Category Archives: Science

Huntsville Botanical Gardens

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We took a field trip last Friday to the Huntsville Botanical Gardens.  Steady Eddie and I went many years ago, in the B.C. era of our marriage (Before Children, that is), but the girls had only been on a drive-through trip one Christmas to see the Christmas lights.  Steady Eddie saw online that Friday, May 6, was National Public Gardens Day, and since we had planned to go there the last time we took a field trip but opted out when we realized how expensive it would be, we jumped at the chance to go FREE this time.  It turned out that Steady Eddie had an important meeting at work and couldn’t go, so my mom went along with us.  She loves flowers and spends a good portion of her time each spring working in her yard, so I knew she’d enjoy it. 

I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves, more or less.  There were so many areas of the gardens that I didn’t remember from our trip there so many years ago.  Most notable among the new features is the children’s garden area, although I might’ve just not paid attention to it the last time since I didn’t have any children then.  :-)

The gardens has a seasonal feature right called Treehouses with a Splash.  It was a lot of fun to meander through the gardens, looking for the next tree house.  I think the girls’ favorite was probably the pirate ship.  I enjoyed seeing the variety of them; there was everything from a gnome house to an old trading post to a “We’re Not in Kansas, Anymore, Toto” farmouse all askew, complete with the ruby red slippers. 

The gardens also has a miniature train set, complete with landscaped village.  The garden that they wanted to visit over and over again, though, was the rock garden.  Who can resist water from a rock?  (Old Testament allusions here apply.  :-)   )  There’s also a beautiful, Japanese (?) inspired pond, complete with huge goldfish.  Employees of the gardens were on hand to help supervise the children (did I mention there were lots of school groups also taking advantage of no admission cost?)  as they explored the pond and tried to capture minnows or tadpoles with dip nets. 

The children’s garden area is huge and has so many different areas to visit and explore.  Of course, the girls loved the pollywog bog, and they even caught a pollywog!  :-)   There’s also a sandbox area, a vegetable garden area, a storybook garden, and almost every area incorporates water in some way.  We could’ve spent all day just in the children’s garden!

My favorite part was the butterfly pavilion.  Not only does it house butterflies and moths, but there were also different kinds of turtles to be seen.  Rumor has it that little tiny guineas, frogs, and possibly even a snake or two call it their home, as well, but we didn’t see any of those.  (Whew!) 

Of course, there were plenty of flowers to enjoy. 

I think time spent in the Huntsville Botanical Gardens is definitely worth the price of admission, and I’m eager to go back!  They even offer homeschool programs, and if we didn’t live so far away, I’d consider them for the girls.  Who knows–one day we might try some of them out, anyway!   

It was a fun day for us and a great way to (almost) end the school year.  Does your family do anything special to finish up your school year?

Bull Skull Hollow Village and Wildflower Walk

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Bull Skull Hollow log cabin, moved to this site from a nearby location

Last week, in lieu of an official spring break, our whole family went on a field trip to nearby Bull Skull Hollow.  We had considered a road trip to a botanical garden about an hour away, but when we saw this event on the Fresh Air Family website, we decided that we couldn’t beat this deal–close by and FREE!  Although the walk hike was a little more than we expected (neither Steady Eddie nor I believed the outing could really last until 5 p.m., as the website indicated), I consider this locale a hidden gem of northwest Alabama and the Tennessee River valley. 

You can read the history of Bull Skull Hollow on the website, so rather than give you all the details, I’ll just share my pictures.

Desiccated soup? This cracked me up. :-)

A fossil of some sort--an egg, maybe?

You can read more about the village here on the website.  We really enjoyed walking around the village and enjoying all the antiques Mr. Hicks collected to share with the community.

Our hike mostly followed a creek, and it was rocky and hilly and just a little bit strenuous. 

 

mouse ear coreopsis leaf--Do you see the mouse and and its ears?

Raccoon tracks, perhaps? Perfect to go along with our reading of Rascal!

dwarf crested iris

fiddlehead--I love these!

lots o' mayapples

mayapple blossom--You have to get down low to see these!

