By Cindy West and Melissa Leach

Coping with the Cold By Cindy West and Melissa Leach

Coping with the Cold - How Animals Survive the Winter Season Topics: Hibernation Migration Adaptation Seasons: All 1

Coping with the Cold - How Animals Survive the Winter Season By Cindy West and Melissa Leach Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved Thank you so much for purchasing our e-book. We want to gently remind you that even though e-books are easy to pass on to others, doing so without permission is a violation of copyright law. We appreciate your honesty in this matter. Permission is granted to copy individual pages of this book for single family use or for use in a club or class environment. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Graphics by www.graphicsfactory.com Photos by Melissa Leach and Cindy West Permission is granted to use photos for personal use or for use in a club or class environment only. Do not use photos for commercial purposes. Doing so without permission is a violation of copyright law. Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com naturexplorers@gmail.com Contact Melissa www.inthesparrowsnest.com Contact Cindy www.ourjourneywestward.com 2

About The Authors Cindy West is a nature-loving mom of three from Central Kentucky. She and her husband, Steve, enjoy teaching their children about God s creation as they walk all over their cattle farm, usually looking for lost calves! Cindy is a veteran homeschooler with a master s degree in elementary education who loves to inspire other homeschoolers to hang in there through the rough times, teach creatively and make leading their children to the Lord the top priority. She speaks regularly to homeschooling groups and is so excited about her new venture into writing. Living Literature Grammar and Language Arts Packets, written for 3 rd -4 th graders, was published in e-book form in 2009. You can find Cindy s blog, Our Journey Westward, at http://ourjourneywestward.com. Dedication: To my nature walking buddies, Mahayla, Caleb and Eli - I so enjoy seeing God through your eyes! Thank you for taking me outside with you and loving me even when I stop to look more than you d like. To Steve Thank you for teaching me the joy of walking through a field and breathing in the glory of God. I love you all! Melissa Leach is a veteran home schooling mom of three adventurous children, ages 12, 10, and 3. She travels on this exciting journey with her best friend and husband, David. They live in the suburbs of the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, Ohio area. For as long as Melissa can remember God has connected to her and inspired her through nature. Her desire is to teach others about what she has learned from God s creation and to provide vivid inspiration to get outdoors with your children and learn! She loves to strap on her hiking boots and go exploring with her children. She loves to sit quietly and reflect amongst the tall towering trees. And she thrives on researching and identifying everything she can in nature. Melissa founded her nature blog In the Sparrow s Nest in 2006, which is abundant with nature lessons and inspiration! Come visit her at http://inthesparrowsnest.com. Dedication: For our Creator Thank you for giving me the eyes to see. For my three spirited nature explorers - Hannah, Alex, and Gabriella. I pray you always see HIM in the biggest mountain down to the littlest ant. For my husband Thank you for always being supportive, and for never tiring of listening to me talk about nature. 3

Welcome! Welcome to the NaturExplorers series of nature-based unit studies! You are in for such a treat when studying nature with your children. We pray these materials will inspire you, encourage you and supply you with an abundance of great ideas. Whether you re just looking for information and ideas as you prepare for a nature walk, or you d like to take nature studies further than the walk, this book will provide you with a variety of ideas and resources. For each theme, you will find: Inspiration for the parent or teacher and inspirational literature suggestions for the children Background information concerning the main focus of the nature topic Ideas for nature walks and other outside activities Follow-up hands-on activity ideas Writing and research ideas References for Bible study, artist and composer study, and poetry tie-ins As well as bonus ideas for other subjects when applicable Kid-friendly internet links and book lists for further study Ideas for adapting the material for younger and older children, as well as ideas for groups of children Notebooking pages Any homeschooler using any homeschooling style will find this resource useful. Charlotte Mason homeschoolers will love the ideas for tying in poetry and artist and composer studies, as well as the living literature lists to enhance learning. Those who use Unit Studies will be excited that most of what they need for a full unit is already here. Unschoolers will appreciate the ability to find easy to implement ideas at just the right time. Project-Based homeschoolers will be excited at the large amount of project ideas that meet many learning styles. Traditional and Classical homeschoolers will be able to pull as little or as much from the book as they desire. New Homeschoolers will appreciate the thoroughly laid out ideas, while Veteran Homeschoolers will be thankful that the ideas are already pulled together and ready to use. This curriculum isn t only for homeschoolers! Classroom Teachers, Nature Club Teachers, Co-op Teachers, Camp Directors and After-School Program Coordinators will all find this resource useful. The beauty of each unit is its adaptability. You can simply take one nature walk and put the book down, or you can take nature walks again and again focusing on the same theme and not run out of new ideas for a very long time. If desired, the nature theme can be used as a full-fledged science-based unit study. You will find ideas that include the subject of science, language arts, history, geography, art, music, and even some math! Unit studies provide complete immersion into the topic so that the student can see things as a "whole" instead of bits and pieces learned throughout their education. 4

The units were written with the elementary child in mind, but most ideas are very adaptable for younger and older students. We have personally used our nature studies with children from the ages of three-fifteen, with all ages (even adults) drawn in almost magically. May God bless you as you study His creation with your students! Before you get started we highly recommend you read the articles located in the appendix at the back of this book: Why Study Nature, Where to Study Nature, and Gearing Up and Being Safe. These articles will give you some added inspiration and needed information to make your nature studies the best they can be! 5

Table of Contents How To Use this Book 7 Getting Started Literature Launch 10 Inspiration Point 10 A Bit of Background 11 Getting Outside 13 Branching Out Hands-On Activities 16 Writing and Research Ideas 21 Bible Lessons from His Creation 29 Poetry Place 31 Artist and Picture Study References 31 Composer and Music Study References 32 Other Related Literature 32 Related Internet Links 33 Including Younger Children 33 Including Older Children 34 Additional Suggestions for Nature Clubs and Co-ops 36 Appendix Nature Notebooking Pages 39 Why Study Nature 53 Where to Study Nature 55 Gearing Up and Being Safe 56 Unit Notebook Preparation 58 6

How to Use this Book We hesitate to even attempt to tell you how to use this book since it can be used in such a variety of ways! Maybe a better title would be What You Will Find in Each Section. Either way, you ll find a description of each section of the unit(s) below with suggestions on how you might choose to incorporate the activities. Getting Started Literature Launch We ve included one or more children s books in this section that we hope will spark initial excitement about the topic. All are great pieces of living literature or really super non-fiction selections. You can choose to use them as a springboard to read before starting your study, or they can be used at any time during or after the unit. There s never a need to worry if you can t find a title since the studies don t rely on these books in any way. Inspiration Point No matter how much we love teaching, sometimes we could use a little help getting motivated! This section is for the teacher and includes just a few thoughts to get you interested and excited about teaching and studying the topic. A Bit of Background This section is to help the teacher have some background knowledge about the topic before heading outdoors or starting the indoor studies. This section would certainly be okay to share with children, but the intention is to empower the teacher with basic knowledge about the subject so all those spur of the moment questions can be answered with authority during a nature walk. This section will not be exhaustive by any means, and many of the research activity suggestions will require other books or internet resources to find in-depth information. You will also find information such as the best places to go and safety precautions regarding the particular topic. Getting Outside Nature Walks and Outside Activities This is the core of the curriculum. Above everything else, we hope to give you plenty of ideas for actually being outdoors enjoying, studying, and loving God s creation. Of course, simple nature walks where you set out to look for whatever comes your way concerning the topic are just fine. Sometimes though, you and/or your children need a little direction. You need a goal, or ideas, or even assignments before setting foot outdoors. We hope this section does that for you. We hope you will be able to open to this section and be inspired as you set out on your walk. And as we mentioned before, we hope you will use this section (and the rest of the unit) in a way that meets your family s needs. Some ideas for how to use this section: Choose one activity and set out to do only that activity today. Choose several ideas and accomplish as many as you can today. 7

Bring the book along and decide what best meets your needs today as you walk. Choose to study this topic for a month and pull out a new activity per walk to complete. Just read through the ideas before you go outside and be ready to suggest ideas as your children show interest. We don t suggest using every activity idea at once. We ve given you a large variety of ideas so that you can, hopefully, find at least one or two that meet your needs right now. We also hope that this guide will be useful to you for many nature walks over a short period of time or over several years even. Branching Out We can t stress enough our intention for the units we ve created. Use them as you see fit. If you simply want to take a nature walk concentrating on the topic, that s okay. Don t worry about the rest of the ideas. If you d like to create an entire unit study (minus the phonics and math lessons) on the topic, we ve given you all sorts of ideas below for tying in other subjects. If your child became very interested during the nature walk and you re hoping to take the learning a step or two further, we ve supplied great ideas for that as well. This section is meant to help you branch out with more learning after the nature walk. Hands-on Activities The ideas in this section are just what the name implies hands-on. You ll find science experiments, art and craft ideas, recipes, building projects and more. Remember that we have written several units, so not all units will contain all varieties of activities. Writing and Research Ideas From choosing a specimen found on the nature walk and researching it to writing stories to creating posters, this section will give you tons of ideas for all ages. We have found that the same assignment can be given to old and young students with the expectations being higher the older the child is. Bible Lesson from His Creation We hope this will be a foundational part of your nature study even if you choose to just find ideas for nature walks. One of the best ways for our children to learn concretely about God, His power, His consistency and His ways is through observing and learning about His creation. God tells us in Deuteronomy 6 to teach our children about Him when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Verse 7) What better way to teach our children His Word than to tie it into the very subjects we are learning! In this section you ll find verses and topics to talk about with your children concerning the nature theme. Poetry Place Here we ve included at least one reference poem, usually from a famous poet, that you might use as inspiration for writing poetry in nature, in a language lesson, as memory work, or simply for reading aloud. Unfortunately, we were unable to include the text of the poem(s) in our book because of copyright laws, but almost all of them can be easily found with a quick internet search. Artist and Picture Study References Many nature study lovers happen to be Charlotte Mason style homeschoolers. We included this section to help them tie artist and picture study into nature 8

