With the coming of spring, comes excitement about our first trip of the season to our local duck pond.  It has become a yearly ritual and the girls love feeding the ducks, hiking and exploring... 

So when Renee over at FIMBY asked if we would like to collaborate on writing coinciding pond entries, we eagerly started to prepare.

This year we decided to do a little preliminary reading to enhance our experience (see book titles below). The goal was to observe and identify the variety of animals, birds, bugs insects and plants that co-exist in a pond habitat.

The girls were equipped with cameras and set out to document life at the pond. A poem called, “In the Depths of the Summer Pond” from the book, Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poems, really helped them broaden their definition of the term “life.”  The poem is about the food chain I could see that they had absorbed the information when they included pictures of algae and moss in their documentation of the living things they discovered.

When we returned home, I printed their pictures and asked them to choose the ones they would like to include in their ‘nature journal’ (a blank Moleskine).  I mounted their pictures of choice and then drew lines below each picture and left them out on the table in our atelier.  Before long, the girls discovered them and sat down to write their reflections.  It was fascinating to see the details of the trip that really stood out for them. 

Also... if you have not visited FIMBY, please stop by.  It is a blog filled with wonderful learning experiences for all!

What springtime adventures have you experienced?

Resources & Materials

Pond Study - FIMBY

Life in a Pond

Exploring Pond Habitats

Virtual Pond Dip

Pond Food Chain