Science : Botany - Trees

This post highlights snippets of what we did for the chapter on Trees apart from our usual read aloud and narration of our Botany book.

We wanted to find out more about heartwood and sapwood. We found this site (Wood Magic) with very clear explanation. In fact we completed a notebook page based on our read alouds through these pages.

I made a set of 3-part cards for Twig Anatomy while my boys made theirs on the new vocabulary for this chapter. I just could not find the time to prepare these before hand. I have decided to keep it simple; no fancy coloured borders, no printed words, no lamination. I just coloured the respective parts of the twig and wrote the name of the parts down!



We reviewed our old 3-part cards for flower anatomy because my boys have forgotten that. I needed them to know because this chapter introduced the concept of "imperfect flower". Cannot expect them to know what is an imperfect flower if they don't first know what is a perfect one. Just love these 3-part cards. They are so convenient to pull out for reviews whenever we need it.

I decided to teach my boys the shapes of tree crowns. Different websites use different terminologies so I thought I'd just introduced them all. (They can be seen mainly in these two pictures: 1 and 2)

1. round/spherical
2. oval
3. V-shaped/vase/funnel
4. cone/pyramidal
5. columnar/tube
6. spreading/umbrella
7. weeping
8. irregular

This post is long overdue. I had initially wanted to follow this chapter up with an Adopt a Tree project that would continue for at least a year. However, some circumstantial changes at home has caused me to think we might not be living here for that long. This has caused me to procrastinate for quite some time; and was tempted to abort the plan altogether.

My original plan was to observe an adopted tree (within our neighbourhood) regularly over at least a year to see if we can observe any growth change or patterns. I noticed that some trees flower only at certain times of the year and some even shed their leaves almost completely. I am not sure these cycles follow a strict time period, so I thought it would be nice to investigate.

I later decided to allow my boys to make their observations anyway. This would serve to review many of the concepts covered in previous chapters. The following observations were made of their adopted tree. These will also be the guidelines for any of our future tree study:
1. tree - shape, height, branching patterns, height of lowest branch,
2. trunk - girth, bark texture
3. leaf - shape, size, margins, venation
4. flower - colour, growth pattern, petal arrangement, predict pollinator
5. fruit - colour, type, predict dispersal mode


Visit Rumphius Science Webpage to learn more about how we approach Science in our homeschool.

Learning the Constellations (Part 2)

After the excitement of spotting the Southern Cross, I decided it would be nice to be more familiar with all the other constellations. It has always been my dream that we can know the skies like some "wise men of the east". And hey! There just happen to be three of us! Hahaha...

I have been thinking of how we can systematically learn the constellations. Here is my plan.

I have chosen to use Stars: A New Way to See Them by Rey as our text and reference constellation chart. The lines he drew makes up a picture that better depicts the object that the constellations were named after (Rey tells you in English what those constellation names are.). This makes more sense than many other versions I have come across. You can have a feel of connecting the constellations using Rey's scheme here (These are not as detailed as those found in the book).

Another good point about Rey's charts is that they show the magnitude of the stars. This helps a lot in identifying a constellation. The relative brightness of the stars can help with differentiating say the Southern Cross from the False Cross.

There are 17 detailed constellation charts in the book. I figured that if we can familiarize ourselves with one to three charts a month (that is about the range that is visible in Singapore, right overhead, in a month) we will be able to cover most of them in a year or so.

I thought of a 3- stepped method:


Step 1 - Copy

Using the idea of copywork, I have asked my boys to copy the constellation I have chosen (based on what is visible during this time of the year) on our whiteboard. Brighter stars were represented with magnets.


This is my boy's version of the Centaur and Southern Cross.


Step 2 - Identify

I made quiz cards by punching holes on black paper to see if my boys (and I) could spot the constellation they have just learnt. These are replicates of chart 11 (Virgin, The Scales, Crow), 12 (Serpent Holder, Scorpion) and 17 (Southern Cross, Centaur, Wolf) from Rey's Star. Each chart is about 15 cm wide.



They look like real stars when held up against the light! I wanted these quiz cards to be circular so that one would have to figure out where north is. This is to me a very necessary life skill! See if you can spot the Southern Cross and the Centaur on any of these.

