Exploring Nature With Your Child: March 2014

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Remaining March classes and Atlanta Science Festival

This Thursday, March 20, is ENWYC. Last week’s class was very busy. We had lots of show and tell items from beaver sticks, blue pine cones, and sweet gum balls to a cocoon, pupa, and gall. One of the highlights of the night was the musk turtle. One child brought in some jelly-eared fungus that was a nice segue to viewing our fungi cultures under the microscope. It should be interesting to see what this week’s class will bring.

On Thursday, March, 27, there will be a special event going on at the Fernbank Science Center. The event is “Science at the Center”. It runs from 6 – 8 pm. Our ENWYC group will meet that night and explore the different activities around the center from robotics to chemistry to the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly and more. This event is part of the Atlanta Science Festival.

The Fernbank Science Center will also be hosting another festival event on Saturday, March 22, 2014 from Noon – 3 pm. The event is called Nano Day. The Atlanta Science Festival runs from March 22 – March 29, 2014. Each day, there are lots of events all around the city. Most of the events are free. Some require pre-registration. For a complete listing, go to http://atlantasciencefestival.org/.

The festival culminates in an Exploration Expo at Centennial Olympic Park. The Exploration Expo is on Saturday, March 29, 2014 from 11 am – 4 pm. There will be more than 100 interactive science booths and shows. Admission is free. In case of inclement weather, check the website for any last minute changes such as relocation to the Georgia World Congress Center.

Recap of March 13, 2014

Beaver stick

from a Hackberry tree

has berries that are sweet and crunchy
also called a Sugarberry

the rings of the branch were counted

it was around 11 or 12 years old

check out the bite marks

Note: On 2/27/14, we looked at Hackberry petiole gall psyllid.

Quartz

Starfish

Cocoon from a Cecropia moth

pull fibers out and spin
moth incorporated the leaf and spun webbing inside

Dead limb with fungus and lichen

Jelly-eared fungus

gelatinous
Chinese use it in soups
it was dry so we rehydrated it

Lichen

makes it own food
algae and fungi fused together

Bagworm pupa
Oak apple gall

from a wasp
hole shows where the wasp came out

Long branch pine tree with blue pine cones

Shaking a bit of pollen dust

Musk turtle

small
hinged plate on bottom
male

short tail before where the poop comes out

2 stripes on side of head
no teeth
has hard beak
squirts out a musk scent when aggravated
should have algae on it but it doesn't
older
found near Stone Mountain; it is going to be returned to its habitat

Watch out for that bite!

Sweet gum balls

knocked the sweet gum balls to see what lived inside
found spring tails and spiders

Cultures

Last week, the children put leaves and sticks and things in the prepared cultures
This week, we checked out the fungus that grew.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Tomorrow is Exploring Nature with Your Child

Exploring Nature with Your Child is tomorrow - Thursday, March 13, 2014.

Hope to see you there.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Spring Salamander

Al confirmed that the salamander brought to ENWYC on 02/27/14 is a Spring Salamander, Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. It is an adult and, believe it or not, one of it's principal diet items is other salamanders.

For a good description of Spring Salamanders, go to http://www.herpsofnc.org/herps_of_nc/salamanders/Gyrpor/Gyr_por.html.

There is also a neat photo on the page of a Spring Salamander eating another salamander.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

March 2014 classes

Class will be held on

March 6, 2014
March 13, 2014
March 20, 2014
March 27, 2014

Is it rock or man-made? from 02/06/14

After consulting with FSC staff members, it is thought to be a man-made artifact, possibly a piece of a ceramic pot. It may be a piece of an ear that broke off.

Recap 02/27/14

Hackberry petiole gall psyllid

polythalmous

separate compartments
several developing in each compartment
as many as 13 per gall

develop through summer and over winter
heavily infested trees are recognizable through the winter by the presence of dead leaves
infested leaves do not fall off

the adult resembles a small cicada
have piercing sucking mouth parts
phloem feeders

sap feeders

Photo from http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/trees/hackberry_psyllid.htm

Spider cocoon with eggs

Leaf hopper
Salamander

Geode

1st year female pinecone
Leaf skeleton

Coal

Sycamore seed pods
Big leaf magnolia buds

Beech leaves

Beech keeps track of the length of the day, which then signals the leaf to drop

Follow-up from 02/06/14

Winter Wren

From the Ohio Bird Banding website

Bagworm Moth

From Wikipedia

Moh's Hardness Scale
Hardness	Mineral	Description
1	Talc	Fingernail scratches it easily.
2	Gypsum	Fingernail scratches it.
3	Calcite	Copper penny scratches it.
4	Fluorite	Steel knife scratches it easily.
5	Apatite	Steel knife scratches it.
6	Feldspar	Steel knife does not scratch it easily, but scratches glass.
7	Quartz	Hardest common mineral. It scratches steel and glass easily.
8	Topaz	Harder than any common mineral.
9	Corundum	It scratches Topaz.
10	Diamond	It is the hardest of all minerals.

From http://library.thinkquest.org/J002289/mohs.html

Recap 02/06/14

Fungi

It is important to understand how the dead stuff is recycled. This know-how will help us protect our universe.

Mushrooms recycle stuff. They break down the cellulose in leaves.