NATURE JOURNALING AND WATERSHEDS

  Downloadable Nature Journal pages from the book A Guide to Nature Journaling   Line and grid Grid and blank Line and blank

  Nature Journaling in a Fifth Grade classroom             Earlier this week I was able to visit Amtulnoor Grosser’s 5 th grade classroom at Garrisonville Elementary in Stafford to talk about Nature Journaling.   It was a great visit and I really enjoyed working with her great bunch of fifth graders.   During my visit Amtulnoor and I talked about ways to introduce the topic and how it might fit in as a regular classroom activity.   Based on that discussion and my observations of the class working in the classroom and outside, here are some ideas for using Nature Journaling.     Journaling using more than one notebook. 1.   The small, 3.5 in x 5.5 in, ruled journal - this is a pocket-sized, portable journal that students can carry just about anywhere.   It’s a place for recording quick observation, questions, ideas, and very simple quick sketches. 2.   The larger, 5.5 in x 8.5 in blank page journal – this is the...

            Some folks have noticed that, when using the OkiocamS doc cam for conferencing, what you see on your screen is reversed – a mirror image.   Most of the time this is due to a pre-set in the videoconferencing software (Zoom, for example.)   One important thing to remember is that the people you are presenting to see a normal, non-mirrored image.   It is annoying though when you are sharing documents or images and, to you , everything is reversed.   The Okiocam website provides a good explanation here: Seeing Mirrored Video? Click here – OKIOLABS (zendesk.com)   In short, the reason is: “Even though it can seem unusual and unnecessary that while video conferencing, the video in your preview window is mirrored, there is an explanation for it, and it is not a fault with your OKIOCAM. Video conferencing applications do this because, in general, it is easier to adjust your position in the frame and it is more natural to...

      Nature Journaling involves a lot of observation, and the best observation comes from looking at the actual living organism, using your eyes or a magnifier of some sort.  That's not always possible so we have to make use of pictures or video clips, not always a good substitute for the real thing.  Now, with virtual reality and augmented reality we have another option.        Google 3D provides a good, easy to use, and free introduction to this alternative.  It's available on phones and tablets, and doesn't require an app.  A good how-to can be found here .  You just google an animal (other objects are available as well), scroll till you see this link: Click the View in 3D icon and you'll see a rotatable moving image that you can resize.  You'll also see a button that says "View in your space."  Click that and you camera will open and you'll see an icon of a hand with a phone.  Point your phone at a flat...

     Michelle Midkiff, a fourth grade teacher at Fredericksburg Academy, came up with some ideas for  Nature Journal design.  You can click here to see a PDF version of Michelle's journal.  For printing, print 2-sided, flip on short side. It will print as a booklet, and you can just add a cover and staple together. If anyone is interested in having it for their files, Michelle will email them a publisher doc so users are able to change whatever they'd like.      She would also like to get some feedback from the group for the following questions: I am concerned that it is not the correct length. I mean, I left out so very many things I'd like to include: fact sheets, vocabulary, puzzles, etc. But would that make it a workbook and not a journal?  Maybe it should just be a load of blank pages, because this way it's too teacher-led and the students would not have as much ownership of it. Maybe it would be good for a field trip to Crow'...

      Thanks to everyone for the excellent suggestions and ideas regarding the student version of the Nature Journaling field kit.  We've come up with a new kit, pictured below.  I don't think it's the final version, there are still some questions about making the kit grade level appropriate - should K-2 kits use crayons rather than pencils, or designing field and tree cards for younger grades, for example.      But, for this version: replacing the paper bag with a canvas shoulder bag - thanks to Michelle Midkiff of Fredericksburg Academy for this idea adding a small canvas bag to hold pencils, crayons, ruler, magnifying glass, and cards adding crayons and tree cards for bark/leaf rubbings getting rid of the colored pencil box - the next step may be to move to bulk buying colored pencils.  Any colors that we need or don't need?  Some folks suggested more browns and greens. a 9"x12" lapboard (double-sided dry erase in this case) with a cl...

