Around the Yard

It's been raining for over a week. When the sun popped out suddenly this afternoon, we headed outside to clean up the yard and observe all the changes in our plants, trees and garden over the last couple of weeks. 

J's Apple Tree...It's Been Broken MANY Times and Keeps Growing

A Flowering Shrub - Anyone Know the Name? LOL We're Better with WILD Plants

Purple Trillium - Poisonous and Stinky, but Interesting

Common Blue Violet

Any Ideas? Another Type of Violet?

Crab-apple Buds

Bleeding Hearts

Peonies Starting

New Growth on a Fir Tree

Purple Lilac Buds

Apple Tree Buds

And in the garden some of our seeds have germinated despite the cool, soaking weather. 

I Think Jake was "Heavy-Handed" with the Oregano

Tomato Seedling Pots

Strawberry Flowers

Pea Plants

We're looking forward to some warmer, drier weather in the coming weeks! Our flowering trees and shrubs should be looking and smelling beautiful by then!

Nature Study: Spring Weather and Clouds

Our Nature Study this week was to study the up-and-down weather of early Spring in Maine, and to study the different types of clouds and the water cycle.

We learned about the water cycle and filled out notebook pages from Kidzone and Enchanted Learning.

S's Water Cycle

C's Water Cycle (J Did the Same)

We made Cloud Finder wheels to help us identify the types of clouds we see.

A Cloud Bank - Storm Rolling In

Snow Clouds (Stratus)

Little Puffy Clouds

Cloudless Sky

Soft, high clouds (Cirrus)

We made poster-paper sundials using the instructions and templates here, comparing the sundial times to actual time. It was QUITE accurate (considering the wind was blowing and the paper was bent).

J Showed C and S how to Find N on a Compass to Line up our Sun Dial

10 o'clock!

We read these books - some for information and some for fun - during our study:

And we watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Magic School Bus: Wet all Over.

I'm linking up with The Outdoor Hour, Wilderness Wednesday and Science Sunday to share our Nature Studies. Check out other Nature Studies by clicking on the sidebar buttons.

Snapshot Summary: Scenes from a Maine Island

While growing up on an island off the coast of Maine I never thought it was unique, but as I've gotten older and lived in different places I've been able to see that it IS different. The island is about 28 square miles, containing 5 different little towns with 2400 year-round residents. Most families are lobstering or fishing families with others have businesses like small convenience stores, carpentry or mechanics as well as teachers. It's definitely a place where everyone knows your name!