No better combination than art in a natural setting! I came upon this artist on my last visit to Chattahoochee Nature Center.
At the Naples Botanical Gardens, sculptor Patrick Daugherty and his team of collaborative volunteers created Stickwork with 30,000 pounds of willow saplings.
Because I desire to be a lifelong learner, I am studying how to improve my photography skills. A Run Wild My Child blog post (for which I am an ambassador) shared helpful suggestions for taking better pictures of your kids outside with your phone.
Recently, I completed a class, Basics of Nature Photography, at Chattahoochee Nature Center with Eric Bowles. I am reviewing previous photos and practicing the following composition lessons I learned:
In your imagination, divide your photo into a 3×3 grid. The focus of your photo should be where two lines intersect (Rule of Thirds) or generally off center:
Look for S cand C curves to engage the viewer and create motion but try not to let the curves move off directly into a corner of your photo.
Attempt to capture an animal looking toward you.
If you capture an animal in profile, leave space in front of the animal in the direction it is moving.
Use the rule of thirds and place the horizon line in the lower third or the upper third of the composition depending upon where you want the viewer to focus. Don’t place a horizon line behind someone’s head and it should be straight.
Explore framing your subject.
Shoot your photo from different perspectives. Try shooting up or down on your subject.
Diagonal lines can draw your eye to the subject or create movement.
One more hint: If you have people in your photo, don’t cut the subjects off at joints – knees, wrists, and ankles for example. I am sharing nature photos on my Instagram account. I hope you’ll take a minute to check it out! (@pbright2)
Blog posts often seem to write themselves as this one did. In a previous post, I explained that bald cypress and dawn redwood trees are very similar and distinguishing between these conifers can be challenging, especially when they are young. Click here to go to that post. One way to identify bald cypress trees are to locate knees or woody projections that grow up from the roots. I recently saw these knees (pneumatophores) in several different locations in Georgia and Florida. Why do you think the bald cypress grows knees? (Look below the photos.)
Since bald cypresses often grow in swampy areas, scientists think the purpose of the knees is to transport air to drowned roots underground, as well as to provide structural support. Knees are sent up when a tree is about ten years old, but if a tree is in a lawn, it may not produce knees at all.
I recently discovered this book series for families with young children who enjoy learning while they spend time outdoors. Take these interactive field guides with you as you explore any outdoor area. Hands-on learning activities include scavenger hunts, discovery games, seek and find tasks that sharpen senses, and creative trail projects. Sticker patches and a magnifying glass are included.
What a fun family gift! Other books in the series include Bug Hunt, Bird Watch, Rock Hunt, and Discovering Trees. Click here to learn more.
Plastic, invented about 100 years ago, can take up to 500 years to decompose. Celebrate Earth Day by reusing and repurposing plastic for spring gardening projects.
Click here to learn how to use a DVD case to germinate seeds. Label plant parts with a sharpie.
Click here for directions on how to make a plastic planter.
For information on an outdoor planter, click here. So that water could drain, a piece of screen was attached to the bottom of the planter with a rubber band.
These repurposed cups made a perfect greenhouse. Click here for more information.
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Before you visit the beach, learn about seagulls. If you are an educator, seabirds are a great addition to an ocean unit too.
A Few facts about Seagulls:
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Many beach visitors can attest that seagulls are aggressive when it comes to finding food which is the theme of the next two videos.
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Not everyone is a fan of seagulls! Sailors believe they are good luck, but others call them rats of the ocean. Use this difference of opinion as an opportunity to write the pros and cons of seagulls inhabiting an area.
Craft a simple paper plate seagull. After studying the body parts (shape, size, and color), task children to draw, cut out, and attach the gull’s legs, bill, and eyes. How can you design the bill to open and its feet to appear as if the gull is standing?
So simple, yet transformative! I recently discovered the Let Go Project.