 It was a lovely day.  Our guide was an amateur botanist, the perfect mixture of knowledge and humility; he would encourage anyone to correct him if he mis-identified any of the specimens we saw, yet he rarely came across anything he couldn’t at least guess at.  The girls made friends of most of our fellow hikers; at one point, they were holding hands with one of the ladies on the trip, a spry great-grandmother who loves wildflowers and nature, telling her all their secrets.  It was such a good day–days like this are ones that make me love homeschooling.  Huge thanks go out to Steady Eddie for this day, too.  He took off work, not knowing that he would spend the day carrying the DLM in a pack and in his arms.  The hike lasted lasted over three hours, and did I mention that it was somewhat strenuous, with lots of loose rocks, holes, mud, and hills?  Steady Eddie is my hero.  :-)

I’m tagging this post Alabama field trips, northwest Alabama field trips, and Tennessee Valley field trips, in hopes that I can blog more about some of the fun places we go around our state and region.  Alabama really is a beautiful state!

Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

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When I saw Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems on the new books shelf at the library, I snatched it right up.  The cover artwork is gorgeous, and I almost immediately recognized the name of the poet whose works are contained therein.  I read Tracie Vaughn Zimmer’s novel-in-verse Reaching for Sun (linked to my review) way back in 2008, but it has stayed with me, which is a sure sign of the talent of this poet-author. 

I love Cousins of Clouds.  It is a series of very different poems, all about elephants.  The title is taken from the first poem, which is about some of the beliefs that various cultures have had about elephants down through the ages.  One of my favorite poems is a concrete poem entitled “Fortress.”  In it, the speaker addresses a baby elephant and recounts the way the mamas, aunties, and sisters encircle the baby to protect him.  Here’s a little snippet from one entitled “Beggars of Bangkok,” which is about an elephant and his mahout (handler) who make their living begging:

The mahout kicks the flesh

behind the tattered, speckled ears,

and the elephant turns–

diamonds of reflective tape

mark his giant hind

and swing on the metronome of his tail

so the cacophony of cars

will notice his shadowed form.

Isn’t the juxtaposition of the ancient and the modern nice?  And I love the image of the metronome of a tail.  :-)   Each poem is accompanied by an explanatory note so that the context of the poem is made clear.  Since some of the poems are about cultures or landscapes that might be unfamiliar to the reader or listener, this is very helpful.

As wonderful as the poetry is in this collection, the other part of the equation here is the fabulous artwork by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy.  The illustrations are mixed media collages, one of my favorite forms of art.  From endpaper to endpaper, every page in this book is lovely.  My favorite illustration is one which accompanies six separate haiku poems about the parts of an elephant’s body.  There’s one entitled ”Accessory” about the elephant’s tail, which the poet calls a “tapered rope of tail” and “a fancy tassel”;  the artists, of course, illustrated the tail as a rope.  The legs are called “great pillars” and “an architect’s dream,” so one leg is illustrated as a column.  This two-page spread of the book is marvelous.  You can see a little video clip of illustrations from the book here on the author’s website.

Really, I could go on and on.  I am definitely nominating this book for the poetry category of the Cybils this year, if someone doesn’t beat me to it!  This would make a fantastic addition to a study of elephants (of course!) or even if you’re just looking to enjoy different forms of poetry, since this book contains quite a few.  Highly Recommended!

Related Links:

For the Kids’ Poetry Challenge and in response to this book, the girls and I made collage elephants using my stash of scrapbooking papers.  Drawing is something that can really frustrate at least one my girls on any given day, especially when it’s something that’s prescribed.  I used this lesson plan from Deep Space Sparkle to help them draw their elephants.   Sort of.   No one is actually more eager than I for my children to simply take matters into their own hands and create, but again, an assignment to draw anything seems to sap the creativity out of them.  In fact, one of my daughters, she-who-shall-remain-nameless, doesn’t like to draw or color.  She does it only because I “make” her.  :-0  I do think that art is a very worthwhile endeavor, so it’s just one of those things that we do sometimes.  (By the way, does anyone have any tips for encouraging a child who just isn’t interested in such things?  I don’t necessarily want to make her do something she hates, but I do think there’s some value in honing these skills just a little.)

 

Louise's Elephant + My Reflection :-)

Lulu's Elephant

My Elephant

We finally replaced the chameleons! :-)

Still, when it’s all said and done, my art-avoiding daughter (‘though to be fair, it isn’t all art that she avoids–mainly just drawing or anything that requires precision) had a good time, and so did the rest of us.  There’s something very relaxing about paper, scissors, and glue.  I think I need to carve out some time for some scrap-therapy soon!  :-)

I’m really enjoying sharing poetry with my girls this month.  In fact, I’m thinking that it should be something that we don’t wait until next April to do again in such concentrated doses!  For more Poetry Friday posts this week, visit Random Noodling.  For more Kids’ Poetry Challenge posts, visit Brimful Curiosities.

