I’ve previously featured Tinkergarten’s blog with my online community. I share their fundamental belief that spending time in nature is invaluable and life-changing for adults and children. The following report details research that supports this conviction.
Click here to go to the article with links to additional information.
I discovered these holes in the leaves below when I returned home from vacation. I assume an insect made them, but I don’t know of any that leave a pattern like this. Also, do you notice how the leaf has turned red around each hole, almost as if it is bleeding?
Maybe it was the very hungry caterpillar! Click here for Safeshare.
Let’s continue our study of leaves. (See below for previous posts.) Trees can also be identified by whether they have simple or compound leaves. The blade or lamina is the flat part of a leaf. A simple leaf has just one blade on each petiole.
A compound leaf is composed of three or more leaflets that attach to one petiole. A leaf may have an odd or even number of leaflets. If there is an odd number, one leaflet appears at the top of the stem. Another way to distinguish between a leaflet and a simple leaf is to check where the leaf/leaflet joins the stem. If there is a node, then you have a simple leaf, but if there isn’t a node, you are observing a leaflet. My science students saw a connection between compound words and compound leaves.
One leaf with leaflets
On your next nature walk, look for compound and simple leaves.
Click here for a fun activity to review all we’ve learned about leaves- venation, petioles, and margins. Place leaves where children can refer to them when they draw. Click here for another art activity to reinforce leaf concepts. They make nice cards too.
Use this video to review what we’ve learned about leaves! Click here for the Safeshare link.
I used hula hoops that I borrowed from my PE teacher to create large Venn diagrams on the floor. Use them to classify leaves by more than one attribute now that we’ve learned about petioles, venation, margins, and the difference between simple and compound leaves. Another game for older students would be to place a collection of leaves on the table and ask your child/student to find a leaf you describe, for example a simple, serrated leaf with pinnate venation.
Previous posts about attributes of leaves:
Petioles
Venations
Margins
Let’s continue our study of trees by observing leaf veins (venation). Why do leaves have veins? Brainstorm with your students. How do they compare to veins in a human body? These leaves from plants in my garden have striking veins.
Veins transport liquids and nutrients to leaf cells and carry the products of photosynthesis back to the rest of the tree. Plant veins are also strong enough to support the leaf and help it collect sunlight.
Are veins arranged in a pattern? The central vein is called the midrib. When veins branch out in opposite directions from the midrib to the leaf margin, something like a feather, it is referred to as pinnate venation.
Palmate venation occurs when veins radiate in a fan shape from the leaf petiole. It looks similar to the palm of your hand.
There are also a few trees that have parallel venation. This is an example of parallel venation in my purple heart plant.
Another fun way to see veins is to do a wet mount slide of a leaf specimen and then observe it under a microscope. Third and fourth graders easily completed this investigation with a variety of thin leaves in my science lab. Click here to learn how to make a wet mount slide.
Veins are found in other parts of a plant too:
Click here for more photos.
Click here for an investigation from a previous science lab about leaf veins.
Where else can you find branching patterns? Rivers, lightning, and mycelium are some examples. More on those later!
What do you observe? Where is the lichen? What do you wonder?
“Without wonder, there is no learning.” Dr. Ruth Wilson
In the northern hemisphere, lichen grows primarily on the north side of the tree, but not completely. Because direct sunlight does not hit the north side of the tree, the bark is moister which lichen prefers. In the southern hemisphere, you will find more lichen on the southern sides of trees. Why?
As I stated in a previous post, I will be sharing some leaf-themed posts as autumn approaches. The edge of a leaf is called the margin. Some leaves, mostly round or oval leaves, are even and smooth around the entire leaf edge and are referred to as entire leaves. Magnolia leaves and dogwood are familiar examples.
Other leaves are serrated or toothed. A serrated leaf has pointed teeth, like a saw, around the entire leaf edge. The serrated teeth angle up toward the tip of the leaf.
A lobed leaf has curved or rounded projections. Maple, tulip, sweetgum, and oak leaves are examples of lobed leaves.
Collect leaves and classify them according to the categories above.
As you study leaves, be sure to include the picture book, Leaf Man, by Lois Ehert. It is such a creative and engaging way to identify leaves while observing their shapes colors, sizes, venation, and margins.
Click here to view full screen.
This lovely picture book inspired me to create leaf creatures. I pressed leaves last fall by placing them between packing paper (white issue paper, paper towels. or parchment paper will work too) and placing heavy books on top of the paper. I was pleased to see the leaves held their color. It isn’t necessary to press the leaves you collect for that length of time before you work with them. Glue your creations on paper or place them behind glass in a frame. I would have either a printed image or an electronic image of an animal of choice for children to use as a reference when they create their leaf creatures.
