How to do Nature Study in a City

We live in the city. Instead of a backyard, we have a narrow patio paved with bricks, and instead of a front yard, we have a public sidewalk. I want to turn my child loose in nature, but this isn't as easy as opening the back door. Living in an urban setting and wanting to make nature study part of her education means getting creative. Here are 17 ways we've found to do nature study...

1. Raise butterflies.

2. Grow a potted plant.

3.Press flowers.

 

 4.Visit the Natural History Museum.

5.Visit an aquarium.

 

6.Visit a friend's garden.

 7.Dissect an owl pellet.

8.See an animal show.

 9.Go tide-pooling.

 10.Tour a nature preserve.

 

 11.Make your own nature scavenger hunt featuring things you know you'll be able to find.

 12.Grow a bean in a clear cup with wet cotton.

13.Visit a petting zoo.

14.Visit a county fair.

 15.Go to a National Park Service event at a state park.

 16.Take walks around your neighborhood and keep your eyes open - you never know what you'll see.

 17.Visit the zoo.

How do you do nature study in your urban setting? :)

Reading "Green Mars" by Kim Stanley Robinson

My four year old pulled one of Daddy's favorite sci fi novels off the shelf and started reading. We've been using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I highly recommend this book! :)

Weekly Wrap-Up

1. Daughter and I played soccer while dinner was in the oven.

2. I ordered all of the supplies needed to make circuit bugs (from Steam Powered Family's blog) with my 4th grade class. The cost was about $100 for enough supplies for my class of 28. I'm hoping that we can get them done in the next week, in time for Back to School Night.

3. This little guy was eating a fig on the fence out my bathroom window this morning. Nature in the city.

4. STUDENT: I have glass in my backpack.

ME: Broken glass?!

STUDENT: No. This. (Student pulls out a jar of salsa, less than 1/3 full.)

ME: Why?!

STUDENT: To go with these. (Student pulls out a bag of tortilla chips.)

ME: Why?!

STUDENT: My mom gave it to me.

That was yesterday. The same student came into my classroom this morning holding a half-eaten can of Nacho Cheese Pringles with orange crumbs around lips, and got into line after recess holding a half-eaten bag of Funyuns. 

5. If you were wondering how Breakfast in the Classroom was going, this morning, one of my children had pulled a string cheese apart to make it look like it had legs and was smearing it all over child's desk.

6. My husband and I went to our Classical Conversations parent orientation. Our CC community starts Monday, and I get to go because it's an unassigned day (Rosh Hashana) for my district.

Termite Invasion

A swarm of termites was flying around my classroom after lunch, landing on students, landing on me. "Unless you're Pinocchio," I said, "you have nothing to worry about." My students were doing presentations, and we were smashing termites mid-flight. One presenter had a termite crawling on him, so the audience was shrieking and squealing. I had to pick the termite off him and squish it between my fingers.

This is what it's really like to teach public school.

Happy Labor Day

We spent Labor Day with the Little Explorers, our home(pre)school co-op, at the marina.

After lots of playing at Mother's Beach Park, we headed over to catch the WaterBus.

This is one of those "only in Santa Monica" moments - people doing paddleboard yoga. (The marina is actually in Marina Del Rey, so it would be more accurate to call it an "only in West L.A." moment.)

While we waited for our WaterBus, we watched baby stingrays swim by.

And I think this might be a Black Crowned Night Heron.

We rode the WaterBus to Fisherman's Village for lunch and ice cream.

After ice cream, the kids tried to see how many of them would fit on the tiny carousel.

Here is my daughter, waiting for our return WaterBus, enjoying the breeze, and imagining where she would keep a pet sea lion.

No Cavities! :)

Pegasaurus Rex

This is a dot-to-dot from Mathematical Reasoning Level B. To do it, my daughter had to complete a page of addition problems. When she finished the horse, she added spots and named it Skipper. A couple of days later, she turned back to the page and drew red wings on Skipper and declared her a Pegasaurus Rex. :)