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman

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I am happy to report that we have spent some time reading poetry this week.  Let me say up front that this is actually not something my girls look forward to.  I do look forward to it, but my pulling out a book of poems is most likely to elicit a groan from my girls, and especially from Lulu.  Louise is still very much enamored of being read anything aloud, so she doesn’t complain as much.  I believe that this is a worthy use of our time, not to mention enjoyable for me, so I soldier on. 

Most of the week we read from Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman.  This poetry collection won a Newbery honor this year, a feat that I think is impressive, given that it’s an award undifferentiated by genre.  Of course, it was also shortlisted for a Cybil, as well as honored by several other awards which you can read about on the author’s website.  I have a confession:  when I checked this book out, I thought it had won a Caldecott Medal.  When I started reading it to my girls, I thought the library had made a mistake and had put the wrong type of sticker on the spine.  It was after I began writing this review that I realized that yes, this book did indeed win a Newbery honor.  All of this is certainly not to say that I don’t think it’s deserving; rather, it is to say that the illustrations in this book are wonderful.  Rick Allen used a method called relief printing to make the gorgeous illustrations.  It’s similar, I think, to the method used in this year’s Caldecott winner, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, which I love and reviewed here.  The illustrations in Dark Emperor are as lovely as the poetry.

So far I’ve discussed everything but what the book is about, haven’t I?  Dark Emperor is a collection of a dozen poems about nighttime and, to borrow a label from the Memphis Zoo, “the denizens of the dark.”  You’ll find a poem about a spider, a porcupette, mushrooms, and an eft.  Of course, the owl, the bat, and the moon are here, too.  One of my favorite poems is about the primrose moth, a species I’d never even heard of until I read this book.  And then there’s this poem about fungi, something my own lack of imagination would’ve never permitted me to dwell upon:

Like noses pink

in midnight air,

like giants’ ears,

like elfin hair,

Can’t you see them now?  I love these word pictures.

The other really neat thing about this book is the fact that each two page spread contains a.) a poem b.) an illustraton and c.) a column of well-written prose that gives the details of the subject of the facing poem.  In other words, this book could double as a science book.  I love that.  In fact, I could’ve used it when we studied owls or amphibians or spiders earlier this year. 

What else can I say?  I give this book a Highly Recommended.  I also have to note that this makes the fourth of the five Newbery designated titles I’ve read from this year’s awards.  (These are links to my other reviews:  Moon over Manifest, Turtle in Paradise, and One Crazy Summer.)  Go Amy!  :-)

Other Related links:

We also played along with the Kids’ Poetry Challenge at Brimful Curiosities this week.  I let the girls pick a poem from Dark Emperor to illustrate, and they both chose the lovely “Snail at Moonrise.”  I chose the last seven lines of the poem for the girls’ copywork (a stretch for five year old Louise, really, but she handled it beautifully!), and they drew their snails.  I complicated matters by offering the girls some sparkly paint in squeeze bottles, so the project suddenly became less about the drawing and more about the fun paint they got to use.  That’s a part of art, too, though, isn’t it?

This poem even inspired the girls to bring a snail shell in from outside.  Unbeknownst to all of us, the shell still had an inhabitant.  When the shy creature made his presence known on Tuesday, the girls spent some time observing it.  Unfortunately, it met with an untimely demise when I planted my size 8.5 foot upon it.  :-(    As of the writing of this blog post, I still haven’t broken the news to my girls.  :-(

Read more Poetry Friday links this week at Madigan Reads.

Read Aloud Thursday–Plants

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Finding books about animals, which we studied for most of the school year, was no problem; library shelves are stuffed with all sorts of good titles.  However, finding such interesting, colorful, and well-written books about plants, our science topic of study for the past three weeks or so,  has been a challenge.  I guess a pine tree isn’t as cute as, say, a penguin or a frog.  I even put out a plea on the homeschooling message board I frequent for some suggested titles for a spine, or a book to serve as the basis for our studies.  Several people on the forum recommended Incredible Plants, so we have added it to our collection.  Although the graphics (mostly diagrams) in this book are fabulous, much of it is still over the heads of my first grader and kindergartener (which is what I’ve taken to calling Louise nowadays).  I love having picture books that don’t dumb down the subject, but that are still age-appropriate for your elementary aged children.  Here are a few that we’ve enjoyed in the past few weeks:

The Reason for a Flower, written and illustrated by Ruth Heller, is a book I had on our school room library shelf after purchasing it at some used book sale that I don’t even remember.  If I had to pick one book of all the ones I’m reviewing today to own and use for a study of plants, this one is it.  The reason I like it so much is because it is written like a rhyming story so that it’s possible to read it and forget that you’re even studying science.  However, the science is all there–from words like nectar, pollen, carnivorous (yes, flowers!), and angiosperm, made prominent in all capital letters, to the kernel of fact that is at the book’s heart: 

The

reason

for

a

FLOWER

is

to

manufacture. . .

