Nature Study 60: Skunk and Outdoor Hour:Skunk & Badger

This week we:

1. Read pages 245-247 in the Handbook of Nature Study.

2. Supplemental reading in The Burgess Animal Book for Children: Read Stories 22-23. Used the illustrations on pages 135 and 110 to prompt a narration your child’s narration as needed.

3. This week during our10-15 minutes of outdoor time, we kept an eye out for signs of mammals as you walk.

I have a lot of trouble identifying animal tracks, so it is difficult for me to teach my children how to identify them. I decided to use some time inside to help them learn what the different tracks look like so that when we go on our nature walks, perhaps they can better identify them.

I cut out pictures of animal tracks and laid them out on the table. Around the room I taped pictures of the corresponding animals. I gave the boys the boys a "field guide" and had them match the tracks with the animals.

They got to tape the track next to the animal when they correctly identified the track.

We have not seen any skunks on our nature walks this winter, but the skunk is a hibernating animal. We looked at pictures of skunks and made sketches of them, using the questions on page 246 in the Handbook of Nature Study.

(Fourth student and Second Student's sketches)