How did I make these?
I made a photocopy of the constellation chart from the book, place the copy on top of a piece of black paper and push pins on where the stars are supposed to be (making sure that the pins go through the copy as well as the black paper). I use pins for faint stars, a bicycle spoke (satay stick would do too) for brighter stars and a whole series of hole punchers with varying diameters for the very bright stars.

If this sounds too complicated, here is another idea that I have been toying with. It uses film canisters. (canister constellation template found here)

Step 3 - Star gaze

Obviously, the best way to acquaint oneself with the night sky is to gaze at it more often. We have started with the constellation we have learnt. It is interesting to see how the two-dimensional sky charts translates out into the vast night sky. We are not good at the real thing at all but I am hoping that we will improve with practice. :-b

The light pollution and the often overcast skies have been our main problems. Living in the heart of a densely populated estate also means we don't have one single location where we get an unobstructed view of the whole night sky. We have a relatively good view of the southern sky from our balcony, a not so satisfactory view of the northern sky from the staircase on the top floor of a neighbouring block of flats (corridor lights are really hampering our efforts) and a reasonable view of the sky right overhead from in the middle of the field in front of our block.

We go star gazing with our star charts (Rey's and one from Astroviewer that shows where the planets are too!), red flashlight (so we can look at your star chart without spoiling our vision for the stars) and a mat (to prevent neck aches!). I would love to have a green laser pointer (more information here) except that I found out that one costs a whopping S$400!!!


Here are some other tidbits I have found:

1. I recently bought a book published by the Singapore Science Centre called A Sky Book for the Tropics by Heong Kam Khow and Kamaria bte Abdul Ghani. It has the monthly star maps for the evening and predawn sky in Singapore.
   
2. This interactive site can be useful. It allows you to "see less stars", meaning that they reveal only the brighter stars. This gives a more realistic picture of what you are likely to see in a light-polluted sky like Singapore's. Constellation lines and names can also be switched on and off according to your preference.
3. My boys enjoyed another interactive site that gives an introduction to Orion and the Big Dipper. You read, look at the picture, click "next", follow instructions to spot constellation and so on.
4. Notebooking pages on the 27 constellations.
   
5. Cute song about the constellations.
6. Ebook/etext The Stars and Their Stories by A. M. M. Griffith.
   

Caterpillars

Last Friday, we were at a park and found a flowering plant that was infested with caterpillars. My boys were exhilarated!

We had many close encounters with caterpillars previously. We have so far managed to morph just one caterpillar but missed observing the crucial processes. Since then, we have been on a lookout for caterpillars. On most occasions, the one miserable caterpillar that we managed to find will die on us because we do not have the correct leaves to feed them.

This time, my boys made sure they harvested plenty of the leaves (and even flowers!) from the plant that they found the caterpillars on. They wanted to be sure we were successful this time so they harvested about 5 caterpillars!

These five hungry caterpillars ate up ALL the plant material we collected in less than a day! I wasn't too optimistic that these will survive. They were tiny and so would need a lot more food to fatten up before they are ready to weave their cocoons. It wasn't practical for us to go back to the park everyday to harvest fresh leaves for our caterpillars, so I did the most convenient thing; I plucked some leaves from one of my plants in my balcony. These were leaves that have yellowed and were those I would remove anyway so I didn't mind. To our delight, the caterpillars devoured these leaves!

We are left with three caterpillars. Two have escaped. We noticed that the smaller ones were able to squeeze through the tiny holes on the plastic aquarium we put them in. In fact, on the first few days, we found escaped caterpillars crawling on the floor. We have since transferred them to another more secure container.

A week has passed and the caterpillars are still alive, eating and growing. We are waiting and keeping a close watch ...

Walking in the Water

We were planning to go for our Nature Walk around our estate one day when it poured. The boys were disappointed. From our windows we observed that there were many birds on the field in front of our block. We made a hypothesis about why this is so. We thought that the birds might be after earthworms or other yummy stuff. Animals that burrow underground would be forced to surface when the field became water-logged.


Despite the rain, we decided to check it out. Armed with umbrellas, buckets, shovels and nets, we headed to the flooded field. We didn't find any earthworms but found a few centipedes instead. We caught these and brought them home to observe and draw.


We counted and found that the centipede has 20 segments. Each segment has a pair of appendages.

We explored around a bit and found a great big "river" and "waterfall". That's where slippers and buckets got intentionally washed away amidst much splashing. We have the "commendable" drainage system to thank for the fun we had!

Creepy Crawly Crabs and more

I have always hoped that my boys will not squeak or squirm when they handle insects or other small creatures. I don't. So I don't think that it is very "manly" to. Sometimes, they "disappoint" me by screaming when an ant crawl on them. Sometimes they surprise me.

That is my "brave" boy showing off his catch; a crab.

We went to East Coast Park with a few friends about 2 weeks ago. One of them knew of a particular part of the beach that has discharged pipes forming tidal pools during low tide. It was extremely slippery on the cemented surfaces due to algae growth. Despite falling and getting some bloody cuts, some of the children still persisted on continuing their hunt for crabs and other creatures.




This is a huge crab (about the size of my palm) that was hiding safely in its hole, out of our reach.


I was totally amused when my boys led out all their crabs when we got home. The crabs were crawling all over the place!!! My boys attempted to train the crabs, like how one would a dog!! It was hilarious to hear them shout commands like "Flip!", "Go!", "Stop!", "Stay still!", and even "Go forward!". Yes! We actually discovered that the crabs could crawl forward!! ... May be it was groggy after the manhandling. Haha!

Wild Hour #1

This is the first (and I hope of many more) of our Wild Hour report. We plan to work through the Outdoor Challenges laid out by Harmony-Art Mom at her blog site Handbook of Nature Study. (Read my previous post on Rethinking Nature Study to understand why and what I am doing)

Our task, in brief, for Outdoor Challenge #1 are as follows:
1. I am to read p1-8 of Handbook of Nature Study(HSN) and underline points that I agree with or is helpful to me.
2. Take a nature walk (10-15 min). Enjoy being outdoors. Come inside, sit the children down and ask them what they SAW. Examine whatever they have picked.
3. After the discussion, come up with 2 things to investigate further.
4. Refer to HNS myself on the items the children were interested in. Relate any interesting facts to the children sometime during the week.
5. Post an entry on my blog!

1. I am to read p1-8 of Handbook of Nature Study(HSN) and underline points that I agree with or is helpful to me.

Here are some phrases that struck a chord in me:

When we no longer care about anything except our own interests, we are then old, it matters not whether our years be twenty of eighty....

Nature study does not start out with the classification given in books, but in the end it builds up in the child's mind a classification which is based on fundamental knowledge; it is a classification like that evolved by the first naturalists, because it is built on careful personal observation of both form and life...

... it is safe to assume that the pupil's lack of interest in nature study is owing to a fault in the teacher's method. She may be trying to fill the child's mind with facts when she should be leading him to observe these for himself, which is a most entertaining occupation for the child...

It might be better to give it a regular period in the day, for there is strength and sureness in regularity...

The nature study lesson should be short and sharp... should not be repeated...


2. Take a nature walk (10-15 min). Enjoy being outdoors. Come inside, sit the children down and ask them what they SAW. Examine whatever they have picked.

We headed to Jurong Lake Park for our first "official" Wild Hour. I brought everything we needed to do bible devotion at the park as well. We were seated on a bench working through a day's worth of discussion in Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson. We had a hard time concentrating because we could catch glimpses of things waiting to be discovered! Nevertheless, we had a very fruitful Devotion Time before we tramp around the area.

Here is our little naturalist, perched triumphantly above the remains of a fallen tree. He was tracking an army of ants prior to this shot.



We were excited to see a monitor lizard, ...


... disgusted by this carcass of a dead fish ... (obviously a bottom dweller- Boys were making up all sort of hypothesis as to how this fish got out of the water and remained relatively intact...)


... intrigued to find a section of a bee hive (Smelled of honey!!! Collected this home of course!), ...


and amazed to spot quite a number of birds (more than what we saw at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve!). Amongst those we saw were the cattle egret, common iora, and I think this one below seen circling above us is a type of kite.