SEEDS

that have a cover

of one kind or another.

The only thing that might make this book better is if it were illustrated with actual photographs; then again, I’m sort of partial to Ruth Heller‘s drawings, too.  Maybe, just maybe, reading a book illustrated like this would encourage someone to keep his or her own nature journal.  I give this one a Highly Recommended.

The Big Tree, written and illustrated by Bruce Hiscock, is a book that follows the life cycle of a sugar maple tree, from its beginning in Revolutionary America as a tiny seed, to its existence as a stately shade tree in its prime some two hundred years later, sheltering picnickers at a community Fourth of July celebration.  What I love about this book is that it combines good science with a compelling story, one that my girls identify with and want to read more of, given their love of history.  Bruce Hiscock‘s illustrations are lovely, and the scientific ones (as opposed to the historical ones, which are also there in abundance) are detailed enough that there is plenty of material to discuss, just looking at the illustrations.  This one is worth seeking out, I think.  It’s extra fun for us because we have a maple tree in our backyard. 

Ancient Ones: The World of the Old-Growth Douglas Fir by Barbara Bash is very similar to The Big Tree, but this time the subject matter is not a maple tree but a Douglas fir.  Another difference is that Ancient Ones doesn’t focus at all on the history that transpires during the tree’s lifetime; instead, the focus is on the minutest details of the life cycle of the tree, including all the other creatures and conditions that help carry out its life cycle.  The illustrations are lovely and detailed; often there are animal hidden in the pictures and mentioned in the text, and my girls and I had a good time looking for them. It reminds me a little bit of One Small Place in a Tree, a book I mentioned here.   Of the two tree books I’m reviewing today, The Big Tree gives more detail about the individual tree’s life cycle, while Ancient Ones deals more with the entire ecosystem.  Both books are great.

 Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring The Earth To Life by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm is a very colorful and poetic look at photosynthesis.  Written from the point of view of the sun, this book covers the major details of photosynthesis and emphasizes the interconnectedness of all living things.  I’ll admit I find this a little weird, probably because I think it’s odd to read about a scientific process from the point of view of the sun, but I think it might work for kids.  The illustrations in this book are extremely bright and vivid, and again, I’m not sure if this is good or bad.  I guess it depends on the person reading it (or having it read to him); what might be a distraction to some children could be inspirational or interesting to another.  I bought this book new and really thought my girls would love it; as it turns out, they haven’t requested that I read it again (and in fact, I had to find it to even write this review).  However, I do think it’s worth mentioning because it is the only title I’ve found on photosynthesis that doesn’t overdo the chemical aspect of it for the youngest students.  An added bonus is that there are four pages of author notes at the back, so students who are extremely interested in photosynthesis and up to more of a challenge can be satisfied.

Do you have any favorite titles to recommend for a study of plants?  Please, share your recommendations in the comments!  And as always, link up your Read Aloud Thursday posts in the comments.  If you haven’t done so, please take a moment and read the Read Aloud Thurday Guidelines I posted last week, too.  Check back tomorrow for a list of links from today’s post. 

Have a terrific Read Aloud Thursday!

Read Aloud Thursday–Reptiles and Amphibians

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I’m not sure what it is about these reptiles and amphibians, but picture book authors and illustrators love them!  I have been so pleased with the selection of nonfiction books about animals that I’ve been able to find at our local libraries, but I think the books we read about chameleons and frogs in the past few weeks have topped them all.  These wonderful picture books have so enriched our science studies!  Shoot–I think I’d love them even if we hadn’t been studying reptiles and amphibians–these are that good!

Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley is full of simple, bold text and stunning photographs.  I don’t think there’s much more to say about it, but this is truly one book that you must see to appreciate.  Nic Bishop has cornered the market on animal photography.  Have you ever seen a chameleon catch a catepillar from about a foot away?  This book contains this amazing photo and many more.  Once we discovered Nic Bishop’s photography, of course I went searching for his stuff.  It seems that not only does he illustrate books, he also writes them.  Frogs, both written and illustrated by Nic Bishop, was the perfect addition to our study of frogs because in addition to the photgraphy, the text of this book  is very detailed, with all kinds of information about frogs in general as well as specific kinds of frogs.  While the text in Chameleon, Chameleon is sparse (so sparse, in fact, that I would think a very young child could sit through it), Frogs contains enough information to warrant both a short index and glossary.  I’d say it’s about as perfect as a juvenile nonfiction title can be.  I think I’ve discovered my favorite juvenile nonfiction author and illustrator.  We have Nic Bishop’s Spiders waiting on us for our next science lesson, and I can hardly wait!  (I am only a little arachnophobic, but I think I can hold those feelings at bay for the sake of Nic Bishop’s wonderful photography.)  These books most certainly get a Highly Recommended from me! 

After reading the Nic Bishop books, I was accustomed to photographic illustrations instead of drawn ones, and I might’ve passed over Jim Arnosky’s All About Turtles were it not for Carrie’s ebullient praise.  (Her post is linked up below.)  I am so glad I checked this one out!  Arnosky‘s artwork is very realistic and vivid, and the information in the book is presented in a way that is both interesting and kid-friendly.  I like that each page contains the main text, but there are plenty of species-specific (say that three times fast!) details in smaller type font.  I love how Arnosky includes interesting drawings on the front and back flyleaves–in this case, turtle tracks in the sand showing both footprints and shell drag.  I am eager to seek out more of Arnosky‘s titles after reading this one!  Highly Recommended!

Stick, written and illustrated by Steve Breen, is a fun picture book that provided a little bit of comic relief for our serious study of frogs and other amphibians.  ;-)    With spirit and perspective that are reminiscent of David Wiesner’s books, Stick is a story that delights both young and old because it is an audacious tale that depends on both imagination and wordplay.  How much fun is a story about a little frog named Stick who literally sticks to a passing dragonfly and is taken on the adventure of his life?!?  Another Highly Recommended title!

I know there’s no shortage of good titles out there about reptiles and amphibians, but these are definitely winners.  Do you have a favorite nonfiction series about animals?  What about an author?  I’m always looking for nonfiction titles, especially those that Lulu can read herself.  I’m all ears! 

Related Links:

Nic Bishop’s website

Carrie’s post about Jim Arnosky (with lots of links)

Jim Arnosky’s website

My review of Chameleons Are Cool by Martin Jenkins

My review of Growing Frogs by Vivian French

Now it’s your turn.  Link up your Read Aloud Thursday posts below, or simply leave a comment detailing what you’re reading together with your children.  Be sure to come back tomorrow for today’s RAT Links post! 

Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!  :-)

Winter Wednesdays::Snow Days

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We here in the South are simply not accustomed to frozen precipitation.  We don’t have any of the necessary gear:  no de-icing anything, no snow boots, no snow shovels, nothin’.  In fact, my children don’t even have any real gloves or mittens.  (They did receive a token pair of “convertible” mittens in their Christmas stockings, but I thought they’d end up in the dress-up bin, not warming snow-ball rolling fingers!)  In a weather event that has been called “The Bread and Milk Blizzard of ’11″ (if you’re not from the South, you might not get this–I doubt the mere mention of the s word empties grocery store shelves of bread and milk anywhere but here), we received eight inches of snow Sunday night and into early Monday morning.  All schools and many businesses (including the institutions for which both Steady Eddie and I work–joy!) cancelled or closed before we even went to bed on Sunday night, so we knew we had Monday to play.  The beauty of homeschooling is that we can indeed have our cake and eat it, too, so we went ahead with our lessons on Monday morning so as not to derail our plan to be through with this year’s official book learning before the temperatures heat up outside this spring so much that we are stuck indoors.  We had some snow cream for a mid-morning snack, and then after lunch we all–the DLM included–took off outside to enjoy the whiteness.

The extent of our winter weather gear: rainboots!

I asked the girls to pay attention to the colors in our whitewashed world, as Barb has encouraged us to do.  The girls were so excited to be out and about in this bounty, the fourth largest snowfall on record for our city, that I kept a running dialogue (sometimes a monologue!) of all the colors I saw.  Although there was nothing formal about our study, I love how even our informal nature studies have opened my eyes to the beauty around me.  Judging from the times the girls have noticed things–birds, in particular–out of the blue, it’s having a similar effect on them.  We decided to walk around the block in our neighborhood to see what we could see.

