A Yarn Along of Sorts

Not many words today as I am on the fly! Been knitting...

Right now...

Hubby getting the lawn under control

and coals burning bright - ready for a BBQ tonight :o) - it's too much of a lovely evening not to eat and cook al fresco! While we are outside...

We can take a look at the veggie patch. I am generally pleased with the progress of everything - except my tomatoes, wish they would hurry up and grow!  I hope it survives our week away with no TLC! 

Joining Ginny

OHC - Grid Study

It's Outdoor Hour time again, and today it was all about the Grid Study.

I love the Grid study! I usually keep it for one of those inevitable weeks that things just seem to run riot and there does not seem to be much time to find to linger in our nature studies. This week is just such a week in our home as we strive to get our school work done, washing up to date and some meal planning - along with a thousand other things that goes with preparing to go away on holiday.

Tuesday afternoon cleared up and warmed up beautifully. I had noticed that my apple trees were suffering with white mildew and was spraying them - happily noticing lots of little apples forming while busy with my task. I turned around and noticed the girls sitting on the lawn stringing little white daisy's together. 'Perfect!' I thought, and dashed inside to grab my newsletter with the grid study.

 We sat on the lawn together and to look at the grid and decide what was first. Pulling weeds was the chosen activity. This took some time as we realised one of the reasons wildflowers or weeds if they are in your garden, are so successful is that allot of them have long strong root systems, making it difficult to pull them up.

We moved through the other activities fairly quickly, but the task caused one of my girls to pull out her flower press and begin pressing some of the seasons flowers found in our garden. Of course this is another days study altogether, but I didn't let on - why spoil the surprise :o)

It occurred to me that this study had us looking a little closer at what grows in our garden quite by it's own merit - nothing to do with my gardeners fingers at all. In looking for a prickly or thorny stem, we found quite a few Blackberry Brambles in our hedge, behind our shed and a few other places in our garden. We noticed that there are little flower buds beginning to form and spoke of our hopes for a good blackberry harvest later on. Yum!

I am struck by how such a simple activity and with a fairly short time spent on 'nature study', how much we have come away with. Once again I am encouraged to just get out and do our OHC. Often I think, 'now where are we going to find xyz? I haven't seen any of that around.' 

And then I am proved wonderfully wrong! The 'Find 3 weed seeds' on the grid was just such a thing. Well, we didn't have to look too hard to find our 3 seeds. A lone dandelion held up its fuzzy clock head, some grasses were heavy with seed, and one of the girls found an unidentified weed growing nearby - it's head bent over with seeds.

After our study I put together a little collage of our grid study, printed it out and stuck in onto our June Nature Board. 

Have I told you about our Nature Board? This is a new little addition to our school room. I have taped together 9 pieces of paper in a 3X3 format, created a heading and a little info box of the months seasonal events. Then the OHC Grid and the months focus areas. As we complete our OHC, I print out pictures to remind us of our time spent outside and past them onto our nature board. Any other nature things that come up get printed out and pasted under the 'Nature Notes' heading. This month we rescued a little bird, his picture is displayed for us to remember the event. As the month progresses, so the board begins to fill up. It creates a wonderful visual collage of our months nature finds and studies. 

**About The Giveaway**

Nature School has still not been claimed by the winner! Please contact me at shirleyvels(at)talktalk(dot)net by Wednesday early morning or I'll need to draw a new winner.

Summer Nature Table

With the Summer Solstice just days away, I thought it was the perfect time to update our nature display. 

I thought you might like to see how we do this in our home. If you are keen to see past displays, you can see  our Autumn, Winter and Spring displays by clicking on the links.

The small bunting from the Spring display remains throughout the summer - it is a thoroughly British things so has to be a part of our display :o). On the right hand side of our shelf we have some feathers collected on a recent trip to the pond. the girls were delighted to find a swan feather to add to the shelf. In the corner we have -as always - the Union Jack and our palm cross presiding over each season.

I like to have something interesting stuck on the back board. During Autumn it was a fact sheet on the Hedgehog as we have a family who frequents our garden. For the summer display I have chosen a frog Idial from Nature Detectives.

This cute interactive download is relevant to our main focus area. We have been raising tadpoles for the past few weeks now and have followed each stage of the development with this frog life cycle idial. You can download your own free copy here.

