Good Afternoon Watershed Explorers,
I hope you are doing some fun activities to keep cool. These hot and humid days can be very tough! As always, be sure to wear proper sun protection and drink lots of water if you are venturing outdoors to explore!
Today's post is really more for Mrs. Morissette. I am trying to get myself motivated to work on the journals that I have been neglecting. However, I thought that it would be nice to reiterate the positives about journaling to all of you as well.
Journaling is an excellent way to keep a record of your adventures. Take a notebook with you and sketch and/or write about your observations. If you have a camera or a phone, take some pictures and leave room in your notebook where you can place the pictures once you print them out. This is a great tool to help with critter identification. It always helps to have a nice picture to reference when completing your research! You can record your research findings in your notebook along with the other valuable information you collected.
There are tons of resources on the internet that can help guide you on how to start journaling if you have never done it before. It is important to remember that there is no right or wrong way to journal. If you have an old notebook from school that has pages left in it, consider upcycling it and using it as your explorer journal. Some of you may even have your Watershed Explorer notebook from this year with a lot of pages left in it, you could definitely use that. Also, don't worry if your sketches, writing, and photos aren't perfect, as you journal more, you will definitely improve on your work, and you may even become a bit of an expert and be able to show others how to organize their explorations.
I love looking back in my journals to see what I have explored over the years. My journals remind me about my adventures and allow me to reflect on years of scientific inquiry. I use my journals from time to time as reference guides as well, sometimes I come across a critter that I know I have seen before, and sure enough, it is documented in one of my journals.
If you are reading the blogs this summer and you have created some journals of your own, I would love to see some of your work. Here are two pages of my own journaling below.
I miss you all,
Mrs. Morissette