Nature Study - Leaves

We did our first nature study today!  The children and I, minus Olivia, went outside to see what we could find that interested our senses.  It is a beautiful, sunny, and warm day and we headed out in the morning hoping to beat the afternoon heat and some of the bugs.  We were only successful in beating the heat!  The bugs were so bad by the woods that we quickly retreated inside after only 15 minutes outside.  Here's what we saw:

1. Autumn Olive - we have two bushes to the south of the house that have very pretty green leaves with red berries.  What is unique about these bushes is that the underside of the leaves are sliver and the berries also have silver dots on them.  Upon further research we discovered that these are Autumn Olive bushes, which are thought to be noxious weeds that are very hard to get rid of!  I also found an article, see the attached link to this post, that indicates the berries are delicious and high in lycopene.  The berries have a very interesting seed inside of them as well.
2. Queen Ann's Lace
3. Blackberries!
4. Large grape leaves
5. Mosquitoes galore!!!

We also heard an amazing symphony of sounds while we were outside - from the bugs and birds!  The crickets, locusts, and various birds were singing away this morning. :)

We'll be spending this week learning about the things we saw, below are some pictures: