11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
Marvel Landscaping Arizona
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Cinnamon Spice Muffins
Here is the latest muffin creation from my kitchen (adapted from Deb's basic muffin recipe).
Cinnamon Spice Muffins
4 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
Sift together dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients. Mix just until everything's moist. Spoon batter into muffin tins. I love using my ice cream scoop for this! I like to even the muffins out so I get 2 dozen muffins. Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 15 minutes. Sweet and spicy, quick and easy. Perfect for a busy family like ours. ~Lena
Chocolate Pudding Garnish
For Family Home Evening last night, my 6 year old daughter made chocolate pudding. Nothing special, just the instant boxed kind. We used the blender to mix it up. Much easier than using the whisk or beaters. We topped it off with whipped topping (also the boxed kind, great stuff to have in your food storage) and grated chocolate for a garnish. The garnish was the coolest part, I thought. I had the kids ask Grandma for a Hershey's Kiss (since I'm all out of chocolate). They came back with two, but I seriously only used one to top 9 dessert cups. How awesome is that! I just grated the chocolate kiss over each dessert with a cheese grater. ~Lena
Granola YUM
Here's another awesome granola recipe to try. True to form, this recipe is changed from the original. I got the original recipe from Deb's awesome ward cookbook.1 large container quick oats (42 oz)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup brown sugar
Mix together in a large bowl, then add:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir until everything is well coated. Be sure to eat some of the balls that form. My 3 year old likes to help me taste test. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes. The granola should be turning golden brown when it's done.
Fun variations:
Stir in a box of corn flakes with the cooked granola, to simulate a popular breakfast cereal. Or add nuts, dried fruit or coconut. That's part of the fun with granola. You can either eat as is or dress it up to suit your personal tastes.
~Lena
Time in a Bottle
A few years ago, I watched an episode from Living Essentials (a BYU tv program) on home canning. A lady from Utah State University was espousing all the virtues of home canning. She said that having jars of food, prepared by you for your family, was like having "time in a bottle." You put in the effort when you have some time, to prepare nutritious food for your family, then you bottle it up and have it later to use when you are rushed and crunched for time. Talk about satisfaction! The really cool thing is, you don't have to be an avid gardener or food scientist to take advantage of home canning. You can prepare stuff from the grocery store. You can take advantage of sales or take advantage of the time you have on hand.
A must have for every home canner, the Ball Blue Book is the best resource guide out there to show you the ins and outs of canning. You also will need some basic tools, such as a waterbath canner for acidic foods, and a pressure canner for low acid foods, canning jars, lids and bands, a funnel and jar lifter. These products can be found at Walmart or your local grocery store.
Here's one of my favorite things to have on hand for days when I need something quick and nutritious for dinner:
Chicken Soup (recipe found in the Ball Blue Book)
This picture totally does not do this soup justice. In each jar there is chicken, carrots, onions, celery, and broth, seasoned with salt and pepper. With a jar of this soup I can make more than just chicken soup. I can make chicken noodle soup (obviously). I simple reheat the contents of the jar and add another jar of water and a few chicken bouillon cubes. Then when it comes to a boil I add noodles and cook until done. I also can use a jar of chicken soup for chicken and dumplings, same procedure as above, except I drop dumpling dough on top of the boiling mixture. Or I can use rice for chicken and rice soup. Or I can make chicken pot pie. I thicken the broth with some flour, add a bag of frozen veggies and top it off with pie crust. Or I can thicken the soup to serve over rice as a gravy or for Hawaiian Haystacks. The possibilities aren't endless, but they fit the bill.
I make a bigger batch than the recipe in the Ball Blue Book. So here's my version for 9 quarts of soup (7 to process and 2 to eat for dinner):
Must Have Chicken Soup
1 10-lb bag chicken leg quarters (thighs and drumsticks) (cooked, skinned, deboned, coarsley chopped if desired)
1 bag carrots (peeled and sliced)
1 bag celery (cleaned and sliced)
3 large onions (peeled and diced)
8 quarts chicken stock or use bouillon cubes to equal that amount
Salt and pepper to taste
Bring everything to boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Ladle into hot, sterile jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Wipe rims and screw on lids with bands. Process in a pressure canner at 10 lbs pressure for 90 minutes. Let pressure drop naturally.
With a pressure canner, you need to be sure to follow the manufacturer's directions on how to use it, such as properly venting the canner etc. In recipes it doesn't tell you that you need to let the pressure canner vent (steam comes out of the vent tube) for 10 minutes before placing the pressure control (the little weight that jiggles) over the vent tube.