I noticed many, many different shades of green.  Our across-the-street neighbor has lots of pine trees in her yard, so that’s what met our gaze as we exited our front door.

I love these pictures of the pine boughs with snow caught in them.  Beautiful! 

My eyes began to notice other colors besides green as we walked.  I noticed these berries (?) on a crepe myrtle.

These ornamental grasses in another neighbors’ yard really stood out against the whiteness.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love trees?  I find them particularly beautiful when viewed in relief against a winter sky.  I noticed all the many different shades of brown and grey/silver that the bark on the trees in our neighborhood display.

This is my favorite tree of all, in any season.   Isn’t it perfect?

The colors of our winter world are white, green, brown, and grey, in all their various shades.  I noticed the grey of the winter sky, lovely against the steeple of the church nearby.

We had a good walk.  I think each time we experience nature mindfully, we raise our awareness level a notch.  We returned home, and the DLM and I went back inside the warm house.  Steady Eddie and the girls played outside a little longer.  They built a wall behind which to hide as they pelted each other with snowballs. 

These cozy days of everyone being home (which admittedly aren’t much different than our normal day-to-day existence, but we have enjoyed having Steady Eddie here with us!) came to an end today, since Steady Eddie had to return to work.  I am so glad we had this brush with winter weather (which many of you think nothing of, it’s so commonplace).  I don’t think my girls will ever forget it!

This was my attempt at a Winter Wednesday challenge with two very excited children.  Since winter weather set in (long before the snow arrived–it has been unusually cold this winter already) and with all the holiday busy-ness, we haven’t gotten outside much.  I hope to change that soon and resume our Outdoor Hour Challenges.  I am also working on a humongous Read Aloud Thursday post for tomorrow, which will be all about–you guessed it–snow books.  Be sure to come back and check it out!

Oh, one more thing–my friend Wanda, who blogs at Faith, Folklore, and Friends, posted some lovely pictures of the snow yesterday.  I particularly love the picture of the cardinal that she posted, especially since the pair that often visit our backyard flew away before I had a chance to attempt a picture of their crimson loveliness against the white.

Read Aloud Thursday–Owls

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 A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, the girls and I read up on owls for our science studies, and we read a couple of picture books about owls that were real winners.  One of them is well-known, but the other one might not be.  You can probably guess the first one:  the Caldecott award winning Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.  Jane Yolen is an accomplished poet , and that really comes through in Owl Moon.  While it isn’t written in rhyming verse, Yolen perfectly captures what it must be like to go owling under a full moon in the whiteness of winter.  This book is captivating.  John Schoenherr’s illustrations are the perfect accompaniment for this story–from the white expanses of snow on many of the pages to the expectant poise of the girl and her father as they see the owl land on a branch, he captured the feeling of this tale.  If you haven’t read it, you must.  Highly Recommended.

The Barn Owls by Tony Johnston is the simple story of genrations of owls that have made their home in a century-old barn that stands in wheat field.  This book provides a glimpse of what an owl does all day long–sleep, or perhaps sail out out of a barn window to perch on a branch, or even just fly away “to where wheat and sky are one,” only to return.  The owls’ nighttime activities are also described.  Johnson does all this in a very descriptive and poetic way.  I love this little bit:

Where owls hunted,

spiders spun

to hold the barn

to earth.

Where owls hunted,

long snakes sunned

and split their skins

like chaff

and left.

And bees hummed

their hymn

of wheat.

See what I mean?  I love all that wheat imagery, don’t you?  There’s a whole lot of information packaged in this beautiful picture book–what a gift!  Deborah Kogan Ray‘s illustrations are both warm and awe-inspiring.  I love the two-page spreads of the owl in flight.  Yet another Highly Recommended title.

I couldn’t let this opportunity pass without having some real fun!  (Deep down, I’m a science lover. I’m not even sure how I ended up studying English and history in college.  :-)   )  Steady Eddie is a storehouse of scientific knowledge, so he suggested we dissect owl pellets for a little demonstration.   We ordered our pellets from Owl Brand Discovery Kits and were pleased with both the product and the service.  I had never dissected an owl pellet before, so I was just as excited as the girls were. 

The pellet before we tore it open:

One of the pellets after I tore into it (the girls found it too difficult, so I had to help):

I love seeing all the little bones peeking out.  Is that morbid? 

