Posted by Cindy on October 4, 2011
You cannot even imagine how wonderful our Jr. Master Gardener class (aka Botany Lab) has been. Our horticulture extension agent rocks!
We’ve only had four classes so far and have covered tons of topics - plant parts, flower parts, soil types, the water cycle, ecology, organic pesticides and fertilizers, insects and pollination! Everything has been hands-on and perfectly “beefed up” so the parents of high school students can feel good about counting the class toward biology credits.
I haven’t taken pictures of everything (because I’ve been having too much fun myself), but below are a few snapshots…
A Lesson in Taxonomy
Classifying Insects
Can you eat using your pincers?
Flower Pigment Pounding
An Ecology Project - Birdhouse Gourds
Some quick facts:
- Our class has been limited to (16) 6th-12th graders.
- The original goal of the class was to be able to count it toward biology lab hours for high school credit.
- Our class is using the “official” Jr. Master Gardener material – Book 1. It’s meant for grades 3-5, but our agent is choosing the activities which are most appropriate for older kids and bumping things up a notch or two when necessary. (I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well he is modifying the material for an interesting, in-depth class.)
- As the main organizer of the class, I am creating 10 question “tests” each week for the older kids to use as part of a grade if their parents desire.
- The class will meet once a week for 8 weeks this semester.
- If the families are still interested, there is a Book 2 program that we might complete in the spring semester.
Talk to your local extension office and see if the 4-H and/or horticulture agent might be interested in developing a Jr. Master Gardener’s class for you!
Posted by Cindy on July 20, 2011
The post below was written by Melissa Leach of In the Sparrow’s Nest.
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Lecia, one of my blog readers, recently emailed me to ask the following question:
“Several moms in our homeschool group want to start a nature club but we have no idea where to begin with forming a club. Can you tell me a little about yours? Thanks for the help!”
Thank you for your question Lecia and since this is a popular one I decided to write up a blog post entry about it.
This spring and summer will be my second time leading a nature club for our homeschool co-op, and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am. Our nature club was a huge success last year and I truly loved leading it. As you probably know from my blog, I am very passionate about God’s creation and especially about sharing my love of it with others, and a nature club is an excellent way to do just that!
Here is my list of steps and recommendations for getting a club started:
Determine the interest level in your group. – Poll your group to see if you have a high enough interest level to make it worth officially forming a group. In my opinion, two or more families is great! These things have a tendency to grow quickly anyways once word gets out.
Determine a vision for how you want your nature club to be run. – Would you like a more structured time including an appointed “leader/teacher” for each meeting and a focus topic for each meeting such as birds, wildflowers, etc? Or would you prefer a more relaxed club where you just meet and freely enjoy nature together? Again, you could poll your group to determine what the majority is looking for in the club. Determine if you want parental involvement to be mandatory at each meeting. I recommend this for a couple of reasons: parents will be responsible for their children and not the leader(s), and I highly believe in parents being involved with and connecting with their children in nature study.
If a more structured time is desired, appoint a leader or leaders who will steer the meetings, being sure the meetings stay on task to what is desired of them. – Perhaps all the members would be willing to take turns leading a meeting; however most often there are a small group of people who are “natural leaders” and/or are more knowledgeable on the subject of nature and will gladly do this. Or perhaps you will determine that having just one leader/teacher works fine too.
Determine the frequency of your meetings and the topics and locations. How many times a month will you meet? Will you meet year round or only in the warmer months? Where are the places you could meet? Make a list of local parks or other locations that your club could meet. After doing all of the previous, make a list of the dates you will be meeting and locations where you will be meeting. Decide what you will do in the case of inclement weather. Will you reschedule?
After determining this, and if you chose to make your meetings a little more structured, make a list of topics your group would like to see covered throughout these meetings. When you are picking topics, match appropriate locations that would work well. For instance, a particular park may have huge wildflower fields that would make it perfect for a wildflower focused meeting. Or another park may have a beautiful creek which would make it perfect for a creek focused meeting. When determining what to teach on the focus subjects that you will be covering keep in mind the NaturExplorers unit studies at Shining Dawn Books each have a section dedicated to giving you ideas of things to do with Nature Clubs and Co-ops. I use these for each of our nature club meetings.
After you have all these details, put the information together coming up with a calendar of dates, meeting topics and locations for your club.
Now you are ready to start implementing your meetings! It is helpful to send out weekly reminders to the group, perhaps via email or another online means. In the reminders it’s helpful to list all the basics (where, what when, etc.) and also any helpful information such as if the children should bring anything special (nets, containers, etc.) or wear anything special (mud boots, long pants, old clothes, etc.).