study. Of course, these would fit well with any unit study, Charlotte Mason style or not. For some units, we were able to find one artist who completed several pictures on the nature topic. We have given you that artist s name and several pieces of his or her art you might choose to study. For other units, we have supplied you with a variety of artists and one or two pieces of their art to consider. Composer and Music References For the same reasons as the Artist and Picture Study References, we ve included Composer and Music References. Some unit topics lend themselves to more references than others, so you will find one or more composers and/or references to their compositions. If we had to stretch the comparison between the nature topic and the composer a bit, we ve always given an explanation. Other Related Literature We searched long and hard for the best of the best reference, nonfiction, fiction and poetry books to include in this section. When available, we tried to choose books that didn t include any references to millions of years. Sometimes this wasn t possible, but we ve tried to warn you if evolutionary terms are mentioned in the book. Use these books as you like. None of them are necessary for completing the unit activities. Related Internet Links We ve included just a few of the best links that will enhance the learning in a kid-friendly way. Even after our careful review for inappropriate or evolutionary material, we feel it s necessary to warn you that you should always preview the internet sites before you allow your children to view them. Internet content can change overnight! Including Younger Children Nature study can easily be a whole-family, multi-aged event. In this section we ve included just a few ideas to help you grab the attention of little ones. Of course, they can also be included on many of the actual nature walk activities as well. Just keep a close eye on them! Including Older Children We certainly don t want to leave out the older students either! They can always do any of the activities we ve already mentioned, just expect a little more from them. In this section, though, we ve provided you with an idea or two that will really challenge their minds. Additional Suggestions for Nature Clubs or Co-ops Nature clubs and nature classes at coops are growing. In fact, we re both part of one or the other! These clubs and classes often give us an opportunity to do group activities and/or games that we might not be able to do in families. In this section, we ve supplied you with ideas and challenges for groups of children. Nature Notebooking Pages Copy and go! You ll find several prepared notebooking pages that will enhance your nature studies. 9

Getting Started Literature Launch The Big Snow by Berta Hader and Elmer Hader When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan North Country Night by Daniel San Souci Under the Snow by Melissa Stewart Winter Lullaby by Barbara Seuling Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane by Victoria Sherrow Please visit our NaturExplorers Store at the below link for a complete list of recommended literature and to learn more about each book. http://shiningdawnbooks.com/naturexplorers-store/ Inspiration Point It s a cold, snowy day as you bundle up and head out for a brisk nature walk. As you re walking it seems that all you can hear is the crunching of snow beneath your feet. You stop for a moment to observe the wooded landscape around you. All you can see are the tall bare branches of the trees around you without an ounce of life scampering about. The quietness is further accentuated by the gentle snowflakes floating down around you. It seems it is so quiet and still that there couldn t possibly be anything stirring on this wintry day. Think again! Life is out there and it s fighting to survive the plummeting temperatures. As you blow your breath, visible out in front of you, from the corner of your eye you notice three small brown birds huddled close to one another on a branch. They are all puffing out their feathers so much that they appear as little round balls sitting in a row. Then suddenly another branch cracks above you as a gray squirrel scurries across it to hop back into its warm den. In the far distance you notice several large evergreen trees, and out from behind them walk three deer which stop occasionally to stick their cold noses deep into the snow looking for food. As you observe these fascinating things, suddenly you become aware of your chilling fingers beneath your woolen mittens and thrust them deep into your warm pockets. All this brings to your curious mind many questions of how the animals survive the changing environment around them. You realize that many have packed their bags and left to travel to warmer areas; many are settled down in a cozy burrow maybe even below your feet; and many have donned their brave face and are fighting like soldiers to endure the changing climate. These tough animals are using the gifts they have been given from our awesome Creator as their weapons to battle the icy temperatures. 10

In the coming lessons you will be introduced to many of these helpful gifts and learn how the animals use them to thrive and survive during the cold months. Also you ll learn about the ones who prefer to travel to warmer places and the ones who prefer to sleep the chilling time away. Strap on your snow boots, and the rest of your winter attire, and be prepared to experience the amazing world of animals coping with the cold! A Bit of Background As the sun begins to set earlier on the horizon and the days grow darker and cooler, most animals are already preparing for the long, cold months ahead. Many animals that live all over the world in temperate climates cannot survive, or at least thrive well, in colder weather. Therefore, they begin to make important changes and/or plans for the upcoming winter. On the other hand, animals that live in arctic climates pretty much live with their winter adaptations most of the year. There are several important reasons that animals must prepare and make changes for the winter season: lack of an adequate food source due to the absence of most insects and plants going dormant in the winter lack of water due to the cold temperatures freezing water sources for part if not all of the season lack of appropriate shelter and protection due to leaves falling off deciduous trees and lack of plants in general, giving no protection from predators and warmth from the cold Throughout this unit, you will be learning about many animals and many types of winter/cold weather adaptations. This section will give you just a little understanding of several of the adaptations. Migration: Migration is when an animal moves from one location to another. Some animals like birds and butterflies can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles, while other animals like beetles simply migrate deeper into the soil for the winter. Hibernation: Hibernation is essentially a very deep sleep during which an animal s heart and breathing rates slow and body temperature lowers to almost the same temperature as it is outside. The animal in hibernation is very difficult to wake up. Many people get hibernation confused with torpor which is a sleepy state with lessened body rates, but the animal in torpor is able to wake up easily and can often be found out and about on fair winter days. Both types of sleepers gain lots of extra weight through the spring, summer and fall and live mostly off of stored fat through the winter. Until they wake up, they don t eat, drink or go to the bathroom. Diapause: Diapause is the term given to dormant insects. This is very much like hibernation except the insect doesn t grow at all during this period. Brumation: Brumation is like hibernation, but refers to reptiles. 11

Extra Warmth: Birds that stick around for the winter typically grow more or thicker feathers, while animals grow more hair or fur and put on extra fat as an insulator. Animals that are well adapted to cold, like arctic animals, will often have shorter limbs and more cylindrical shapes to maintain body heat better. Some animals, like squirrels, will even use their tails as windbreaks. Animals are very good at finding places to rest that provide warmth, too. Some animals like mice will huddle together in underground burrows. Some will dig extra deep into the ground and take advantage of the warmer earth, while others find shelter from wind and weather in dens or other hollows. Animals such as beavers will construct warm winter homes from available material. Other Adaptations: Animals that tough it out during the winter often have collected stores of food for the long days ahead. Though some animals don t prepare in this way and just forage what they can in the winter. Deer and rabbits, for example, will often feast on branches and moss when all the fresh food is gone. In addition, some animals change colors to become camouflaged to help protect them during the winter months, such as the American Goldfinch and some species of rabbits. It would be nearly impossible to list every single winter adaptation, because God is an incredible, creative and ingenious God! However, throughout the lessons that follow, you will be introduced to many more adaptations. Lastly, the adaptations are generally broken into three main types: Behavioral This includes things like migrating, dormancy and huddling. Structural or Physical These are specialized body parts like thick fur, short legs, and blubber. Physiological This is a type of chemical bodily change like being able to freeze and unfreeze, being able to go without food for long periods, fur or feathers changing colors to become camouflaged and heart rates slowing greatly. Warning: Finding animals in winter can sometimes be a hard task. If you happen upon a sleeping animal, NEVER wake it up. The animal is doing as God intended it to do by sleeping through the winter, but more importantly, it may wake up grumpy and ready to hurt you! Don t bother burrows, dens or other habitats that you suspect might house wintering animals. If you begin feeding animals in winter, please be sure to continue the entire season. They will often become dependent upon you and die if you stop suddenly. Be sure to dress appropriately for cold winter walks! Layers, layers, layers! 12

Getting Outside There are many different ways that animals prepare in the fall for the colder weather. Take several nature walks in the fall season and observe with your senses of sight and hearing to notice these ways. Look for animals gathering and storing away food, digging burrows and migrating. Look for animal s fur or feathers growing thicker and changing colors. Notice certain animals becoming fewer in number because they are beginning to migrate or hibernate. Make a list in your nature journal of the preparations you observe. There are many different ways that animals survive and cope with the cold. Take several nature walks in the winter time to observe the animals around you and how they are coping with the cold. What animals do you not see this time of year that you normally would in the warmer seasons? If you d like, use the notebooking page Coping with the Cold to record the winter animal(s) you observe and make notes about them. Watch an animal such as a squirrel or chipmunk as it collects nuts in the fall. If you are unable to get very close to the animal, good binoculars may be very helpful. What types of nuts is it collecting? How many can it gather at once? Where is it going? Does it take the entire nut or crack it open first? How does it carry the nuts? From late summer through autumn, watch for groups of birds gathered together to migrate south. Notice what types of birds are gathered together. Can you count them? Do they fly in any sort of formation? Does the group stay together at all times? When the group lands, what are they doing? Eating? Resting? If they are eating, what are they eating? If they are resting, where are they resting? How do they sound? Especially listen when they come in for a landing. Use a compass to see which direction migrating birds are traveling. Be aware of the position of the sun in the sky (only checking the compass once in a while) and see how easy it is to travel one direction all the time. 13

Draw and record what you see in your nature notebook or use the notebooking page Migrating Flocks. Place bird feeders outside a window during the winter. Keep a tally chart of the types of birds that stick around your area in the winter. Keep records and graph your findings on the notebooking pages Winter Bird Feeder Tally Sheet and Winter Bird Feeder Graph. While observing birds outdoors and/or at bird feeders, do you notice them puffing out their feathers? Birds do this to increase the "dead-air" space between their feathers and their skin. This serves to trap warmth and helps to retain body heat, sometimes increasing it by as much as 30%. Birds grow more feathers in winter too, which also gives them a thicker layer in which to fluff up! Try to take a picture of a bird puffing out its feathers to include in your nature journal. Birds shiver almost constantly in winter to increase their body temperature. This process is known as thermogenesis. Amazingly, this constant shivering produces heat five times that of their normal rate, helping them to maintain a high body temperature. Because it burns lots of calories to shiver, they must flock to the feeders each day to replenish their small fat reserves. The next time you re outside in the winter and you start to get really cold, do you notice yourself shivering. This is your body s natural way of trying to warm you up! Do you ever notice any other animals besides birds shivering? Animals like squirrels are often active in the winter. Observe an active winter animal and describe what it does. Use the notebooking page titled Busy in Winter if you like. Find arthropods in their winter habitats. Arthropods are a group of invertebrates, which include insects, arachnids, crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes, and others. Look under rocks, logs and bark. Draw each one you find and note its behavior on the notebooking page Arthropods in Winter. Be sure to gently replace anything you have removed so the critters will be cozy again. Find hibernating insects, eggs and/or cocoons. Use a flashlight to probe around and inside crevices of dead logs, under small piles of leaves, even in attics or basements to see if you can find anything exciting. Draw your findings in your nature journal. Don t go near large crevices and holes, as you might find more than you bargained for! Without disturbing the homes, see if you can locate possible burrows, dens or other places that might be homes for wintering animals. Tally what kind of home it is (burrow, den, structure, etc.) and where you found it. Deer get ready for cold temperatures by storing fat in the summer and fall and by shedding their thinner summer coat for a much thicker, warmer one. During the winter deer usually feed during the daytime when it is warmer and become less lively in times of bad weather in order to conserve energy. They also develop a network of trails as they travel to and from feeding and bedding areas. They keep these trails open for easy travel and the ability to flee from predators. Visit a wooded area where you know there are deer. 14

Search and try to find these well-worn paths. Do you see any other signs that the deer have been there? In winter, search for signs of animals. Note all you find on the Winter Animal Signs notebooking page. Keep your eyes open for animal prints, freshly torn twigs, piles of nuts, cracked nuts, burrow entrances, piles of leaves, cocoons, scat (poop), etc. After a snowfall is a fantastic time to find animal tracks. Animals that normally might not leave much of a track, easily leave imprints in the soft snow. Finding animal tracks can teach us a great deal about an animal s activities during the winter such as where they are looking for food and where they find protection. When going animal tracking, it is helpful to take along an animal print identification book to determine whose tracks you ve found. Can you follow the prints you find? Make a quick sketch of each print you find and jot down where you found it and who you think made it on the notebooking page Snow Prints. From the comfort of your warm home, take time each day for a week or two to sit at a window and observe the active winter wildlife. Create a graph to show which animals you see. Also make notes about any interesting behaviors you observe while watching them. Most parks are still open in the winter time. If you are able, bundle up warm and visit various parks in your area on different days to observe other environments. Notice your outdoor pets as winter approaches. Do their coats of hair or fur get thicker? What happens to their coats as the temperatures rise in the spring? Do they seem to prepare for winter in any way? If you have indoors animals, does the fact that they are indoors change anything? Why? Many animals slip into their underground burrows and into their dens to hibernate for the winter. If you have a heavy snow that gives you several inches on the ground, bundle up and head outside to build your own den. Dig down into the snow, clearing out a nice cozy place for you to get protection from the harsh winter winds. Are there any materials you can gather to make your den warmer? If you have a thermometer, measure the temperature inside your den, versus the temperature outside. 15

Branching Out Hands-On Activities There are many ways we can help take care of animals during the winter. Try one or more of the following ideas to keep the active wildlife in your area healthy during cold and snowy days. Be sure that once you start feeding the animals that you keep it up throughout the cold months. Animals will come to rely on you and visit the feeders frequently. Place bird and squirrel feeders in your yard. Make a garland of fruits, nuts and popcorn to hang on a tree. Read Night Tree by Eve Bunting. It s a Christmas story, but a wonderful book to give you ideas about caring for winter animals. Do your best to preserve animal habitats such as avoiding cutting down trees or bushes when not necessary. If you have a source of fresh water nearby such as a creek or pond, and it s safe to do so, break apart the ice somewhere around the edge as often as possible to provide a place for animals to drink. While you re out in nature do your best to not disturb a winter animal s habitat. Doing so may drive them from their protective place. Another way you can help animals in the winter is to create an overwintering friendly back yard. In other words, make your backyard a friendly place for creatures which will need to find a safe place to live. You can include such things as: A pile of logs where smaller animals can take shelter. A pile of rocks, again, where smaller animals can take shelter. You can dig a hole or two and cover them almost completely with a large rock as a ready-made burrow. A pile of leaves or straw will provide shelter as well as food for some animals. An open compost pile will provide shelter for smaller animals. Planting several bushes, especially evergreen, will offer refuge from cold winds and precipitation. An insulator keeps something warm. Animals will find homes for the winter that help keep them warm. Some animals will build nests, others will burrow into the ground, others will live in piles of leaves, and more. In this experiment, you will be filling tin cans with hot water and insulating them with various materials. Your job is to predict which materials will provide the most insulation, and therefore stay the warmest. You will need: 5 tin cans of the same size 16

5 boxes of the same size to hold each can 5 thermometers Hot water Aluminum foil Packing material towel, newspaper, straw, packing peanuts, anything else of your choice Put a tin can inside each box and pack a different packing material around each box. For instance, place a tin can inside the first box and put a towel all around the can. In the second box, place a tin can and put newspaper all around it, and so on. In the fifth box, place a tin can and insulate it with whatever other material you think will help keep the heat in. Fill each tin can with hot water, place a thermometer in each can and cover each with a square of aluminum foil. Measure the can temperatures every five minutes for half an hour to determine the best insulator. Keep good records! At the end of the half hour, order the five materials from best to worst insulators depending on the ending temperatures of each can. Create a graph to show your data. Use the Most Excellent Insulator notebooking page to record your findings if you d like. Did you know that just because creationists don t believe in evolution, that doesn t mean we don t believe in adaptations? Narrate to someone the differences defined in the box to the right. There are several adaptations that are also known as ecological rules. We will share a few here with experiments to demonstrate the rule. You are encouraged to research these rules and adaptations in general more thoroughly. Be wary as you research adaptations as many of these explanations might be true, but come from an evolutionary perspective. Also remember that these rules are not strict and many exceptions can be found. Allen s Rule states that animals living in colder climates tend to have extremities that are shorter and/or closer to the body than similar animals that live in warmer climates. This includes legs, ears and tails. Hares are a good example for researching. Creationist Someone who believes in the literal interpretation from the Bible of how all living things were created. Evolution A belief that all things have changed from one form of something to another. For example, evolutionists tend to believe that humans were once apes millions of years ago. Adaptations An alteration within a species that helps it survive better in certain conditions. Demonstration: Gather two piles of eight cubes. The cubes can be linking blocks, sugar cubes, toy blocks, etc. With the first eight cubes, build a structure that has four cubes as its base and four cubes as a second level. Count the exposed faces around the sides (16). 17

This represents the surface area of the legs on a cold weather animal. With the second eight cubes, build a structure with two as its base and continue adding two on top until you have four levels. Again, count the exposed faces around the sides (24). This represents the surface area of the legs on an animal in a warm climate. It makes sense that the animal in the colder climate might have adapted to have shorter legs so there is less surface area to keep warm. Also, the shorter legs stay closer to the body and maintain heat easier. Bergmann s Rule states that birds and mammals of the same species tend to be larger in cold climates than their counterparts in warmer climates. Examples of this include bears and deer. Why? The larger the animal, the better the body mass to surface area ratio. In other words, if there s more on the inside (body mass) as compared to the outside (surface area/skin) the easier it is to hold heat. Experiment: Place two cups of warm water in a 2-liter bottle that has been cut in half. Place two cups of warm water in a pie pan. Place a thermometer in both containers. Record the temperature every five minutes for about 20-30 minutes. Record the temperature of both containers each time and create a graph to show the data. The water in the pie tin should have cooled more quickly than the water in the 2-liter because the pie tin had a lot more surface area (water touching the air) than the 2-liter. It had a harder time holding its heat. The 2-liter had a lot more water inside (mass), and less coming in contact with the air to help hold heat in. The 2-liter represents the bigger animal that has more mass and less surface area that is has to keep warm. Another way to demonstrate this is to fill up two balloons with water, making one much larger and full of more water (mass) and one much smaller with less water (mass). If both balloons were placed in a freezer, would the water in the smaller or bigger balloon become frozen first? The water in the smaller balloon would freeze first as there is less water (mass) to cool. The water in the bigger balloon would take longer to freeze because there is more water (mass) to cool. The Egg Rule states that birds of the same species tend to lay more eggs at one time in colder climates than in warmer climates. Why? Birds in colder climates can typically only lay eggs once per year, whereas birds in warmer climates may be able to lay more than one set per year. Laying more eggs at once allows for a better survival rate in the cold climates. 18

