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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 09 2013 at 8:32am | IP Logged
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We are taking a trip to NC in the spring. We go almost every year since my dh's mom lives there. But every year, I think, "We should have spent some time doing nature study. We don't see the ocean every day." It just slips by me and then we are headed home. So, this year, I'm going to be prepared. I'm trying to think of some ways that we can study the ocean (we'll visit the aquarium there too) that don't take a lot of time and brain energy since I will be in vacation mode. I thought about getting the kids disposable cameras, so they can take pictures and put them in notebooks, but I'm afraid that's going to mean a lot of wasted money. Any thoughts or easy ideas?
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Becky
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JennGM
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| Posted: Jan 09 2013 at 9:40am | IP Logged
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Becky,
I'm trying to get a clearer picture of how you are visiting the beach? Is it just a quick stop? One or two days of just a few hours? Just one quick trip of a few hours? Will this be the Outer Banks area?
What I've been doing the last few years BEFORE our trips is check out and start reading many books on the beach, all different aspects. Seashore, shells, sea life. North Carolina doesn't have much of tidepools, but we read about that, too.
What I've found is that my boys are excited to search for what they have read. They find shells and want to name them. Same for the birds and sea animals they find.
I always bring extra empty jars and plastic bags for the nature finds. Little shovels and buckets and sifters are a plus. It's neat to gather some water from the ocean to examine what kind of life is there...some visible by the naked eye.
Bring a few nature guides particular to NC beaches, and perhaps some nature journals and supplies to have there if they are inclined to draw or paint what they see.
In the OB the beaches vary. Unless after a storm, there aren't that many shells, unless you go down towards Hatteras and stop along the beaches along that road. During our week stay, that's what we do...check out the various beaches and collect shells.
Of course, there is also fishing. We did a little last time, but hope to try a bit more.
I'd be happy to brainstorm some favorite titles. There are some past threads here. Some books that immediately come to mind:
Jim Arnosky is always my first go-to: Field Trips: Bug Hunting, Animal Tracking, Bird-watching, Shore Walking
and he has a little Shore Walker Nature Notebook that has fill in pages.
And I really love An Island Scrapbook by Virginia Wright-Frierson to tie in nature journals and the NC barrier beaches.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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Also longer chapter books, like The Burgess Seashore Book for Children
and Pagoo.
I'm in vacation mode when we visit, but everything the boys do while we are there is part of science. The digging, hands on with sand and the water, the wind, the weather, the flora and fauna -- they are soaking it all in. It's not necessarily intentional learning. We have a few of those times. We make sure we go out at night with flashlights to examine the beach, and watch the low and high tides. It's later when we realize all they have soaked in and learned. Doing the reading and discussing and anticipating early makes much of the time at the beach Masterly Inactivity.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 09 2013 at 2:46pm | IP Logged
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Strange, I wrote a reply but I guess it didn't post. Hmm.
Anyway, thanks Jennifer! I'm really interested to look into the book titles you suggested. I think that will be the easiest and most fruitful way to make our trip educational! I really like the looks of "An Island Scrapbook" for my dd, and the "Field Trips" book has been on my Amazon wishlist for quite a while.
As for details, we'll be staying in a condo for a week on Oak Island. My mil lives close but her home is not child friendly and it ends up being stressful when we visit. For the last few years we have been staying in the condo instead. We spend the mornings on the beach and the afternoons with grandma. It works well. My kids mostly just enjoy playing on the beach and my older ds is always fishing. I know they are learning through experience the whole time; asking about the tides, asking about what kind of fish there are, watching the ocean come up in the holes they dig and watching it wash away their sand castles at high tide... I just wanted to make sure they are getting as much as possible out of such a wonderful field trip.
I just love your idea of flashlights on the beach at night. I have fond memories of hearing my ds and all his cousins run around looking for crabs when he was younger. The adults always enjoyed sitting outside in the evenings and it was great fun for the kids to stay up way-late! We haven't done that in years. We'll have to get back into the practice of night time star gazing on the beach. That's how it all began back then.
I also have the sad notion that this might be our last trip to the beach to see grandma. She is getting quite old and in need of care. I suspect she will be moving closer to her dd, which is hours from the beach. Our visits will still be special, but wont involve the ocean.
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Becky
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cathhomeschool
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| Posted: Jan 10 2013 at 7:27pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
What I've been doing the last few years BEFORE our trips is check out and start reading many books on the beach, all different aspects. Seashore, shells, sea life. North Carolina doesn't have much of tidepools, but we read about that, too.
What I've found is that my boys are excited to search for what they have read. They find shells and want to name them. Same for the birds and sea animals they find.
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This is what we've always done and it has always paid off. There is something about going to a museum, zoo, ocean, whatever and seeing in real life something that you just learned about that is so exciting. We take nature journals, colored pencils and cameras along and we draw if we want to. We take small field guides (mostly for me ...like Golden Guides). We found this great little Beachcombers field guide. It's great because it's just a 4 panel laminated pamphlet packed with pictures of what you might find on the coast -- compact and quick to look "through." Sometimes we use coloring pages and scrapbook stickers after returning home.
Some library books that we read before visiting the North Carolina beach:
Gramma's Walk (especially appropriate for you all!)
Island Boy and Miss Rumphius, by Barbara Cooney
Time of Wonder by Robert McCloskey
Night of the Moonjellies
Horseshoe Crabs and Shorebirds: the Story of a Food Web
Exploring an Ocean Tide Pool
We used some Jim Arnosky too.
I used FIAR a lot back then and this unit study included :
+studied the geography of the area (very general)
+discussed running a small business, responsibility, and life near the sea
+used the poem My Ship and I by Robert Louis Stevenson as copywork
+discussed any new marine vocabulary
+discussed aquatic biomes
+researched moonjellies
+read aloud Swallows and Amazons
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Jan 11 2013 at 5:29am | IP Logged
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Great book ideas! Thanks Janette! I remember our FIAR Night of the Moon Jellies study. 
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Becky
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Taking a trip - fun ways to study ocean
