Studying Amphibians in the Field: Using Approximate Measures

Red Eft, the immature form of the Spotted Newt. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2013.

 

Frogs and Toads and Salamanders... Oh, My!

Here in Connecticut, we have just come out of the April showers that were not.

Oh, we had wonderful, almost summery temperatures, and the buds began to break. But, without any measurable rain in April, almost everything remained frozen in time, waiting. The spring peepers we wrote about in the last blog post grew a bit subdued in their calls, not having anywhere to lay their eggs. The peas and lettuces that we early gardeners planted begged for water to carry them through what is normally our rainy and wet time of year.

But we have rain this week! And, with that rain, spring is bursting forth rapidly! The amphibian friends that have grown rather hidden over the past few weeks are coming out in droves now.

Our frogs and toads broke onto the scene early this year, with a few brave spring peepers coming out during a warm snap in February, and our woodland frog and toad species making their debut last month (we haven't gone down to the pond to check out the more aquatic friends, yet... Stay tuned.) This month marked the first month we have seen salamanders.

Our Amphibian Survey: May 2013

Here is a photo gallery showing our survey of amphibians, to date:

Our amphibian survey, May 2013. (c) Kim Bennett, 2013.

We created this survey form so we can observe the changes in the seasonal distribution of the amphibians in our area, over time, as well as to chronicle the seasonal patterns in each specific species over the course of a year. We like having all of the information on one sheet, which is posted on the refrigerator.

Even the adult children take part (the photo of the red eft, above, is courtesy of #2 Son, the Animal Whisperer, who dashed over to our house early [I mean EARLY] one morning after finding the little fellow in his driveway as he left for work).

To get an idea of the relative number of frogs, toads and salamanders in our area, we decided to color code our entries so we could know, at a glance. Besides, at least two of us in the house (probably more) have a fascination with those 16-color Flair packs they sell in Staples.

Did I ever tell you I have a thing for office supplies? I think it goes along with being a teacher.

While there are three main groups of amphibians here on our chart, they actually are divided into the following groups, taxonomically [click on the name to see a photograph of a representative species - or the link, if we've already written about it]:

• Mole salamanders (here is our post on the Spotted Salamander that the Plantsman rescued from the road one night after work)
• Lungless salamanders
• Mudpuppies
• Newts (see the image at the top of this post, courtesy of the Animal Whisperer)
• Toads (here is our last post, showing a photo of a Fowler's Toad that was strolling across the driveway)
• Treefrogs (there's a great video showing Spring Peepers on our frog survey post)
• Spadefoot Toads
• True Frogs (here's a little Wood Frog that somehow ended up in our living room) 

Since tree frogs are arboreal, often the only way that you can observe them is to learn their call. When we identify a frog (or a bird, for our bird list -- especially our owls) by call, we mark the entry with a (c).

The Animal Whisperer found a Gray Tree Frog once and brought it to show us. We considered that a treat, since you are not likely to actually see them, most of the time. They were a lot bigger than I expected them to be -- not tiny like Spring Peepers.



It's always good to have a site that you can go to, to listen to calls of animals. Connecticut Amphibians has excellent photos, descriptions, and audio files to help folks in our state learn more about the amphibians here.  They also have a great discussion of the importance of vernal pools to our local amphibian species, something that is an important part of any amphibian study, no matter where you live. -- [Here is an image of a vernal pool in the nature preserve near our home] -- The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History has a lot of great information, as well, but no audio files.

Measuring Amphibians

In our home, as well as in my classroom, we learn to handle wildlife gently, if at all, observe creatures for a short time and in a respectful way, then turn them loose. So we have to learn to observe them very carefully when we have them, so we can compare later. Having a digital camera is a wonderful asset to both homeschool and classroom, when it comes to reflecting on and studying things that we can't really hang onto for a long time.

If you are going to use digital images as a way to observe animals, try to make sure that you snap them with something in the frame that shows scale. See the images, below, for ideas:

This photo from  "Frog-Hunting in Connecticut" shows a Fowler's Toad in the parking lot. I waited until it hopped closer to the parking space number (most of us can visualize how big those numbers are -- about a foot tall) so you could get an idea of how very large the toad actually was -- about 6 inches long, although adult Fowler's Toads can be up to a humongous 9.5 inches long! Wow!

I considered getting a ruler to place alongside the toad, but my dog was so excited about the toad that I was afraid 1) the toad would be startled and hop away or 2) the dog would try to eat it.

Here's a great way to get a pretty accurate measurement of your amphibian, if it's one that slows down enough for you to gently pick it up.

The fingertip joint of an adult's first finger is about an inch long. Actually, this joint, even in a child from about the age of 8, on, is about an inch long. I used to teach my third graders to use their first finger joint as an approximate measure, if they didn't have a ruler. In this photo, you can use this measure to estimate that this little eft (which is probably on the large side, for efts) is about 3 1/2 inches long, from nose to tail tip. Red efts range from 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches long.

Here's that photo of the Spotted Salamander from "A Night-time Surprise: Spotted Salamanders", showing another visual cue you can use to estimate the size of one of your amphibian friends.

My son was carrying the salamander from one side of the road to the other, in the front of his tee-shirt. In the photo, you can see the hem of his shirt. If you are wearing a tee-shirt now, check out the hem at the bottom. If it's a regular shirt, the folded over and stitched part will be about an inch wide. Accounting for the semi-curled up nature of the little fellow, we can estimate its size to be about 8-9 inches long, from nose to tail-tip, so it's probably an older member of its species, which range from 5 inches to 10 inches long, depending on their age. They can live up to 10 years, if they don't get run over during breeding season.

Data Sheets and Notebooking Pages, for Your Amphibian Studies

In the last post, I shared a link to "Animal and Plant Surveys: 10 Reasons to Get Outside and Survey," which explained the science behind surveys as a learning task. I also included links to blank survey sheets, such as the one I showed, above, which you can use to keep track of your animal species.

An amphibian study is a great opportunity to compare animal species, too. For one way to study comparison using an interactive bulletin board, see "Comparing Nests: The 'Same and Different' Center."

There are many sources of Venn diagrams (all kinds of varieties). At  {.docstoc}, you have many to choose from, all downloadable, free of charge.

We download a lot of our general nature study pages from The Notebooking Treasury - we have been members since we began homeschooling in 2010. From now through May 31st, 2013, they are having their NotebookingPages.com 7th Birthday Sale-a-Bration Event, with discounted merchandise, chances to win prizes, and specially priced memberships (for new members) and membership extensions (for current members).

Become a Notebooking Pages LIFETIME Member (as we are) during their NotebookingPages.com 7th Birthday Sale-a-Bration Event, and you get all this:

• Save $25 on your membership
• Receive access to 150+ current notebooking products
• Receive ALL future notebooking products
• Receive up to two years FREE access to their notebooking (& copywork) web-app, The Notebooking Publisher™
• Receive a $100 e-gift Bonus Bundle from various homeschool publishers
• Earn a chance to win some great prizes … an iPad mini, $100 Amazon.com gift card, LIFETIME access to The Notebooking Publisher™, and a LIFETIME membership to MomsToolBelt.com.

How could you resist?

Try Our Amphibian Study Pages - FREE!

During the next four weeks, you can enter to win a copy of My Amphibian Survey, a 36-page e-Book full of notebooking pages, centers ideas and curriculum extensions on amphibians. Two lucky contestants will get copies of this e-Book. Also, in honor of springtime, we are raffling off one copy of Nests, Nests, Nests! - our fall e-Book on nests of all kinds of animals (including amphibians) for one lucky contestant. Just enter using the Rafflecopter Form, below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Time for a Winter Give-away!

Courtesy of our sister site, Simple Science Strategies, here is a great give-away to bring in the new year:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

See "Time for a Mid-Winter Give-away!" for more details about these two great e-Books.

Squirrel and Bird Nest Study

Bare trees reveal squirrel nests. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2012.

Last month, we spent a lot of time exploring the world of fall, seeing treasures revealed when the leaves fall off the trees. One unexpected sighting was a massive squirrels' nest, in a red oak near our driveway.

Our discovery led my youngest son to request that we re-read The Burgess Animal Book for Children (BABC), from the beginning. If you are following along in BABC, this study would accompany the section on squirrels (the third "study" in the book).

Read along for a nature study on squirrels nests, which includes many ideas we've used over the years.

Read-Alouds:

Our favorite animal study read-aloud!

Sometimes our natures studies happen by accident (such as our discovery of this squirrel's nest). Other times, a read-aloud piques our interest. Our favorite nature study read-aloud is The Burgess Animal Book for Children. And it fits perfectly as a read-aloud if you are using the Exploring Creation through Zoology series, which focus on animal classification, as the BABC chapters are laid out to introduce children to animals as they are related to one another. And who doesn't like Peter Rabbit?

If you want to fill a book basket with books to go along with this study, here are some of our family favorites:

• The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, by Beatrix Potter (my youngest brother was a big Beatrix Potter fan)
• Miss Suzy, by Miriam Young (my own childhood favorite) 
• Rakkety Tam (Redwall Series #17), by Brian Jacques (a favorite of my eldest son)
• Nuts to You!, by Lois Ehlert (all my kids loved Lois Ehlert's collage illustrations - a great thing to try for your creative arts connections, if you use the "Five in a Row" approach to homeschooling)

For our squirrel nest study, we just enjoyed Chapters 4-8 of  The Burgess Animal Book for Children. Again!






My little guy grew up surrounded by technology, and enjoys reading books on our NOOK Color. The e-Books compatible with the NOOK are available at Barnes & Noble. We noticed that there are several free ones with great photos of squirrels:

• The Squirrels of Summer, by Robert Mason
• Everybody Loves Squirrels, by Richard Gerard
• Gunshin Date, the Samurai Squirrel, Max M. Power

If you don't have an e-Reader, you will love the NOOK products. (My youngest son uses it to listen to Pandora, watch videos, read books and do research). There are many apps available for our favorite online resources (Pinterest, Dictionary.com, Ancestry.com, etc), so it functions as a nice little mobile device when we don't want to carry the laptop.

Lesson Ideas:

Gray squirrel nest (c) Kim M. Bennett 2012

We discovered the squirrel nest as one nest among three we found the same week: the other two were an oriole nest and an unidentified warbler nest. So it made sense to compare the three nests as part of our study.

We studied the two bird nests on the front porch (the squirrel nest, of course, was WAY up in a tree), discussing their similarities and differences, but you could also use a double bubble map (see "Comparing Nests: The 'Same and Different' Center" for examples of how to use a double bubble map with individual students or groups of students, or in a classroom).

We love the Exploring Creation series, and are using Land Animals of the Sixth Day this year. Pages 113-118 cover "Mouse-Like Rodents," including the squirrels. The material is very much like that of the BABC.

Nest of the Northern Oriole (c) Kim M. Bennett 2012

Our other "go-to" resource, the Handbook of Nature Study, discusses the nesting habits of red squirrels on p. 235. We have mostly gray squirrels in our area. Red squirrels like forests with more evergreen trees -- our forests are mostly oaks and maples.

Click image for more info.

When we first started homeschooling several years ago, I read that many homeschoolers used this book as part of their homeschool nature study work. I borrowed it from the local library, but soon decided that it was well worth the approximately $25 it costs to buy a used copy on the Internet. Buy it!

Other Resources:

My son and I created a set of notebooking pages to use in conjunction with our squirrel study. Since he was already working on another writing project, we mostly used the organizing tools (have I told you before that my son is NOT an avid notebooking enthusiast? He would rather fill notebooks full of action stories, so I choose my battles carefully...)

Nests, Nests, Nests!, a 25-page resource. $1.95

"Nests, Nests, Nests!" reviews the e-Book that we created to go along with this study. This set includes both primary and regular-ruled science journaling pages focusing on animal nests, as well as a variety of framed pages for thematic writing, note-taking or nature study. Organizers for studying and comparing nests of different animal orders, coloring and copywork pages, and game cards for sorting and classification tasks make this set versatile, perfect for direct instruction or independent learning tasks. You may also download a free sample of some of the pages.

The resources also include copywork, which you can see to the right. We chose scripture from Genesis, as that we are using Genesis through Deuteronomy and Ancient Egypt, from Simply Charlotte Mason, for our Bible Study curriculum, and are currently reading Genesis. We are used to using scriptures for copywork, since that is what is used with the Exploring Creation texts.

Discussion Ideas:

Here are some of the discussion questions we used when studying about nests (I've marked each one to show what science discipline it relates to -- physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, or engineering, technology and the application of science):

1. What types of materials do different types of animals use in their nests? (L)
2. How do these materials differ from one another? How are they the same? (P)
3. What makes these materials useful for nest-building? (E)
4. What different ways do animals build their nests? (L)
5. How are different kinds of animals adapted to obtain protection where they live? (L)
6. How might natural phenomena (such as winter storms) and human activities (such as tree cutting and clearing for building) cause changes in animal nesting behaviors? (E)

For those of you with children at multiple ages in your home, these questions follow a general progression from K to grade 4, as you move down the list. But don't get stuck on that -- my son (a fourth grader) was fascinated with seeing (up close) the actual materials used for each nest, and for different parts of the nest (for example, the warbler nest was a very tight cup of birch bark, leaf pieces and grape vine bark, but it was lined so neatly with tightly packed pine needles -- fascinating. Learning is what you make of it.

