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

Friday, February 25, 2011

Nature Club: February 22,23,24





This week's Nature Club was a look at sea creatures. I brought in my collection that included the following: corals, sea urchins, sand dollars, a sponge, starfish and many interesting and beautiful shells. We talked about what the animals did underwater and how they looked when they were alive. The preschoolers were extremely interested and many had shells of their own at home. Some of the kids had been or were going to Underwater World at the Mall of America and knew about the sea creatures because of that.
It was a fun class. Next week I'm going to bring some video of sea life underwater so they can see what coral and sponges really look like in the ocean. They will also get to see Ms. Pat scuba diving!

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Monday, February 21, 2011

Nature Club-Feb. 8,9,10





Our theme for this week's Nature Club was School of Rock. I brought a collection of various pretty and interesting rocks for the boys and girls to examine. In addition, they got to take river rocks and build towers, as well as take shiny white rocks to make patterns- ones they followed or they could make their own.
The preschoolers learned that rocks are created in several different ways: from heat or pressure deep in the earth, or from sand, mud or plant/animal material being laid down by lakes or seas and then, over millions of years, hardening into rock.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Critter Watch

I've been watching two coyotes hanging around the marsh just outside our horse pasture fence. In spite of the deep snow, they've been there off and on most of the day. I hope it's the two that raised a litter of pups not far from that spot three years ago. I love having them around as long as they stay away from my yard!