We started our morning with questions like “Where does snow come from?” and “Is it good for plants and animals?” We listened to the book, Snow is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley, which helped answer those questions.

Today we learned about macroinvertebrates! Macros are aquatic organisms that are large enough to see without a microscope (“macro”) and have no backbone (“invertebrate”). They are often insects in their nymph and larval stages, clams, worms, crayfish, and snails.

We started the morning by touring the Nature Center and learning about different birds. We noticed that the snowy owl has big, yellow eyes and the loon has small, red eyes. Their eyes are different because they search for different types of food! Owls hunt at night, often looking for mice in fields, but loons dive underwater looking for fish. The red of the loons' eyes help them see underwater.

We noted that the weather is starting to get colder, night comes earlier, and soon it will be snowing! This means that some of our animals need to leave, or migrate, from the area or go into a deep sleep-like state, called hibernation. From the story we listened to, we learned that it is not just bears that hibernate, but snakes, chipmunks, bats, and even frogs and turtles. So, we decided to check on our frog and turtle friends that we saw at the Frog Boardwalk last week.

To start our afternoon, Ms. Paige asked the question, “What does it mean to be a predator and prey?” We talked about predators’ adaptations, like strong hunting skills, sharp teeth and claws, speed, size, etc. that help them capture their food, prey. Prey are often smaller, sneaky, and camouflaged to blend into their environments, but sometimes they can be larger animals–even predators themselves.

This morning was quite the adventure! First, we chose our favorite animal fur inside the Nature Center. Ms. Paige read the book Daylight Starlight Wildlife (by Wendell Minor) about various animals, birds, and insects that are awake during the day and awake at night. We each found our animals in the story and learned a bit about them, including when they like to be awake. Our animals were a squirrel (day), bobcat (night), coyote (night), and raccoon (night).

Happy Halloween! We enjoyed a boo-tiful morning together. We first listened to a story about a brave old lady who was not afraid of anything, even when she heard clomp, clomp, shake, shake, boo, boo in the woods…

We took advantage of the gorgeous fall day today! Ms. Paige and Ms. Rachel planned a long hike on a new-to-some-of-us trail to look for evidence of beavers after last week’s discussions. Before we left the pavilion, we competed in a relay race to pack for a day hike.

We kept ourselves busy this morning! We started the morning reading about dinosaurs and finding fossils in the Nature Center. We learned that birds today are related to the dinosaurs that lived long ago! Ms. Paige asked us if we would want a dinosaur for a pet…we decided they might be just a bit too big to fit in our houses!

We had a pleasant surprise this morning as Ms. Rachel got to teach us today! We read a story titled The Apple Orchard Riddle, written by Margaret McNamara. This story took us on a journey to an apple orchard. We were challenged to solve this riddle: There is a little red house, with no doors and no windows, and a star inside. What is it?

We had sunshine today! Woohoo! We started class by designing beaver lodges in our nature journals. Some of us even shared our drawings with the rest of the class. Ms. Paige and Ms. Rachel were both very impressed by the number of artists we have in this group!

We saw snow this morning! We spent a little time inside the Nature Center learning about the animals along the walls. We got to feel the feathers of hawks, an owl, a duck, and a loon. We also looked at the otter’s webbed feet and beaver’s teeth and found a woodpecker high up on a branch.

Today was all about pumpkins! We listened to the story Pumpkin Jack by Will Hubbell, which taught us about the life cycle of pumpkins. A pumpkin named Jack was put outside after Halloween, where it rotted as the weather grew colder. After winter, all that was left was wrinkly skin, a stem, and a few seeds. As the snow melted and the weather got warmer, a sprout started growing–a pumpkin plant!

It was another rainy day for Homeschool group, but we enjoyed our adventures regardless. We showed the new Ms. Rachel (not to be confused with the Ms. Rachel we already know!) one of our favorite places, Jack’s Creek. We found some cool mushrooms and enjoyed climbing on logs and jumping across the water.

We had a small, but mighty crew today! We began class by talking about pumpkins and it sounds like most of us still need to visit a pumpkin patch this fall. We listened to a silly story about a pumpkin growing bigger and bigger–so big people could sit in it and use it as a boat!

Today was a special day–we got to meet our newest teacher, Ms. Rachel (not to be confused with the Ms. Rachel we already know)! We taught her our good morning song, showed her how well we listen to directions, and pointed out our favorite spots along the trail.

The rain did not stop us from adventuring today! We headed down to Jack’s Creek first thing, where we noticed the water level had risen and the water turned brown and murky. After discussing, we determined that the heavy rains swept sediment into the creek. Next, we stopped at the Bear Dens to build a quick fort and climb the massive cedar tree. The trees in this spot keep us fairly dry when it is raining!

Today was all about frogs! Ms. Paige showed us a bullfrog specimen in the Nature Center so we could get a closer look.

We made sure to take advantage of the sunshine yesterday! To start the day, Ms. Paige showed us her friend, Buddy the raccoon! He lives inside the Nature Center and holds a box of Cracker Jacks, which we decided is people food, not raccoon food.

We had a wonderful first afternoon getting to know each other while exploring the Natural Education Reserve. Former Homeschool program students led the way, showing new friends all their favorite places.