Ms. Pat's Nature Club

Ms. Pat's Nature Club is a blog for anyone who is a nature nut and loves nature, no matter what age you are. I hope you will let me know what you think and give me feedback. I love to hear from my friends!



"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
-Albert Einstein

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you."
-Frank Lloyd Wright


"Treat the earth well. It was not given to you by your parents, It was loaned to you by your children"

-Native American proverb


"Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives."

-Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth


"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, the excitement and mystery of the world we live in."
-Rachel Carson, A Sense of Wonder

Monday, November 29, 2010

Nature Club, November 22 and 23






We began Thanksgiving week with a Nature Club theme of Endangered Animals. We had to talk about what those words meant, as only a few kids knew already. We discussed the dinosaurs and the word extinct and then I pointed out that we didn't want our endangered animals to go extinct, so some people try to protect them. We put together a large jigsaw puzzle of endangered animals. After that, I let each preschooler pick from a selection of endangered animal coloring pages. I reminded them to have a great weekend and to "Watch for nature!"

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Nature Club- November 9,10,11






We had lots of fun in Nature Club this week with a project I did last year that was very successful. The kids loved it this year, too! First I read Nature Spies, a book about watching things in nature closely. Then we put on jackets, I gave each kid a paper bag that said "Nature in a Bag" and we went outside.
Everyone was very excited to find a funny-shaped twig, a sparkly rock or a pinecone. Other things we found were red and yellow leaves, dandelion flowers, sand and tiny berries from an evergreen.
We had decided before going out NOT to pick up anything gooey or stinky, and no animals, alive or dead.
It was fun to see how enthusiastic everyone was and I hope they took that home with them and added to their nature collections at home!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Critter Watch

I was surprised to see two Sandhill cranes still in our pasture on Sunday! They were clacking away just as if it were July. Why haven't they gone South yet?
It was fun to see the cranes, seven wild turkeys and our three horses all sharing the same space!