Our Nature Studies...

List of topics we plan to cover for nature studies. Many are from Oak Meadow, some of of my own design. We'll use a lot of the Let's Read & Find Out science series, and some good fiction as a supplement.

Fall Quarter
Insects - Bugs Are Insects; Supplemental: watch Microcosmos; Project: using paper cutouts or other insects, do a classification project OR collect bugs from the backyard, examine them, and then let them go

Crickets - Chirping Crickets; Supplemental: A Pocketful of Cricket, Grasshopper on the Road; Project: Cricket chirper

Caterpillars, Butterflies - From Caterpillar to Butterfly; Supplemental: Butterflies on Carmen Street, Where Butterflies Grow; Project: Butterfly Life Cycle Mobile

Bees - Honey in the Hive; Supplemental: The Queen with Bees in her Hair, The Bee Tree; Project: Beeswax candles and/or Fingerprint Painting Bees

Ants - Ant Cities; Supplemental: Two Bad Ants, The Little Red Ant & the Great Big Crumb; Project: Egg Carton Ants

Spiders - Spinning Spiders; Supplemental: The Spider and the Fly, Diary of a Spider; Project: Sticky Spider Web

Farm Animals/Seasons - Sunshine Makes the Seasons; Supplemental: Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm, The Year at Maple Hill Farm Project: Wooden Farm Animals


Bats - Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats; Supplemental: Stellaluna, The Bat-Poet; Project: Origami Bats

Pumpkins - From Seed to Pumpkin; Supplemental: Apples and Pumpkins, Pumpkins - A Story for a Field; Project: Felt Pumpkins

Apples - How Do Apples Grow?; Supplemental: Johnny Appleseed, The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree; Project: Apple prints, apple printouts from Enchanted Learning

Leaf Changes - Why Do Leaves Change Color?; Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf; Leaf Man we ended up doing 2 weeks of leaf studies Leaf Man Craft, Pressed Leaves, Handprint Leaf Wreath (do this in autumn colors), salt dough leaf magnets

Winter Quarter
Bird Migration - How Do Birds Find Their Way?; Supplemental: Luck, The Journey: Stories of Migration; Project: Bird racers

Animal Tracks - Big Tracks, Little Tracks; Supplemental: Moose Tracks, Whose Footprint Is That?; Project: make animal track stamps using the potato stamp technique (here's a template for animal tracks), or find some tracks outside and do plaster-of-paris molds.

Animals during the Winter, Hibernation - Animals in Winter; Supplemental: Sleep Black Bear, Sleep, Don't Wake Up the Bear!; Project: (Toilet paper tube) cave with hibernating animal finger puppet

Weather - What Will the Weather Be?; Supplemental: Wild Weather Soup, On the Same Day in March; Project: Make your own "wild weather" soup (example: potatoes=hail, broth=rain, and so forth), or make a hand-illustrated book about different types of weather. Enchanted Learning has a lot of activity printouts too!

Wind - Feel the Wind; Supplemental: Willa & the Wind, Millicent & the Wind; Project: make a wind vane


Snow - Snow is Falling; Supplemental: Snow, The Snowy Day; Project: make a homemade snow globe, or ice hangings (we had fun making these, hanging them out first thing in the morning, and then watching them defrost).


Rain - Down Comes the Rain; Supplemental: Who Likes Rain?, Come On, Rain!; Project: Make a rain stick

Storms - Flash, Crash, Rumble & Roll; Supplemental: Thunder Cake, How the Cat Swallowed Thunder; Project: make Thunder Cake (recipe in book)

Water Cycle - Follow the Water; Supplemental: The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story, A Drop of Water; Project: Craft water cycle bracelets; Recreate the water cycle in your own home, with a pan of water and a glass lid, so that kids can see the water evaporate, condense, and drop back down.

Geology - How Mountains Are Made; Supplemental: The Sun, the Wind, and the Rain, Mountain Dance; Project: make a mountain from sand; make a mountain scene similar to the one here though you don't need the fancy supplies

Rocks - Let's Go Rock Collecting; Supplemental: Everybody Needs a Rock, If You Find a Rock; Project: collect, sort and identify rocks from your local area (glue them to cardboard & label them); Collect small pebbles and fill a jar, then add water and a lid, or glue the pebbles to a picture frame.

Volcanoes - Volcanoes; Supplemental: Dear Katie, the Volcano is a Girl, Popoki's Incredible Adventures at the Volcano; Project: build a sandbox volcano!


Spring Quarter
Night/Day - What Makes Day & Night?; Supplemental: The Sound of Day, The Sound of Night; Project: Day & Night paper plate mobile

The Sun - The Sun, Our Nearest Star; Supplemental: Sun Bread ; Project: Make sun bread (see recipe in book) or make sun catchers

The Moon - The Moon Seems to Change; Supplemental: Catching the Moon; Project: Keep a moon chart for a month; make moon craters

Solar System - The Planets in Our Solar System; Supplemental: Babar Visits Another Planet; Project: Solar System coloring book or a solar system scavenger hunt

Stars - Shooting Stars; Supplemental: How the Stars Fell Into the Sky; Project: make a Magic Stars painting

More stars - The Big Dipper; Supplemental: Coyote Places the Stars; Project: Make a glitter galaxy or a Universe in a Jar

Life Cycle of a Seed - How a Seed Grows; Supplemental: The Apple Pip Princess; Project: make a seed mosaic
Trees - A Tree is a Plant; Supplemental: The Oak Inside the Acorn; Project: make a cotton ball tree

More Trees - Be a Friend to Trees; Supplemental: The Giving Tree; Project: make some leaf and bark rubbings

Bird Nests, Eggs - A Nest Full of Eggs; Supplemental: An Egg is Quiet; Project: make a paper plate bluebird nest

Baby birds, Chicks - Where Do Chicks Come From?; Supplemental: Egg to Bird; Project: make a baby chick collage or make eggshell mosaics

Frog Life Cycle - From Tadpole to Frog; Supplemental: Olly's Polliwogs; Project: make a paper bag frog puppet or try out the frog life cycle sequencing cards