Leaf-Miners & Rollers :: Nature Study - Eva Varga

When I discovered that one of the Outdoor Hour Challenges this month is Leaf-Miners and Rollers, I was delighted.  I love insects and enjoy sharing my knowledge with others, particularly my munchkins.  This time around … I was pleased when my daughter asked me a question that allowed me to introduce her to using a dichotomous key.  I’ll come back to that, but let me first set the stage.

After following Barb’s wonderful suggestions for Inside Prep Work, we went outside with the intention of looking for and observing insects.  Coincidentally, we walked about in two locations … first on the coast when we were visiting the grandparents and second, when we returned home to Northern California.  Unfortunately, I was not aware of any of the suggested plants in either area so we had to make do with a hunt of sorts.  At home, we do have many species of oaks but weren’t successful finding leaf-miners at work.

As suggested by Barb, we examined various leaves and looked for anything that had damaged the leaves. We found evidence on some blackberry leaves of what may have been leaf-miners, but we are not certain.  We also observed numerous leaves with leaf margins chewed away by insects.  In an apple tree, we observed a ripe apple but upon picking it, discovered nearly 1/3 of it had been pecked away by birds (it was too high for deer).

We are in the midst of a GEMS unit, Investigating Artifacts, so we also collected numerous natural objects.  We thereby picked a few leaves that had evidence of insects and brought our collections back to the house for further investigation.  We spent a little time sorting our collection into different categories as a part of the Artifacts unit (leaves/not leaves, seeds/not seeds, green/not green, etc.) and then proceeded with our OHC challenge on leaf-miners and leaf-rollers.

I explained that my expectation for our journal entry was to illustrate 2-3 specimens of their choice.  I should have asked them to write a few words about our quest as well and/or to write a few facts about what they chose to draw … note to self for next time.  I was very impressed with how careful each one was with their drawings, though.  They both took the time to do their best and for that I am thankful.

While we were journaling,  however, a little critter came out amongst the leaf litter to make our acquaintance.  He observed us for a long time and seemingly, enjoyed the attention because he posed for a long time while in turn observed him.  He even allowed us to sketch him and was kind enough not to wiggle about … the perfect model!  🙂

As we were sketching, Sweetie asked me what kind of bug he was.  I explained that he belonged to the order of insects called Hemiptera or true bugs.  This is when she posed her question, “How do you know, Mom?  How can you tell?”

I thereby retrieved the dichotomous key that I had used for years in the classroom.  It was the perfect companion lesson to the discussion we had had just moments before when we were sorting our collection into different categories.  I walked through the key with her, allowing her to discover for herself what characteristics our little insect friend had that classified him as Hemiptera.  She was so interested in the key that she then asked if she could make one of her own for her journal.  What a great idea!!