Demonstration: Simply act this out with candy pieces or cereal pieces. One person should be the warmer climate bird and lay only two or three eggs (pieces of food) at a time. They will do this three times equaling 6-9 eggs. Another person should be the bird living in the warm climate and lay six or more eggs, but only one time. Birds in both climates end up laying around the same number of eggs, but just in different cycles. Gloger s Rule states that animals and people who live nearer the equator (warm and humid areas) tend to have darker skin than those living in colder climates. Why? Some people believe the darker pigmentation (coloring) may help with the absorption of the sun s UV rays, while other people believe it might be an adaptation to better camouflage the animals. And yet one more explanation, relating to birds, states that darker feathers are more resistant to degrading in the moist environment than light colored feathers. Experiment: This rule seems to make less sense than the others simply because even the scientists can t agree upon a reason! Try to find a dark and light colored feather. Place them both in a container of water for several days to see if the light colored feather degrades more quickly than the dark feather. What are your thoughts about this rule? When it s cold outside, this activity is great fun! Make some Jello and pour it into film canisters. Put lids on the canisters and give one to each person. The goal is to take the canister outside and NOT let it get cold enough to turn into hardened Jello. The canisters will stay outside for about ten minutes by themselves, so the students will need to create adaptations and find appropriate shelter so the Jello won t harden during that time. (Hint for teachers: ideas might include wrapping it in a blanket, placing it near a dryer vent, putting it in the crevice of a tree out of the wind, etc.) At the end of the ten minutes, see whose adaptations and shelter helped the animal to survive. If the Jello is even beginning to freeze, the animal dies! Talk about why some animals survived and others didn t. We have included this idea in the co-op/nature club section below because it can work so well at home or in a group setting. Why might an animal enjoy staying in a burrow during the winter? This experiment should help you find out! Place one thermometer on top of the ground in the winter. Dig a small hole in your yard and place another thermometer in that hole. Cover it loosely with soil. After about an hour, check the readings on both thermometers. Which had the warmer temperature? Why? Where would you prefer to stay if you were an animal like a chipmunk? Use the notebooking page titled Why Go Underground? to note your results. The heart rate of most animals that hibernate slows drastically during hibernation. This helps the animal to conserve energy so that it needs less food. In case you didn t know, when we eat 19

food, our body turns that food into energy. We use energy to do things like playing, running, jumping and even sleeping. When our heart rate is higher, we are using more energy. Do this experiment to see how your heart rate speeds up when more energy is being used: After you have been resting for a little while, find your pulse and see how many times your heart beats in a minute. Write that number down. Now do jumping jacks or something else that takes a lot of energy to do. After about one minute of doing this activity, stop and measure your heart rate again for one minute. Did you notice how much faster your heart was beating the second time? You were using more energy! The body temperature of hibernating animals also drops drastically during hibernation. In fact, the body temperature can be almost as low as the cold temperature outside! A mammal s normal body temperature is about 98 degrees. If it s 35 degrees outside, a hibernating animal s body temperature might drop to near 40 degrees. Feel the difference. Fill a container with warm tap water. Measure the temperature with a thermometer to try to get as close to 98 degrees as possible. In another container, place cold tap water and add ice cubes until it reaches near 40 degrees. Place your hands in each container to feel the temperature difference. This is another adaptation God has provided hibernators in order to conserve energy. Many hibernators, as well as many animals that tough it out during the winter, stay warm and well-nourished with lots of extra body fat. Try this experiment to see how a layer of fat can protect you from cold temperature. Fill a bowl with ice water. Cover one of your index fingers with a layer of petroleum jelly. Place both index fingers in the bowl of ice water and describe how the fingers feel different. Did the extra layer of fat (petroleum jelly) keep your finger warmer than the finger without petroleum jelly? Spend a day doing your schoolwork in hibernation! Build your own cozy den from a large cardboard box. Try to supply your den with everything you ll need for a morning or afternoon of school. Snowshoe hares and some other animals are known for large feet that help them walk in deep snow. Native people many years ago invented their own snow shoes to make walking easier in deep snow for themselves. They would use sticks, twine, leather and other sturdy materials. Try this fun activity to demonstrate the effectiveness of snowshoes. Make little people from clay or play dough. Give them toothpick legs and small clay or play dough feet. Place the people in a tray of sand that s at least one inch deep (or snow if it s available.) What happens to them? Their feet sink right into the sand, right? Now make some model snowshoes for your little people. Cut two one inch square snowshoes for each person from heavy cardstock. Press the snowshoes onto the clay feet. Place the people in the sand (or snow) again and see what happens. Hopefully, they don t sink! 20

If you have snow around your house, try making your own temporary snowshoes by cutting cardboard into large oval shapes and placing rubber bands around them to attach to your shoes. Did they keep you from sinking into the snow? Camouflage is a very cool defense mechanism that God has provided many animals. Camouflage means blending into your natural surroundings. A defense mechanism is a way an animal protects itself against a predator. In the winter, some animals like the snowshoe hare change from brown to white so they will be better able to hide in the snow. Play this fun game to demonstrate camouflage. Cut out little animals from various colors of construction paper. Hide them outdoors making sure some are camouflaged (like a green piece in an evergreen bush) and some are not (like an orange piece on green grass.) Hunt for the hidden pieces and decide which were easier to find those that were camouflaged or those that were not camouflaged. Winter adaptations can basically be divided into three categories: Behavioral Adaptations = migrating, dormancy, huddling Structural or Physical (specialized body parts) = thick fur, short legs, blubber Physiological (specialized body chemistry) = being able to freeze and unfreeze, being able to go without food for long periods, camouflaging, heart rate slowing greatly Design a poster showing an example of each of these adaptation types. Don t forget to label the poster. Design your own animal. What winter adaptations does it have? Place it in winter scene (like in a shoebox diorama) showing it using one or more of its winter adaptations. Writing and Research Ideas Migration The following list includes some of the animals who migrate, or move, to warmer climates during the winter months. Choose at least one to learn more about. Write or present a thorough report about your animal. Be sure to include the migration route in your report, as well as how long the migration takes. You might choose to organize your research using the notebooking page A Migrating Animal - Research Planning Page. Making a Diorama A traditional diorama can be made by decorating the inside of a shoe box to look like the topic you are studying. When making a winter scene habitat, for instance, you would decorate the box to look like a typical winter landscape, being sure to include lots of things you might see in this particular landscape, such as specific animals and plants. Use whatever materials you have around the house like construction paper, paints, clay, or even little plastic models you might have in a toy box. 21

- geese - monarch butterflies - caribou - elk - bats - whales Other reasons for animal migration include finding food, finding water, and mating. Choose an animal which migrates for reasons other than to find warmer areas and compare it to the migration of animals from the cold. Some animals to consider researching include: - penguins - sea turtles - eels - salmon - land crabs - wildebeests Choose one or more of the following questions to research and answer. Create a pamphlet, following the directions in the box, to present your information. - How do animals know when it s time to migrate? - Why do animals often migrate in groups? - How does a particular animal of your choice prepare for migration? - How do animals know where to migrate? - How do some animals end up at the same migrating location every year? - What dangers face a migrating animal? In North America, there are four major flyways that migrating birds follow the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific. A flyway is a typical route a species of birds travel year in and year out. Find out where the flyways are and draw each of them on a map. A good site to help you find this information is http://www.birdnature.com/allflyways.html. You may use the Mapping the Flyways notebooking page if you d like. Arctic Terns spend most of the year migrating 22,000 miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again. Learn more about this interesting bird, where and when it mates, its migration path and more. Be sure to map its migration route on a Creating a Pamphlet Many word processing programs on the computer include a pamphlet maker that allows you to put together a professional looking pamphlet in which you can include photographs. Otherwise, fold a plain piece of paper in thirds. The top fold becomes your cover and each additional fold should be used to answer one of the questions. Be sure to include drawings or photographs when appropriate. 22

blank map of the world. Draw or paste a picture of the Arctic Tern on your map somewhere. Choose a species of bird that migrates. Research all you can about that bird such as where it spends the warmer and colder months, what it eats, where it nests, who its predators are, etc. Pretend you are that bird and write a creative story depicting one year from your life, including your journey while migrating back and forth. Many species of geese spend the summer season in northern areas and migrate south as the winter approaches. Before migration occurs, geese oftentimes complete practice flights and landings. They migrate in flocks, which vary in size depending on species and area. Flocks of geese fly in the familiar V formation to increase their flight range. Research why they do this? How does it work? This process is truly amazing! Draw a visual display of what this process looks like and how it works then present it to someone. Fragile monarch butterflies migrate 2,500 miles each year! Not only that, but they end up migrating to the exact same trees in Mexico year in and year out! Research what happens if the monarch s tree in Mexico happens to be cut down from one year to the next. Make an informational flyer that you might put up in Mexico to help people understand this interesting fact. Gray Whales love cold water. So why do they migrate from the Arctic seas as winter approaches? Make a stick puppet of a gray whale and narrate your tale of migration to your family. In the United States there are some people known as snowbirds who migrate from colder regions to warmer regions each winter. Often, these people will migrate to Florida for three or four months because they don t like to spend cold winters in their home state. Do you know any snowbirds? See if you can interview a snowbird about why they choose to migrate each winter. Have you ever heard the term migrant worker? This is a person who migrates from one area to another depending on where they can find a job. Farmers often hire migrant workers to help plant or harvest crops. When one area s crops are finished, the migrant worker will head to another area where a new crop is ready to be planted or harvested. Do you think this kind of life might be difficult? Why or why not? Worms, beetles, termites and other ground dwelling animals may not migrate far, but they do migrate a short distance as they make their way farther down into the ground. How would moving a few feet further down into the soil protect these critters? Draw a cross-section of land showing where these critters live in the summer as compared to the winter. 23

