Nature Study Outing :: At the Pond

We met friends at the pond last week to make some preliminary observations for a year-long pond study I’ve been hoping to do.  Although we have been to this pond many times, we haven’t studied it in any organized way, so this time I wanted to make a quick observation of what we might study more closely on future trips.  I’d like over the course of this year to make seasonal notes, starting this term with a few object lessons on some common creatures and plants.

This time, though, we didn’t find as many creepy-crawlies as I was expecting–I was hoping to see plenty of water bugs and lizards, but my kids, armed eagerly with skimming nets, only ended up with one tiny tadpole and a couple flying insects that we’re still working to identify.  I thought we would see more activity since it has been such a warm fall.  I’m sure our spring or summer outings will be more fruitful.

We peeped through our microscope at some pond water and a sycamore leaf, spent some time drawing birds in our nature journals, and I got to work marking appropriate sections from a stack of nature study books.