Investigate with Jam Blog

Jam goes on a creature walk

4/30/2017

The Investigate with Jam crew took a creature walk to the playground. During our journey, we tried our best to count all the creatures we could find. As expected we saw too many birds so we decided to only count the single ones and not the flock. As we looked for different animals and insects we started to notice their homes and potential hiding places. It was fun trying to guess what creatures could live in each place.

Our simple creature walk also turned out to be a magical experience. Did you know in Laurel Maryland you could find elephants, peacocks, and lions on a walk to the playground? It’s true…. well according to Kal. He even pointed to a red and blue peacock, and I got a picture of it. Can you see it? Try closing your eyes. Can you see it now? I told you a magical experience. I love the imagination at work.

Our final count was as follows:
11 squirrels
7 birds
3 crows
1 falcon/ hawk (there was some debate)
1 butterfly
1 lion
2 elephant
1 peacock
10 nests

Activity

Take a creature walk on you next walking trip.

Case study #15- creature walk. Look for something that flies, walks, hops, crawls, or swims. List what you find.

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Jam investigates the Oak tree

10/11/2016

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Happy autumn! There is no better time to look at leaves then when they are all over the ground. The Investigate With Jam ™ crew adventured out on another tree hunt. This time we searched for Oak trees. I printed off five differently types of Oak tree leaves for the boys to use as a guide.

I picked different Oak trees that could be found in our area. Pin Oaks and Red Oaks are common street trees, and Willow Oaks and Swamp White Oaks like to be around wet areas. Since we live off a road and in walking distance to a stream I figured we had a good chance of finding something.

As the boys picked leaves we compared them to the pictures. I pointed out the leaf type, shape, and margin as guide for comparison. (If you don’t remember some leaf vocabulary can be found in case study #4- leaves)

I think Kal had the most fun on the hunt. With every step we took his head was focused on the sidewalk looking for leaves. When he would find a leaf I would tell him to bring it to us so we could compare it to the pictures. 9 times out of 10 he just look at his leaf and say “Not the one” then throw it over his shoulder.

Interesting, out of all the places we walked and looked we ended up finding 3 of the Oak trees planted along road to a softball field. Trust me no one was more excited than Kal.

We would have continued our hunt for the other two trees but with a playground near the softball field my team got distracted.

Activity

Join the search and find an Oak tree.

Case Study #12 - use these leaf pictures as a guide. Circle the leaves you find.
Reference Case Study #4 to help you describe your leaf.

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Garden Center

5/30/2016

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This investigation is taken straight from our Come Plant a Seed book launch. We held the book launch at Behnke Nurseries Garden Center in Beltsville, Maryland. This was a perfect opportunity to see plants in different growth stages along with other fun garden items so we did a scavenger hunt. It rained sporadically throughout the launch day so I know this activity will work in any weather.

Activity

Visit a garden center. Look at the different sizes of plants and guess how long it took for it to grow.

Case study #10: Go on a scavenger hunt. Attached is 2 scavenger hunts. The first hunt is specifically for Behnke Nurseries. Use the second hunt for any other garden center if you are not in the Baltimore Washington area.

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Jam investigates the air and space museum

1/2/2016

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Winter Saturdays are the best days for a trip to the Smithsonian. Jam had his first investigation of the year at the National Air and Space Museum. It was fun to look at the full scale planes and see the equipment, uniforms, and even bombs.

However due to Star Wars the real excitement was found in the space exhibits (Thanks Disney). In one area the Museum team set up a story and craft time. We missed the book reading but still got a chance to draw. They gave scratch paper and sticks to draw the plants discussed in the story. Both of the guys enjoyed it. We made it to most of the exhibits but after 2 hours, lunch, and the crowd it was time to call it a day.

Activity

Visit the National Air and Space Museum – hey it’s free.

Case Study #9: Enjoy this out-of-this-world word search.

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Jam investigates the London Plane Tree

8/10/2015

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In our last blog we investigated different types of leaves. In this blog Jam tried to put that knowledge to use. We went on the hunt for one of my favorite trees, the camouflage tree (aka London Plane- Platanus x acerifolia if you want to get technical). We talked about the tree’s cool peeling bark and its leaf structure. The London Plane tree is a common street tree in our area so I knew we simply had to hop in the car and drive around to find it. I had a particular place in mind to go, but on the way guess what we spotted from the car- the camo tree!!! We were simply a few blocks away from our house. We parked in the neighborhood and counted the trees, a total of 10.

So what do you do when you find the camo tree? You take a tree selfie. Now whenever we drive past a London Plane tree Jam yells in excitement “I see the tree mom. There it is!”