While we were sitting on a bench discussing, B suddenly shrieked and said something wet just hit him on his head. On examining him closely, I realized that a bird has just pooped on his head! And that led him to ask with all sincerity the question, "Why don't birds wear underwear?!" :-D

We have surely been rewarded with lots to see! The irony of it all is that the boys ended up collecting two items that we couldn't identify!


We have already started the habit of drawing in our nature journal so we did that. We were not sure what it was. It looks like a pod to me. We have looked around and couldn't find another pod nearby. We have no idea which tree it fell from.

Here are my boys' drawings. (See my post on the StinkingToe for how I used this as an art lesson on watercolour pencil technique.)




3. After the discussion, come up with 2 things to investigate further.

We decided to find out the identity of the two fruits the boys collected. I was a little nervous about this as I was not sure I could identify them!!

I flipped through all my little Science Centre guidebooks and found a fruit that vaguely looks like one of the fruits we collected. It is from the West Indian Locust Tree. On researching more, I found other interesting bits of information about this tree and its fruit. (mostly from these two sites 1 and 2).

I will give my boys the pleasure of telling you what we found out. You may visit D's blog and B's blog for that. :-)

We will definitely want to look harder for the tree that bore this fruit the next time we go to the park. Thankfully, I found a good description of the rest of the tree.

We could not identify or investigate on the second fruit we collected. :-(

4. Refer to HNS myself on the items the children were interested in. Relate any interesting facts to the children sometime during the week.

I used the index in HNS and found and conducted Lesson 100 on The Honeycomb.

5. Post an entry on my blog!

Just did!

Art : Watercolour Pencil Demonstration Using the Stinking Toe

I wanted to introduce , my boys to watercolour pencils as a painting medium for their nature drawing. I have been looking out for an opportunity to show them step by step how it can be done.

When we picked up the pod of the West Indian Locust Tree aka Stinking Toes during our Wild Hour, I knew I have a good subject to use. I have taken care to take a picture of each step of the way so I could post here. I wanted a subject that has a simple outline and one that also does not have too much colours (colours can be very distracting).

Step 1

• Sketch the general shape with a pencil.
• Colour using watercolour pencil the area with intense colour.
• This is what you will end up with. (I know it looks funny at this point.)

Step 2

• Wet a brush in clean water.
• Lightly brush over the coloured areas. Use deliberate strokes. If brush is loaded with more colour than needed, wash brush before brushing light washes over other areas.
• When most areas have been lightly brushed, wash the brush again.
• This time, blend in colours where needed. This is the time to push colour around (but take care not to over do it otherwise you will end up with an even hue all throughout).
  
• This is what you will end up with.
• Let the painting dry.

Step 3

• This step can only be done when the painting has dried COMPLETELY.
• Use a black ink pen to stipple and shade where needed.
• You may add in additional colour to change the tone a little (Here, I lightly coloured a brown over the painting.)
• DONE!!!

Penyabong Beach

Dear husband, together with a group of Christian bikers formed a group called The Lightriders. They have been visiting and organizing various activities for the orphans at Berkat Children's Home in Johore Bahru. On the third day of the Chinese New Year week, they brought the children to Penyabong beach for an outing. This beach was "discovered" by a fellow biker, who was drawn to the sandy beaches and the wide expanse of exposed sandbars during low tide.

After some tricky arrangement with transportation, my boys and I managed to join them in this outing. Penyabong is situated some 20 min drive north of Mersing. It was a bus ride of about 2 hours from JB.

D and B had a fun time playing with the children. Here is a shot of the children being organized to play some group games.



The children had more fun frolicking in the water...



building sand castles, burying their friends in the sand...



and playing soccer on the beach.

While my boys were absorbed in their soccer game, I took the chance to explore the beach to have my nature walk.


When we first arrived at the beach, we saw many balls of sand on the sand slopes just outside of a tiny holes. I squatted quietly to watch these holes and was rewarded with a good peek at the inhabitants of these burrows and the makers of those cute little sand balls.

(You can hear the children's happy romps in the background)

These crabs are Sand Bubbler crabs. They feed on the detritus on the surface of the sand granules. The processed sand are then deposited outside their holes.

The children found it fun and challenging to catch these sand bubblers. They did managed to catch some and we even smuggled one home! D chose to draw it and find out more about it the next day.


Interspersed between the sand bubblers burrows were precarious little tubes protruding out of the sand. These are the tubes of tubeworms.


Many pieces of driftwood on the beach had some interesting creatures stuck on them. I really didn't know what they were then. They clustered in an interesting pattern that make them look like shells strung together.



I saw that these creatures had a muscular foot that was used to attach it onto a substratum. Occasionally, the whole shell of the animal were swung gently from side to side. Little claw-like structures would also extend out of a slit on this "shell" to sweep in a unidirectional motion.

I later found out that these are called Gooseneck barnacles (or goose barnacles). They are free swimming when young. But as adults, they perch themselves on a solid surface and would not move off for the rest of their lives. The claw-like structures that I saw were their specialized limbs that help to gather food for the creature.

B decided to make a journal entry on the gooseneck barnacle in his nature journal using a photograph we have taken. This was done the next day, in the comfort of home. It would have been better if they could draw at the beach. But with all the children playing, who could have concentrated. I figured this will be the next best solution.



I decided to do the same.



Back at the beach, I then haven't yet noticed the Gooseneck barnacle's muscular foot, had thought perhaps these were hermit crabs. I searched the beach for something long and thin in which I could poke into the slit on the shell to agitate the prisoner within; in the hope of luring it out. I found a short stick which suited my use but was more surprised to find it studded with puny snails!


As the sun continued to beat on the beach, the receding tide unveiled more hidden beauties. Look at the tiny sand dunes formed by waves.


And I couldn't resist taking a shot of this angular weathered rock.



Such rocks created numerous pockets of water that form micro habitats for more animals. I spied many water snails that were very well camouflaged. Can you spot the snail gliding ever so slowly in this video?

By now, I had walked quite far away from where our party was settled. The sandbars turned rocky as we ambled further off shore. The little island that we saw during high tide, was now reachable on foot.


By then, unfortunately (or fortunately) my camera battery went flat. I found a crab lying exposed on a rock. The only way I could document it was to draw it. And that was what I did. Good thing I had my nature journal with me then.


I didn't do justice to the crab. The scorching sun was burning my back throughout the whole time I was drawing and that was awfully distracting. The glare from the sun also blinded me somewhat. I couldn't differentiate the colours on my watercolour pans. I mistook the red for a dark brown and blotted too much red on my drawing. The carapace was more of a reddish brown colour.

I was trying to draw really fast too, fearing that the crab would scramble off before I could complete my drawing. It however, kept so still for so long that I half suspected that it might be dead. Moreover, I noticed that it had two legs on one side and four on the other. One limb must have broken off.

Based on the markings on the carapace and the general outline of the crab, I am guessing that the crab I drew was a Porcelain crab. The Porcelain crab is known to shed its limbs in times of danger. A new limb will grow back in place of the one that is lost but is often smaller than the original. If I have correctly identified this crab, then the crab I drew could possibly be alive.

At the end of the day, the children were overcome with exhaustion. I was overcome with excitement over all the wonderful things I saw. I made a mental note to find out more about some of those mysterious creatures. I am also resolute to search out for more places with such treasures and be more diligent in documenting as much of God's marvelous creation as I can.

It is funny how God gave me a "Wild Day" after I have kind of given up hope on having one. It would be so nice to have more of such days.

Rethinking Nature Study

I was inspired to start Wild Days (nature study days) after reading the book Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe some years back. However, with the demands of school; trying to keep our core subjects on track... we have been neglecting nature study.

For a long time, our occasional outings with our friends were passed off as our Wild Day. Deep inside me, I know I am deceiving myself! Worst still "cheating" my boys of the benefits of nature study.

After some evaluation, I decided to restart nature study by taking smaller steps. Scaling down our former Wild Day to a Wild Hour seems like a more realistic goal.