Unidentified warbler nest from M's collection. (c) Kim M. Bennett 2012

Inside lined with tightly packed white pine needles. (c) Kim M. Bennett 2012

Outside was formed with bits of bark from paper birch. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2012

We Love to Share...

This post and our ideas was shared on the Outdoor Hour Challenge and Simple Science Strategies Blog Carnivals.

Ten (10) Fall Nature Studies: What the Leaves Have Kept Hidden

Fall sunrise in Connecticut (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

We have been enjoying exploring what the leaves of summer have been hiding from us for the past several months. Here are some of the surprises and interesting finds from the past week or so -- each one a potential in-depth study for the next month.

1. Lichens & Mosses

These can be harvested to make terrariums, even in the fall. Interesting questions that can be explored, even in the cold seasons:

• Do mosses really grow more on the north sides of tree trunks?
• What kinds of lichens grow in my area? Where do they grow?
• What is a lichen, exactly?
• How is the life cycle of a moss like that of a seed-bearing plant? How is it different?
• How do mosses and lichens fit in an ecosystem? Are they producers (they are green, after all)? Are they consumers? Are they decomposers?

Barbara McCoy has a great lichen and moss study at the Handbook of Nature Study.

British soldiers lichen (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2012

2. Bark & Vines

Last fall, we took advantage of an unseasonably warm day in early March to take a "bark walk," studying the vines and bark of the trees on the nearby Blue Trail. Either one of these could be a huge study. We ended up focusing on the many faces of the ubiquitous poison ivy on our bark and vine walk.

Poison ivy, or other bark & vines, make a great fall nature study. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

3. Owls

We have been enjoying hearing the owls of Connecticut, right in our backyard, for the past couple of weeks. We are all early risers, so we are serenaded each morning, from about 4:00 a.m. until sunrise, by great horned owls and long-eared owls, and regularly encounter owls silently swooping over the roads when we drive in the evenings.

We use the Apologia Science Exploring Creation series with our youngest son, and found that All About Birds, a web page from Cornell Univerity's Laboratory of Ornithology, makes a great accompaniment to the Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day textbook. Read more about owls, and hear owl calls.

In the November edition of the Simple Science Strategies Newsletter, we feature books in the One Day series, by Jean Craighead George, nature writer and children's author. Here is another novel, with a nature theme, that was always a favorite of my students and my own children, by the same author. Click on the image, for ordering information.

 

 Barnes & Noble, $16.00

4. Buds

When I taught horticulture students at The Ohio State University, we had three plant identification courses: woody trees and shrubs (a fall class), evergreens and winter identification of trees and shrubs (a winter class), and herbaceous plants (a spring class). In the winter, we would revisit previously learned trees and shrubs, only using their habits, twig markings and buds to identify them. Very challenging!

Winter buds can be very colorful, as well. Certain shrubs and trees that bloom very early in the spring can be cut in the late fall and winter, and brought inside to force the blooms open.

Champaign County (Illinois) Cooperative Extension Service has a nifty pocket guide on winter identification of trees and shrubs. The .pdf is full color, and also teaches about leaf and bud arrangement (did you know that there are only a few woody species with an opposite leaf arrangement?).

Colorful buds challenge our identification skills in fall and winter (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

5. Fruits and Berries

I love cutting wildflowers to bring inside after our nature hikes. In the fall and winter, I cut branches with fruits and berries, or colorful buds, instead. Last fall, I cut some multiflora rose branches with "hips" (berries), and put them in a vase on the kitchen windowsill. They rooted! No wonder it is an invasive species...

If you are a birder, it is interesting to notice which plants attract birds to your yard in winter. Some plants, like hollies and winterberries, are full of bright red fruits, but the birds only eat them very late in the winter and early in spring, when they absolutely have to. Others, like blueberries, barely get a tinge of blue before they are stripped bare by all kinds of wildlife.

