meet up now?

Hi Guys- I am planning a nature club outing this week, Friday morning (7/2). 10:00:-11:30am. If you have some bring a sketch pad, colored pencils (though we have some to share) and a magnifying glass :) I really need anyone who is coming to RSVP first. IF no one does, we may end up doing it earlier/later or when we feel like it.I wouldn't want you to drive here and have me not be here. Thanks and hope to see you there! Chandra

First meet up of the Summer planned!!

We have been busy the last few months with this and that and its time to get back into the swing of things with Nature Club :)
I would love to do a study of earth worms. It seems an appropriate time. We can also take a look at the cattails which the kids did a bit of study on during the winter. We can compare how things have changed. Please remember to bring a small sketchbook and colored pencils. My kids have them and I dont want anyone to feel left out. I bought ours at Meijers (about $5). Other great helpful tools are a magnifying glass and a bag to carry everything in if you have them.
Many things in our children's garden have been planted (and still being planted!)so things are starting to grow. I planted sunflowers & morning glories in the hopes that it will turn into a hut (still very early yet but starting to grow) Lets hope it turns out the way i want it to. That is a place the kids can walk under-hmmm we shall see :) I just finished the bird house gord tipi and am working on the green bean tunnel. As well we have some vegetables and lots of flowers and herbs. I kept an open spot where the kids can dig to their hearts content with some small garden tools. I am also working on setting up some other "play" areas within the garden. We will have time to work or play in the garden during nature club.
The next meeting will be after June 20th. Does anyone have a preferance?? -weekday/weekend? I would prefer weekday but am not opposed to weekend-it would have to be a Sunday afternoon though (we do farmers market on saturdays). Monday afternoons work great for me. OK I will post the date (time will be 1-2:30pm)in a few days after i hear from some of you-hopefully...

next meet up

Greetings and Happy Spring!!
I'm sorry I did not post the new date for the next meet up. Sadly, we had a death in the family (my husbands step-mother) and then my kids have had a cold the last week.
I want to set a date for the next meet up. There are lots of signs of spring out here, so we can start on the spring activities.
This weekend, I will be preparing for a holiday for us, so we cannot meet up then and then the weekend after that it is Easter so I am sure alot of you will be busy. But I don't want to hold off for three weeks until our next meet up, so would after school work?
I am going to set a date for Thursday April 1, 2010 at 4:30pm. This will give everyone enough time to give their kids a snack after school and then meet up here at my house. I hope to see you there!
Chandra
P.S. If you can please RSVP. Thanks!

Nature Club Outing #2

At this week's meet up, we will be going outside and taking a walk. Right now our farm is still in winter mode so there are lots of places to walk and explore. I have taken excerpts (and paraphrased) directly from the HofNS blog and posted it here to give you an idea of what else we will be doing.

After our walk, we will challenge the children to come up with words to describe the following things:
One word to describe something they heard. (For example: rustling, snapping, crunching or chirping)
Two words for something they saw. (For example: tall trees, frozen water, red birds)
Three words for something they felt. (For example: freezing cold wind, rough sticky pinecone)

The point of this assignment is to get them to start thinking about what they see as they go along. Each time they take a nature walk they will develop more and more vocabulary and this will eventually trickle down to their nature journals. If they have difficulty coming up with things to say, we can help them out with some of our own words to get them started and they will soon catch on. Once we start identifying objects they see on their nature walks, you will be surprised at how easily they remember the specific names of plants, trees, and birds.
We will have time to write/color in our nature journals about what they saw. This is always optional of course.
Before we take our walk we will discuss with the children that if they get rowdy we will use 'the universal finger over the lips sign' to get them to quiet down. I will post the date of the next meet up in a few days here. :)
Ok we hope to see you there!~

We had fun on the last Nature Club outing. We visited the Cat Tails that are by the pond, and talked about how they looked (color,shape), touched the fuzzy seeds that were attched to them and discussed what they may look like in the Spring. The snow was really deep! We built a snow fort/tunnel and dug in the snow. Adeline, Sebastian, Andrew and Sebastian's mom,Lily joined us as well. Here are some pictures
of what my girls drew in the sketchbooks later that day. It was too cold and snowy to bring our sketchbooks and draw outside. We are planning the next meeting and we hope to see you there! I will post a date by next Sunday so check back! Thanks, Chandra

Nature Club

Please be careful if you are coming to Nature Club on Saturday- our driveway has not been plowed since yesterday. Sorry!