OHC Spring Series #7 Mammal Study-Cats

OHC Spring Series #7 Mammal Study-Cats

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #7 Mammal Study-Cats

Our Little Kitty

Kitty, she is an acrobat...
that silly little cat.
Kitty, she is a real Tom cat...
that messy little thing.
Kitty, she thinks my pencil is a toy...
oh boy, oh boy.
Kitty, she likes to sleep on daddy's head...
what do you think about that?
Kitty, she runs from sis and mommy too...

but loves us boys.

by Nita

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 260-266. Highlight points you would like to share with your children or read to them from the book.

Outdoor Hour Time:
We observed our Cat Jr. for about a week on and off. The kids loved trying to track down where she would go during her outdoor excursions.



Follow-Up Activity:
We drew the parts of our cat... her paws, claws, teeth, eyes, whiskers, and her swishy tail. But i didn't upload them to the computer.

OHC Spring Series #2 Weather Observations

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #2
Spring Weather Observation

Inside Preparation Work:
We read pages 851-854 in the Handbook of Nature Study.



Outdoor Hour Time:
This week we make observations about the weather. It was kind of cloudy and mucky. Here is a photo to show you what we mean.

Suggested Observations

• Moca said that the clouds were ominous.
• Jo Bean said that the wind was howling.
  
• Ztrain noticed that the wind was coming from off the lake.
  
• Sugar said that the air nice and cool.
  
• It sprinkled some this week and we had a little fog.
  

Follow-Up Activity:
We watched the weather a little here and there all week.
Here's a picture of the wind blowing just a little. The clouds are so thick you can't even see them.

OHC Spring Series #5: Year-Long Cattail Study

OHC Spring Series #5: Year-Long Cattail Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #5
Spring Cattail Observations
We don't have any cattails near our home but we did find these...

Bamboo Shoots

Inside Preparation Work:
We looked up Bamboo Shoots online at Our Ohio - Growing bamboo in Ohio and the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
Surprisingly there was no information in the Handbook of Nature Study on bamboo.
Outdoor Hour Time:
We enjoyed our time at the beach.

Using "Some Suggestions for a Spring Cattail Study" we observed

• The width of land our bamboo shoots cover is about the size of a football field.

  

• They are near a Great Lake.
  

  

• We observed the that the soil was a mixture of fine sand and dirt.

  

• We didn't observe any leaves yet but we did find these buds.

• The texture of the plant is hard and bendy.

• We dug one of them up to see the roots which were interconnected just like crab grass roots.
  

Follow-Up Activity:
We did sketches of our bamboo shoots. We tried to include a little of the habitat that our bamboo shoots are growing in during this season. We didn't observe any insects, birds, or animals near our bamboo shoots during our outdoor time.

OHC Spring Series #4: Wildflowers-Dandelions

OHC Spring Series #4: Wildflowers-Dandelions

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #4 Dandelions

Inside Preparation Work:
We read in the Handbook of Nature Study about dandelions on pages 531-535. After reading the suggestions on pages 543 and 535, we chose several ideas from the lesson to complete during our Outdoor Hour Time.


Outdoor Hour Time:
We spent 15 minutes outdoors this week in our own backyard. We looked for dandelions.

Suggestions for Observations

• We can not find any dandelions, I think it's too early in our region. We will have to come back to this one in a few weeks.

Follow-Up Activities:
We looked up Dandelions online and found a lot of amazing photos... which we thought you might enjoy seeing as much as we did.

OHC Spring Series #3: Spring Bird Study

OHC Spring Series #3: Spring Bird Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #3
Spring Bird Study

Inside Preparation Work:
We read about the “Songs of Birds” in the Handbook of Nature Study on pages 42 and 43. We used Birds of Ohio field Guide and Audio CD's by Stan Tekiela.

We chose to listen for the

Brown-headed Cowbird,

European Starling,

and the Tree Swallow.