If you decide to study the fruits, download a set of my "Apple a Day" notebooking pages to go along with your study.

Colorful fruits and berries brighten the fall landscape. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

6. Old Birds' Nests

We often suspect that we have nesting birds in the yard, because we see mom and dad and their little ones coming to the feeder in the summer, or we watch adults zipping back and forth with wriggly snacks in their beaks.

In the fall, when the leaves have fallen, we can often spot exactly where the nest was, as its hiding place is revealed. Sometimes, fall and winter weather, such as our recent hurricane, blow nests from their hiding spots, so we can study them up close.

One fall, my older boys collected a series of nests on our screen porch. This is a great nature activity when the outside world seems to be sleeping. A word of caution: do not bring the nests inside, as most wild birds are full of mites, which infest the nest, and are definitely NOT something that you want to wake up from their slumber in your house, as they warm up inside. Consider getting a field guide just about nests, to add to your field guide collection. (I love the Peterson guides... Click on the image for ordering information. )

Barnes & Noble $20

Did you know that...

• Robins use grass and mud to make their nests, but the amount of mud varies with the weather, from nearly all grass if the weather is dry, to full of mud, when things are rainy?
• Great-crested flycatchers almost always include a snakeskin in their nest cavities? (No one really knows why)
• A male Northern oriole starts his nest, a bag of woven grass that hangs high in a tree, and uses the beginnings of the nest to lure a female as a mate?
• Tufted titmouses line their nests with fur, even plucking hair from unsuspecting animals as they go about their daily affairs?
• Hummingbirds make their tiny nests from lichens and spider webs?
• Bald eagles add branches to their massive nests each year, until the sheer weight of the nest, or bad weather, topples it?
• Crows, normally raucous and boisterous, fly silently to their nests, to avoid detection by predators?
• Blue jays like to weave colorful bits of trash and other "finds" into their nests?
• Mourning doves create a disheveled nest from loosely piled twigs and leaves?
• Turkey vultures lay their eggs on a bare rock ledge?
• Towhees create a nest in a leaf-lined depression on the ground?

Our oriole friends hide their nest high in a tree -- Hurricane Sandy blew last year's down for us to study. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2012.

7. Rock Walls

Living in New England means there are plenty of old rock walls around. The Puritans and other early European settlers found that planting and building anywhere in the Northeast meant dealing with the stones and boulders left by all those glaciers from the Ice Age. They placed these stones, called glacial erratics, in rock walls around their homesteads, where they remain to this day.

Rock walls teach about the settlement, and geology, of New England. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

$16.95, Barnes & Noble

Stone Wall Secrets, by Kristine and Robert Thorson, and illustrated by Gustav Moore, is a beautifully illustrated book that teaches about the geology of New England, and the culture of the ubiquitous stone walls of the area. Author Robert Thorson, a geologist at the University of Connecticut, has been studying the stone walls of New England for decades, learning about the people who built them and the bedrock which created them. It's a great "go-along" for a fall study of stone walls. For more information on this book, click on the image, at left.

8. Mounds and Pits

In September, we learned about the "One Small Square" strategy, a technique for making observations about the plant and animal life, as well as the abiotic factors, in an ecosystem. This strategy can be used to examine the differences between two unique microecosystems: mounds and pits.

Mounds and pits are formed when trees topple over then decay, over time, creating a mound where the exposed root ball once was,  and a pit where it pulled out of the ground. These two areas often have different soil structure, and different plant and animal life. Autumn is a nice time to begin a study of mounds and pits, examining them when only evergreens are growing, and repeating the study on a monthly basis. Consider using the fall and winter months to map out fallen trees or mounds and pits, for future study. Practice using coordinates to map them out.

Mounds and pits form when fallen trees decompose. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

9. Cones

This month, one of our studies involves comparing and contrasting evergreens and deciduous plants. Among the evergreens you will likely encounter in your studies are the cone-bearing plants, or gymnosperms. Cones make for an interesting nature study in the fall, as each type of gymnosperm has a unique type of cone, and the cones, themselves, change over time.

We like to collect pine cones from the white pines in our neighborhood, and make peanut butter and seeds feeders for our bird feeding station -- read about this in "Winter Bird Feeding."

Collect pine cones for autumn decor or making bird feeders. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2011

10. Animal Tracks

Last week, we had our first snow storm of the season, when Storm Ari dumped 4-12 inches of snow over the state of Connecticut. Enjoying our first snow day, my youngest son and I went outside to re-load the feeding station and clean snow off things in the backyard.