Over on the left we have our copy of Brambly Hedge Summer Story. You will notice that this is always a feature on our shelves as we never tire of these delightfully illustrated tales. We have a jar of Razor shells collected on Morecombe Bay  Beach last year with a little blurb about these interesting creatures. Next to this jar of Razor Shells we have a sprig of pine with the flower that we collected on a nature walk. It is amazing the amount of pollen this thing puts out! Honestly, each day I have to wipe away the fine golden dust :o).

Just in front of the pine flower is a small shell I found in our garden. Sadly I think that this little bird did not make it into this world. We have loads of Magpie's, Ravens etc around and I am pretty sure one of them is the culprit. Still - an interesting addition. 

We also have the magnifying glass at hand to observe the small changes to our tadpoles.

Our centrepiece is of course our Tadpole Aquarium. As yo can see I have put a little yellow sticker onto our aquarium. On it I have noted the collection date of our frog spawn and the date of each developmental change that we see. 

Finally on the right hand side, in a teen weeny display bottle we have Caddis Fly cases.

We collected these on our pond study trip. The are fascinating to look at - what a marvel! Again you will see that I have dated our find. All this labelling is a recent thing that I have started doing for a few reasons. For one it reminds us of exactly when we found it - what season etc. Secondly, in the case of the aquarium, we can create a time line and understand how long development takes. To be quite honest with you, before now, I thought that the transition from tadpole to frog was quite a quick process. We are all learning through observations that it is not! And finally, little snippets of information on the objects we find, printed out and put next to the object on the display table, helps to impart a bit more knowledge to the observer in a quiet and gentle way. It's allowing the observer to quietly ponder on and connect with this bit of creation.

So - that's another display done until Autumn. Of course we will take away and add to as the season progresses. We are off to Cornwall this week-end so I am sure that we will bring back lots of seashore finds. Our aquarium will be moving on and new objects moving in. It is a constantly changing display - which makes it all the more interesting :o)

Blessings All.

Pond Dipping

The pond is just teeming with life and therefore makes a great focus of study. Taking care of our tadpoles at home has obliged us to make numerous trips to the nearby pond to stock up on fresh water. Each time we find ourselves ankle deep in the creek investigating the little creatures that live there.

By now we know to dress for the occasion. We pull on our wellies and arm ourselves with nets and ice-cream containers to do a bit of pond dipping. I must just point out that this is certainly not an activity limited to children. I get as much delight and enjoyment from this nature activity as my girls do.

As you can see from the picture above {if you look carefully that is}, you will notice that just above the water the air is teeming with life too! On this particular day the May Flies were enjoying the sunlight, we were fortunate enough to see a fish jump up and snatch at these delicate little flies, hoping for a snack ;o). 

The girls wasted no time in pond dipping - well... maybe a little - to admire this beautiful little bunch of wildflowers that some like-minded nature lover left for others to enjoy :o)

Come along with us for our pond dipping nature adventure...

Today is a bit of a watery day, both in the creek and out. the sun is shining but 'monkey showers' fall every no and again. We are kept quite dry by the canopy of trees above us. I step back and watch as the girls explore their surrounds.

They dragged their nets around for a few minutes.

 'There's no life in this pond!' I hear my youngest exclaim. 

'That's coz you not using the right technique.' Her sister answers.

'There's a technique to pond dipping?'

'Well - there is sort of. You need to move your net in a figure of 8 twice just over the river bed, then examine your net carefully'.

Silence.

Much swirling action happening.

'Wooohooo! I got something, I got something'

We all rush over and carefully empty the net into the ice-cream container resting on the creek's bank. Sure enough there are a few worms and quite a few Caddis Fly Larvae wrapped up in their safe stick and stone homes.

'Lets find more creatures!' come the delighted cries.

So we do. We are all dipping now. Disturbing the residents that live on the creek bottoms. Some small fish, Fresh Water Shrimps, more Caddis Fly, May Fly and worms are found and are all plunged into the ice-cream bucket.

'MOM!!! the Caddis Fly are trying to eat the others!' shrieks Miss J-L

I explain that Caddis Fly Larvae are ferocious hunters, which is why we cannot take any back to our tadpole aquarium. Miss J-L is quite emotional about this, unlike her more practically  minded sister. She tries to rescue the May Fly Nymph that is coming under attack. This produces an exchange of words between the two sisters. We decide for the sake of keeping the peace all should be returned to their water homes.

