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We had a lot of fun studying earthworms in preparation for our very first dissection, and I thought I would share some of the online resources that we found to be helpful.

Check out Worm World for basic information about the habitat, lifestyle and reproduction of worms, as well as how to build a wormery to observe these wiggly creatures in more detail.

Discovery Kids has put together a very informative site called Yucky Worm World. Did you know that worms are recyclers? See them in action yourself by making a worm bin. At Yucky Worm World, you will also encounter Mary the Worm Woman, learn all about earthworms, and visit Wendell the Worm's cousins.

How would you like to read a worm's autobiography? Visit The Adventures of Herman the Worm, where Herman shares his history, family tree, anatomy and many other interesting facts. He even offers worm games to play.

K-2 Teachers will appreciate ReadWriteThink's Digging Up Details on Worms lesson plan, which includes a booklist and directions for making a worm habitat. These lessons could be adapted for older students.

Older students living in Canada might enjoy a more in-depth study of earthworms by participating in Worm Watch. Even if you do not live in Canada, this site offers a very helpful page detailing external earthworm anatomy and a basic earthworm dissection worksheet. Don't miss their Virtual Worm Tour!

Why stop at earthworms? Glencoe Science sends older students on a WebQuest to classify and compare worms. This site lists some great resources and includes a teacher's page and worm comparison worksheet.

I learned so much about earthworms during this study; they are amazing creatures! Enjoy the links.

~Andrea

The gardening season is fast approaching here in Michigan, and I am so excited! Jacque at Seeking Rest in the Ancient Paths wrote a wonderful post about learning in the garden.She also posted a photo journal of her family's gardening experience last year that is very inspiring.

I found a gardening gem this morning that I just have to share: Garden-Based Learning. This website is geared towards starting school-based gardening programs, but it contains quite a bit of helpful information, activities, lesson plans and other gardening resources and publications. I was especially excited to find a downloadable guide entitled Know Your Insects (a 4-H publication in PDF format) that includes instructions for starting an insect collection. We are studying invertebrates for our Green Hour Challenge, and we will be learning about insects as soon as we are finished with worms, snails and spiders.

I actually entered the site through an invaluable "Getting Started" section that I haven't been able to find by perusing the main pages, although I'm sure it's there somewhere. This section will take you to a variety of helpful pages, also linking to Cornell University's Home Gardening website.

Cornell's Gardening Resources website is also full of gardening helps, too many to list here.

Cornell's resources focus on the northeastern United States, but there are a lot of helpful tips for all gardeners. However, if you live in the U.S., you can find links to your state's Cooperative Extension System office here.

Here are some of my favorite gardening links:

Garden Guides

Backyard Wildlife Habitat

kidsgardening.org (another site with classroom-based ideas - tons of information here)

My First Garden (the format here is friendly for younger children)

There are so many wonderful gardening websites available. I would love it if you would share some of your favorites; I'll add them to my list (giving you credit, of course).

"To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted...." Ecclesiastes 3: 2-3

Happy Gardening!

~Andrea

Barb at Handbook of Nature Study is hosting a Outdoor Hour Challenge. This looks like an easy and gentle way to incorporate nature study into your homeschool if it is something you're interested in and it ends up on the back burner (that would be me). I am very sporadic with nature study, so this looks wonderful!

Barb says, "Many of you have read the book Pocketful of Pinecones and you are dreaming about having nature study like she describes this story. You can have that sort of experience if you take it easy and leave yourself open to the little opportunities that come in your everyday life. Please remember that this book is a fictionalized story about what nature study can look like. Your experiences can be just as enriching and look totally different."

You can start the assignments whenever you want. It looks like you can start from the beginning and go at your own pace or join in on the current assignment. Assignment #2 was posted on 2/22/08. Click the Outdoor Hour image for details and the first assignment. Barb is also making the assignments available in PDF format.

I first read about this at Moving the Mountain. You can read about mamasmurf's first Outdoor Hour here.

My nature study day will probably be on Thursdays, so I will try to post our Outdoor Hour adventures on Thursdays or Fridays.

~Andrea

I totally forgot about this! There is going to be a lunar eclipse tonight. There is a detailed time chart at NASA.

I'm sorry I posted this so late! Here are some links of interest even if you miss the event:

Space.com Lunar Eclipse Viewing Guide

Lunar Eclipses for Beginners

Observe a Lunar Eclipse (animation)

Lunar Eclipse (another animation)

This starts in an hour here in Michigan - I'd better get the camera ready!

~Andrea

We did an owl pellet dissection last week. It was so much fun! The kids really got into the project - I was surprised that it held their attention so long. You can see all of the pics here:


Supplies:

• Owl Pellets (I bought these when Home Science Tools had a coupon - the large pellets are great)
• Owl Pellet Examination Instructions (free PDF from Home Science Tools)
• toothpicks or a teasing needle
• my kids used forceps to help arrange their skeleton parts
• newspaper or something to cover the table
• bone identification charts (see below)
  

Free stuff for this project:

• There is some great information at The Secret Lives of Owls, including Bone Identification, Bird Skeleton, Mole Skeleton, Rat Skeleton and Skull Identification Charts. Note: there is a section on owl evolution.


• The Owl Pages is another great site for all kinds of information on owls.


• Do you want to experience owl pellet dissection without the mess (and it was kind of messy)? How about doing a Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection?

~Andrea

I thought I would share some of the frog identification pages I found while trying to identify the frog that Allyson saved from our friend's car.

Amphiaweb: From this page, you can click on your geographic area to find out what kinds of amphibians live there. Lots of pictures here.

FROGLAND: This is a fun frog site with tons of information. Go to their Species Caresheets page to learn how to care for specific breeds, including breeds found in the wild. This site has just about everything you could possibly want if you are looking for frog info, even links to clipart and interactive frog games! Highly recommended if you have a frog-loving child in your home.

eNature: Can't forget this one! Check out their field guides, which are searchable by region. You can even sign up for a free Wildlife List to keep track of animals and plants you see in your backyard or local area. Add species with notes about where you found them - it's basically your own online nature journal.

Now for more pics of our frog. Click on the picture for a larger image.

   

It's hard to tell positively for us because it seems to be a young frog, but we still think that it's a bullfrog. This makes a difference because if it's a bullfrog, then we have to make sure that we return it to a habitat that has bullfrogs - they get huge and eat anything they can fit in their mouths, including other frogs and even small mammals like mice. Crazy! I'm going to call a local nature center to see if they can help with this.

Thanks for reading. I'm still looking for a positive ID for this frog if anyone knows.

~Andrea

Have you ever heard of Robert Krampf's free "Experiment of the Week?" He sends out an experiment every week via an e-mail list. I have actually been getting these for 4 years. For some reason I don't use them very often - I think it has to do with the fact that I leave them on my computer rather than printing them out. It definitely isn't because they aren't good. He does a really good job of giving you interesting experiments that are easily done at home.

Well, this week Mr. Krampf sent an e-mail out stating that he is beginning to add videos of his favorite experiments to his website showing and explaining the experiment! What a great motivator for my children (and me)! The website is Robert Krampf's Science Education Company.

Go here to see all of the videos available.

Enjoy!
~Andrea

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