“The Let Grow Project gives students a simple, life-changing homework assignment: “Go home and do something new, on your own. Climb a tree, run an errand, make a meal… ” The choices are endless and the impact: immediate. Simply by experiencing some independence, students find themselves engaged, excited and curious. They analyze situations, evaluate consequences, and discover how resourceful they really are. Everyone sees the change: Educators, parents, the kids themselves. Independence leads to new problem-solving, resilience—and joy.”
Click here to go to their website and learn more. It’s for families, small neighborhood groups, or schools.
I’m grateful that I had parents who raised me in this manner!
Why do we see fog more often during spring and fall months and over or near bodies of water?
Can you identify the different types of fog?
Fog is condensation, not water vapor. Water vapor cannot be seen. When you walk through fog, you are moving through a cloud. One of my favorite investigations is to make a cloud in a bubble. Click here for more information.
This informational book is filled with captivating photographs of fog.
Use Carl Sandburg’s short poem, Fog, to explain metaphors, a literary device.
A weather poem by Aileen Fisher to teach descriptive words and rhythm.
I Like it When It’s Mizzly
I like it when it’s mizzly
and just a little drizzly
so everything looks far away
and make-believe and frizzly.
I like it when it’s foggy
and sounding very froggy.
I even like it when it rains
on streets and weepy windowpanes
and catkins in the poplar tree
and me.
If you are visiting a pond or studying pond life, be sure to include lily pads as part of your investigation. This aquatic plant thrives in full-sun and grows in still shallow water or at the edge of a deeper body of fresh water. I snapped these photos at Western Lake in Watercolor, Florida.
The rounded notched lily pad leaf has a waxy coating and repels water. Stomas, openings in the leaves, help the leaves float and exchange gases. Lily pads appear to be freely floating, but they are attached to a stem that extends down to where it is rooted at the bottom of a lake or pond. These perennials reproduce by producing root-like stems called rhizomes.
Many water lilies open from early morning to mid-afternoon, but others bloom at night. Blooms last three to five days.
Sometimes thought to be invasive, the leaves provide food and shelter for aquatic life and shade which lowers water temperature and reduces algae growth.
Seeing these animals, reminded me of The Little White Duck, a traditional children’s song.
Claude Monet, a French impressionist, is known for numerous large paintings of his lily ponds.
Another story to connect art, reading, and science:
The giant water lily can be found at the St. Louis Botanical Gardens.
I was surprised to discover water lilies in Montana!
Add plastic lily pads and pond animals (such as these) to your child’s pool, bathtub or in a water table for hours of fun!
With spring here and Easter approaching, use this time to study oviparous animals and perform egg investigations. My science students hatched chicken and duck eggs in the science lab. Click here to watch a video of our chicks hatching and here for a video of the ducklings.
I watched robins hatch on a window ledge at home.
But birds aren’t the only ones who lay eggs; both my aquatic and terrestrial snails surprised us with eggs!
We also watched praying mantids hatch from their egg case.
Turtles lay eggs too!
Have you ever seen frog or
toad eggs?
Watch the following informative video to learn about the variety of oviparous animals. Click here to watch the video full screen.
Try the following lively investigations and experiments that can be performed at home or in a classroom:
Identify which egg is hardboiled and which is raw by spinning them and squeeze an egg without breaking it!
Make an eggshell disappear! (A favorite!) Click here for directions.
Knock eggs in water using inertia. (I practiced with golf balls.)
The egg in the bottle was always a crowd pleaser in my science lab! I used “milk” bottles that I purchased at Michaels.
Use eggs to teach the importance of brushing your teeth. Click here for additional information.
Demonstrate the power of air pressure and separate the white from the egg yolk. Squeeze the air out of an empty water bottle and place the opening of the bottle over the egg yolk, still squeezing. Slowly let go of the squeeze and watch how the yolk is sucked into the bottle. It works like a pipette.
Use After the Fall as a springboard for an engineering activity. Task your students with devising a way to help an egg balance on a block wall without falling off or for the popular egg drop challenge. Click here to view full screen.
My youngest scientists tried to make an egg balance using salt which required perseverance!
The Easter Egg Farm is a humorous story to integrate art into your study of eggs or to read before you dye eggs. Click here to view full screen.