A Poem on the Goldenrod

One of our nature club members, Zofi, sent in a poem about the Goldenrod. For those of you who read about how the Goldenrod is like a city, this poem is perfect!

The Golden Rod by Frank Dempster Sherman

Spring is the morning of the year
And summer is the noontide bright;
The autumn is the evening clear,
That comes before the winter's night.

And in the evening, everywhere
Along the roadside, up and down,
I see the golden torches flare
Like lighted street-lamps in the town.

I think the butterfly and the bee,
From distant meadows coming back,
Are quite contented when they see
These lamps along the homeward track.

But those who stay too late get lost;
For when the darkness falls about,
Down every lighted street the Frost
Will go and put the torches out!

Nature Journal Inspiration

The Charlotte Mason blog, Sage Parnassus, has a great post on the Nature Journals of Edith Holden. She links to a 12 part tv series based on Holden's nature writings. Here is the installment for September!

Insect Shield Bandanas

While I was visiting a friend this summer I discovered Insect Shield Bandanas that can be worn to ward off insects.  I have just placed an order for some for our family that we will be wearing to Nature Club.  I thought I'd send along the link in case others are interested.  I just don't like to wear hats and my husband (rightly so) insists that we all cover our heads while we are out in the woods.  I think this will be a great option!

ExOfficio Insect Shield Bandana

Sloggers Insect Shield Bandana

Haverford College Arboretum

 

 Hi Guys,

How are you doing? We had a lot of fun at the Haverford Arboretum!!  We walked along the path in our groups studying different things from Nature.  We had a scavenger hunt check list so that if you found something like an acorn, a helicopter leaf, or a squirrel bearing a nut.  Many of you found the first two and others but we were a little too noisy to spot the squirrel!  Did you see the HUGE fallen tree at one of the curves in the path?!  As you can see it is larger then most 

                                         of the adults in the picture to the right.  I hope you had fun!!!

Nature Club fun!

Are you excited to start school?  Are you excited to start Nature Club again?  Well, I am and I hope you are too.  We have a big group this year so it will be twice the fun!!  We will be splashing in the creek again, building our forts, gathering around the campfire, making fairy houses, drawing in our Nature Journals, and just having fun!

One of the new things we will be doing is writing in our Nature Journals more.  We will have set times to study things you see and write them down.

Another fun thing we will be doing is building small houses for fairys and elfs to stay in.  You can use any natural material you want as long as it is not alive or artifical.  Here are a few houses I made with my cousins on Macworth Island in Maine.  There they have a whole city of houses!

 

 

Have fun!!

Blue Moon Tonight

Look at the night sky and you will see a full moon, the second this month ( the first was August 2). Two full moons in the same month occur just once every 2.5 years or so. QUT astrophysicist Dr Stephen Hughes said we had a full moon on August 2 and the next on August 31, the blue moon, will make two "squeezed" into one month. "Blue Moons occur only about seven times in 19 years—that's about once every two-and-a-half years," Dr Hughes said. "A bit like the leap year, a blue moon happens as a calendar catch-up because it takes the moon about 27 and a half days to go round the earth and since this is less than the number of days in a calendar month, two full moons can sometimes occur in a single month...
Dr Hughes said a blue moon was not coloured blue although the moon could appear blue when there were smoke or volcanic ash particles suspended in the atmosphere. "A blue-tinged moon is a rarity and so maybe that's where the saying came from. There are reports of blue moons after the Krakatoa eruption in Indonesia in 1883 in which volcanic ash was ejected 80km high, on the edge of the ionosphere," he said.

Click  here to find out more!

6/8/2012 Ridley Creek St. Park

Did you have fun at Ridley Creek?  I sure did!! We had a fire, went on a Nature walk, and built a couple of forts.  We built some boats and had a race.  Next time I am planning on          bringing my water shoes so I can wade in the river and go creek walking and an extra pair of clothes.

Tinicum 3/15/2012

At Tinicum we had a lot of fun at our last class!  We learned mostly about flight and feathers. Afterwards we went on a Nature Walk to see some birds and to explore the wetlands!  Take a look at the pictures of bird wings and other cool things!!

John James Audubon Lesson Ideas

I found a great post on Squidoo with ideas for further Nature and Artist study with John James Audubon.  Below is just the beginning excerpt.  You can find all of the lesson ideas here - Artist Study and Nature Study with Audubon.

Artist Study and Nature Study Overlap with Audubon

Was John James Audubon a sketching naturalist or a nature loving artist?

Actually, his bird drawings were intended to be scientific sketches instead of art. But most people would agree that his careful observation of birds brought a realism and detail to his sketches that elevated them to the level of art.

If you chose Audubon for your Charlotte Mason styled artist study, be sure to incorporate what you learn about birds into your nature studies as well. Simply turn the focus of your nature walks to studying birds and make the most of your Audubon unit study.

Below are ideas, resources, and photos to inspire your study of Audubon.

Artist Study and Nature Study with Audubon 

2/24/12 John James Audubon Refuge

I hope you guys had fun at Audubon's house!  We had a lot of fun doing a scavenger hunt and seeing Sammy the screech owl.  Screech Owls are smaller than other species like the great horned owl.  You can learn more about owls like Sammy if you click here.  We also took a small tour of John James Audubon's house.  My personal favorite room was the room with the hats, eggs and bird collections, and taxidermy animals.  The woman leading our class, Miss Linda, said that it wasn't bad to collect the eggs but collectors would gather hundreds of eggs and only keep 2 or 3.  The reason they did this was because they wanted the best eggs and not the ones with spots and "defects".  Without really knowing it they would be killing hundreds of birds just for one perfect egg.  Below is a biography of John James Audubon and his house from the Audubon society website.

Audubon's First Home in America
Mill Grove is the first home of John James Audubon in America and the only true Audubon home still standing in this country. The lovely estate, located in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania was owned for 17 years by Audubon's father, Jean, a French sea captain. In 1803, Captain Audubon sent his youthful son John James to Mill Grove to supervise the estate that included a working lead mine.

The home, now a museum, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It contains the complete editions of every major work published by Audubon including the extraordinary and world famous Birds of America , printed and hand colored from copper plate engravings produced in London between 1827 and 1839.

John James Audubon, eighteen years old at the time of his arrival, spent a majority of his time roaming the wooded hills along the Perkiomen Creek and the Schuylkill River hunting, observing, collecting and sketching. It was during this period that he experienced early stirrings of a fascination for wildlife that was to become his all-absorbing life interest. Inspired and captivated by his new surroundings, Audubon became a pioneer in portraying birds and other wildlife in natural settings. During his time at Mill Grove he built a substantial base of interest in ornithological art, and his experimentation resulted in rapid development of his skill as an artist.

While at Mill Grove he made many drawings and performed the first recorded experiment of bird banding in America. Also, he developed his “wire armature,” a device that gave life to his freshly shot specimens and his drawings of the birds. This unique method of holding his specimens put him years ahead of his contemporaries. Many believe that in spite of the advantages of photography and state-of-the-art technology, no modern bird painter has equaled his achievements.