For sometime, I have been perusing this site by a homeschooling mother, Barb-Harmony Art Mom. She started this blog to challenge homeschoolers to start nature study, as described by Charlotte Mason, using the book Nature Study Handbook by Anna Botsford Comstork. (eText available here.)

I had this books for years. It is a thick book of about 2 and a half inches. It was written in the 1930s by the founder of the Department of Nature Studies at Cornell University. It aims to provide possible observational points for those who are attempting nature studies. One can tell by thumbing through that this can be a very useful book. But the big question, at least for me, is "HOW do I use it?". This is where Barb-Harmony Art Mom comes into the picture. She has kindly provided a framework to use this book. It is the kind of "guide you by the hand" help I need now.

Enough said. I will begin by following her weekly Outdoor Challenges starting from Outdoor Challenge #1 which was posted in February last year. (Her latest is #45!) I will try to follow through the challenges as closely as is possible. At least until I am comfortable enough to stray off and use HNS confidently on my own.

I like it that she even provided a way for people like us to blog about what we did for the respective Challenges and link it back on her site. This not only serves to make me accountable, but also gives me a chance to take a peek at what others are doing. She is simply ingenious! (We really need more of such helpful homeschooling mothers!)

I am so excited! Can't wait to start!!


Visit Rumphius Wild Days Webpage to get an idea of what my original plan for Wild Days was.

Poem : At the Park

My little fellow decided he wanted to blog about our Friday outing at the park too (See my post Sunshine Rain and Friends).

I casually suggested that he try writing a poem instead of the usual narrative form. I gave him the first line and told him to find something that rhymes with "park". We brainstormed all the words that rhyme and then I asked him to come up with a logical continuing line. Subsequently, I asked him what else he wanted to write about, made him come up with a rhythmic sentence and then brainstormed again for rhyming words. We worked two lines at a time in this manner.

I was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the poem rolled out quite painlessly! (I helped with the second paragraph a little more ;-) because his syntax wasn't right at first.)

I must admit that I really like his poem a lot :-D. In the first place, it actually sounds like a poem. lol. And mainly because it really tells of the games he played at the park.

Here it is. Enjoy.


At the Park

My day at the park,
Climbing trees and peeling bark.
Playing golf,
With sticks and balls.

Bowling using sticks as pins,
Doing our best to see who wins.
Soccer was played by kicking balls,
Between goal-posts of trees so tall.

Running about,
Shouting so loud.
Stopping the games,
Only because it rained.

Sunshine, Rain and Friends

We wilded our time away at the Botanic Garden yesterday. We met up with our usual homeschool friends. Every Friday, we meet at a different location and do different things.

It is a time for the children to make friends, play together and have fun. It is also a time for us mothers to share our homeschooling experiences and other issues, a time for learning from each other, and (for me) an avenue for "out loading". Honestly, there aren't other sensible grown-ups, who can understand my unique situation, willing to listen, share the same ups and downs, and able to give constructive comments. Thank you friends!


The children were left to feed the swan and fish, run around, climb trees, dig holes, watch a mouse scampering into its hole, observe plants and birds, pick up sticks and stones, play their own version of bowling, golf and football... ... ... There are just endless ways they could entertain themselves. Out there with the huge garden as their playground, the children exercised creativity and learn to enjoy nature the good old-fashion way.

This particular shot below was taken some months back. The children climb trees every time we go to the park that we have stopped taking pictures of them doing that. lol But I thought it will be nice to include this shot here to give you a feel of what fun they can have. A pity I don't have a shot of the girls climbing...


Nap time for the younger lot means mothers pushing strollers round the park to lull them to sleep. Look at this outdoor nursery...


We were thankful for the fine weather.

The rain did eventually come. When it did, we had to dash to the nearest shelter. After some waiting, an ingenious mum offered her picnic mat to be used to shelter all the strollers and children. We managed to "parade" our way out of the park!

Can you imagine four mothers holding the four corners of a picnic tarp, with three strollers and four giggly girls underneath? (The boys had their own umbrellas.) We must have made quite a hilarious sight. Too bad we couldn't capture this moment on picture...

Later when the pouring rain became just a drizzle, the boys had a chance to share their umbrellas with the girls. Isn't that sweet?