We delighted in looking at the dainty little bird tracks in the snow on the hood of the gas grill, and the scuffle of prints over prints under the feeders.

Muddy ground or snow-covered surfaces provide an opportunity to study animal tracks. Check out "Follow Those Tracks!" for more information about tracks, scats and signs left behind by animals.

Study animal tracks by making plaster casts or taking photographs. (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2010

Share...

These are just some of the many studies we have been drawn to in the fall. We would love to hear about your fall finds, and the things that caught your eye as you explored outdoors this month.  Please make sure that you link up your blog post on the November Simple Science Strategies Blog Carnival.  Add a link to this post and the blog carnival in your blog post, too.

Have a great fall!

The "One Small Square" Strategy: Mushrooms and Other "Fun Guys"

Mushrooms love the woodchips in my flower bed.

[Edited and re-blogged from "A Child's Garden," September 2011]

We originally completed this study last fall, but are re-posting this for the September Simple Science Strategies newsletter, because it made good use of the "One Small Square" Strategy, the focus strategy for Week 3 of the September Newsletter, and focused on mushrooms, the topic for Week 2!


We sure have had some wild weather here in New England at the end of the Summer of 2011. We have had so much rain that the crop of mushrooms sprouting up everywhere has been very interesting and incredible.

Fall, especially the Back to School time, is always a prime time to go mushroom exploring, with the warm days, cool nights and more frequent rain.  Also be on the look-out for mushroom cousins, the slime molds and actinomycetes, that you probably mistake for their more well-known family members. Here is a mushroom study that you can do for September.

Before You Go Outside:

Tiny shelf fungi on a dead tree, Fenton-Ruby Park and Preserve.




• Read up on mushrooms. The Handbook of Nature Study has a very thorough discussion of many of the types of fungi that you might see on an expedition, on pages 714-727. If you read a little further, you can learn about their indoor cousins, the bread molds (pp. 727-728).
• The Handbook of Nature Study website has an Autumn Outdoor Hour Challenge on Mushrooms that has excellent links to videos, notebooking pages and other resources.
• Gather materials you might need for a mushroom study: clipboards and pencils, hand lenses, a long plant tag or flag to mark your mushroom spot, plastic food service gloves.
• Read Outdoor Hour Challenge #9: One Small Square for a description of how to carry out the observation activity. 
• Prepare observation sheets for each child. 
• Review routines: "How to Work With a Partner."
• Teach safety rules about potentially poisonous plants.

Honey mushrooms in a shady flower bed.

Observing Mushrooms and Their Cousins:

A mushroom study lends itself well to a multiple-day observation, since the fruiting body of most fungi only remains for a few days, and changes considerably with time and the weather.

Step 1: Note the location of some fungi on a nature walk.

Some places to look include wood chipped areas of a school flower garden or playground, rotting logs, tree stumps, and places where a tree once stood. At this time of year, a whole crop can pop up literally overnight, so don't be discouraged if you don't see any on a particular day.

Be on the lookout for the little "buttons" of some mushrooms that look like tan bumps before they sprout up the next day.

Step 2: Use the One Small Square technique to sketch what you observe.


Step 3: Mark the location with a stick or "flag" so you can find it the next day.

Step 4: Return to sketch changes for the next few days, until the mushroom collapses.

Mushrooms change very quickly from day to day, which is exciting for kids. Note the weather each time you observe (that day's as well as the weather from previous days). These observation forms have a place to record the weather.

Each day you observe, ask the students some questions:

• How did your mushroom change? Why do you think this happened?
• What was the weather like the day before? How might that have affected the mushroom?
• What type of weather do mushrooms prefer? If you don't know, how can you find out?
• Where are the mushrooms growing? What is the ground like there? Are there any trees around? 
• Do you see any insects around the mushroom? What are they doing?
• Does your mushroom have a smell? (Make sure that children don't handle the mushrooms without wearing gloves, because some poisonous mushrooms resemble harmless ones.)

Classroom Follow-up: 

Study the Anatomy of a Mushroom --

• Enchanted Learning has a diagram of a gilled mushroom that students can label, to learn the anatomy of one type of mushroom.
• The Mushroom Lady has a pile of activities that will get your kids really studying mushrooms in-depth.

