Authentic Writing Experience for June - The Nature Journal

Reading Rockets has put together a wonderful, free resource called Start With a Book. They suggest several children's titles on a variety of topics and then suggest activities to explore with those topics. One of my favorites is Keeping a Nature Journal. They provide practical suggestions for everything from creating the journal itself to finding specific things to observe. Some of their selections include Scientist Field Notes, Ant Watching, and creating a Nature Scavenger Hunt. They also provide a list of children's books to encourage observations in nature.

I recently traveled from Denver, Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico to Sedona, Arizona. The photo of the beautiful blooming cactus above was taken in Sedona. Kids take take photos like this to put in a journal, draw a picture, or use words to describe what they see.

Encourage kids to write observations using the following prompt:

I saw

I think... because or since

I wonder

Using the photo above, you might write:

I saw a cactus with a huge white flower in Sedona, AZ.

I think that it must need very little water to grow because Sedona is in the Desert.

I wonder if the flower will turn into a fruit. I wonder if it will produce seeds.

That's a scientific approach, but people of all ages might have fun turning some of their responses into a creative exercise using a little imagination. Keep in mind that some of the best experiences can't be photographed as in the example below.

Every summer, I go to an Abbey in a remote area outside of Albuquerque, NM for a writer's retreat. This trip was a little different.

I saw a coyote outside my bedroom window early each morning. I tried to get its photograph, but it was too fast. It walked away before I could get to my phone. The day I left, I saw two coyote pups with the adult coyote. I jumped out of my car to get a photo, but they trotted off into the desert.

I think that maybe the adult coyote was a female and a mother because it was with two pups.

I wonder if the coyote turns into a person who works at the Abbey during the day. Maybe that person works in such a secluded place so that no one will know their secret.

The second response starts as a direct observation but soon turns into something quite fanciful. This is one way that writers get their stories. They observe the world around them and ask, WHAT IF.....

That is one thing that writers and scientists have in common. They are always wondering about things and asking questions.