      During our summer workshops, we’ve been distributing examples of a student field kit we developed for this project.  We hope to give each educator a few of these kits to try out in their classrooms so that we can get some feedback regarding the materials, how they work in the classroom, and what additional materials might be useful.  The kit includes: Magnifier Colored pencils Clear 6" ruler Pencil Notebook Field Cards Crayons, Tree Cards, blank paper for tree rubbings (Just added!) We are also considering additional items, and looking for a small canvas bag that would replace the paper lunch bag we're using now.   Any ideas, comments, or suggestions you might have as to how the kit can be best used or additional materials that might be added, would be greatly appreciated.  We're particularly interested in how the Field Cards and Tree Cards would work for nature journaling projects.

     The focus of this project has been Nature Journaling and how it can best be used as a technique/tool for helping students learn about nature.  The model for this approach has been the use of questioning, observing (through text, drawing, and images), and then attempting to answer some of those initial questions using what’s been learned by observing.      For the final component of this project we would like to ask you to tell us what you’ve learned about journaling over the course of this project.  An exploratory approach would be to address the following questions regarding your use of journals with your students/children: • What did we do and why? • How did it work, or not? • How could it be made better and/or more meaningful in terms of techniques, skills, materials and resources?  Some examples might be: “I would definitely spend classroom time on basic drawing skills before going outside – and here’s how I would do that….”, o...

  Some great new Nature Journaling from Sam Killion's Fredericksburg City Schools class.      "I tried out nature journaling at the end of the school year and my kids loved it.  We created simple little booklets.  The first day, we went outside and drew whatever we saw.  The next time I took the microscopes and students either could draw or use it (the next time I would want to work on translating what they saw using the microscope into the journals).  The last time we did it we talked about diagraming and students practicing diagraming something they saw in nature." Student drawings Great student work from a collaboration between an Art Teacher, Meredith Stalker, and School Librarian Megan Laskowski at Courtland Elementary in Spotsylvania county.      "Pictures from journaling Megan Laskowski and I did with third graders from our last week of school. We used one-35 minute art/library class period to introduce nature journaling and ...

      The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History has developed a simple field kit designed to be used with a number of the school/community activities offered by the Museum.  I bought one during a visit to the Museum, and as you can see it's fairly simple, but it includes a lot of very useful materials:      I particularly like the Explorer Journal activity card - it has the student trace a leaf, then use the magnifier to add detail.  The index card in the upper right corner is also pretty interesting.  It provides a format for a card index file (a database) of observed objects.      This could very well be a student version of the kit provided by our grant.  I've put together a few of these student kits and I could provide class sets of 5 or 6 to a few interested teachers.  Or, we could provide more kits as school sets (used by several classrooms) or library sets.        Let me know if you'...

     As we get more examples of student work I'll post the links to the materials here, on the blog.  I'll move things to the Student Work section later, but for now you'll be able to connect to everything via new posts.      We have four great examples of student work this week.  The comments before each link are from the teacher.  I've also copied an example of student work from each activity. First, from Brittany Austin, more examples of student journaling from her students at Fredericksburg Academy.      "My students have been enjoying Forest Friday all year, and they are thrilled to take a closer look at nature with the digital microscope I received during our workshop. We drew pictures of tadpoles and wrote a fact on May 13, and on May 14 we took the 4-year old class to the creek to release their pet tadpoles! The children got first-hand observations and some really neat photos with a digital microscope and redi...

     We will be offering several field sessions throughout the summer.  The sessions will be 1=2 hours in length and will provide grant teachers the opportunity to gain additional hands-on nature journaling practice and learn more about how the technology provided by the grant, especially the digital and stereo microscopes, might be best used in the classroom.  We also have some additional materials we will distribute during the workshops for those who can attend one of the sessions.      The first session will be held June 5, between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.  If you wish to attend this session, please e-mail George Meadows as soon as possible.  Other sessions will be held in late June, mid-July, and mid-August.