Click here to use symmetry to learn about the margins of leaves.
Click here for more details about another fun project I did with leaves last fall.
Collect deciduous leaves that have revealed their fall colors with your children or students. Draw vases of their own design with chalk on a sidewalk. Place the leaves in the vase.
Do you want more leaf experiments? Search in the upper right corner above with key words leaf, tree, or fall.
I had several red-eared sliders in my science lab over the years. This is Myrtle the turtle! Red-eared sliders are not indigenous to Georgia and are considered an invasive species. When they grew too big for my tank, the pet store would rehome them for me.
While walking on the greenway, I came across some sliders sunning themselves on a log. They appear to be yellow-bellied sliders. Reptiles are cold-blooded which means they use sunlight to help regulate their body temperature. UV rays also produce vitamin D3 and process calcium which keeps the turtles’ bones and shells healthy. If they are too hot, they just slide back into the water. In my science lab, I had both a heat lamp and a UV light on my turtle tank.
The next day, I discovered these turtles basking in the sun at a community park.
Look closely at the shell of this turtle. Looks like he is shedding his scutes.
A blimp flew over my neighborhood recently which led me to wondering about the history and construction of dirigibles. Through my research, I realized how rare it is to see one! Add blimps to your study of air and space. What an interesting addition to history units too!
Begin the discussion with your students by presenting two balloons for them to observe, one filled with helium and the other your breath. Why does one balloon float? How does a hot air balloon differ from a blimp?
Click here to watch full screen. Click here for the Safeshare link.
Click here to watch full screen. Click here for the Safeshare link.
I’ve posted about joro spiders before. Click here to go to that post. These arachnids are spreading all over Georgia and other neighboring states. I began seeing small spiders in early summer, but they are quickly growing to their three-inch size. Joro spiders, an invasive species originating from tropical parts of Asia, are “cousins” of the golden silk spider (banana spider) which is common in the southeastern United States.
Joro spiders are easy to identify. Their long legs and abdomens have yellow and black stripes, and a red mark is located on the underside of the female’s abdomen.
These spiders weave giant golden 3-D orb webs that can span 10 feet. The precision and design of an orb web is one of the most beautiful sights in nature!
Grateful that their bite cannot harm people or pets. After females lay their egg sacs in late summer, they will die at the first frost. Four to five hundred spiderlings will hatch next spring. Joro spiders travel via ballooning, meaning they use their silk to ride air currents. Could this explain how the Joro spider population has spread so quickly?
I’m starting to spot male spiders, smaller and less colorful than the females, in the webs.
Just added this book to my library.
The construction of orb webs fascinates me, and I’ve posted about them several times. Click here to see orb webs one foggy morning and click here to see a web in a window. You can spray orb webs with a fine mist to see the details of the webs. Gently throw a leaf into the web and watch how the spider interacts with it.
The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle is a fun story to dramatize with your young scientists. Give the actor who is the spider a ball of yarn to weave among items in your classroom or purchase a large orb web to use as the background. (Click here for an example.)
Click here to view full screen.
Students can make orb webs in a variety of ways. Create an orb web on waxed paper with glue. Let it dry and then peel it off. My students have also created webs with glue and while the glue was wet, they sprinkled glitter over them. (They look like webs glistening with water droplets.) We added a spider after the glue dried. Drawing webs is always an engaging task! Click here.
I’ve used the study of spiders to teach students to differentiate between facts and opinions in reading. Lots of people have opinions about spiders! Ideas from former students:
Facts:
Spiders are invertebrates. Most spiders spin webs. Spiders have eight legs and two body parts. Most spiders have eight eyes. There are different kinds of webs.
Opinions:
Everyone should study spiders. Spiders are the coolest! Spiders are scary. Spiders are fun to study. Orb webs are the best kind of webs.
Surely everyone has experienced a mosquito bite. Did you know that mosquitoes are considered the deadliest animal in the world? Click here to watch an informative video about mosquitoes.
A mosquito is an insect and therefore has three body parts and six legs. During their life span, mosquitoes move through metamorphosis – egg. larva, pupa, and adult. I like to walk in a wetland, but I’ve limited my walks there this summer because of the stagnant pools of water where mosquitoes lay their eggs.
Click here for full screen.
Although mosquitoes are certainly not a favorite of mine, they are an important link in many food chains. Predators that eat mosquitoes include fish, birds, bats and frogs. Some species of mosquitoes are pollinators.
Click here to watch this humorous story full screen.
Add the West African tale, Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, to your study of mosquitoes.
