Nature Journals

Happy 4th of July!  Now it feels like summer, right?!

Challenge #1 was about nature journaling--getting one and starting to write entries.  We always begin with this because it is such a good habit and offers so many ways to record and document your learning over time--which is truly the ONLY way to assess understanding: in the process.

As an art teacher, Mr. G incorporates aspects of nature journaling, mostly through watching his beloved Decorah eagles and drawing exercises.  As an elementary teacher, I was able to take my students every week to a small, (very polluted!) cove behind the school. Nature journaling is where we begin to develop our observation skills, collect data we can use in other ways, learn to reflect, use math for a purpose, and sharpen our drawing and writing abilities.  Pretty academic stuff, I'd say!

So here are some samples of nature journals past:

This Strathmore 4x6 pad is my favorite for nature journaling.  I usually glue on my own cover as shown on the left.

sometimes my entries look like this..

sometimes I just write about what I observe...

and sometimes I press flowers or treasures I find, like this beautiful peacock feather, found on the ground at the Maine Wildlife Sanctuary--pictured also is a dried/pressed flower of Queen Anne's lace

This is a nature journaling assignment from one of my former 2nd grade students.  His dad transcribed his "nature questions" onto a sheet printed from the computer with a picture of a lizard the student was curious about.  A nature journal can be anything!

Sometimes nature journals are blank books we paint our own cover onto.

Sometimes they are several pages of blank paper folded and stapled or tied with string with a patterned cover.

These are two entries from my daughter in separate journals.
Can you tell which one she did as a 3 year old? as a 5 year old?

An entry from my son, age 7.  Translation: "I caught a bluegill [fish] in Maine."

Sometimes a nature journal is just some blank paper clipped to an old cereal box that
has been covered in construction paper.

A nature journal should be anything you feel comfortable collecting your observations in, and it should reflect you in someway.  The important thing about your nature journal will be what you record inside, so if you haven't started:  get going!  Summer in New England offers so much to observe, and after the winter we had, we should all be taking a little extra notice and appreciation for the warmth and sunshine we are enjoying now!  What better to look back on when we are buried in feet of snow next winter--our reflections on this glorious summer weather!

Stay cool and enjoy the sun!

**SPECIAL NOTE: Challenge #2 will be posted Monday, 7/6/15!  Please check back!