This is what my Mirro canner book says:
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends pressure canning as the only safe way to can meats, fish, poultry and all common vegetables. Fruits and plain tomato products may be canned by the hot-water-bath method, but pressure canning them will save time and energy.
Use a water-bath canner for pickles, jams, and jellies. Do not blanch in a pressure canner. Use a blancher or covered pot with wuitable basket.
To can mixtures of foods (soups, stews, etc.) use the time required for the ingredient with the longest processing time. Sometimes it is better to can ingredients separately (meat and vegetables, for example) and then combine them to heat for serving."
Canning food for your family can be a bit hectic when you are rushing against the clock to get everything done, but then you really do have "time in a bottle" to use when you need it most.
~Lena
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Hyatt Hotel Phoenix Arizona
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Stonecrafters Of Arizona
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Renaissance Festival Arizona 2010
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Homeschooling Spanish Academy: A TOS Homeschool Crew Review
For over a year now my son has been asking me to teach him Spanish. All the while I had been trying to teach him French, which I speak, and Latin, which I was learning with him, but I felt inadequate to teach him Spanish. I kept buying different versions of Spanish courses, and had the opportunity to review a different one months ago, all with good intentions, but with very little in the way of results.
Then I learned that we would have the opportunity for him to take seven weekly Spanish lessons via Skype, through Homeschool Spanish Academy out of Guatamala.
I have long been a believer that "immersion" language learning is the best method to use to teach a foreign language and to learn a foreign language. I was not having success immersing my son in Spanish largely because I did speak it myself, and it is hard to teach something you do not know.The Homeschool Spanish Academy is a language program taught via Skype meeting. Since it uses this level of technology, the user's computer needs to be checked to make sure it meets the technology's requirements and will be fast enough. I had to have my son use my laptop, because his does not have a camera and does not have a built in microphone. My computer initially did not pass the test, but after a little tweaking and a retest, we were qualified and good to go.
We were given a seven-week course in exchange for our review. To start, we went to the "How it Works" page and signed up for a free lesson to establish an account with a user name and a password. Before doing that, I watched couple of videos about Homeschool Spanish Academy:
By this time I was looking forward to getting started, and was convinced we would have good success. So I clicked on "Sign up now" at the top right of the page (yellow button). The "How it Works" page tells you everything you need to get started. The instructions are there for signing up for a free lesson, testing your computer speed, packages you can choose from (different age levels, length of course, number of classes per week), how to sign up for your first class using Schedulicity, how the lessons work, and how the homework works. That's a lot of information packed into that one page!
I signed up for an account and for a trial lesson. Before I knew it I was receiving a telephone from Homeschool Spanish Academy "Tech Support" (who happens, also, to be the owner of the company). He walked me through the speed test and helped me get signed up for our first lesson. (Since I was a reviewer I wasn't really supposed to take a free trial lesson.) We signed up for the Middle School lessons. My son, aged 12, could have gone either Early Language or Middle School.
Our first lesson I sat beside my son. He often has focus issues, so I didn't want him to just walk away from his lesson. I found he was not willing to answer the teacher as she asked questions -- he didn't know the answer and was afraid to say so and also afraid to say that he didn't understand or didn't know the answer. At about 30 minutes he kind of melted down and ran away from the computer, so I finished the class to learn what the homework was and what else would have been covered so I could go over it with him during the week. I don't know why he had/has this fear, but it continued to plague us through all of these lessons.
After the first lesson, the owner, Ron Fortin, called to chat about how the class went and to answer questions. He asked if I had any suggestions of how we might change things to make the class work better for my son. Since my son had requested a male instructor and there were non, Ron offered to sit in through the class if it would help my son. He was very helpful and involved in trying to make this work for us.
During the class there had been some times when JD had not known the answer to the question asked, and I told him, or he hadn't understood the question in Spanish, so I told him in English what he had said. Ron suggested that maybe, for the next class, I should let him be alone with the teacher, so that's how we did the 2nd class.
Second class he sat at the dining room table alone while I sat out on the deck just outside the dining room door. He again lasted about 30 minutes and then ran to his room in tears, and I came in and finished the class so I could go over it with him later.
Third class he did better, and I hoped we would now be into a groove, but it never did really smooth out... To the very last class that we took, my son (although learning) was resisting taking this course. ::sigh::
Later in our series of classes my son had a sick week. Ron was very understanding, allowed us to cancel and reschedule, and said rescheduling for sickness is not a problem. For other conflicts they ask for 24-48 hours notice for a class to be cancelled and rescheduled.