Hibernation & Dormancy What is the difference between hibernation and dormancy? Make a chart telling the difference between the two terms and draw or paste pictures onto the chart showing various animals that go with each term. Some animals go into true hibernation during the winter, while others sleep much of the winter, but will occasionally wake up and wander outdoors on warmer days. Then there are animals that spend much of their time inside a den or burrow, but remain active throughout the winter. Choose one or more of the following questions to research and answer. Create a little booklet to show the information from your research. - What takes changes take place in an animal s body when it hibernates? - How long does hibernation last? - Which animals hibernate deeply and which hibernate lightly? What s the difference? - Which animals don t hibernate, but stay in their warm dens or burrows most of the winter? - Which animals don t hibernate, nor store food? How do they survive? Estivation is the opposite of hibernation. Well, not the opposite exactly. Estivation is when an animal goes into a state of dormancy during extremely hot and/or dry weather. It s otherwise known as a summer s sleep. Some animals known to estivate include the cane toad, California red-legged frog, desert tortoises, crocodiles, salamanders, land crabs, land snails and lady beetles. Choose one of these animals and learn more about its estivation habits. Create a model of the animal in its estivation habitat and present an oral report about the animals and why it goes into estivation. Frogs, turtles and many fish head to the bottom of a pond to hide under rocks, logs or fallen leaves when the weather turns cold. They may even bury themselves in the mud. These animals become dormant. Frogs have permeable skin which means they absorb oxygen from water through their skin. Cold water actually holds more oxygen than warm water, so the frog survives quite well for long periods of time underwater. Find out more about frogs, turtles or fish and their ability to live dormant under water, or even mud, for long periods of time. Draw a picture of the animal living underwater and write a paragraph or more explaining your research. Did you know some frogs actually freeze solid in the winter and thaw out again when the temperatures become warmer? It s true! About 67% of its body freezes. As it begins to freeze, it pumps a glucose anti-freeze into its cells and finally stops breathing. Its brain activity stops and so does the heart beat! The frog might stay in this state for two or three months! Wood frogs are probably most known for the ability to do this. Research the wood frog to find out more! Place a plastic frog in an ice cube tray and fill the tray with water. When the water freezes, take out your frozen frog and use it as a model as you explain how frogs can freeze through the winter to your family. What animals build burrows to live in during the winter? A burrow is a hole or tunnel dug into the soil. Build a model burrow from play dough or clay. Create several animals 24

that might live in burrows and place them in your burrow. Tell your family about your model. Bears lightly hibernate throughout the winter. This means they sleep a lot, but will come out of their dens on nice days. Did you know bear cubs are born during the winter? How does the sleepy, and probably hungry, momma take care of new baby bears during the winter? How do the cubs survive without hunting for food during this time? Create a file folder report, using the instructions in the box to the right, to answer these questions. Don t forget photos or illustrations! File Folder Report On the front cover of a file folder make a title page. On one inside flap, paste or staple a detailed picture of a momma bear and her cubs. On the other inside flap, paste or staple a written report about what you learn. Like many hibernating animals, throughout the fall the black bear eats more than usual in order to gain weight to prepare for hibernation. In fact, they eat so much they can gain up to 30 pounds per week! If the average fall lasts about 12 weeks and you gained 30 pounds a week, how much weight would you gain total? How much would you weigh when you went into hibernation? What has the groundhog been doing all winter? People look forward to Groundhog Day when the groundhog makes a prediction about the coming of spring based on whether or not it sees its shadow in the sun. But where has the groundhog been and why is it used as a symbol of spring to come? Make a groundhog puppet from an old sock and use it to present your findings to an audience. What are diapause and brumation and how are they different from hibernation and dormancy? What critters might live in diapause and brumation through the winter? Create a poster to write and show the definitions and explain the differences. Choose one hibernating animal and research everything you can about it such as when and how it hibernates. Make sure you also look up photos of what it looks like when it is not hibernating and when it is hibernating. After you have learned all about your chosen animal write a free verse poem about it. A free verse poem is a poem that is written without proper rules. The writer of the poem makes up their own rules of how they want their poem to look, feel and sound. Other Adaptations Rabbits, deer and mice are common animals that do not migrate or hibernate, nor do they store food for the winter. They are herbivores, which means they 25

typically eat only plants. Find out what each of these animals do in order to survive during the cold months without much vegetation to eat. Make a chart showing different ways in which they survive. What about carnivorous animals that do not migrate or hibernate - like the fox or coyote? Where do they find food during the winter? Again, make a chart showing the different ways in which they survive. Besides collecting stores of food, some animals have other adaptations to keep them warm and well-fed during winter months - things like growing extra hair, eating lots during the preparatory seasons to build extra fat, changing colors, huddling together in groups, digging burrows way down deep in the ground and more. Find a book from your library about winter animal adaptations then use the notebooking page My Winter Adaptations to record which animals have each adaptation. Beavers are interesting creatures. They actually build a winter home in the middle of water. When the water isn t frozen, they go about life pretty much as normal. When the water freezes, they stay in their cozy little homes and eat the walls! Find out what a beaver makes its home out of and create a model to help you explain a beaver s winter survival. God has helped several animals that aren t normally white to turn white during the winter! Not only does their white color help them hide from predators in the winter, but it allows them to sneak up on their prey more easily. Find out more about the following snowy white animals who aren t snowy white all year. Make a poster showing a picture of them in the summer vs. the winter and write a small description of each including its habitat, range, predators, prey, when and how it changes colors and anything else you d like. - Ermine - Caribou - Ptarmigan - Arctic Fox - Arctic Hare - Snowshoe Hare Insects that don t migrate must also survive the cold. Some insects live through the winter as larvae or pupae, while others live in huge colonies as adults and huddle together to stay warm. Some insects will lay eggs and then die. The eggs hatch out in the spring. And a few insects have the ability to produce an anti-freeze like liquid called glycerol in their blood. Choose any insect that you have seen around your house and find out what its winter habits are. Make a model of the insect to go along with a written report. Have you ever heard of a gall? Insects may take winter shelter in holes in the ground, under the bark of trees, deep inside rotting logs or in any small crack they can find. One of the most interesting places they take shelter is in a gall. Find out what a gall is and draw a picture with a detailed description about it. 26

God gave many animals great adaptations for keeping warm during the cold winter days. For example, a fox wraps its long, furry tail around its face to keep warm as it sleeps, a squirrel can use its tail as a windbreak, and birds can fluff their feathers to keep more warm air around their bodies. Think of other animals that remain active during the winter and decide what God has provided them as a winter adaptation. Draw pictures of them using their adaptations on the notebooking page Winter Adaptations. In the winter, you are more likely to find small and medium-sized critters living in your house, dog house, barn, outbuilding, hay and/or in your stash of pet food. Why? Put on a play with you as a small animal that wants to come inside someone s house to get warm. What happens as you try to enter their house? Do animals get frostbitten? Frostbite is the freezing of body tissues to the point of losing feeling and color. If bad enough, frostbitten body parts may die. Write a doctor s report telling your findings about whether or not animals can get frostbitten. Some winter animals have their very own snowshoes! That is, they have feet that are shaped like snowshoes to help them travel in very deep snow. The most famous of these animals is a snowshoe hare. People have used snowshoes for many, many years to help them walk through the snow. Research the history of the snowshoe and create a timeline showing important facts from their invention to present time. What adaptations do we as humans make in the winter? Create a little book showing all the adaptations you can think of. Other Choose one animal native to your area. Research its winter habits and write a report about your animal in winter. It would be nice to include a model or drawing of your animal in winter. Your report should answer such questions as: 1. What does my animal do during the winter? (hibernate, migrate, stay active, etc.) 2. Where does my animal live? In other words, what is its habitat? 3. Does my animal need food through the winter? If so, what does it eat and where does the food come from? 4. What specialized adaptations has God provided so my animal can survive through the winter? While you are learning about all the wonderful animals and how they each cope with the cold, you may consider keeping track of what you have learned by doing the following. Divide a poster board into three equal main sections. Label the sections: Migrate, Hibernate, Adapt. Each time you study about a new animal add it to the appropriate section of the poster board by either writing its name, drawing a picture or pasting a photo. Alternatively, you can keep track of this by making lists in your nature notebook. Learn about arctic animals that survive best in the cold temperatures. Be sure to map where the animals normally live. Suggestions include: - Penguins 27

- Polar bears - Arctic foxes - Snow owls - Walruses - Beluga whales Which animal would you want to be during winter? Why? Write a story as if you are the animal and tell about your adventures one winter. Write a tall tale about animals and their survival during the winter. A tall tale is an exciting story that has characters that are larger than life and do heroic things that cannot be done in real life. 28

Bible Lessons from His Creation Don t Worry, Be Happy - Trusting Him As the cold winds bear down and natural water and food supplies run low many animals go into hibernation, migrate or live off the provisions they have gathered beforehand. They do exactly what their Creator has planned for them to do. Not one is worrying and fretting about whether they will make it through the winter or not. Not one is arguing with their Creator and second guessing His directives. And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? - Matthew 6:28-30 As God s children we are reminded over and over in His word that we are to trust in His care and rest assured in His plan. Yet day after day we fret over the details of life, big and small. His plan is greater and we must practice releasing the worry and trust in His plan. Thus allowing Him to direct our lives as to each step we should take and when. Should we do this? Should we do that? Let us pray and wait upon the Lord, for He will take a crooked path and make it straight in His perfect timing. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. - Proverbs 3:5-6 The next time you are observing animals busily about their way, doing exactly what they know is best for them and following the Creator s plan, remember the design and plan of your own life and how each intricate path and part of it rests in your Heavenly Father s hands. Reach out to Him and seek His council and there will be no worry for tomorrow. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. - Matthew 6:33-34 Huddle Together One of the ways some animals cope with the cold is huddling. Several of them will huddle up close together, thus keeping each other warm on those bitter cold winter days. This is a wonderful message from nature teaching us that there is power in numbers. When God s children come together, good things happen. 29

