Posts Tagged ‘cool things’

Cool Things-Project BudBurst

{ February 26, 2008 @ 6:54 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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 http://www.windows.ucar.edu/citizen_science/budburst/ (and yes, it helps if I give you the website, doesn’t it?)

Project BudBurst is “A National Phenology Network National Field Campaign for Citizen Scientists”.  Now,  who wouldn’t want to be a citizen scientist?  LOL!

Phenology is the study of plant and animal life cycles.  Basically what you are doing by participating is identifying, observing and reporting the different stages in the life cycles of local plant life. 

There are lots of lesson plans, identification guides, teacher guides, student activities and helpful data collection forms available to print. Some are even interactive! I printed off and read through some stuff last night and it seems pretty straight forward. 

We plan on observing our lilac bush and I was able to print off an ID sheet and  see examples of the different phenological phases. 

My kids love to do this sort of collaborative project!   In the past we have done Bucket Buddies (http://www.ciese.org/curriculum/bucketproj/), to Tomatosphere ( http://www.tomatosphere.org/)  and the Square of Life project (http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/squareproj/).  They are really looking forward to this!

Cool Things-The Great Backyard Bird Count

{ February 17, 2008 @ 7:40 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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dscf0302.jpg          dscf0297.jpg

This is usually pretty well known in homeschooling circles but what the heck! 

To quote the website-”The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds.”

Basically you record the kinds and numbers of birds you see in a given area durring a given time.  Then you submit your results to the GBBC.  They have forms you can use, but you can keep track any way you like.  You can do this for as little as 15 minutes (or as long as you like) and for as many as four or as little as one day (or anything in between).  There are guidelines so check the website, but it’s not complicated. 

Here is the link:

 http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

We have done this as a family for the past 4 years.  Every year I try and add a little *something* to the count.  One year we signed up for Project Feederwatch, one year we made sketches of the birds, one year we tied it into other projects in an attempt to have our yard certified by the National Wildlife Foundation.  This year we  made some special bird and squirrel food. 

We have a special area set up outside of our big living room windows where we bird watch.  There are several bird feeders, corn for the squirrels, fruit, suet and virtual no human traffic.   We have quite a bunch of squirrels, chickadees, mourning doves, blue jays, finches and nuthatches as well as some juncos, woodpeckers (even a Pileated once in a while!) and the occasional cardinal.

Squirrel Treat

stale bread cut or ripped into chunks

chunky peanut butter, slightly melted

mix together and put out in bowls or pans

Simple no?  You would think the little buggers had died and gone to heaven! AND they are leaving the bird feeders alone….until it’s gone that is ;)

Homemade Suet

Chunky Peanut Butter, slightly melted

vegetable shortening

shelled sunflower seeds

dried meal worms

Mix all materials together and form into balls.  Freeze and place in old onion bags to hang in trees.  This won’t work unless it’s cold out (not a problem here!) because it will melt.  Our woodpeckers LOVE this stuff!

Off to do my counting!

Cool Things-Postcrossing

{ February 17, 2008 @ 6:48 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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I just heard about this from a fellow homeschooling mama on the MotheringDotCommune forums.  It sounded so interesting that I signed up immediately!

Basically when you sign up they give you a random address to which you send a postcard.  Once your postcard is logged in by the recipient your address gets sent to someone else and you receive a postcard.  You can request a certain kind of card in your profile (I requested historic sites and recipes) and list the languages you speak.  The best thing is that it’s free (well besides postage and the cost of postcards). 

We have already received three addresses; one from Germany, one from Spain and one from Finland.  The kids are uber excited to start sending and receiving!

Here’s the link:

http://www.postcrossing.com/

Check it out!