Homeschool Spanish Academy offers four levels of Spanish:
- Early Language (25 minutes once or twice a week);
- Middle School (50 minutes once a week);
- High School (50 minutes once a week); and
- Adult Program (50 minutes once a week).
Each week the lesson is emailed to the student/parent. I liked getting the material printed out for my son to look at during the Skype session. We always tried to open Skype with ample time before the class was to start to make sure we didn't have any unexpected glitches.
Then each class we would go over the printed materials for that week's lesson, and also go over the information for the homework the student was to complete for that week. Later, after the student completed the homework, it was to be sent to a certain email address for homework. It was then corrected and returned by someone at Homeschool Spanish Academy. (There was at least one week when they did not correct and return my son's homework, but when I emailed them they took care of it right away.) Early Language students are assigned about 30 minutes homework per week; Middle School, High School and Adult classes are assigned about an hour's homework per week.
In my opinion, to really learn Spanish well the student should actually be doing review of the current week's lesson for at least twenty minutes daily. We were not very consistent with this, and I think my son might have been more successful with this program if we had been.
We had a recurring difficulty adjusting to the fact that the class times are posted in Mountain Time. It was difficult to get used to signing up for one time and remembering that our class was actually two hours later, being Eastern Time. One class got rescheduled somehow so that I got a reminder that the class would be at 11:30 Monday, and on HSA's end they had me down for a class at 1:30 Tuesday. We never did figure that one out... And there was at least one day when I was calling them when they didn't call me when I expected, and if I remember correctly that was because of the time difference.
The quality of the instructors and the lessons was exemplary. I was sorry my son just couldn't work well with it. I did sit with my son through most of the classes, and studied the homework with him, and I myself did learn a lot. I think the biggest difficulty we had was getting our study time and homework done daily between the lessons. I think the program would be better if the company could create videos (or at least audios) to be available to the paid students, that they could play, watch, and practice with between the Skype lessons. That would have helped us a lot.
This is a little slow, but it is a video of my son doing a lesson. He thinks a long time before he finally answers a question -- maybe he was processing and not understanding the question, I'm not sure... But this is a flavor of what our classes were like:
The customer service at Homeschool Spanish Academy was the best! I began to thing that Ron Fortran sleeps with his Skype open on his bedside table! Any time I texted him or called him, he replied almost immediately!
The Spanish teacher's were excellent, well trained, and for the most part understood our English at all times. I think any misunderstandings we had could have been largely related to Skype, and voice processing only being able to go through one way or the other. In other words, if we started talking while she was talking, I don't think she could hear us until she stopped talking, I'm not sure.
One other suggestion I would have: Currently Homeschool Spanish Academy has only female instructors. My son would have preferred a male instructor.
Homeschool Spanish Academy did not require any additional materials to be purchased. The lessons were delivered to the student incrementally. Printing the lessons wasn't required, but was helpful. Since they were in color, that can be expensive. Also, my son thought some of the illustrations were corny-looking. I thought they were okay.
The purpose of the product Homeschool Spanish Academy provides is to teach students to converse well and with a proper accent. I believe this program is excellent for that, even though it didn't fit for my child. I think their method of teaching the pronunciations of the alphabet on the first lesson is key for this, and then the regular corrections of mispronunciations. That is what makes this program so good -- the real live person teaching the lessons.
One of the features of this program that is nice for families is that the class can be set to have more than one student participating with the instructor. I imagine it would be nice for some families if Homeschool Spanish Academy were able to accomodate even more than two students to one instructor. I know of families with triplets or quadruplets, so it would be nice for those families if Homeschool Spanish Academy were able to let those families just have a regular group class. Of course, each student would need their own state-of-the-art computer set up with microphone, camera and Skype. It is possible that the instructors would find it too difficult to conduct such a class, but to me it seems like a good idea...
What I Liked and Didn't Like:
□ I liked the classes being one-on-one;□ I liked the people who work for Homeschool Spanish Academy;□ I liked working with Skype. This was new for me, using Skype.□ I liked the challenge. I've come away having learned some Spanish, even if my son didn't. I think he probably did learn some, but I probably learned more (I probably applied myself more than he did).□ I didn't like that there were no male instructors. I hope they can change that in the future.□ I didn't like that there seemed to be some mistakes in the papers -- the lessons and the homework. Specifically, Lesson 1's homework asked that a raspberry's name is in Spanish, but we had never been given that information. There were some places where words (in Spanish) were randomly capitalized, and I thought they were incorrect, but not knowing the language I can't really be certain.□ Overall, I really liked Homeschool Spanish, and my son really didn't.□ I would definitely recommend this program to anyone, especially since they can try it for free!
