The write start - Jennifer Hallissy 2010

Field Guide
Guidelines for the Activities

ALSO KNOWN AS a nature journal, a field guide documents all the discoveries and adventures children encounter in the great outdoors. Field guide fodder includes thoughts about trees, plants, or flowers; animal observations; weather reports; notes on seasonal changes; and reflections about what’s visible in the night sky. Nature-related notations can be brief or may be embellished with details about colors, smells, sounds, and feelings. Journal entries can include simple sketches, and photos or a found object (like a bird feather, fallen leaf, or pressed flower) may be adhered to the page.

A field guide is a place where the wonder of nature and the wonder of writing meet. It’s an exercise in seeing the world with eyes wide open, a quality that should certainly be nurtured in young writers.

MATERIALS

∗ blank notebook or journal

∗ pencil

∗ colored pencils, crayons, or markers

∗ tape

∗ camera (optional)

∗ box or basket (optional)

HOW-TO

1. Encourage children to observe nature when they are out and about.

2. When they get home, they can record the details about what they noticed. Or bring their field guides along if your family is headed on a trek or an adventure so they can jot down observations on the go.

Variations

For Scribblers: Pre-writers may start with a nature collection, stored in a box or basket perhaps, with a label attached to each item.

For Spellers: Spellers are ready to start drawing what they see in a notebook when they go for an outing, take a walk, or play in the backyard. They can label their pictures by writing a couple of words, like “baby bird.”

For Storytellers: Storytellers are ready to enhance their field guides with more specific observations of the flora, fauna, and fun they observe in nature.

For Scholars: Scholars can include more data such as the location of their observations, time of day, conditions, and any interesting patterns they notice.