We thank God for sunshine, rain and friends. :-)

Preparation for Young Naturalist Camp

I registered my boys up for a Young Naturalist Camp at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve where they will get to earn badges after accomplishing specific tasks. In preparation for this camp, here are a few things I plan to do:

1. Read One Small Square: Swamp by Donald M. Silver (Pictures are very well-drawn. I am inspired to do the suggested activities!)

2. Read the mangrove chapter in our Chek Jawa Guidebook by Ria Tang and Alan Yeo. (Has detailed photographs with annotations.)

3. Read The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry. (Living picture book about the mangrove. We always read this book before we go Sungei Buloh. I am thankful it is always available at the library.)

4. Review the names of shore birds and other common birds that would possibly be seen at Sungei Buloh by matching our bird cards. Here is a file of the birds sighted at Sungei Buloh. We don't have all of these on our bird cards. I am in the process of making more to cover at least the common species found.

5. Browse through A Guide to the Mangrove of Singapore (published by the Singapore Science Centre).



Visit Rumphius Wild Days Webpage to learn more about how we approach Nature Study in our homeschool.

Bird Riddles

We noticed last week that there was a big flock of birds that have nested on a row of trees in front of our block of apartments. We could hear their noisy chirping. From out of our windows, they look black with a tinge of shimmering blue. We couldn't make out what birds they were. So on Thursday, we decided to check them out.

Here in Singapore, the common birds we see around our estate are sparrows, mynas, crows and black-naped orioles. Higher up at 15 floors above ground, we see swallows fly by and occasionally, olive-backed sunbirds will visit the flowers in our balcony.

True enough, the birds perched on those trees turned out not to be the usual birds we normally see. They were the Asian Fairy Bluebirds. They are dark blue (well at least in the shade they look dark blue) with red eyes. There were so many of them!

We came back home, inspired to relearn the names of the birds in Singapore. I have previously made a set of Montessori 3-part cards of common birds here. These are so handy to just pull out for reviews!

As we were matching our bird cards, D suddenly got excited and blurted out a riddle that he had just composed. Subsequently, more riddles rolled out. He decided to make up 10 such bird riddles so that he could post them on his blog.

I helped by pointing out birds with interesting names. HE did the thinking. Some he came up with were dead giveaways. So I just said so plainly. He would then think of another.

I think he did a pretty good job! I have asked him for permission to post them here. Enjoy.

Bird Riddles

1. Which bird is the richest bird?

The Dollarbird.

(Me: Will you be rich with a dollar?!

D: Well, at least it has a dollar. The other birds don't even have a dollar.)



2. Which bird hates to chew its food (the most)?

The Swallow.


3. Which bird can turn very well?

The Tern.


4. Which is a miner's favourite pet bird?

The Myna.


5. Which bird has 102 eyes?

The Peacock.

(You will have to read up on some Greek Myths to know how THAT came about ;-) )


6. Which bird loves to eat Oreo biscuits?

The Oriole.


7. Which bird makes a good postman?

The Pigeon.


8. Which bird loves to play badminton?

The Racket-tailed Drongo.





9. Which bird do you go to if you want a tuxedo?

The Tailorbird.







10. Which bird can turn its head all the way to the back?

The Owl.

Inspirational Blogs

I have been drawing inspiration from a fellow homeschool mother who blogs about how she uses Charlotte Mason's methods in Art, Music and Nature Study. In her blog she gives practical tips, recommendations, reviews, weekly assignments and tutorials.

Visit her blog and be encouraged
http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

Her other blog has blessed me too. If you are like me, trying to figure out how to use The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock, then you'll not want to miss out on gleaning from her experience.
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com

Fun at Rumphius : Forest Adventure

While most school-going children are hibernating at home, preparing for their year-end examinations, we homeschoolers were in the great outdoors, tightrope walking at 5 meters above the ground!

Here are the proofs of our feat.


You would have thought this is a circus training right? ;-)


This multiple swings (according to my boys) was the most challenging of them all.


Whizzing down the Flying Fox was the grand finale...


The boys enjoyed themselves so much. It was a unanimous "Can we come again?"!

It was especially fun because they got to do all that with their friends.