Welcome to week 2 of our pond study. For week 1 see here. This week we decided to concentrate on pond pollution to see if it changes over the year. Here was the pond that greeted us last Monday:
Week two of our pond study saw daddy at home unwell, with B2 not feeling quite right. That and the fact it was freezing out and snowing, we made the decision to take the car. The littles stayed in the car with Gary, whilst the older three and I investigated our pond. This week I wanted to concentrate on the pollution levels found in the pond. I had done a bit of research on-line and we decided to look at the following:
- Water clarity
- Water pH
- Bugs in the water
- Insect life around the pond
- General wildlife around the pond
- Any outward signs of pollution/waste
- Looking at the surrounding area. Were there any obvious things causing pollution
The children collected a sample of water from the deeper end and the muddy, shallow end of the pond. We used a simple jam jar and labeled each. The water was fairly clear in both jars:
T11 measured the pH of both water samples. They measured a pH of 8, which means the pond is slightly alkaline but within limits and therefore healthy enough to support life:
There was not much evidence at all of any insect life around the pond, but it was so cold, I think I would have been surprised if we had seen any. There was, however, much wildlife to be seen:
The children concluded that even in late winter/early spring our pond supported a great variety of wildlife.
I then sent the children around the perimeter of the pond to discover if they could find evidence of any kind of pollution/ waste or rubbish. To be honest, given our village is quite a large village, there was very little:
I wonder if that will increase as the weather is warmer and more people are out and about? The last thing I took a photo of was the water level, measured by its level against a no fishing sign. Gary suggested this:
When we got back home we jotted down notes pertaining to the weather, observations etc ready to be stuck in our March page of our family notebooking (which I will take a photo of at the end of each month and post it) We also began a chart of water pH which we will keep at the back of our Nature notebook:
Very cool! Have you thought about looking at the microbial life in the water? I bet there is some really neat microbes to see.
Ooops… I mean there ARE some really neat microbes to see 🙂
Number three goal was bugs in water, and we were indeed going to look under our microscope, but with Gary ill and B2 ill I forgot until the water was a couple of days old and so we abandoned the idea. We’ll hopefully do it this week and I’ll add it to the post. I’m so pleased I’m not a perfectionist…….!
Have a lovely weekend!
How cool! I love your pond!
Thanks Phyllis, it is a great pond!
I’m very inspired by this, still. We’re definitely going to do some nature-observation of our own thanks to your example! I hope Gary & your little one are feeling better now.
I can’t believe I’m an example to anyone as far as nature study goes! Let’s see if I manage to keep it up. We are enjoying it, so that always helps!
I like your study so far. It’s very interesting and hands-on. Hope Gary and B2 are feeling better. Have a good weekend!
Thanks Hwee, we still have illness in our house. I’m the only one it seems to miss, thank God!
Mums are the last one standing! It’s the same in this household. 🙂
We’ve never tried testing the pH level of our pond. I should have thought of it because we have to have our well water tested for all sorts of things every year, but I never made the mental leap, apparently. 🙂 I’m adding it to our list of pond ideas for later this year. Thanks for the inspiration!
It’s totally my pleasure! I had hoped to look for microscopic bugs as well, but with all the sickness in the house it just didn’t happen!
Wow thank you sol much for the great idea. I will do this with the kids over the next few weeks! I am always dearly inspired by your posts! Many thanks!
Jeanine
Thank you so much, Jeanine, that’s so lovely of you to say and it is my pleasure! Have a great week!
I love that you tested the PH level of the pond. We should try this sometime……
It was a good introduction to pH, which we studied today during our Incr-Edible science!
I love seeing discovery science in the real world (not in a book with answers). Keep going with this! SO many possibilities for experiments!
Thanks Aubrey!
I love this study! We have a pond in our backyard, I may have to follow behind you and do the same study here 🙂 Thanks for posting!
Oh, I’d enjoy doing it along someone else, especially if they lived in a different country-imagine the comparisons!
What a beautiful place to learn!
It really is! Thanks for visiting, Sylvia.
The mandarin duck is beautiful. I have never seen one before. You have inspired me to begin a pond study. Now, if I can just locate a pond….
He is beautiful, although we’ve not seen him all summer!