 Learn About Mushroom Relatives --

• Here is a handy sheet of terms that you might want to study, so that you correctly distinguish between fungi, actinomycetes, slime molds and other fungus-like organisms.

Study Edible Mushrooms (and Eat Them!) --

• Create a mushroom study station with stereoscopes and various edible mushrooms from your grocer's produce department: shiitake, oyster, portabella, white button, straw, crimini...

Fairy Rings, Faerie Houses and Other Literacy Connections --

• Study the folklore surrounding fairy rings and faerie houses.
• Build a faerie house (or two or 10...) along your school nature trail or in your backyard garden.

Faeries and other woodland creatures -- literacy connection!

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September Wildflowers in Connecticut - Our Sock Walk

As part of our contribution to the September Simple Science Strategies Blog Carnival, my youngest son and I put on our socks (over our shoes, of course!) and headed out to document the steps to a great sock walk. Malik videotaped, and I shot photos, and the two of us are currently trying our hand at compiling these into a video -- no telling how long this will take, but we will be sure to post it for you!

Our sock walk was along the edges of a mixed grass meadow that had been recently harvested, and across the cut meadow to a wet area that the farmer had left uncut. I think this is important, because the kinds of plants we saw on our wildflower walk are either common meadow wildflowers, or noxious agricultural weeds.

Field bindweed, Convulvulus arvensis

Common Name: Field bindweed
Scientific Name: Convulvulus arvensis
Family: Convulvulaceae (the morning-glories)

Field bindweed, or wild morning-glory, has beautiful flowers, but is quite a noxious weed in farm fields, due to the fact that it seeds so mightily, and its vines can grow to 18 feet in a season, overrunning large areas very quickly.

On the plus side, it pulls heavy metal contaminants from soils, and has been used to clean up toxic waste sites in Spain.

Tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima

Common Name: Tall goldenrod
Scientific Name: Solidago altissima

Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

There are over 100 different species of goldenrod in the United States, so we had a little challenge identifying goldenrod species.

Goldenrod reminds me of the wildflowers that used to grow along the edge of the railroad tracks behind my house when I was little. Goldenrod makes a deep-colored, strong-
flavored honey.

Annual fleabane, Erigeron annuus

Common Name: Annual fleabane
Scientific Name: Erigeron annuus
Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Fleabane, like goldenrod, has many different native species in the United States. You can tell them apart by the arrangement of the flower heads, and their overall habit, or use this online site for identifying fleabanes. Like other asters, fleabane is a great plant for attracting butterflies, as the adults feed off the nectar in this late-blooming flower, and the larvae find the leaves tasty.
 

Like most asters, this is a late-summer to fall-blooming plant, and provides much-needed food for butterflies and bees as the summer wanes.

Common milkweed, Asclepius syriaca

Common Name: Common milkweed
Scientific Name: Asclepius syriaca
Family: Asclepiadaceae

I love milkweed  (read a childhood story about milkweed here). It gets its common name from the milky sap that oozes from cut stems. Milkweed (along with other species in this family) is one of the favorite all-time foods of the monarch butterfly, with adults enjoying the nectar from the beautiful purple flower heads, and the larvae devouring the leaves.  

Find sources of milkweed seed here.

Rough-stemmed goldenrod, Solidago rugosa

Common Name: Rough-stemmed goldenrod
Scientific Name: Solidago rugosa ssp. rugosa
Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

Side by side in the same hedgerow, I think we can find five or six different goldenrod species. Here is another representative from our sock walk this month.

Goldenrod has long been used as a source of natural plant dyes, creating a warm yellow color in natural fibers.

Oriental bittersweet, Celastrus orbiculatus

Common Name: Oriental bittersweet
Scientific Name: Celastrus orbiculatus
Family: Celastraceae

Bittersweet is one of those plants that people either love or hate. That is because there are actually two species that you find in New England: one is a wonderful, harmless native plant, and the other is an introduced species that has become quite a noxious weed, especially in hedgerows and reclaimed fields.

It is a perennial vine, but the bright red seeds that are exposed when the yellow or orange shell cracks open are loved by birds, and I think every one germinates, especially if it lands in recently tilled soil.

It is sometimes hard to identify the two bittersweets.  

White clover, Trifolium repens

Common Name: White clover
Scientific Name: Trifolium repens
Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

White clover is another wildflower and meadow flower loved by autumn bees, and it makes a clear yellow honey much milder in taste than the deep-amber honey of the goldenrods.

