Joyful Noise: A Book Review

Don't you love finding something at a garage sale? I stumbled upon Joyful Noise recently. The mom said she loved it in her classroom when she was a teacher. Note the Newbery Medal? I like Newbery books! It also is all nature based, with poems that are meant to be read by two people. As I read through the book, I wanted to hear what these would sound like when presented by two people. Of course, I took to Youtube! Here is one rendition of the poems.

Helping the Monarch Butterfly

I have been checking milkweed plants for monarch caterpillars since mid-July to no avail, until I happened to look at the one surviving plant I'd transplanted at Woodlawn Nature Center  while doing some work out there. We found three caterpillars! Two were very tiny. My husband brought them home on the milkweed and put the top of the plant in water. They munched, munched, and munched. We transferred them to a critter cage to contain them better, but couldn't find one. I assumed we had left one behind. We brought them home so we had plenty of access to milkweed and could feed it every day. 

Finding Nature on a Busy Corner

Last weekend we were helping with a fundraiser for the boys' Little League. The kids and an adult helped hold the signs while the adults sold chicken and potatoes to passer-bys. It wasn't too long before the children started exploring nature in this narrow strip of land between concrete. The first discovery was an ordinary earthworm, which is always extraordinary to my five-year-old.

The earthworm was enthralling for all involved. Yes, the littlest is near the road. Yes, there is an adult right there as well. :-) Then the dandelions became an object of choice, with a few being collected. I'm grateful there are a prolific plants to explore at times (i.e. pick!).

Soon the kids remembered there were mulberry bushes near the car. Break time! They love mulberries and eat them all the time at this season of summer. I love them, too! This article talks about the different types of mulberries. Now I want to do some investigations and see which kind we have in the yard. I tell the kids to look for the darkest ones, almost black, that come off without any tugging, often just falling into my hand if brushed. My oldest typically has purple splotches on his face, purple fingers, and purple soles of his feet about this time of the year!

Soon, they found a Mayfly. They loved observing it up close! Don't worry, it still flew away. It was neat to see a Mayfly nymph in the lake the next week. We could see the separated "tail" and wing "buds". It swam very well, would crawl on their hands, and swim some more! 

They also found a emerald green beetle. They know about the Emerald Ash Borer and were worried it might be one of those. Regardless of its devastating nature, the beetle found a home in one of their musical instruments they made at ETHOS. The children were intrigued by it. Here is a chart that peeks at similar insects. While it may not be an EAB, it warranted serious investigation and observation! 

The Emerald Ash Borer is a serious concern. In Elkhart, 20% of the trees were Ash trees. However, they are quickly dying--that's a loss of 1/5 of the city's trees. Middlebury also was hit hard. 

Oh, right. They were supposed to be holding up signs! Their attention span is only so long and we sold out of chicken early! They needed a few breaks to explore. 

I had a few take aways from this experience:

• Nature can be found anywhere! Even a narrow strip of grass near a busy intersection.
• Nature exploration can be a great "break" when doing other work. It's readily available and easy to use. No batteries are required. You get what you get and it's unique each time. 
• Having adults nearby that allow a little nature exploration makes a huge difference. The moms and dads weren't exclaiming about the icky bugs. We asked questions, guided observations, and allowed them to explore. 
• My boys don't hang out much with girls. All the kids were united through their discoveries. Gender was a non-issue as they had nature exploration time. 
• Connecting past learning to new experiences builds on understanding. When we found the Mayfly nymph in the lake, they had already seen an adult Mayfly up close! They are building on their experiences as they explore more in nature.
• No real tools or expensive gadgets are necessary. They used a makeshift bug box that is really an upcycled cookie box. 

What's Bugging You? at Nature Preschool

We started off Nurturing Acorns (or Nature Preschool) by making butterflies out of pipe cleaners and coffee filters. I was impressed by how much time the artists used to make their masterpieces. Each was completely unique, with some that even had Mickey Mouse characters on them, per the child's request. Of course I see butterflies with Donald Duck on them in nature. :-) We had a few examples out for the children to look at and explore.