The glossy/waxy looking leaves that Magnolia trees have, caught our attention and we pondered why they might be so waxy. What purpose did God have in mind when He designed them? We found out that plants growing in dry areas or plants that don't lose their leaves in the fall, have been given a special way to protect themselves from drying out in hot summers and in winters when water is frozen. God made the tree to protect their leaves from drying out in a couple different ways. One design He came up with was to make long thin needles - like a pine tree, so there is less surface to dry out. Another way God built them to do this is to curl the leaf up, like a live oak. This reduces the water loss by reducing the wind and sun the leaf gets. He made some leaves to have tiny hairs on them to reduce water loss due to wind. The last was to coat the leaves with thick protective wax so the water stays trapped in the leaf. This is what our friend we found on our walk - the Magnolia tree - had been built by God to do!
Once we had collected several leaves that we wanted to learn about, we got out our nature journal and the iPad (I could have been an overachiever and got out the Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region
If you live in the South, you know all about those prickly little balls that fall from trees in the autumn, off of the ever so abundant sweet gum trees! We found out that those prickly little fellows, that seek out bare feet to provide torture for those brave enough to tip toe through the woods around NC, do serve a purpose after all! In the fall these sweet gum balls dry out, turn brown and open up to release their seeds to proliferate. Their prickles aren't just for scaring off barefooted kids, they are also for hitch hiking on the fur of unsuspecting animals to further proliferate throughout the woods! We used our wax paper to press the sweet gum ball into our book. We cut off the side of the gum ball to allow it to lay flat enough to close our book but still see the texture and uniqueness of the gum ball. It was a neat addition to our journal.
My daughter's favorite find was up last. She found and investigated a chokecherry (a type of stone berry). Sarah squeezed it to see if there was anything inside of the stone berry. She smelled it to see if it had any particular smell. She noticed the relative size of the pit to the cherry was large. We were interested to find out that chokecherries were a source of food for the colonists. American Indians introduced the settlers to the tart fruit! So we had a little introduction to Cycle 3 too while doing our nature study.
It's such a joy to study God's creation. The more you study, the more in awe you are of the creative order and design of God's world. You just never know what you will learn while doing nature studies!
We have done a leaf study/collecting unit study in the past. I love leaves and have preserved and framed many types including one that my girls brought back from Nicaragua!
ReplyDeleteHow awesome. So fun! Thank you for stopping by!
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