Wednesday Explorers Club ~ ecological succession

Years ago a large tree fell down at the bottom of our hill. It was too big to cut with a chainsaw, so it sat. Through wind and rain and snow and hot summer days - soaking up moisture - and now it is getting hard to recognize. Mosses cover much of the top. Leaves fallen and composted year after year have created compost that now provide a place for grasses to root.

Over time the tree is going through phases of decay. Mosses, lichens, and fungi push into the bark, furthering the process of decomposition. Later, other plants will take their place. As the wood rots and cracks, small animals will move in, carving their homes and nests.

Each group of occupants changes the log - making it suitable for the next plant and animal inhabitants. The process is called ecological succession.

What will our neighborhood tree trunk look like in two years? In five? In another decade?

Do you have a fallen tree, old patch of cement,  or patch of crumbling pavement that is undergoing succession?

What's growing on and in it? Can you see lichens? Fungi? Mosses? Are their plant stems stretching across the surface? Stems and leaves sprouting from the cracks?

What kinds of insects and other animals are using it?

How does it change over the next year? Document what you observe using photos, drawings, and notes.

Elephants need friends

Like us, elephants need family and friends. Otherwise they grow lonely. Here are two books that explore different facets of being an elephant.

themes: family, friendship, animals

Maggie, Alaska's Last Elephant
by Jennifer Keats Curtis; illus. by Phyllis Saroff
32 pages; ages 4-9
Arbordale, 2018

Once, elephants lived in Alaska - two of them.

This award-winning book opens with Annabelle, an Asian elephant and Maggie, an African elephant who lived in a zoo in Alaska. They were good friends. When Annabelle died, Maggie seemed lost. She was so lonely that she adopted a tire. The keepers tried everything to keep her active and engaged, but Maggie seemed to fade. Eventually, they decided she needed to go somewhere else, where she could live with other elephants.

What I like about this book: Author Jennifer Keats Curtis is a wonderful storyteller. She weaves in a lot of elephant behavior as she introduces Maggie and her story. She shows zookeepers creating enrichment opportunities for Maggie, in an effort to keep her brain and senses engaged throughout her day. And when they realize it's time for her to go, they have another problem to solve: how do you move an 8,000-pound animal thousands of miles?

I also like the back matter, which includes more information about elephant herds, how zoos keep elephants healthy and happy, and a fun Q&A with a keeper.

While Maggie's story is about a real elephant, Randal's is not. Instead, it is an imaginative way to address the question: how do you know who you are and where you belong.

Randal, the Elephant
by Ciara Gavin
36 pages; ages 3-6
Persnickety Press, 2018

One day Randal and Clive sat watching the elephants.

Randal finds elephants fascinating. Clive, not so much. As Randal waxes eloquent about all the cool things elephants can do (take a bath with their noses!), Clive asks, "Why don't you become one?"

What I like about this book: To become an elephant, Randal will need to spend a lot of time with them and "think elephant thoughts". So off he goes. But even when he's with the elephants, he remembers his buddies back home. A fun part of this book is the letters and photos that Randal sends to his friends. I love that he comes back to his otter friends. And I especially love the ending where Randal and Clive are once again watching animals and Randal exclaims how majestic these new beasts are! I don't want to give away the ending - but it is fun, and unexpected.

Yes! There is back matter - "cool facts" about elephants (in case you want to become one).

Beyond the Books:

Find out more about elephants! You can learn more at the World Wildlife site .

Arbordale provides links to the back matter in Maggie, as well as a teaching activity guide here.

If you could be an animal, what would you be? Why? What would you do to learn how to think your animal's thoughts?

Visit some elephants in a zoo. What sort of enrichment activities have the keepers provided? Watch their behavior and see if you can tell who their friends are.

If you're looking for more books on elephants, here are some titles to check out (links to reviews)

• How to Be an Elephant, Cao Chong Weighs and Elephant, and How to Find an Elephant
• The Elephant Whisperer
• Once Upon an Elephant
• Thirsty, Thirsty Elephants

Today we're joining other book bloggers over at STEM Friday, where you can discover other cool STEM books. And we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website . Review copies provided by the publishers.

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ Look Up!

How do trees share the sky?

This week spend more time looking at the world 

from a different perspective.

Welcome to a New Year of Wednesday Exploring! We'll head out on field trips, take nature breaks, ask questions, and meet cool bugs. So make sure you've got a nature journal, and sharpen your pencils. On Fridays join us for STEM book reviews and "beyond the book" activities.