OHC – Leaf Miners and Leaf Rollers
Our favourite school day – Friday. No, not because it is the last day of the week, but because Fridays are for nature study and lots of messy art fun. Today we had a little friend along for the ride. Everyone made sure that they were up dressed and ready to get the day started – (always a good start to the day ;o). I think having a friend join our lesson somehow made it all a bit more magical!
This week we focused on Barb’s Leaf Miners and Leaf Rollers challenge. Having prepared for the lesson over last week-end, I was excited about the prospect of finding evidence of these two fascinating insects – but not hopeful. After all – I have NEVER seen such evidence! It became apparent as we left our back door (yes – evidence was found RIGHT in our own garden) that the reason I have never seen these marvels is because I have neglected to OBSERVE!
Once we had read the allocated pages and watched two short YouTube videos – here and here, we were ready to hit the park. As I mentioned, we had not even left our own garden and we found trails left behind by Leaf Miners on some of our plants.
As we walked through the park, enjoying the changing colors, picking apples to eat along the way, the girls hunted for a rolled up leaf. There was much delight when we found one!
Once all our specimens were gathered we headed home to record our finds. There was a surprise in our rolled up leaf however that got all the girls squealing! We expected to find a wee beetle, instead we found and Earwig! ‘Eeeewww! he’s SO ugly’, they squealed. But then a remarkable thing happened before my eyes. As the girls spent time watching and observing him, as they listened to me reading a little bit about him, a change happened. ‘Aaaahh! He’s not so ugly – he’s actually kindda cute!’, utters one little girl, ‘Can I keep him as a pet?’
Of course we decided that it would be really unkind to keep him in our small little observation tub. We set him free in our garden, although I’m not sure if that was very wise as we read that they do love to eat the petals of flowers!
I’ll finish off this post with a peek into our nature journals…
4 Comments
Barb
When I made this challenge I was a little nervous about the subject. I wasn't sure if anyone would go out and look for insects, especially this time of year. Boy was I wrong! Look at your family! Great job and I feel the exact same way about creepy things: At first they seem ugly and I am repulsed but once I look at them closely to draw them and get to know them….they are not so bad and even magnificent in design. Thanks for the account of your day and a peek into your journals. 🙂
Shirley-Ann
We are loving your challenges Barb! I think it is easy to write something off and say, 'oh we'll never find that', but I was really chuffed to find these leaf miners right under our nose! Who knew!! ;o)
Sandra Ann
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement and understanding. Just being "mum" for a while suits me fine… these past eighteen months I have been predominantly learning facilitator and nurse!
Thank you also for your prayers they are greatly appreciated.
San xx
Ellen
We went to a local park to look. I was with you, didn't think we'd find any. Boy, was I wrong. Once we spotted the first leaf, we then proceeded to find it all over. Amazing.