your post!  That way others can learn about it!   Link up is at the bottom of this post.

Wisteria

So, we went on our weekly nature walk on Friday morning.  The girls look forward to it and were all excited to walk out the door.  It's our time to explore and discover new things together.  Most of the time, we go out to see what we can find, but on Friday I had one thing I wanted them to check out.  I had gone out earlier in the week thinking about trimming the wisteria that grows out of control all summer.  When I came up close though, I discovered that there was a pair of cardinals making a lot of noise and fluttering around.  They had their nest built in there, so I had to change my plan and postpone trimming for a while; but I decided it would be a nice opportunity for the girls to see the pair and their nest.  So, we headed on out to check them out, and they were there making a fuss at us again for getting too close.  We didn't look inside the nest, so as to not disturb them too much, but I suspected there were babies in there.   We also saw another pair of cardinals along our driveway, in the big oaks.  For some reason, those are the ones they drew in their journal.



Jet Clouds



As we walked around the house and over to the driveway, Emily looked up and discovered jet clouds.  There were several planes flying overhead at that time, around 8:30 in the morning; probably loaded with commuting businessmen, unaware of the streaks they were leaving behind them all over the sky.  Emily marveled, and I enjoyed one of those precious moments when my kids make a great new discovery.  Of course, I was asked how the jets made those clouds, so I tried to explain water vapor and condensation - big words I had to remember to review later and maybe follow up with more information back inside.

Florida Native Morning Glories

We found a native Morning Glory vine climbing up another bush, its delicate purple flowers only there for a few hours before the sun would dry them up, greeted us as we walked by. 

Once inside, we pulled out the Handbook of Nature Study, where we learned all about cardinals, my favorite resource to use after nature walks.  We also looked at our birding guide and learned about where cardinals live, and how they migrate during the different seasons.  We looked at animal migration maps for other birds and butterflies at Journey North, a site where you can record your observations.  We recorded our sighting of Monarch butterflies on our walk there.  That was a good opportunity to do some geography review.

The girls just love these walks, and Friday mornings work out best for us because Michael is gone to his martial arts class with Gabi then, so I have the morning to do something like this with them.

When we went inside, they drew their pictures, each focusing on what they learned or liked about our walk.

Michelle's Picture

Michelle's picture reflected some of the things she has been learning in our art classes, like the texture on the trunk of the tree.  Her cardinals show the difference between the male and female cardinals.  I think she liked that it was a sunny morning too!

Emily's Picture, and "the biggest raindrop in history!"

 Emily had all the different things we saw in her picture and wanted to label them, so I wrote them down for her to copy.  She also drew herself and Michelle looking out the windows of the house.  Her father's comment when first seeing the picture, "that is the largest rain drop in history!"  She laughed.  I only suggested that there might be either eggs or babies in the cardinal's nest.  She drew hatching cardinal babies, just coming out of their eggs.  My favorite was the jet "stream" (cloud).

Since Michelle is older and more advanced, I asked her to write a paragraph about our nature walk.  I showed her a way to organize a word outline to help her get started.  I taught her about the importance of organizing our thoughts and information before starting to write, and how that helps people understand what we are trying to say better.

She gave me the important words about cardinals, the topic she wanted to write about, then I helped her organize them around the circle, forming a web.  Visual cues, like graphic organizers,  really help her understand better and make writing easier for her.

Join the Nature Journal Blog Hop by following the link below!

Happily linking with Autumn 2010 OHC!

Nature Journal - Native Florida Wildflowers

Summer Wildflowers

On our nature walk today, we went out looking for wildflowers around our house.  We like them because our bees do, and we are all for feeding the beehive, as we look forward to our first honey harvest.  We saw the bees feeding on Spanish Needle, the ones in the vase with the white petals.  Last spring, I planted some Blanket Flower seeds which have grown and multiplied all summer around a bird bath.  Those are the big ones with orange and yellow petals. 

"Skunk Flower"

The girls love going out and making a little bouquet of wildflowers.  They are learning the names and uses of many of them, if we can find them in our nature guides or online.  There are some we haven't found yet, mystery flowers like the "Skunk Flower" named by Emily who claims they smell just like a skunk.  We took her word for it and didn't get too close. 

Emily's Wildflowers

Learning how to use a nature guide to identify a plant is a valuable skill to have.  It teaches them how to do research on a particular subject, where to find the information, and what kind of information is available to us either on our own bookshelves, at the library, or online.  When they learned that bees are attracted to some of our native wildflowers for food, they understood better why it's important to allow wildflowers to grow along with our roses and other ornamentals.  We studied the importance of making sure we don't destroy the balance of God's creation by carelessly putting out chemicals that harm other creatures.

Sketching the flowers draws their attention to details.  I saw Emily counting the petals on one of the flowers, so she could get them just right on her picture, and she realized that not all flowers have the same number of petals.

Michelle's Wildflowers

 She then read a short paragraph with my help about flower visitors from Usborne Complete First Book of Nature (First Nature) which reinforced our lesson and gave her some reading practice that was a little more advanced and challenging than what she gets form her 1st grade curriculum.  After that, she recited back to me what she remembered from her reading, that helped cement the information, I copied it down, then she took my paper and re-copied it on her nature journal; which gave her more practice with reading and writing.

The girls love doing some of their work together, and nature journaling gives them a chance to learn and share an activity.  When they sit down to do their drawing, I don't let them see each other's work, as they tend to copy each other.  I tell them that I love both their styles and drawings, and that it would be boring for me if they gave me two identical pictures.  I know that Michelle is more advanced than Emily and has had more art lessons, but Emily's has a style of her own that I would want her to develop and not stifle away. 

Nature journaling is a very well-rounded and rich learning activity with opportunities to integrate many subjects - reading, writing, art, history, bible... and of course science!

We also watched a beautiful (and educational) video filmed by the Florida Wildflowers Growers Cooperative.

I participated in The Wednesday Window Linky!

Nature Journal - Spiders

Don found a spider this morning on his way back from milking our cow. I used the opportunity to have the girls come and check it out.

Black-and-yellow argiope

from Emily's nature journal (1st grade)

Michelle and Emily have been learning about spiders this week, reading from the Christian Liberty Press Science Readers. I really like these readers for early elementary natural science. The first one is just right for Emily(6), and the more advanced ones have comprehension questions that I can use with Michelle(8) to reinforce whatever concepts she is learning in her English lessons - punctuation, spelling, etc. But the thing we’ve enjoyed best has been nature journaling. I read several books about Charlotte Mason’s classical teaching methods when I first started homeschooling twelve years ago, and nature journaling was one of the ones that I adopted for the long run. The idea of going out in our own back yard and studying what God has created, first hand, is a great way to teach children about the wonders of His creation. There are a multitude of lessons to be found in nature about who the Creator is, why He made it all, why we are here…  The girls drew a picture of the spider, then they added their observations and what they learned about it.  I helped Emily by writing down what she said, so she could copy it correctly. 

We tried looking it up in our Field Guide of Florida, but they didn’t have this particular variety; so, we went to the internet and found what it was and that it is more commonly found in Texas. We also used another great internet tool I’ve been taking advantage of lately – You Tube! I love You Tube because it gives me quick access to short video clips about the lessons I’m teaching.

This one was about how a spider spins its web, and it answered Emily’s questions better than I could have described the process – a picture is worth a 1,000 words, and a good video… maybe more.