Teaching Tip Tuesday ~ Nature Study ~ Learning about the Creator from His Creation

We live in a rainy city - unbelievable rain, in fact.

Last November, we decided to measure the rainfall and the data was abundant.

When the clouds do decide to dry up, and the sun's rays begin to make an appearance, we go outside.

Our senses become alive as fresh oxygen fills our lungs and the world around us becomes our textbook.

We look for signs of animals - tracks, homes, food remnants, scat.

We listen with eyes closed tight for woodpecker drums and songbird calls or just the whisper of wind.

We feel the texture of moss growing rampant under our oak tree and we feel the roughness of the bark and the skeleton of it's leaves.

We breathe deep and smell greenness and moisture and life.

Nature study is such an awe inspiring way to learn and cover learning outcomes. I am actually convinced that nature study alone can fully meet the learning outcomes for both Life Science and Earth and Space Science for kindergarten to grade 4.

{The Physical Science topics (Properties of Materials [K], Force, Friction and Magnets [1], Solids, Liquids and Gases [2], Structures and Materials [3] and Light and Sound [4]) need to be covered using hands-on experiments which are perfect for those rainy days.}

Nature study is gentle learning that grows with you, layering upon itself as discovery after discovery is made.

Below are some of my favourite nature study resources, all of which I use with my four nature loving kids. Even baby Chloe likes to come along!

*** Links to the resources are available by clicking on the activated words (indicated by a colour change in text) or by clicking on the images at the top left hand column of this blog.

Recently I ordered this winter e-resource created by Barb from Handbook of Nature Study. Barb is a homeschooling mom and a nature enthusiast, and has an excellent collection of lessons and corresponding printables to use in nature study. It is highly recommended to have Anna Botsford Comstock's "Handbook of Nature Study" book to use as the "textbook" in correspondence with Barb's nature study activities.

I also enjoy using the Five in a Row digital nature studies throughout each season. Jane Claire Lambert has designed a nature unit for each of the four seasons incorporating nature study, poetry, music, art and literature into one beautiful package that can be used and reused throughout the years. These nature studies are not structured lesson plans, but rather information, ideas and printables that can be drawn from as interest leads. A very gentle and relaxed approach to nature study.

Recently I came across a UK website called Nature Detectives. This website has a collection of easy to implement activities and printables that would be excellent for "getting your galoshes wet" in nature study. I particularly like their nature "packs" of activities that can be emailed to you for free.

(If you are interested in ordering any of the online resources, email joy@ark.net with the resource's website link. She is able to order and pay for the e-resource and then email it to you.)

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork. ~ Psalm 19:1