January 27, 2011
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Creature Logs
A long time ago… I don’t even remember where… I came across a creature log. It seemed like exactly what I needed to put into our Nature Notebook, so I saved it, printed it… I’d give credit if I could remember where I got the thing from (if you know, please tip me off!):
…and of course things often look really very good – until you try to put them to use. This year we’re actually beyond the birding section of our notebooks and into critters. We have a ‘Critter of the Week’, based on a pack of 36 North American Animal flashcards that I got at Target for a $1. We’ve had the Roseate Spoonbill, Skunk, Mountain Goat, Kangaroo Rat, and many more. This week it’s the Bobcat. And each card tells you about the critter… like did you know that skunks are immune to snake venom? I didn’t know that. Anyhow, it’s stuff we’d put in our critter log (along with any critter we come across in real life – those get added, too). Several weeks ago we saw a fox out in a cornfield, and got to observe the mangy, half-starved thing for a while. Then we did a critter log entry for him. Like that.
Oh, and I should add that for pictures of the critters, I do a Yahoo! image search, find a photo that I like of the critter, cut/paste it to Word, and print six to a page, black and white (econo/draft quality), and we color them ourselves with colored pencils. It’s cheap, fun, and personal, that way.
But… like I said, the log I had found and planned to use might’ve looked like a good idea, but it was a MAJOR waste of space. One page – both sides! – for each critter? That’s overkill. They wanted a photo, and a drawing, both. I mean… just look at that thing (shown above)! Our nature notebooks would be as thick as I am tall by the time we’d get thru! And I knew it could be done better. I have this personal fault: I have to always make everything better. I wanted four critters per page (two per side), instead of just ONE, and I knew I could do and do it up nice. Took all of about five minutes, too.
So because I believe in easy, free homeschooling resources, I wanted to scan it in and share a copy of it with whoever might need such a thing for their homeschooling nature notebooks. So here it is (click to get the larger version for saving/printing).
Comments (7)
You always come up with the best ideas for school stuff… I tend to have a hard time with just the basics..:lol:
:dance: :dance: :dance: STEAL FROM ME!!!! :dance: :dance: :dance:
Brian says I should sell the docs I create – I say if I created them free, why not offer them free? As if home educators don’t have enough $$ going out the door? I’m hoping to build up a HUGE home education section here, of SotW lesson plans, of forms and schedules and links… ALL FREE.
I think that would be wonderful. I have some good links too but mine tend to be science & not history. Have you ever checked out the BBC website? They have a lot of good history stuff esp for kids. The adult section is pretty good too. In England you can study a topic however you like & then go sit for the test, if you can pass the test (essay style) you get the college credit so much of their stuff is aimed for continuing education.
I would like more homeschool posts, its very helpful to see how others do theirs, esp with more than 1 or 2 kids.
we have knagaroo rats all over the place up here – Danny catches them with his bare hands and lets them go – though we have to be careful because they are protected. They are also the reason why cholla cactus (the hands down nastiest cactus in creation) is protected. Kangaroo rats are super cute – look kinda like hampsters dragging a piece of frayed clothesline behind them. They are pretty slow though and often end their lives as cat chow..
~ali
And I DO appreciate the HS stuff you’ve been posting (and have posted) – I am going thru making lists of stuff I want to use/borrow/adapt.
There’s a Homeschool link at the top of my front page, here. It has an index of all sorts of stuff that I’ve written about/uploaded. I’ve been working on making it more user friendly this week, and there will be a lot more added directly to it, hopefully.
Compliment Alert: If you were a public school teacher, public schools would be a lot better for those who either can’t or won’t homeschool their kids … you really have a gift for this, and your kiddos are so blessed, Anna! My girl is a bit past the place where your children are, but I think it is WONDERFUL that you are creating and/or improving on homeschool materials out there and then sharing them with those who have children at this age of study. You really do have a generous spirit when it comes to sharing knowledge of all kinds with the rest of us. Thank you! :yes: