Today was our first "exploration day" with My Father's World 1st grade.  Ladybug loved it immensely.  First we read three more books from the library that we checked out about things that live in the ground and things in the soil.  We've been reading many books this week about moles and ants and worms.  Our favorite so far has been Are You a Snail?  I *love* how it's written and there are others in the series - Backyard Books.

Then Ladybug drew a worm in her science notebook and titled it "Close to the Ground".  She just couldn't wait for the culmination of our exploration day with the worms!  We made a worm jar in which we layered sand and soil and then placed about 6 or so worms.  We covered it with a towel to keep it dark and in a few days we should be able to see the tunnels they make.

Okay, so I titled this blog entry "Nature Journaling" ... let's talk about that ...

The last thing we did was choose something that we could bring in from the outside (it was a damp morning) to draw in our nature journals.  We both chose flowers from Ladybug's garden.  I chose a sunflower and Ladybug chose a zinnia.  Below are the pictures of our first entries ...

This is Ladybug's drawing of her zinnia.  This is what she saw and she tried to write the name of the flower at the top ("zenyu").   I had her write the date and then copy some info from a flower book that I have.  I think she did pretty good for her first time!

This is mine ... I chose one of her sunflowers.  I truly enjoyed this as I *love*love*love* to draw!  It's been a while, however, and I enjoyed getting out my art supplies (I have a *nice* set of Prismacolor Premier colored pencils and drawing pencils) and using them again.

If you don't do nature journaling, I think you should give it a try.  If you're not sure how to do it, you can read Keeping a Nature Journal for information and inspiration.  Also below are some links to learn a bit more online:

Start a Nature Notebook by Karen Andreola

Penny Gardner's Nature Notebook Sample Pages - there is more here than just this page

Natural Nature Learning

Nature Study: Charlotte Mason's Cure for Tired Text-Taught Tots

This is such a great way to get children involved with God's creation ... studying it, loving it, understanding it ...

By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. (Romans 1:20 The Message)

I think this is going to be a great year!!!

Blessings!

~Heather