Ijams graduates a new class of certified spider-ologists!

The Sunday afternoon Ologists gathered a week ago for their monthly meeting. The topic was Spider-ology 101. 

After a short indoor class on the eight legged Arachnids with appropriate spider-themed food snacks, we ventured outside for our biological field work.

Green lynx spider

Coolest spider of the day was a mother green lynx spider caught by Lisa and correctly IDed by Jackson. We know she was a mom because she was covered with tiny spiderlings. 

And once again Jacob proved he can catch anything.

Jackson, Phia, Jessika, Kierra, Judah, Asha, Rachel, Riley, Jacob, Abby, Cayden and Asher all earned their degrees in spider-ology. They all know what a cephalothorax is. Good job!

Since 1968 Ijams Nature Center has been a safe place for parents and their junior naturalists to explore nature together.

Next month it's Hawk-ology 101 (hawks, falcons, eagles), Sunday, Nov. 20!

- Stephen Lyn Bales. Supplied photos by Linda Knott.

Spider hairdo

What's the deal about spiders?  They are delicious.

Spiders have eight eyes, as do some girls!

Don't miss spider-ology 101 tomorrow at Ijams

We will be looking for you.

Yesterday afternoon was our third Invertebrates Class for the Ed-Ventures home school families. After a short indoor formal class on insects, spiders and myriapods we did outside biological field work with swept nets and little cups to hold our catches and we found more arachnids than any other group.
 
WBIR Live@5@4 reporter Emily Stroud dropped by Ijams to check out the activity and talk about our upcoming Spider-ology 101 class open to the public scheduled for 2 p.m. tomorrow. To register call 577-4717, ext. 110. Fee: $5 for Ijams members, $8 for non-members. Children under three are free.
 
Ijams Nature Center has been connecting kids and their parents with nature since 1968.
 
Rumor has it that Emily actually touched a tarantula. Here is her WBIR report. Click: http://www.wbir.com/news/local/five-at-four/ijams-nature-center-spiders-class/339976227
 
Thank you to all!

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Nothing brings a bigger smile like catching a really cool bug.

Girl Scouts become Animal Detectives for a day

Who killed Bruce "Bring the Funk" Skunk?

Bum-tah-bum-bum.

Cue the theme music from TV's "Dragnet.

There's been a murder most foul...smelling. 

Local Girl Scouts met at Ijams last Sunday for an Animal Detectives badge workshop.

They learned about their own fingerprints and animal tracks, messages in bird songs, dissected regurgitated owl pellets to look for the remains of rodential victims—mouse bones and skulls—and had to solve a crime: who killed Bruce "Bring the Funk" Skunk. There were three prime predator suspects. But who who who did it? 

For 93 years, since the days of H.P and Alice Ijams, Girl Scouts have been coming to badge workshops at our South Knoxville location.

Thank you Jennifer for creating such a fun and investigative workshop curriculum and Ashlind for helping solve the crime.

-Stephen Lyn Bales

Meet arch, simple loop, simple loop, arch, arch.

Skull-duggery?

Take home bag of bones

Crime scene photo. Don't look. 

Ashlind reads the case file of the first suspect: Shakespeare "The Bard" Owl

Or could it have been Robert "Bob" Cat?

The detectives ponder the clues.

We got our badges!

Ed-Ventures @ Ijams for homeschoolers introduced

Ijams: Inspiring natural curiosity in nature, Molly watches a tadpole swim

Our new Ed-Ventures @ Ijams program began in September. Designed for parents who homeschool their young ones, the series includes eight classes, four in the fall and four next spring. Each is built around one of the natural science disciplines: entomology, geology, mammalogy, ornithology, dendrology (study of trees), herpetology (study of reptiles and amphibians), etc.

Last month, we gave the young naturalists a look at what it would be like to be aquatic biologists. We searched for benthic invertebrates, or principally arthropods that live underwater

“We knew there was a need for such a program with the homeschool families,” said Ijams Education Director Jennifer Roder, “But we were surprised the response would be so great. This first year we have 60 children enrolled.”

For over 90 years, Ijams has been a safe place for young people to explore nature. In October, we’ll become entomologists for a day. 

- Stephen Lyn Bales

Molly holds a dragonfly nymph, Grace a young frog