The rain begins to fall and we decide to call it a day and head home for a cup of tea and to attend to our tadpole aquarium at home.

Today I don't ask the girls to record our discoveries in their nature journals. We have done this a few weeks ago. Today was simply to enjoy what the creek had to offer. Next time we will take along a Pond Viewer so that we can search the creek bottoms and observe them going about their business undisturbed.

Make Your Own Pond Viewer

A pond viewer is simply a mask of sorts that enables you to look under the water without getting wet. You can make a pond viewer using just a few simple objects from around the home. 

You will need:

* Gaffer Tape or an elastic band

* A Plastic container that you can cut the bottom out of - we used a plastic coke bottle but you could use a milk container, an old bucket a yogurt container - really, just about anything!

* Clear plastic - we used a clear page protector, but others have used plastic-wrap too.

Now - cut the bottom out of your container, I cut a bit off the top of my coke bottle too. then cover the bottom of your container with the plastic and secure with the tape or elastic band.

That's it! Really as simple as that. Now all you have to do is head on down to the pond, lower your pond viewer into the water and look in from the top.

If you are looking for some great free pond printables to take with you to the pond, hop on over to Nature Detectives to download lots of wonderful sheets and ideas.

Now... the summer equinox is just about upon us which means the official start of summer! Whoohooo! In our home that means that our nature display is due for updating so I will be back this week to show you what we have done :o).

Many Blessings All

Creative Friday and a Winner!

I have managed a bit of sewing this week. We are off to Cornwall in just over a weeks time so I thought that a beach bag would be just the thing for our holiday. Of course I wanted it to reflect our beach side environs so I crocheted a cute little sail ship to sew onto the front.

I love how it has turned out. It is spacious enough to contain all we need. In fact it was put to the test on Tuesday when we joined a friend for a picnic. It comfortably held our picnic lunch and the handles bore the strain of the weight very well.

**Now onto the giveaway**

What a great response! Thank you to all who entered, I wish had copies for all of you ;o)

I'm afraid the process of selecting a winner was rather traditional, I printed off all the comments, cut them into strips and then folded and popped them all into one of the girls old Easter egg buckets. 

That was given a good shuffle and shake, then I plunged my hand into the bucket, scrabbled around a bit and pulled out....

Mandy! Mandy wrote:

"I definitely want to do Nature Study this year with my 2 kids. This looks perfect. thanks for doing the giveaway! :)"

Well Mandy, I hope that this book helps you on your way to making Nature Study a regular part of your week. Please email your postal address to me - shirleyvels(at)talktalk(dot)net - and I will get that right off to you.

This was fun! I think I am going to have to do it again sometime :) - Once again, thank you to all who entered. 

Have a blessed weekend all.

Joining Linda for Creative Friday

Yarn Along : Ta-dah!

The second Shalom is finished! I was happy with number one but am happier with this one. I used a 6.5mm needle instead of the 7mm I used for the first one. The sizing is just right. I did have to buy another ball of wool though so used 6 instead of 5 this time round. I love the colour too - for some reason I have nothing purple in my closet. I love the colour so much I think I am going to have to remedy that this Autumn ;o)

It still needs blocking but at least it is off the needles.

Reading and other knits:

Well I have just started 'The Mystery Writer' by Jessica Mann. I have not heard of this author before but this book caught my eye on a recent library trip. I'll be able to tell you more next week.

As you can see from the picture I have also been having fun knitting up little acorns. These are for a little Autumn project I have in mind later on in the year. I thought that I would knit up various little components when I only have short periods of knitting time available ;o)

Joining Ginny for Yarn Along over at Small Things

**Nature Book Giveaway**

**This Giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who left a comment**

I recently wrote a review for The Curriculum Choice on a wonderful little book called Nature Adventures. The authors of the book were kind enough to give me a copy to giveaway for my review, however they also sent me a copy of one of their earlier nature books called Nature School, published by Frances Lincoln Children's Books

I absolutely love Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom's books. They are a delight to read, the illustrations gorgeous and on top of all that - informative! 

Nature School is ideally suited to children ages 4 - 12, although certainly not limited to that age range. My girls 13 and 15 enjoyed reading through it.  This little book is absolutely packed with ideas and projects to do.   Each chapter covers a different nature topic, each has some nature tips and a related project to do.