Here’s some of what we found inside:

Our pellets came with a booklet which contained diagrams of all the possible animals the owl could’ve eaten.  The idea was to match up the bones with the diagrams and determine which animal(s) your owl ingested.  This was a little much for us to do, really–cleaning off the skeletons was a painstaking process.  That’s okay, though–we were really more interested in the experience and wow factor at this point.  I’m pretty sure that this will be on the things the girls remember from our school year!

We also did a little owlish art project.  I found this idea online and thought it was cute and a great way to use up some art stuff that I always save (egg cartons, etc.) but rarely ever use.  I keep meaning to have the girls go back and add a branch for their owls to perch on, but our owls got pre-empted by a flurry of holiday activity.  I think I’m going to hang these beauties up over our nature shelf. 

One of the neatest things about this owl study is that just about the time we did it, the girls and Steady Eddie actually saw an owl in the road on the way home from Nana’s one night.  Wow!  This has actually happened before, a few years ago on our street.  We hadn’t seen one since then, though.  I love it when our studies and real life intersect.  I love that reading and observing nature have made us–all of us–more observant in our day-to-day lives.

What are you enjoying with your families these days?  Link you your own Read Aloud Thursday post in the comments, or simply leave a comment telling us all about it!

Read Aloud Thursday–Birds Aplenty

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We finally left mammals behind in our science studies a few weeks ago and are now focusing on birds.  We do a fair amount of nonfiction reading most weeks, but when I can sneak in some fun fiction picture books, I do that, too.  One thing I noticed as I was searching the browser bins at my library is that there are lots and lots of books with birds (primarily ducks and chickens, it seems) as the characters.   I’m not sure why that is, but it works for us.  :-)

When Chickens Grow Teeth, an adaptation by Wendy Anderson Halperin of  a story by the nineteenth century French writer Guy De Maupassant, is funny and charming.  It’s the story of a “large, laughing man” named Antoine who lives in a small French village.  He is a café keeper and very gregarious.  His wife, on the other hand, is not.  Madame Colette’s temperament is compared to that of a wild boar, and she and Antoine are often at odds over what she judges as his laziness.  Their relationship worsens when Antoine falls from a ladder and is bedridden–now he is altogether useless in Colette’s mind.  Colette, though, does find a job for Antoine to do, and it’s one he vows he won’t do:  become a substitute brood hen for Colette’s flock of chickens.  You can imagine how funny this seems to kids.  We all had a big chuckle over this one.  It reminds me of this limerick by Edward Lear, probably because in the story Antoine has a long, Santa Claus-ish beard.  Wendy Anderson Halperin not only adapted this story, she also illustrated it, and the illustrations are gorgeous–very detailed and expressive, with lots of panels and action per page.  I’ve written about her illustrations before, and they really do bear a second look.  Visit her website for a sampling of her talent.
I’ve looked and looked online for a graphic of the cover of this next book, but I can’t find one. I can’t resist sharing it anyway. Egg Storyby Anca Hariton is one of those picture books that contains a good dose of factual information that is disguised by a fun story.  This one is simply the story of an egg and how it becomes a chick.  It contains a very gentle explanation, with just the right amount of information for older preschoolers or young elementary aged children.  I’ve read brief reviews of Hariton‘s illustrations in various places online, and they’re usually described as “European.”  (I think Hariton is Romanian.)  I’m not sure what that means, other than I think the illustrations are simple and warm.  This book is worth looking up if you’re studying birds.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Gail Gibbons’ Ducks! in this post.  I’ve written about Gail Gibbons, whom I consider the Queen of Juvenile Nonfiction, and her books before here and here and here , but for a bibliography, check here and here on her website.  Ducks! is classic Gibbons, with all sorts of factual information about ducks in general and the many different species of ducks.  We learned the difference between dabbling ducks and diving ducks, as well as many facts about the life cycle of the ducks, etc.  This is just a good title for an introduction to the animal.