We looked up each bird and listened to their bird songs. We tried to imitate the bird songs and chatter which was a lot of fun. The only birds around to listen for are European Starlings which haven't really been very vocal of late.

Outdoor Hour Time:
We spent 10-15 minutes of outdoor time this week looking and listening for birds. We had a hard time being quiet enough to listen for birds, but it was a good challenge for them all.

Follow-Up Activity:
We looked at buds a few have begun to poke their way through and we had to see what they were. We reviewed our bird songs and practiced making their chatter and songs. We drew pictures of our birds too.

OHC Spring Series #2 Weather Observations

OHC Spring Series #2 Weather Observations

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #2
Spring Weather Observation

Inside Preparation Work:
Read pages 851-854 in the Handbook of Nature Study. This section is not exactly about weather, but it ties in nicely with some springtime observations of the sun and its path. You might like to construct the Shadow Stick (page 852 #13) and make observations over the next few weeks and months with your children. At the very least, look up your sunrise and sunset times to calculate how much daylight you have now that it is spring in your area.


Outdoor Hour Time:
Your Outdoor Hour time this week can be spent making observations about the weather. Enjoy whatever spring weather you are currently experiencing and spend 15 minutes outside looking at the sky, clouds, wind in the trees, dew on the grass, mud puddles after a rain, or whatever else you can experience in your part of the world.

Suggested Observations

• We saw clouds, clouds and more clouds. They were Nimbostratus clouds.
• No wind today, at least none that we could see.
  
• The air was cold, very cold. The temperature was 26 degrees.
• We still have snow on the ground.

Follow-Up Activity:
We completed our first Seasonal Weather notebook page.

OHC Spring Series #1: Year-Long Tree Study

OHC Spring Series #1: Year-Long Tree Study

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #1
Spring Tree Observation

Breath

by J. Daniel Beaudry

Tree, gather up my thoughts
like the clouds in your branches.
Draw up my soul
like the waters in your root.

In the arteries of your trunk
bring me together.
Through your leaves
breathe out the sky.

Inside Preparation Work:
We read pages 625-626 in the Handbook of Nature Study: Spring Work. We measured the height of our tree using a stick 3½ feet long and a measuring tape.
Outdoor Hour Time:
We checked on our tree from our Year-Long Tree Study. We spent 10-15 minutes of our outdoor time using the ideas from the Handbook of Nature Study to do some focused observations of our tree.




Follow-Up Activity:
We completed a nature journal entry and took photos of our tree for a record in our nature journal as well.

OHC-Signs of Spring Bonus Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Signs of Spring Bonus Challenge

Some signs of spring that we found

• Ants
• Birds
• Caterpillars
• Dandelions
• Egg shells (blue ones)
• Frogs
• Grass
• Helicopters (samaras)
• Inchworms
• Joggers
• Kites
• Ladybugs
• Melting snow
• Nests
• Outside finally
• Peacocks in the park
• Queen Anne's Lace
• Robins
• Snails
• Tracks in the mud
• Umbrellas
• Vacation
• Water, water everywhere
• Xenium a gift just for you
• Yard to play in once again
• Zippers on my raincoat

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Spring Maple Tree Bonus Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Spring Maple Tree Bonus Challenge

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Bonus Challenge-Maple Trees

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 628-634. Pay special attention to the section on page 629 where it talks about how maple trees change in the spring. Also on page 634 there are specific suggestions for spring observations of a maple tree.

Outdoor Hour Time:
We went on a maple tapping tour it was awesome fun and of course I totally forgot the camera. All the kids got to tap a log, watch maple come strait from a maple tree and how it is reduced to make maple syrup. We learned that a grove of maple trees that are being tapped is called a sugar bush. Jo bean asked how it was purified, Moca asked how the water was taken out and Z train asked how many gallons of sap it took to make enough to go on his pancakes. We bought a bottle of syrup and a bag of maple candy. The candy was gone before we got to the main road.

Follow-Up Time:
The next day we had pancakes with real maple syrup. That was the first time I had tasted real syrup, it was delicious.