DISCLAIMER:Our family was given a 7-week course of Homeschool Spanish Academy in exchange for our review. We did not receive any other compensation. My opinions and words are my own, and are not influenced by any other factors.
This review brought to you by The Schoolhouse Review Crew. Let me know what you think! Leave me a comment!
7 Temmuz 2012 Cumartesi
July 2012 Newsletter Link - Updated
I forgot to add the July Newsletter link to this morning's email. If you are a subscriber to the blog, you will have the updated link in this blog entry email and every email for the month of July.
Remember, that you will either need to click the link in the email (if it is clickable), right click and save the link/file to your computer and then open it, OR cut the link address into your browser and find the newsletter that way.
Several of you responded to Friday's survey that you have not been able to get the newsletter. The link is NOT in this entry it is only when you subscribe either through an email subscription or with Google Reader that you will get the link each month.
If you are still having trouble and can't get the newsletter, email me and I will try to help but honestly, if you try all three of the options above, one of the ways will get you the newsletter.
harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com
Not Quite Sand Nature Study - Creek Gravel and Rocks
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| Creek with Poppies and Sweet Peas |
We have not made it to the ocean yet this summer. We have big plans to go later this month but we had the opportunity to do some dirt, gravel, and sand gathering this past weekend up in the Sierra Nevada. We took a day trip to Grover Hot Springs State Park which is a complete blog entry all on its own. I will save that for later in the week.
For this post I will share a little of our nature study using the Outdoor Hour Challenge for Sand and Soil from the Summer Sizzle ebook series. We used the creek running next to the picnic area to enjoy some rock, sand, and gravel observation time. This is an interesting geological area which we are planning on going back to explore some more.
This was a creek that meanders a bit and we tried to find some animal prints but we had no luck. There wasn't much sand on the banks but it was more like gravel or pebbles. There were little fish and lots of insect larvae in the small pools along the banks.
The creek was very shallow and perfect for sticking hot toes in while you explore the smooth rocks of varied colors.
We used an empty water bottle to collect a bit of "dirt" which is mostly decomposed granite gravel and a bit of the "soil". My hubby found that doing this left his hands super dirty with a fine dusting of soil. He of course used this as an excuse to wash his hands in a waterfall.
I am going to wait until after our beach excursion to do the up close observation with the hand lens, having Mr. B compare the dirt we collected from the creek with the sand we collect from the ocean beach. I think this will make it a bit more interesting and give him something to record in his nature journal.
Summer nature study is at its best when you can combine it with an outdoor family adventure. It becomes just an extension of what you do to make your time outdoors more enriching. We didn't take nature journals or field guides this time but the atmosphere was one where we were always alert to find something interesting.
Like the rock in the photo above....just one of the many interesting rocks that we saw on the hiking part of our day. We also saw some wildflowers, a few butterflies, heard and observed quite a number of birds, and ended up sitting in the natural hot springs. Yes, this was a great day....more soon!
Source: kindergartenkindergarten.com via Barb on PinterestHere is a wonderful idea for taking a closer look at your soil samples! I think you could make your own sifter with kitchen or thrift shop objects. I have an old window screen that I may cut and put in a cardboard frame to sift our sand and soil samples. If you make a sifter, send me a link to a photo or entry and I would love to share it in the next newsletter.
Don't forget the Summer Photo Challenge! Here are the details and here is the Pinterest Board.
Playful Learning Ecademy - Through the Lens: Giveaway!
I recently reviewed her book, Playful Learning, over at The Curriculum Choice and I encourage you to pop over there and read more about this wonderful resource that you can use with all ages, all styles of learners, and keep as an inspiration reference in your learning book library.
Mariah is now offering online classes which she calls Playful Learning Ecademy. I am signed up with my son to take the next course which is Through the Lens. This course will use digital photography to inspire writing and art.
There will be four weekly classes which you can work through at your own pace. She will email you a video to explain the week's suggested activities and then you are free to complete the assignment as you have time with your children.
She suggests this course for children ages six through twelve (along with their grown-ups). My son is a little older than the age range but we thought it would be fun to test out this course and see how it inspires us in our outdoor time.