I’m not sure what it is about penguins, but they are also a popular topic for children’s picture books.  In fact, I’ve blogged about penguin books a couple of times before (here and here), and it was from Janet‘s comments in one of those posts that I learned about A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis.  This is a fun story about a little penguin named Edna who wants some color in her black, white, and blue world.  She finds it, of course, but where she finds it surprised and amused me.  I love an unexpected ending!  This book reminds me of 365 Penguins, just like Janet suggested.  :-)

This last book pulled double duty at the House of Hope this week.  I love it when books go cross-curricular! :-)   Lulu and I were talking about large numbers during her math time, and she is intrigued by the concept of a million.  I found it difficult to explain to her what a million is, and to be honest, I don’t think I quite grasp it myself.  I recently became an Usborne consultant (shameless plug:  here’s my site, should you need any Usborne books ;-) ), and one of the books that came in our first box is How Big Is a Million? by Anna Milbourne.  This is a sweet book about a little penguin named Pipkin who goes after the answer to the title question.  Of course, it is his wise mama who takes him outside to answer this question at the end of the story.  In order for the reader to see the answer, he or she must open an envelope at the back of the book and take out a huge poster.  On the poster is printed a million stars.  This is a very effective way for young children to get a glimpse of the enormity of a million of anything.  That this book happens to be about penguins is merely a cute bonus.  :-)

Last week we ended our school week with an art activity based on this lesson from Deep Space Sparkle.  We used tempera paint on watercolor paper, and I’m not sure this was the best medium for this activity.  We enjoyed it, though, and that’s what’s important!  :-)

My penguin:

Louise’s penguin:

Lulu’s penguin:

Well, I could go on and on about birds, but I won’t, at least this week.  ;-)   I will simply leave you with a list of (even more!) related links:

Link up your Read Aloud Thursday posts below!

Outdoor Hour Challenge #2

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I really can’t express enough how much I’m enjoying our intentional time outdoors thanks to the Outdoor Hour Challenge.  The weather has finally cooled off in the sweltering South, so we’re able to enjoy long sleeves and crisper days.  (I won’t mention what the lack of humidity, a rarity here in the South, is doing to my sinuses.)  Although it is somewhat difficult to plan our outdoor times around the DLM’s naps and squeeze it in between our other scholastic activities, it is completely worth every sacrifice we make (and every little bit o’ history or language that goes undone) to spend time in God’s great outdoors. 

Last Thursday we went to a local park because we had been reading about ducks for our science lessons.  There are usually lots of ducks and geese at this park, and once again, we were not disappointed.  I thought it would be fun to combine our observations of the ducks with Outdoor Hour Challenge #2.  This park has had a major facelift in the past ten years or so, when a wealthy businessman in town donated lots of money to its beautification.  The park has a pond that is fed by a spring and creek.  The major project that really improved the park’s appearance was the addition of this waterfall.  Although it is manmade, it is lovely:

It is especially nice to walk across the bridge by the waterfall on a hot, humid summer day and feel the mist from the fall!  :-)   

I noticed and pointed out to my girls some lovely fall color near the waterfall:

 

I’m not sure what kind of trees these are because they were actually quite a distance from where we were–up a bank and to our right.  We enjoyed taking in the brilliant color, though.

The girls noticed a pair of sweet white ducks down in the pond before we came around to the waterfall.  Our reading about ducks really paid off when Lulu noticed immediately that the male duck did indeed have a curled feather on his tail!

We also saw a black duck of some kind.  I like noticing the variety of ducks and other birds–so many colors!

(I just love the sparkle of sunlight on the water!)

There is a huge, huge flock of geese at the park right now.  I think these are Canadian geese.  They are quite friendly because they are so accustomed to being fed breadcrumbs, etc., by visitors. 

The most exciting thing we observed on this visit was a pair of mallards.  Lulu was so excited when she saw this fellow:

Isn’t he lovely?  I love the purple feathers on his wing.  This picture doesn’t do the brilliance of his feathers justice.  Gorgeous!  I suspected that his companion here is a mallard hen, and when I got home I looked it up in one of our bird books we’ve borrowed from the library.  I was right!

It was so gratifying to actually see what we had been studying. 

While the girls ran around the side of the pond and observed the various birds, I had them individually sit down at one of the picnic tables and complete a nature journal page from Barb’s Outdoor Hour Challenge e-book.  (This is a fantastic resource!)  The whole idea behind this challenge was to encourage quiet observation and using words to describe what we saw, heard, and felt.  I think the girls did a great job on their pages.

Lulu’s, age 6.5:

Louise’s, age almost 5:

(Number 2 is “pokey stick.”  That’s something she felt.  :-) )

This was a lovely afternoon for us, and I am looking forward to completing challenge #3 this week, weather permitting. 

Be sure to come back on Thursday–I hope to review for Read Aloud Thursday several great bird books we’ve been enjoying!  :-)