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:11-13 When we are celebrating joyous occasions in life we are to come together and rejoice together in His name. It is never a happy thing to be alone on a special day. God put the desire to be with one another within us. He knew we would need one another, He wanted us to need and love one another. He knew when we worked together and rejoiced together in His name we would be blessed. In the same way when we are bearing hardships in life, when those bitter times set in, we are not to be alone. We are to share our burdens with one another, confess our difficult challenges and ask for prayer. We are to be transparent, crying out and being real with one another. And allow the heaviness of life to be lifted up by the strength of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Give thanks each and every day that you have family and others to huddle with on the hard days and party with on the sunny days. This gift is simply priceless. Doing Our Part When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. Proverbs 31:21 As winter approaches there is evidence of animals scurrying about and preparing for the harsh season coming. They are busy working hard; no one is complaining or arguing about the job that is at hand. Each is working diligently, just as their Creator has instructed them to do to provide for their family all year round. Running a home is not an easy job. There are many responsibilities throughout the year that require a whole lot of work to keep a home running properly. There is cleaning, maintenance, food buying (or growing) and preparation of that food into meals, managing finances, errand running, etc. This is obviously not a one person job! Each family member must do their part to help with the daily responsibilities required of taking care of a home and family. And preferably without complaint! Pay attention to the animals as they work hard in their daily tasks, especially as they prepare for the coming winter. Watch how they gather their nuts, build their burrows and dens or take off for their long hard migration journey. Parents are given the God directed responsibility to manage this process, to be in charge of their home and to ensure that the tasks are complete. But it is the children s responsibility to follow their parent s directives (Ephesians 6:1-3). When the entire family works together to accomplish the huge job of running a home, no one person should be overwhelmed with their task. Are you doing your part in your family? Another Pertinent Passage: Psalm 147 God s control and care in nature 30

Please visit our website at http://shiningdawnbooks.com/available-units/coping-with-the-cold/ for direct links to, and more information about, the referenced poems, artists and artwork, and composers and music. Poetry Place Winter Storm by M. Linda Steffey Looking for a Sunset Bird in Winter by Robert Frost A Winter Eden by Robert Frost Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field The Brown Bear by Mary Austin Books: Winter Eyes by Douglas Florian Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep by Jane Yolen Artist & Picture Study References Pieter Bruegel Winter Landscape with a Bird Trap Sir Edwin Henry Landseer Ptarmigan Hill Monarch of the Glen Thomas Sydney Cooper Winter s Day, Sunset Winifred Austen Redwings Longtailed Fieldmouse Squirrel Pigmy Shrew Fox Barn Owls Long Tailed Tits Rabbits Goldfinches Dormouse Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses) Bringing in the Yule Log Robert Bateman Coyote in Winter Sage 31

Ernest Fiene Winter Evening Composer and Music References Use both of the following classical compositions to listen to while talking about common scenes of animals preparing for the winter season. These scenes could include animals collecting and storing food, animals eating extra to store fat, animals digging into burrows, animals in a deep sleep (hibernation), animals migrating, animals waking from partial hibernation to come out and search for food, etc. Since each composition has high and low notes there are great opportunities for imagery of the different scenes. Envision the scenes at different times in the compositions and talk about which ones go best with each part of the compositions and why. Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons - Winter This classic composition is perfect for this study! Written just for this blustery season, the notes go perfectly with wintry scenes. Frederic Chopin Waltz in E flat major, Op.18 This composition has variation in notes also making it a great musical composition to go along with scenes of animals scampering about preparing for the coming winter season. Other Related Literature Please visit our NaturExplorers Store at the below link for a complete list of recommended literature and to learn more about each book. http://shiningdawnbooks.com/naturexplorers-store/ Non-fiction: What Do Animals Do in Winter? How Animals Survive the Cold by Melvin and Gilda Berger Animals in Winter by Henrietta Bancroft and Richard Van Gelder Animals in Winter by Ron Fisher Animals in Winter by Martha Rustad Animals in Fall by Martha Rustad Animals Prepare for Winter by Elaine Pascoe Do Polar Bears Snooze in Hollow Trees? By Laura Salas Why Do Bears Sleep All Winter? by Mary Englar A Den is a Bed for a Bear by Becky Baines What is Hibernation? by Bobbie Kalman and John Crossingham Animals Hibernating: How Animals Survive Extreme Conditions by Pamela Hickman Why Do Geese Fly South in the Winter? by Kathy Allen Animals Migrating: How, When, Where and Why Animals Migrate by Etta Kaner On the Wing, American Birds in Migration by Carol Lerner Nature s Secrets: Migration by Paul Bennett The Journey: Stories of Migration by Cynthia Rylant 32

Ice Bear: In the Steps of the Polar Bear by Nicola Davies (There is one reference to 40,000 years in the back of the book that can be easily skipped.) Changing Seasons by Bobbie Kalman Backyard Birds of Winter by Carol Lerner Fiction: A Little Bit of Winter by Paul Stewart The Mitten by Jan Brett Annie and the Wild Animals by Jan Brett Tracks in the Snow by Wong Herbert Yee Who s Been Here? A Tale in Tracks by Fran Hodgkins In the Snow: Who s Been Here? by Lindsay Barrett George The Animals Winter Sleep by Lynda Graham-Barber Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson Don t Wake Up the Bear! By Marjorie Murray Bear Dreams by Elisha Cooper Flute s Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush by Lynne Cherry Winter is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer Groundhog Stays Up Late by Margery Cuyler It s Winter by Linda Glaser The Busy Little Squirrel by Nancy Tafuri Gooseberry Goose by Claire Freedman Related Internet Links http://www.naturenextdoor.org/pdf%20files/whoamiact.pdf - This is a fun riddle game to reinforce animals you might see in colder climates during the winter. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/education/conservationcentral/walk/walk3_broadband.html - A Walk in the Forest interactive video. Including Younger Children Make little booklets called Hibernation, Migration or Winter Adaptations. Depending on the term you want your child to understand (i.e. Hibernation), go through magazines and cut out pictures of animals that fit the category. Paste the pictures into the little booklets and ask your child to write the name of the animal if he or she is able. Otherwise, you should write the animal names to help with beginning word recognition. After reading The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader, talk about the differences between birds and mammals. Divide a piece of paper in half, labeling one side birds and the other side mammals. Reread The Big Snow and decide which column each of the mentioned animals belongs in. Either write the animals names or have clip art already prepared for your child to paste into the columns. 33

Visit the site below to see pictures of animals that change color from summer to winter. Print out the pictures and make a little matching game for your preschooler. Warning: We do not necessarily approve this site. It is a blog and we linked to it simply because of the photographs provided. http://webecoist.com/2008/12/24/arctic-animals-changecolor-camouflage/ Act out the winter habits of several animals. For example, pretend to be bears sleeping in a cave and make a cave out of your couch cushions. Pretend to be mice and huddle together in a burrow or chew your way through the floor of someone s house. Pretend to be geese migrating in a V pattern. Purchase inexpensive plastic winter animals from your local discount store for dramatic play. Provide a cookie sheet covered with rice so your child can play with the animals in snow. Make a mural of winter animals. Place a piece of butcher paper or a large poster board on a wall near a window. As you observe an animal, allow your child to illustrate it or color a picture of it (from an online search for free coloring sheets) then glue it on the mural. Label all the animals. Add some glitter to white play dough for a snowy effect and play with animal shaped cookie cutters. Talk about how many animals grow extra fur to stay warm during the winter. Draw a simple animal shape on a piece of colored paper and let your child glue stretch out cotton balls inside the shape to represent lots of fur. After talking about hibernating bears, allow your little one to sort a handful of gummy bears by color. Make a concrete graph with the gummy bears, which means you actually place the bears in columns on a table to make a graph from them. If your child is old enough, let him or her color squares on one-inch graph paper to record the information from the concrete graph. One-inch grid paper can be copied free from http://www.math.kent.edu/~white/graphpaper/. Provide a dress up box of winter items after you talk about how humans prepare for colder weather. You can put things like boots, hats, gloves earmuffs, scarves (with adult supervision!), coats, etc. so your child can practice dressing and undressing from winter gear. Make this simple snowy animal snack. Spread animal cookies with a thin layer of white icing and sprinkle shredded coconut over the icing. Enjoy! Including Older Children Read Brian s Winter by Gary Paulson about a boy who must make adaptations when stranded for the winter in the North Canadian Woods. (This is a sequel to Hatchet.) 34