Topics include:

*A Nature Notebook
*Field Skills
*Nature Detective
*Tracks and Droppings
*Wildlife Feeding Stations
*Animal Homes
*Minibeasts
*Fungi
*Worm Farm
*Changing Bodies
*Nuts, Beans, Cones and Seeds
*How Seeds Spread
*Trees
*Night-time and Moths
*Bats and Owls
*Litter and Pollution
*Make a Pond
*Water World
*Nature Displays
*Nature Walk
*Nature Party

This is the perfect book to keep Summer learning going, in a fun and interactive way. Lots of time spent outdoors together. Perhaps you could pack a picnic, your nature journals and supplies and spend many happy summer afternoons exploring and learning about your natural surrounds.

I am happy to post to anywhere in the world so this giveaway is open to all. To enter please leave a comment below. I will announce the winner on Friday June 14th, so be sure to check in and see if you have won ;o)

Yarn Along

My 2nd Shalom is coming along nicely - although I have just run out of yarn and am waiting for another ball to arrive - hopefully in the next day or two so that I can finish up by the weekend. I have added that 4th buttonhole I spoke of in my last Shalom post so am keen to see the end result. I have also used a 6.5mm needle for this cardi and am finding that the fit is a little better for me. It really is such a minor sizing difference but even that little adjustment makes a difference.

Reading - I am keen to expand my knowledge and start learning a few basic principals in knitwear design. When I spotted Debbi Bliss's book 'Design it, knit it' on the library shelf I wasted no time in popping it into my book bag :). I glanced through it's pages yesterday and love what I saw - now to find a bit of time to delve in deeper!

Joining Ginny from Small Things for this weeks Yarn Along

OHC - Queen Anne's Lace

This months OHC nature study theme is Wildflowers and Weeds. Although we got a jump start on wildflowers with our study last month, we are quite happy to continue with this theme as the British countryside, byways and highways are teaming with an abundance of wildflowers.

We didn't have far to go to find the subject of our nature study - just a short walk to the end of the garden. Against the fence at the foot of the tree line, Queen Anne's Lace is flourishing, pushing it's way forward.

Queen Anne's Lace is in abundance along the the roadsides and hedgerows in England in at the moment. I was interested to read in the Handbook of Nature Study that this plant does better in the States than here in Europe. I'm not sure about the mainland, but here in England it seems to be doing just fine and I struggle to see how it could do any better ;o)

So after settling down on the grass with the warm sunshine beating down on our backs, we read together about this plant. Here's what we learnt...

* We know this plant as 'Cow Parsley' in England. Other names are Queen Anne's Lace, Hedge Parsley, Wild Chervil

* Cow Parsley is an Umbellifer. That is - a plant with a showy cluster of flowers that forms an umbrella shape

*It's leaf is fern-like

* Cow Parsley has a hollow stem

* According to The Wildlife Trusts, Cow Parsley is collectively known as Queen Anne's Lace ;o)

* Cow Parsley is one of several common members of the carrot family

* Cow Parsley is NOT TO BE CONFUSED with the deadly Hemlock plant which is very similar. You can tell the difference by the scarlet splotches that are on the Hemlock plant's stem and the distinctive smell of the plant's leaves which apparently smell like old mice nests - yuck!

We chatted a bit about how the famous Greek philosopher, Socrates, was executed by means of a Hemlock potion - see how one thing can lead to another? LOL

Next we found a poem in our Favorite Poems Old and New and read it together. Miss V-L and I copied it into our nature journals, Miss J-L chose just to draw her Cow Parsley - remember, this is my reluctant journaler ;o). We spent some time painting our finds in our journals..

Mama's page

Miss V-L's page - she added a bit more info to her page later so this is an incomplete view :o)

Miss J-L's page

then Miss J-L disappeared to the house and came back with tea! What a treat.

I'll leave you with the poem that we found and included in our journals...

Queen Anne's Lace

by Mary Leslie Newton

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, has washed her lace

(She chose a summer day)

And hung it in a grassy place

To whiten, it it may.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, has left it there,

And slept the dewy night;

Then waked, to find the sunshine fair,

And all the meadows white.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, is dead and gone

(She died a summer's day),

But left her lace to whiten on

Each weed-entangled way!