I have tried to be very thorough in these recommendations for starting a nature club, hopefully I have not left anything out. And hopefully I have not left you feeling overwhelmed. If done correctly a nature club will NOT be overwhelming and tedious to run. It will be well worth the minimal effort! Do not make it too structured and “textbook educational”, keep structured teaching time minimal and hands-on exploring maximal.
Lastly, here is how our nature club looks:
We meet only in the spring and summer, starting in April and going through July. We meet every other Friday morning from 10:00am to 12:00pm, having a total of eight meetings. Some of the families stay after the meetings to have a picnic lunch together. Parental participation is mandatory. We start our meetings with a 10-15 minute teaching session on the chosen focus. Then the remainder of the time is spent exploring and doing fun hands-on activities. I send out reminders at least 5 days in advance giving all the details and recommendations for the meetings.
I will be happy to answer any other questions that you may have. And may God bless you in the study of His creation!
Posted by Cindy on July 19, 2011
It’s been awhile since my Creation Club met for nature study together. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share the Easter story with them and do some mini-hunts based on some of the ideas suggested in Nature Study Through the Holidays: Easter.
Looking for purple flowers to represent the color of royalty in honor of our King Jesus.
Finding signs of death and decay when considering Jesus' burial.
Exploring large rocks to go along with the resurrection.
For the class, I created a simple scavenger hunt sheet. It’s not included in Nature Study Through the Holidays: Easter (yet), so I’d like to share with you for FREE! It can easily be used for a group or a single child. Simply click on the graphic below to download it.
The Easter Story in Nature
Posted by Cindy on May 20, 2009
This month’s Creation Club focus was on creeks and creek banks. Sadly, though, the creek bank was grown up more than I had imagined and we didn’t get to do nearly as much exploring as planned. For me, it didn’t matter because I can enjoy any nature walk. For the children expecting to explore a creek in wet and wild ways, they were a bit disappointed. Below are a few pictures from our walk.
These were bright red mushrooms!
This one is bright red, too, although the color didn’t show up quite as well in the picture. See the little snail sitting on it? Can you see the worm holes in the wood?
This was found in the yard once we returned. Our best guess is a Brown Headed Cowbird. Any other suggestions?
And this one wasn’t found yesterday, but I couldn’t resist posting it. We found it at Melissa’s house this week when we went for a visit. It’s a cowboy hat shaped mushroom! Eli tried to pick it up to put it on his head!
Posted by Cindy on March 17, 2009
Our Creation Club started again! And, as usual, the Lord blessed us with absolutely beautiful weather! This month’s topic turned out to be more timely than I ever imagined when planning it. I had anticipated just getting to talk about certain aspects of conifers because I assumed we couldn’t possibly find examples of every stage of cone development. Boy was I wrong! The kids were able to find examples of each and every thing we talked about today.
We met in a local cemetery that was established in 1860. It houses many, many examples of wonderful evergreens, and specifically conifers. After a discussion of the differences between evergreens and deciduous trees, we talked about differences between needle-like and broad leaf evergreens – and were able to find plentiful examples of each.
Once understanding the distinctions of a conifer (cone-producing) evergreen, I asked the children to find a conifer and bring at least a cluster of its leaves back to our study spot. Using Melissa’s info on evergreen leaves, I had them observe the leaves closely under magnifying glasses, look for a waxy covering and break apart the leaves to find the liquid.
Next, we moved on to the cones. I asked them to try to locate one cone that was open and one that was closed. We talked about how the cones are the “fruit” of the conifer, how the scales house the tree’s seeds and open up to drop seeds when they are mature. I introduced the term “gymnosperm” as a “naked seed” – or a seed not housed in a fleshy fruit. We talked a little about how the cones will grow flowers – male and female on the same tree – in order to pollinate. I never expected the kids to be able to find flowers this time of year, but you’ll see below that they did! We were also able to open up some of the scales to find seeds already! Some of the children dissected their pine cones to reveal the inner “vein” that delivers food from the tree. Do you know how sticky and sappy evergreen food is??
Finally, each child was given a notebooking page (which you can see here). They had to find a conifer, identify it using tree field guides and complete the info on the notebooking page. In walking around to help them, I was amazed at the vast diversity between tree types in this small cemetery alone! Big cones, tiny cones, shaggy bark, smooth bark, needle leaves, rough leaves. Amazing!
Some woodpecker had a feast of sugary sap from this fir tree.
Anyone have an explanation for these rings? It’s a pine tree of some sort, we couldn’t quite pin down the exact type. The rings were beautiful, but we were puzzled as to the cause. A parasite??
I sent them home to try a cone experiment. Did you know cones will close and open depending on the humidity? They each took home at least one open cone. They are supposed to put it in water for an hour to watch it close. Afterwards, they are supposed to let it dry overnight to watch it open again. This is one of God’s mechanisms to protect the seeds from rain before they’re ready to fall from the cone. Nature never ceases to teach me something new about God!