           The devices are plug and play, which means you shouldn’t need to install any new software – just plug them in a USB port and they should work.  You can download additional software if you’d like, I’ve put links for youtube videos providing how-to’s for downloading and using the specialized software for the digital microscope.  Sometimes the specialized software gives you a few more options, but if you just need the basic functions don’t worry about downloading any additional programs.      To get started (I’ve tried both devices on Windows, Macs, and Chromebooks and they all seem to work well) with the simple version: Windows - In the lower left corner of your screen there's a windows icon - if you click that you'll see all your apps.  You should see one called camera.  Click that and it will probably start your webcam.  When the webcam view comes up look on the right side for a reversal arrow (usually two ...

WORKSHOP INFORMATION      Our workshop is scheduled for this coming Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. May 8.  The workshop will be onsite at the Crow’s Nest Research Center in eastern Stafford County.  The address is 400 Marlborough Point Road.  Once you’ve turned right off Brooke Road onto Marlborough Point Road, drive about 1.5 miles and the turnoff to the Center is on the right. Follow the gravel road for a short distance till you come to the red barns on the left – parking is on the right near the Caretaker’s cottage. The workshop schedule: Watersheds and MWEE session provided by Friends of the Rappahannock – about 2 hours Working Brunch – distribute materials, discuss future work Nature Journaling introduction and practice – about 1.5 hours      The entire session will be held outside and will involve some short walks.  You’ll need to wear comfortable, foot covering walking shoes, and hats and mosquito spray are recommended.  Dr...

     The Clifton Institute has a number of videos describing their approach to Nature Journaling.  You can find one with ideas for teaching students how to journal here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbN-bjJyEOc   This video demonstrates John Muir Law’s journaling model from his book  How To Teach Nature Journaling .  A free PDF download of this book is available here: https://johnmuirlaws.com/product/how-to-teach-nature-journaling/

        I wanted to briefly review some of the key points from our first ZOOM meeting this Wednesday, April 14.  We now have 17 educators involved in the grant.  In addition to the folks who attended we also have a teacher from Stafford County Schools and an educator from Fredericksburg SPCA joining the project - and a second teacher from Spotsylvania Schools.       The next event will be the onsite workshop at the Crow's Nest Research Center.  The workshop will take place on May 8, from 9:00 a.m. through 1:30 p.m.  This workshop will include: A hands-on introduction to Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs) provided by educators from the Friends of the Rappahannock A hands-on introduction/field practice session on Nature Journaling and the model described on this website under the Nature Journaling tab Distribution/discussion of the grant materials - also described on this website      We'll be sen...

      There are a lot of ideas for Nature Journal formats.  Just to give you a sampling of what's available, I did a Google search for Nature Journals for Kids Amazon, and another for Nature Journal for Kids Pinterest.   Nature Journals found at Amazon.com Nature Journal templates from Pinterest      Most of the Journal books on Amazon are simply multiple copies of the same template page.  The template may include prompts for such things as weather, time, location, observations, and blank spaces for drawings and notes.  They are available for a variety of age ranges - for example a journal for younger children might include a variety of icons (sun, clouds, rain) to circle for weatther while one for older children might include prompts for estimates of cloud cover.  Prices vary, but seem to mostly be around $7.00 to $10.00.      Pinterest provides many different ideas ranging from individual template pages to coll...

     The Crow's Nest Research Center (CNRC) was awarded a Chesapeake Bay Trust Grant to provide professional development for local educators, helping them develop new strategies for teaching about the Chesapeake Bay watershed.  The focus of the grant is on the use of Nature Journaling as a tool for teaching PK-12 students about their local watershed.  The development sessions will include participation in field-based workshops providing an introduction to Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEE's), and Nature Journaling.  The MWEE workshop will be led by educators from the Friends of the Rappahannock, and Nature Journaling techniques will be taught be CNRC educators.  Over twenty educators from Fredericksburg City Schools, the Fredericksburg Academy, and Spotsylvania and Stafford schools will participate. Map from Chesapeake Bay Foundation https://www.cbf.org/about-the-bay/maps/geography/chesapeake-bay-watershed.html