What five items would you pack in a survival pack if you knew you were going to possibly be stranded in the wilderness in winter? Why? Can you cite several examples from the book where Brian had some major decisions to make? Which decisions were good and which weren t? Why? During a good snowfall, see if you can create a structure from snow alone that keeps you fairly warm. Make sure the structure you create is also sturdy enough to stand for a period of time. What tactics did you use to make it sturdy and make it warm? Design a poster showing a cross-section of earth that might include things like deep and shallow soil, rocks, caves, trees, and bushes. Show a variety of animals that might be found at various places in the underground and above ground winter scene. In ponds and lakes, many of the inhabitants like fish and microscopic organisms live happily through the winter. As long as the water contains enough oxygen, it doesn t matter to them if the top of the pond ices over or not. There is a condition called winterkill that can deplete the oxygen levels, in turn killing the animals in the pond. Learn more about winterkill, positive winter conditions for a pond, negative winter conditions for a pond and what to look for if you suspect winterkill. If you have a pond nearby, go with an adult to measure water temperatures, make observations and collect water samples to observe under a microscope. Afterwards, determine whether the pond is in danger of winterkill or not and write about your findings. One website to get you started in your research is http://ohioline.osu.edu/a-fact/0008.html. Scientists have found that some birds such as chickadees go one step further to survive the cold winters. The birds go into a nocturnal (at night) torpor to conserve energy. Torpor is a kind of deep sleep with a drastically lowered body temperature, heart rate, and breathing (hibernation is defined as a sustained state of torpor). The result is a controlled hypothermia that can save a bird up to 20% of its energy. Learn which animals use torpor to cope during colder times. Research everything you can about torpor. Now pretend you are a famous Ornithologist (bird scientist) who has been asked to write an article for a well-known nature magazine explaining torpor. In 1946, Dr. Edmund Jaeger believed he had found the first true hibernating bird, the Common Poorwill. The Native Americans had long before known about this bird in which they called the sleeping one. The Common Poorwill s hibernation habits almost fit the definition for true hibernation except for one thing, its body temperatures rise and fall dramatically from day to day while in hibernation. Scientists say because of this more study is needed to decide whether these birds can be considered true hibernators. Research everything you can about this interesting bird. Look up the definition of a true hibernator and write an article to give your opinion of whether or not the common Poorwill should be considered a true hibernator. Many invertebrates remain active through the winter, even crawling around under the snow. Complete the following pitfall trap experiment to find out which ones are active in your area. After a snow, clear away a small section of the snow until you reach the 35

ground. Dig a hole in the ground just big enough to hold a baby food jar so that the opening of the jar is as ground level. Place an uncovered baby food jar in the hole with some sort of bait food like syrup or peanut butter in it. Cover the opening of the jar lightly with a piece of wood then replace the snow. Check the trap the following day to observe any invertebrates you caught. Do this experiment several times changing variables like locations, bait, depth of the jar, snow cover, etc. Keep a detailed journal of each experiment and your findings. Finally, make a conclusion as to which invertebrates remain active in your area during the winter. Are you ready for a really fun, but kind of gross activity to estimate the number of deer inhabiting an area in winter? Get your pooper scooper gloves ready! Go to a snowcovered wooded area where you believe deer live. You re going to set a perimeter and look for deer scat within that perimeter. Not only do you need to count the scat, but you need to remove it from the area. Why? Because you re going to come back to the same area the following day to recount the droppings. Using the average number of scat droppings found between the two days, you ll be able to estimate the number of deer in the area. Each deer leaves droppings about 13 times a day. If you find 13 droppings each day, you can assume there is only one deer in the area. If you find 26 droppings each day, you can assume there are two deer in the area, and so on. Just be sure to never ever touch the droppings with bare hands. In fact, a shovel might be the best way to remove them. You can find some really good pictures of deer scat at http://www.beartracker.com/deepscat1.html. Additional Suggestions for Nature Clubs & Co-ops Play a camouflage game to demonstrate the importance of this defense mechanism to an animal s survival. Cut out several small squares of construction paper from the following four colors: green, white, brown and orange. You are going to sprinkle all the paper pieces on the ground outside. Depending on the time of year, one of those colors should be the camouflaged color. For instance, if it s summer, the green paper will be camouflaged on grass, while brown will be somewhat hard to see and white and orange will be very easy to see. Divide your group into four equal teams. Assign each team a color. On your signal, everyone has 20 seconds to pick up as many of their colored pieces of paper as possible. You should find that the orange and white teams (if you re doing this in the summer) should have been able to pick up more pieces than the green and brown teams because theirs were easier to see. The green team should have picked up the least since theirs were camouflaged. When it s cold outside, this activity is great fun! Make some Jello and pour it into film canisters. Put lids on the canisters and give one to each person. The goal is to take the canister outside and NOT let it get cold enough to turn into hardened Jello. The canisters will stay outside for about ten minutes by themselves, so the students will need to create adaptations and find appropriate shelter so the Jello won t harden during that time. (Hint for teachers: ideas might include wrapping it in a blanket, placing it near a dryer vent, putting it in the crevice of a tree out of the wind, etc.) At the end of the ten minutes, see 36

whose adaptations and shelter helped the animal to survive. If the Jello is even beginning to freeze, the animal dies! Talk about why some animals survived and others didn t. Try this huddling activity. Go outside on a cold day. Give one person a thermometer to hold. Give a group of people another thermometer. The group should all huddle around their thermometer for five minutes, while the single person should just hold his or her thermometer for five minutes without trying to make the temperature rise. After five minutes, read each thermometer and decided why the one with the group of huddlers was higher. Talk about why animals might huddle in winter. Have a race to see why some animals can migrate better than others and why those who stay behind have adaptations for survival in winter. Each person will be a different animal and stand at a starting line. When the race begins, each person must move like his or her animal. A walrus, for instance, will have to waddle on hands, dragging its feet behind going fairly slow, while a bird will flap its wings and get to the finish line much faster. After the race, talk about why certain animals like the walrus wouldn t be good candidates for migration and how God has provided them with lots of fat to insulate their bodies. Animal examples include: Migrators: Bird Butterfly Elk Caribou Fish Whale Non-Migrators: Walrus Snake Bear Mouse Squirrel Rabbit An area zoo or local park might offer classes about animals in winter. Call and see! 37

Appendix Nature Notebooking Pages 39 Why Study Nature 53 Where to Study Nature 55 Gearing Up and Being Safe 56 Unit Notebook Preparation 58 38

Take several nature walks in the winter time to observe the animals around you and how they are coping with the cold. Record what animals that you see and record observations of how each animal is coping with the cold. What winter animals am I observing? How are they coping with the cold? What animals do I normally see in the warmer weather that I do not see now? Where are they? Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 39

Arthropods are a group of invertebrates, which include insects, arachnids, crustaceans, millipedes, centipedes, and others. Look under rocks, logs and bark. Draw each one you find and note its behavior. Be sure to gently replace anything you have removed so the critters will be cozy again. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 40

From late summer through autumn, watch for groups of birds gathered together to migrate south. Upon observing a group of migrating birds, make the following notes. What types of birds are gathered together? Can you count them? Do they fly in any sort of formation? Does the group stay together at all times? When the group lands, what are they doing? Eating? Resting? If they are eating, what are they eating? If they are resting, where are they resting? How do they sound? Especially listen when they come in for a landing. Use a compass to see which direction migrating birds are traveling. Draw and record what you see: Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 41

Type of Bird Observed Tally Highest Amount Observed at Once Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 42

Highest Number Observed at Once 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Type of Bird Date: Time: Weather Conditions: Temperature: Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 43

Animals like squirrels are often active in the winter. Observe an active winter animal to draw and describe what it s doing. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 44

Search for signs of animals in winter such as animal prints, freshly torn twigs, piles of nuts, cracked nuts, burrow entrances, piles of leaves, cocoons, scat (poop), etc. Draw or note each sign you find. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 45

Make a sketch of each animal print you find in the snow. Note where you found the print and to which animal you think it belongs. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 46

For each can, note what material you use for insulation and the temperatures you record every 5 minutes. Can #1 Can #2 Can #3 Can #4 Can #5 Create a graph below to show the results from your experiment. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 47

Why might an animal enjoy staying in a burrow during the winter? This experiment should help you find out! Place a thermometer on top of the ground in the winter. After about an hour, check the temperature and record it here. Dig a small hole in your yard and place another thermometer in that hole. Cover it loosely with soil. After about an hour, check the temperature and record it here. Which thermometer had the warmer temperature? Why? Where would you prefer to stay during the winter if you were an animal like a chipmunk? Why? Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 48

-- Research Planning Page Animal I m researching: A quick sketch or photo of my animal Where it lives during the summer: How long migration takes: Where it lives during the winter: What my animal eats: It s migration route: My animal s predators: When does it begin winter migration: Other special migrating information: When does it begin summer migration: Other interesting information: Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 49

In North America, there are four major flyways that migrating birds follow the Atlantic, Mississippi, Central and Pacific. A flyway is a typical route a species of birds travel year in and year out. Find out where the flyways are and draw each of them on the map below. Atlantic Mississippi Central Pacific Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 50

Animals have many adaptations to keep them warm and well-fed during winter months - like growing extra hair, eating lots during the preparatory seasons to build extra fat, changing colors, huddling together in groups, digging burrows way down deep in the ground and more. Find a book from your library about winter animal adaptations and record which animals have each adaptation. The book I read or internet site I searched: Something interesting I learned: Store Food Grow Extra Hair/Fur/Feathers Pack on Extra Fat Change Colors Huddle in Groups Burrow Deep in the Ground Body Shape Conserves Heat Able to Freeze Solid Other Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 51

God gave many animals great adaptations for keeping warm during the cold winter days. For example, a fox wraps its long, furry tail around its face to keep warm as it sleeps, a squirrel can use its tail as a windbreak, and birds can fluff their feathers to keep more warm air around their bodies. Think of other animals that remain active during the winter and decide what God has provided them as a winter adaptation. Draw pictures of them using their adaptations. Copyright 2009 Shining Dawn Books, LLC www.shiningdawnbooks.com 52

Why Study Nature? For since the creation of the world God s invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20 The truth is that I haven t always included nature study into our schooling. I ve always felt a connection to God in nature, so why in the world wasn t I out in it? It s hard for me to admit now that I didn t make the effort for so many years. Thinking back to the pre-nature study days, I can remember some of my excuses for not heading outside with my children. Do any of these resonate with you? There s never enough time after we complete our regular studies. I m not sure I see the value to my children s long-term education. I can t check off one of those little boxes on the grade appropriate checklists. I m just not an outdoorsy type of person. Sometimes it s too hot, too cold, too dry, or too humid. I m really out of shape, and I might sweat. After all, when I d read an average nature study article I always felt I wanted to do it, if there were time, but how could I make the time? I knew that nature study would be good for my children, but just how was I going to accomplish those educational checklists and do that too? So, perhaps if you re like I was, nature study only happened on a rare occasion. I ve since discovered that I viewed nature study as more of a pastime, an enjoyment thing, or something to do to let the kids have fun. My view was dreadfully out of focus, blocked by too many textbooks and worksheets. I didn t see a good enough argument or a feasible way to make nature study a priority. This view kept us mostly inside the classroom and sitting at a table. But no matter how much effort I used to try to keep my children in their seats (short of strapping them down), and no matter how many tissues we used to wipe away tears of frustration, His Creation outdoors continued to cry out to us! The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Psalms 19:1-3 Through a few eye-opening life experiences, God taught me just why studying nature is so important, and exactly how to accomplish it. Today, nature study is a pivotal launching point for almost our entire homeschool! I d like to challenge you to view nature study in a different way. Can you possibly see it as being just as important as Math? How about Language Arts? How about MORE important? Let me explain why. But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? Job 12:7-9 53

