I Notice...Nature Journaling Week 1

It’s always great to try new learning experiences, but in 2020 it makes even more sense. I think there’s a desire for activities that give the greatest bang for your buck, and nature journaling seems ideal.

There are many resources out there, but I’m using John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren’s How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention as my main one. It’s about $25 and has a full curriculum for the “how-to’s” and incredibly diverse information on why nature journaling is so beneficial to a person’s growth and well-being. In a nutshell, it works regardless of age, ethnicity, abilities, location, or situation.

The authors list these benefits:

• To slow down, pay attention, and experience awe and wonder

• To develop students’ creativity and critical thinking skills

• To develop students’ science identity through authentic science practices

• To nurture connection with nature

• To build an inclusive culture of curiosity in the family or classroom

• To support interdisciplinary learning

In my mind, your supply needs are limited (a writing implement and something to write on) and the subject is immediately available outside your door- it can be anything and everything outside. From an asphalt playground or a single plant to a 300 acre park, there is a nature experience there to have and to document.

You can add some extra tools (something to sit on, something to magnify what you’re looking at, a ruler, thermometers, electronic devices, etc.) but they aren’t necessary.

The Three Parts

Each entry should be a mix of 3 things:

• PICTURES

• OBSERVATIONS, IDEAS, AND THINKING

• NUMBERS

Structure

Different activities may lend themselves to different layouts on the page. However, there’s incredible flexibility and each person’s will be different. Someone who really likes pictures may have to push themselves to write down numbers and words. Someone who loves words and may be nervous about drawing may have to push themselves to sketch. It’s all OK. The important part is to try every time.

Here’s my journal page:

Not much to look at, is it?

For me, that's totally OK. It has what it needs: numbers, observations, and pictures. I didn’t list or describe all the plants I saw nor did I express any larger ideas and thinking. It’s also not pretty by any stretch. But the purpose of this specific event was to begin at step one: “To slow down, pay attention, and experience awe and wonder by observing.” It’s a place to build from.

Here’s how it came into being:

On August 15, I went to the City of Waukesha’s Glacier Cone Park on Madison Avenue. There is street parking and a mowed path up about 145 feet to the top. The park is a glacial kame- basically a huge pile of rock and gravel deposited by the ice that started to melt and retreat about 15,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. A tiny fragment of oak savanna is located at the top and the city seems to be managing the plant life to encourage that along with keeping other woody species at bay.

I was walking pretty determinedly when I began. I told myself to start looking around as I climbed the hill. It was warm, but the breeze was nice. I stopped to notice a washout on the path where you can see the till that the cone-shaped kame is made of.

It’s late summer, so there are lots of grasshoppers. I also captured a bunch of goldenrod soldier beetles on the Queen Anne’s lace that was blooming profusely along the path. Don’t be afraid of not knowing species you see. Phones have identification abilities on them, and the app Seek is a great tool to have to track what you see and to learn more.

HINT: You can use the photos you take to draw detailed pictures in your journal at any time.

It only takes a few minutes to make it up to the top of this 25 acre park.

I sat down, opened my book, and set my timer for 20 minutes. Between the Ice Age and today, Indigenous people called this land home. I think it’s important to acknowledge that. So, I spoke out loud the following quote from therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem in his book My Grandmother’s Hands:

“I offer my respect and acknowledgement to the people who were stewards of this land long before folks from Africa and Europe made it their home.”

And then I sat and put pencil to paper. It took me a while to get into the whole process. My mind wasn't ready for NOW- it kept jumping ahead. But I did end up seeing the oak leaves at my feet, a nearby animal hole (What could have made it?), and eventually looked straight up and finally saw the awesome sky above my head. All of these could be included as journal sketches.

After time was up, I recorded my review and final thoughts. Next week, in the spirit of back-to-school, I will go to a school and explore what I can find to nature journal about. I hope to have a special guest with me- stay tuned!