Find a special place outdoor where you and your students can
observe nature throughout the school year. Your county
conservation board naturalist is a great resource to help you find the
perfect spot. Visit this same place each season and observe the changes.
Let each student identify their own special spot within your
selected area. To help students select their personal space, play one or both
of the following games:
- Eagle-Eye Game - Close your eyes and pretend to be an eagle soaring over the area. The eagle needs a place to land that is its own special place – find a place to land.
- Cat-Walking Game - Walk as if you are a cat. Slip along quietly in the shadows on the edge of cover. Walk a few steps and then stand still to sense danger. Turn your eyes and whiskers left, right, behinds, and up. Use your “body radar” to feel which way to go next. Walk a few more steps, the again stop, look, listen, and adjust your course. Keep walking with cat-like awareness until the perfect spot attracts you – settle in.
Have students record their observations in a nature journal or
science notebook.
- Write down what you see, hear, smell or feel.
- Draw what you see, record how many you see- was their more than one animal?
- Can you tell the story of what happened when they walked by?
- Write down what sounds you hear, where do you think they are coming from?
Nature Journaling
Notable
scientists, naturalists, and philosophers such as Charles Darwin, Henry David
Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, and John Muir were
all known for keeping journals of their observations, poems, and discoveries.
Many of their famous literary works and groundbreaking observations were
published from their journals.
Check out these
great resources with tips on creating nature journals and using science
notebooks.