In our homeschool, our first goal is to learn more about our Lord and Creator and cultivate a relationship with Him. I used to think the only way to learn more about Him was to study and read His word in the Holy Bible. While this is certainly of utmost importance, what I didn t realize is that we could also personally experience Him and learn so much about Him right outside our classroom door! We will find Him in His Creation - that is His promise. His fingerprints are all over it! If we walk into nature with a new vision, asking God to open our eyes, we and our children will find Him and grow from it. What we gain from getting out into nature is simply priceless. And surprisingly, I discovered that so many other subjects could be successfully accomplished by using nature study as the core. There are numerous benefits that our family is gaining from nature study, here are just a few: We grow closer in relationship and knowledge of our Creator. I ve developed a closer relationship with my children. Seeing my children s faces light up in excitement as we discover something new is precious. And being their hero as I help them gently capture a frog to observe makes my heart swell. Nature study is tangible; we can get our hands on it! Nature study lends itself readily to the study of other subjects. Often times it follows us right back through the classroom door to continue our studies on the inside through books, hands-on activities, etc. It has ignited a desire and need to know more about all Creation. Suddenly, sprouting like a new tree from the black ashes, my children are falling in love with learning. It provides fresh air and expends energy in children which benefits everyone! It helps to gain focus and attention span. My highly distractible and hyperactive children suddenly have gained the ability to focus and pay attention better; not just in nature study but in all their studies. It has improved our discrimination and comparison skills. To identify things in nature it is necessary to be able to notice details and use your comparison skills. It has improved our memorization abilities. I am in awe at how much my children are able to memorize in nature such as the names of things and where we found them. This helps with other subjects too. Nature study is guaranteed to help you experience and learn more than you could imagine because God is amongst it! We can count on this fact because He promises us this in His Word. So, slip on your mud boots and stock up on sunscreen. Don t be afraid of a little shiver or sweat. Guess what? You just might get in better shape, too! I promise it will be well worth the effort! 54

Where to Study Nature There is a common misconception about where you are supposed to study nature. Whether you live in the middle of the wide open country or under the city lights, the truth is that nature study can happen anywhere! We realize, though, that it is more challenging for those living in a busy city. However, given a bit of diligence and effort, nature study is still quite possible. For those living on substantial acreage, the possibilities are obviously endless. For those living in a subdivision, there is often quite a bit of nature to be discovered right in your own backyard! Also consider a community park, a cemetery, or even to a nice neighbor whose yard is more nature-friendly. For those living inside a busy city, we would suggest just a bit of extra planning in order to be successful with nature study. Most anywhere you live in our great country there are an abundance of parks. Even in the busiest cities, a park is usually not too far away. Take the time to research parks that are within walking and/or driving distance from you. Don t forget state and national parks, wildlife refuges, arboretums, zoos, aquariums, walking trails, orchards, and museums. Think about friends or relatives that may have an area suitable for studying nature who are willing to share. However, even on days that you are unable to go somewhere, nature study can happen in smaller but just as pivotal ways. Insects, birds, trees, and flowers are just a few things that can be found right outside your door even if living in an apartment. Also, certain animals such as frogs can be kept as pets to observe right within your home. Our recommendation is to always do your best to venture beyond the same places all the time. Find new areas to explore as often as possible. The important thing to remember is that nature study can happen with a little effort and planning even in metropolitan areas. 55

Gearing Up and Being Safe No matter how comfortable we feel in nature, as with anything, it is always best that certain safety precautions be followed. Throughout our years of nature study, we have learned to have a general awareness and respect for nature. Even though it is true that God has created it and is amongst it, it is also true that we live in a fallen world and must be aware of its inherent troubles. However, by simply being aware of this and following a few safety precautions, nature is not only a wonderful place to be, but also a safe place to be, too! For each of our nature themes we have noted safety precautions where appropriate in the unit; however we are also sharing a general overview of safety in nature here. While most of these precautions are seen as common sense, we feel they still warrant reminding. The first lesson we taught our children is to respect nature and have a healthy fear of all things in nature. Do not ever purposefully tempt, threaten, provoke or mistreat any animal or any other thing in nature. Most animals are terrified of you and will do their best to avoid coming face to face with you. However we recommend backing away slowly and without threat if you accidentally cross paths with a wild animal. Yet, some smaller animals are a joy and of no threat to observe quietly from a distance. Never attempt to pick up any wild animal, especially snakes, spiders, unknown insects or other possibly poisonous animals. Even if an animal is injured, never attempt to pick it up. In most areas there are animal control authorities that are trained in the proper ways to help an injured animal. If you see a baby bird that has seemingly fallen from the nest, do not pick it up. Chances are the baby bird is in the process of receiving flight training from its parents, and they aren t far away. Leaves of three let them be. We never touch any plant that has clusters of leaves in three. Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are abundant in most areas and are to be totally avoided. If you are unaware of what these plants look like, do an internet search to find pictures or photos to study carefully with your children. There are special creams available to buy at your local store that when applied help to guard the skin to avoid accidental exposure to these plants. It is always best that as soon as your children are old enough they are given swimming lessons. Whether doing nature study or not, there is always a need for these. Until your children are comfortable with swimming, make sure they understand the dangers of being near deep bodies of water such as larger creeks, ponds, lakes and oceans. If you will be spending a day near water, it would be safer to buy a life vest for those who are not veteran swimmers. Safety also can be better insured by having the right nature study gear handy and ready. Following is a list of general supplies that you may find handy for your nature studies and walks: 56

Backpack or Field Bag Appropriate Seasonal Clothing and Shoes (based on current weather conditions and where you are going) Sunscreen Bug Spray Nature Journal and Writing/Art Supplies Binoculars Camera Magnifying Lens Tape Measure Plastic Bags to Collect Specimens Bug Container Bug/Butterfly Net Appropriate Field Guides (based on what you are studying) Inspirational Literature (if you desire to read outside) Blanket for Seating Snacks and Drinks (based on how long you ll be out) Sometimes nature walks are longer and more complex and we take several items from this list as we venture out. But most often nature walks are quick and made as simple as possible. We take along perhaps only a camera to capture photos of things we d like to learn more about and/or save as a memory in our nature notebooks. Or perhaps a pencil and few notes on what we are studying. Do not become overwhelmed about hauling lots of things along. This will only serve to hinder you from getting out in nature more often. Think precise and simple based on where you are going and what you are studying. Ask yourself questions such as: How long do I plan on being out? Do I really need to take this along this time? Is this something they can fill out when we return? Will this be difficult to carry where we are going? Am I packed to meet our basic needs? Do I have everything necessary for what we want to study? These questions will help you to properly prepare yourself and keep things from becoming overwhelming. The biggest goal of outside nature walks and study is to not bog yourself and your children down with too much stuff. This clutter can stifle learning and leave you fumbling about and frustrated! But instead the goal should be to fill your souls up with a love and inspiration of God s creation around you. The learning will follow naturally. 57

Unit Notebook Preparation Professional printing prices are high; unfortunately, too high for us to offer a pre-printed option right now at a reasonable price to you. We ll keep looking for affordable printing - let us know if you have any suggestions! However our opinion is that a printed out unit will most benefit you. So we have a suggestion that is not only affordable, but very functional, too. In fact, this is how we prepare the units for our own families to use! What you need: Printer Three Hole Punch 1/2 Three Ring View Binder White Printer Paper White Cardstock Insertable Page Protectors (Optional) Lined Notebook Paper (Optional) For the best quality printout, set your printer settings to text and image printing. Print the cover of the unit on cardstock and slip it in the view pocket on the front of the binder. On regular printing paper, print the entire unit, or whichever parts will most benefit you, and three hole punch the pages. Since you may be copying the notebooking pages, an option would be to not three hole punch them. But instead place them in protective page covers to have them ready to copy. You could also be really prepared and have as many copies of each of the notebooking pages that you will need already copied and placed in the binder ready to use. 58

Next, place all the pages in the three ring binder. If you d like, add a few lined pages in the back to keep notes or add additional ideas. If you come across another great idea that goes with the theme, you can easily add it to the binder as well, keeping all of those great ideas together in one place! Also, if you will be keeping a lesson planner, you can keep it in your notebook as well. We hope this suggestion is helpful to you! 59

GET MORE UNITS FROM Natur xplorers! Visit our website at www.shiningdawnbooks.com to check out our other units. Fungus Among Us Captivating Clouds Delightful Deciduous Trees Animal Signs Peaceful Ponds Spectacular Spiders Frogs and Toads Wonderful Wildflowers Beautiful Birds Everchanging Erosion Creatures of the Night Hard as a Rock Butterflies Flutter By Constant Conifers Fruits and Nuts Coping with the Cold Snow and Ice Bright at Night VISIT US ONLINE - Visit our website for additional great tips to enhance your nature study experience! www.shiningdawnbooks.com SHOP AT OUR A-STORE ANYTIME Visit the link below for fantastic books, nature gear, and more! http://shiningdawnbooks.com/naturexplorers-store/ 60