Clovers  and other legumes are a common addition to forage mixes, and used to be added to grass seed for its ability to fix nitrogen.

Red clover, Trifolium pratense

Common Name: Red clover
Scientific Name: Trifolium pratense
Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Red clover, like the other clovers, is loved by bees and a common type of autumn honey. If you go to your local farmer's market or orchard to pick apples, you'll likely find a variety of honeys for sale: goldenrod, white and/or  red clover, and mixed wildflower honey are common. You might also find tupelo or other types of honey, depending on the plants available near the hives.

Some folks like to plant fields and other areas not easy to plant, with legumes, such as the clovers. They provide a source of food for bees, butterflies and other wildlife, produce color in an otherwise barren site, and improve the soil.

Meadow evening-primrose, Oenothera pilosella

Common Name: Meadow evening-primrose
Scientific Name: Oenothera pilosella
Family: Onagraceae

Like many of the other wildflowers in this article, there are many (over 120) different species of evening-primrose in North America.

The name, "evening-primrose," is hyphenated, because this plant is not a true primrose, the genus of which would be Primula. Evening-primroses get their common name from their flowering habit: the flowers close during the day, and open up in the late afternoon and early evening hours.

Some evening-primroses have a nice red-purple fall color, as this specimen from our sock walk.

Lanceleaf plantain, Plantago lanceolata

Common Name: Lanceleaf plantain
Scientific Name: Plantago lanceolata
Family: Plantaginaceae

When my eldest son was a little boy, he used to make elaborate cities in the garden, with building made out of sticks and rocks, and roadways for his Matchbox cars. He used to pluck the fruits off the seed heads of plantains, and fill a tiny trailer full of them, pretending they were ears of corn for the market. Too clever!

Plantains are good food to attract butterfly larvae to your garden.

Bishop's flower, Ammi majus

Common Name: Bishop's flower
Scientific Name: Ammi majus
Family: Apiaceae

Queen Anne's lace is a beautiful roadside wildflower. Unfortunately, people who have loved it enough to try to plant it in their yards have often regretted it. This highly invasive species will come up in farm field, flower bed, lawn or anywhere else with soil. Its tap root makes it difficult to rogue out.

Fortunately, there is an annual relative, Bishop's flower, that gives the same affect, seeds enough to establish as a wildflower, but not so much as to invade your entire yard.

Queen Anne's lace is useful for many homespun projects.



Common Name: Poison ivy

Poison ivy, Rhus radicans

Scientific Name: Rhus radicans
Family: Anacardiaceae

We recently went for a walk in the farm pasture, about two weeks after the hay had been cut. We were appalled at the very hearty crop of poison ivy that was coming up over the entire field!

Poison ivy spends most of its life as a vine, but, once mature, forms a shrub, and the birds just love its berries. Hence, the great poison ivy crop in a farm field. The leaves are brilliant red in the fall.

Poison ivy has many poisonous relatives.

Common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisifolia

Common Name: Common ragweed
Scientific Name: Ambrosia artemisifolia
Family: Asteraceae

I come from a long line of hayfever sufferers. Most of us chug through the entire year until about August 20 (here in the Northeast), when we all, suddenly, take ill. This corresponds, within days, to the start of the bloom period for this wildflower, one of the ragweeds. Common ragweed is one of the most common reasons for fall hayfever and allergies.

Big-leaf aster, Eurybia macrophylla

Common Name: Big-leaf aster
Scientific Name: Eurybia macrophylla
Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)

The wild asters are some of my favorite late-summer and early fall wildflowers. Like the garden asters, these bloom all summer, but really show their stuff at the end of the year, when other flowers have given up for the season. For this reason, I rarely rogue them out of my flower beds when they come up: rather, I selectively pull ones that stray from the group, and leave them as fall interest.


We collected a lot of different kinds of plant materials from our socks after our sock walk, including some seeds which we couldn't identify.  We decided to plant one sock (from each pair), but I regret to inform you that the intense rains we had from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac flooded our seed trays. This was great for birdbaths and water dishes for our cats when they didn't feel like coming inside. But it wasn't so great for a follow-up investigation. Better results next time, maybe?

Our investigation...

Oh, well...

That's okay... muddy water always tastes better, says Rosie.

We had a great time with tie dye this summer, using a commercial dye kit. But we have really wanted to try our hand at some natural dyes made from plant materials. Perhaps that will be our next tie dye project? Stay tuned...