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Journaling Resources

Wolf Ridge Staff member Andrea Swanson's graduate work included the creation of a very extensive list of children's literature and resources related to environmental themes. Here are a few favorites. E-mail her (above) for more ideas.

Drawing and Sketching

Johnson, Cathy. 1990. The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN #0-87156-932-9. Introduction to painting and drawing for the enhancement of outdoor experiences. Easy-to-follow instructions with many illustrations.

Leslie, Claire Walker. 1980. Nature Drawing: A Tool for Learning. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. ISBN #078720580X.

Leslie, Claire Walker. 1995. The Art of Field Sketching. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. ISBN #0787205796.

Writing

Chancer, Joni and Gina Rester-Zodrow. 1997. Moon Journals: Writing, Art, and Inquiry Through Focused Nature Study. Portsmouth: Heinemann. ISBN #0-435-07221-8. Provides activities and examples.

Clidas, Jeanne. 1996. "Personal Plot Journals." Science and Children 34(1): 22-24.

Ferra, Lorraine. 1994. A Crow Doesn’t Need a Shadow: The Guide to Writing Poetry from Nature. Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith. ISBN #0879056002. Intermediate to middle level. Includes selected poems, poetry field trips, ideas about keeping a nature journal. Focuses on the integration of inner and outer landscapes and reflection on our place in the world.

Harste, Jerome C. and Kathy G. Short. 1996. Creating Classrooms for Authors and Inquirers (2nd ed.). Portsmouth: Heinemann. ISBN #0-435-08850-5. Discusses the authoring cycle, how to move from writing and reading to inquiry. Provides curriculum, strategies.

Hinchman, Hannah. 1997. A Trail Through Leaves: The Journal as a Path to Place. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN #0393318850.

Leslie, Claire Walker and Charles Edmund Roth. 1998. Nature Journaling: Learning to Observe and Connect With the World Around You. Pownal: Storey Books. ISBN #1580170889. Intermediate to secondary level. Guide to creating ongoing journals for many uses.

Rackliffe, Karen Skidmore. 1998. Wild Days: Creating Discovery Journals. Salt Lake City: SunRise Publishing. ISBN #1-57636-073-3. The hows and whys of nature journaling, with plenty of examples.

Children's Literature: Prose

Bliss, Corinne Demas. 1992. Matthew's Meadow. New York, NY. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers. Matthew is a young boy who enjoys going to a meadow to lay in the sun, daydream, watch the clouds, and not think. A red tailed hawk flies over and speaks to him and offers him lessons each year as he grows up. As Matthew grows up, he returns to the meadow at blackberry season to meet up with the hawk. The hawk invites him to focus on each of his senses and use each one as he has never used them before, thus becoming very aware and sensitive to the natural world. This is a serene circle story, as Matthew returns as an adult with his child to pass on the meadow that was given to him by his grandmother. The watercolor paintings by Ted Lewin are peaceful and thought provoking.

Cooney, Barbara. 1982. Miss Rumphius. New York, NY. Puffin Books. A wise woman, rich with life experiences, tells her story to her nieces and nephews, leaving them with a very important piece of wisdom. Leave the earth more beautiful that when you came. This very simple message is strongly portrayed through the text and the rich, colorful illustrations.

Mazer, Anne. 1991. The Salamander Room. New York, NY. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Brian finds a salamander in the woods and brings it home to live with him. His mother asks him important questions about how he is going to care for it. His responses turn his room into the very forest from which the salamander came. This is a sensitive and caring story about how wild animals should really be cared for out in the wild.

Rylant, Cynthia. 1986. Night in the Country. New York, NY. Macmillan Publishing Company. This is a fine tuned story of night sounds which you can actually hear as the book is read aloud. It is a good story to use as a preface to becoming aware of sounds. The illustrations are dark, like the night, but end in glorious color with the sunrise.

Prose Response Activities

  • What are you wondering or thinking about?
  • Describe a place that is special.
  • Mark a descriptive passage. Write why you like it.
  • Illustrate a scene that is important to you.

Children's Literature: Poetry

Brenner, Barbara. 1994. The Earth is Painted Green: A Garden of Poems About Our Planet. New York, NY. Scholastic Inc. As the title says, this is a collection of poems by a variety of authors about the earth, seasons, plants, animals, and more. They are easy to read and great models for startig personal poems.

Fleischman, Paul. 1985. I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices. New York, NY. HarperCollins Children's Books. These poems about different birds are meant to be read aloud by two or more people. Fleischman includes mythological birds and extinct birds, as well as birds with which we are most familiar. Use this with his other poetry book for two voices, Joyful Noise, which contains musical poems about insects.

Heard, Georgia. 1992. Creatures of Earch, Sea, and Sky. Honesdale, PA. Wordsong Boyds Mills Press, Inc. These thoughtful poems about different animals are beautifully written. Each one describes an animal and something unique about it. The illustrations by Jennifer Dewey complement each poem as well.

Livingston, Myra Cohn. 1984. Monkey Puzzle and Other Poems. New York, NY. Atheneum. A poem about the Monkey Puzzle tree begins this book of poems about trees around the world. The Monkey Puzzle is a species of thorny tree named by Englishmen and grows in warm climates. The strong words used to describe trees may inspire young poets to write about the trees they know so well.

Yolen, Jane. 1996. Mother Earth, Father Sky: Poems of Our Planet. Honesdale, PA. Wordsong Boyds Mills Press, Inc. This is an anthology of thought-provoking poems from various writers, including C.S. Lewis, Carl Sandburg, Gary Snyder, and the collector, Jane Yolen. The collection is divided into three sections: Celebrate the Earth, Sacrifice the Earth, and Save the Earth. The illustrations are gray and white scratchboard prints of things from nature which are the background for each poem.

The River of Words Project is an international environmental poetry and art contest designed to nurture respect and understanding of the natural world by encouraging children to learn their "ecological address" and to describe through poetry and art their own "place in space." Co-sponsored by International Rivers Network , The Library of Congress Center for the Book and United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997) Robert Hass , the project hopes to foster responsibility, imagination and action in young people and to publicly acknowledge their creativity and concerns.

Poetry Response Activities

  • What are you thinking or wondering about?
  • Keep a list of strong/powerful/meaningful words.
  • Choose a favorite line and write from that line.
  • Illustrate a poem.
  • Put a poem to music.

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