In order to take the course you need a digital camera, a way to print photos, and a blank journal. There is also the opportunity to share your work and to interact with other eCourse participants.
Through the LensIt starts July 18 and ends August 8, 2012.Cost: $68.00.
Would you like to have the opportunity to join the class? I am going to keep it simple.
Giveaway for Playful Learning Ecademy: Through the Lens
Leave a comment and tell me which aspect of the course you are most excited about: digital photography, writing, art, journaling, or connecting them all together. One comment per reader please and make sure I can contact you after the winner is randomly chosen. You will have 48 hours to respond to the email and if I don't hear from you, I will choose another winner.
I will randomly choose one winner of the Through The Lens Ecademy course on 7/11/12 at noon. Make sure to leave a comment by then! Feel free to share this giveaway with your friends!
Check out this upcoming Ecademy course.
Playful Learning Theory + PracticeCost: $15.00
Please note that I am an affiliate for Playful Learning and I received this Ecademy course to try for free. My review of the course in August will be my honest opinion and I received no other compensation.
For the Love of Trees: A Year-Long Tree Study
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| Our New Year-Long Tree Study Subject - Cottonwood Tree |
Only the growing and open season is thought to be attractive in the country. The winter is bare and cheerless. A tree is weeping, gay, restful, spirited, quiet, sombre. That is, trees have expression. The expression resides in the observer, however, not in the tree. Therefore, the more the person is trained to observe and to reflect, the more sensitive his mind to the things about him, and the more meaning the trees have. No one loves nature who does not love trees. - L.H. Bailey, 1899We have done year-long tree studies before and it is a great way to learn about a tree, to become familiar with its life cycle through the seasons. Taking a year to get to know a tree allows you to focus on a different part of the tree in each season. A year-long tree study can be as simple as making observations in each season and talking about what you see as the tree changes or transforms. Or, you can make it more in-depth by adding in additional reading in the Handbook of Nature Study and keeping a nature journal of your observations.
"Children should also become familiar with trees at an early age. They should pick about six in the winter when the leaves are gone, perhaps an elm, a maple, a beech, etc, and watch them during the year."
Charlotte Mason, volume 1 page 52
I invite you to join our family by picking a tree in your yard or neighborhood and watching it through each of the coming seasons for the next year. Charlotte Mason suggests starting this project in the winter but our family has successfully enjoyed starting our tree study in the summer or fall.
Here is a recap of ideas for your Year-Long Tree Study.
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| Summer Tree Study Notebook Page - More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle |
1. Sight: Look closely at the bark and leaves. Stand or lay under your tree and look up. Use a magnifying lens to look at the bark and leaves. Look for birds, animals, or insects in your tree. Look for all the parts of your tree: trunk, crown, branches, and spray.
2. Smell: Smell the bark. Rub a leaf and see what it smells like.
3. Touch: Close your eyes and feel the bark. Feel the leaf or needle from your tree and describe its texture.
4. Hearing: Quietly sit under your tree for one minute. Can you hear the leaves or branches moving? Can you hear a bird in the tree or insects buzzing near the tree?
5. Taste: If your tree has fruit, you can choose to taste the fruit.
Simple Suggestions for an Autumn Tree Study:
Compare Leaves from Two Different Trees
-Leaf shape and leaf margins.
-Leaf arrangement on the stem.
-Leaf color, texture, and size. (You can measure if you wish.)
You can take photos of your tree to put in your nature journal or you can sketch the tree in your journal.
Simple Suggestions for Winter Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and view its branch patterns and silhouette.
2. Find a tree that has lost its leaves and sketch its shape in your nature journal. This activity can be done from a window if your weather is too cold or snowy.
3. Collect some seeds from trees that may still be left over from last season. Look for sweet gum, locust, yellow poplar, ash, mimosa, or sycamore.
4. Collect twigs from different trees and compare them.
Simple Suggestions for Spring Tree Study:
1. Pick a tree in your yard or on your street and look for its new leaves and blossoms if appropriate.
2. Is it just beginning to show leaves? Can you tell if your tree has all of its leaves yet?
3. Can you see any insects or birds in your tree?
4. Collect a few leaves to use for leaf rubbings in your nature journal. You could also make a leaf bouquet.
5. Compare two leaves from the same tree. Are they exactly alike?
6. Use your nature journal to record a sketch of the leaf and any blossoms.
7. How has the tree changed since autumn? Winter?
Free Seasonal Tree Notebook Page
Handbook of Nature Study- Tree Study Using the Outdoor Hour Challenge
OHC More Nature Study Book #4: Hummingbirds and Nests
More Nature Study Book #4
Hummingbird Study - Summer Birds
This week is bird watching week! You may find that your family likes birds so much that you decide to keep a running list of birds you see this summer. You can see Outdoor Hour Challenge #5-Keeping a List for more ideas. You can print a notebook page to record your birds or use your nature journal.
Here is a video that will inspire you to start your own hummingbird feeder station in your yard:
Hummingbird Station
Inside Preparation Work:
- Read pages 115-117 (Lesson 29) in the Handbook of Nature Study. There is also a section on pages 46-47 (Lesson 7) that focuses on The Study of Birds’ Nests in Winter. Read for information and highlight questions you can use in the future when you observe a bird’s nest.
- You absolutely must watch this video of a Hummingbird Building a Nest. Most of us will never experience this in person so a video is the next best thing!You can also read the previous Outdoor Hour Challenge for Hummingbirds where we focused on their beaks. Read online: Burgess Bird Book for Children: A Butcher and a Hummer.
- Advanced Study: Use a local field guide to familiarize yourself with birds you may see in your neighborhood. You can also use this tool on the Great Backyard Bird Count: Explore Results By Location. Enter your town and the site will generate a list of birds seen during the count. Note that you may see different birds during the summer months but it will give a starting point to use with your field guide. Ebook Users: Print several of the Bird Nature Study Observations sheets included with the ebook (used with permission from HeartsandTrees).
Outdoor Hour Time:
- Take your outdoor time for this challenge early in the day and look for birds before it is too hot. If you have hummingbirds in your neighborhood, spend some time observing their behavior. Watch for any birds that visit your yard or at your feeder. Compare any birds you have to the hummingbird: size, beak, tail, food, color, flight.
- Advanced Study: Ebook Users: Use the Bird Observation sheets included with the ebook to make a careful study of any backyard birds you view for this challenge.
- Use a field guide to identify any birds you observed during your outdoor time. Complete a nature journal entry for any bird you observed. If you would like to complete a notebook page for hummingbirds, the NotebookingFairy has some very simple free pages for you to print.
- Advanced Study: Complete a nature journal entry for a hummingbird you have in your local area. Use a field guide for more information. Ebook Users: There is also a notebook page in the ebook for recording more nest and beak information.
YouTube: Hummingbird Chirp
YouTube: Mama Hummingbird feeds her Babies (in the nest)
Fun Facts on Hummingbirds
Nests and Beaks Links for the Notebook Page:
AllAboutBirds—Scroll down to Nesting
World of Hummingbirds
All the summer challenges for 2012 are included in the new More Nature Study Book #4 Summer Sizzle ebook. The challenges in the ebook are the same challenges that will post every Friday here on my blog. If you want to follow along with notebook pages and coloring pages, click over and learn more about the ebook.
5 Temmuz 2012 Perşembe
Hong Kong closes bird market over H5N1 virus
The agriculture, fisheries and conservation department said it was closing the Yuen Po Street bird market in the city's bustling Mongkok district for 21 days. There are about 70 bird stalls in the market.
The move came after the virus was found in a swab sample collected from a cage holding an oriental magpie robin during a routine avian influenza surveillance operation.
All the stall's birds would be killed, the department said in a statement.
A spokeswoman told AFP they were still investigating the cause of the virus as the bird itself was not infected.
The risk of transmission between pet birds and humans is "relatively low", the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection head Thomas Tsang told a news conference after the closure was announced. Read More
Indonesian girl dies of bird flu
JAKARTA, July 5 (UPI) -- An 8-year-old Indonesian girl has died from the H5N1 bird flu virus, health officials said Thursday.The girl, identified as K.K., fell ill June 18, six days after carrying home five recently butchered chickens from the Karawang market in West Java, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.
Tjandra Yoga Aditama, director general of disease control and environmental health at the Indonesian Health Ministry, said it's likely she contracted the disease at the market.
"She was in contact with [live] poultry," Tjandra said. "She went to the market with her father and sibling and bought five live animals. She chose to hold the chickens after they have been killed."
The girl first became ill during a trip to Singapore. A doctor there diagnosed her with laryngitis, Tjandra said.
By June 24 she was admitted to a hospital in Jakarta with a high fever, persistent cough and nausea. Doctors believed she had pneumonia, Antara reported.
K.K. tested positive for the H5N1 virus June 29. Read More