How to Lead Journaling with Big Backyard
for volunteer walk leaders
A few days before
 [Class coordinator] check with the teacher to see if she/he wants to use blank
copy paper on clipboards or science notebooks, one per child. If clipboards,
will they be the teacher’s or BBY? Please be sure to return them! They are
all marked. Carry extra pencils, too. Save time during the walk by having
everything in place. Familiarize yourself with the Journal Activity Guide for the
upcoming walk.
In the classroom: Introduce journaling [Class coordinator or designated
parent]
 Ask the students if they ever write in a journal? Explain journaling on the Big
Backyard walks is similar to what scientists do in the field. Journaling allows
you to tell a story about your observations and experiences in the field. If
possible, show students examples of journal pages. Sometimes we will
journal during a walk, sometimes after a walk.
 Ask the children “If you are going to keep a nature journal what would you
want to put down at the start of every entry?”
 Briefly brainstorm: Name, date, time, weather, general observations, location.
Students write this information down. Follow the Journal Activity Guide for
your walk.
 In Gr. K and 1, all walk leaders record information students verbalize on their
group’s Discovery Sheet.
Journaling during the walk [all walk leaders]
 Refer to the specific Journal Activity Guide for your walk. Start the journal
activity close to the end of the walk, but while you are still near the objects
you want to draw. Leave 15 minutes for journaling, even if you have to cut the
walk a bit short. Note: some walks (Gr. 2 Soils, Gr. 4 Geology) have preprinted journal worksheets instead that are used throughout the walk.
Big Backyard journaling is always based on a student’s direct, close-up
observation of small, relatively simple objects; a leaf, a few berries attached to a
branch, or an insect in a bug box – not a whole branch, tree or landscape. After
completing this direct observation activity, it’s fine to make additional notes or
drawings from memory about other aspects of the walk that interested them.
1. Introduce journaling ( 2 min.)
 Sit the group around you while you explain the journal exercise. Shift gears.
Tell them that they are going to be observing very closely now, and they will
draw and describe what they see. Tell them:
o They are going to draw the object just as they see it, so someone will
know what it is.
o This isn’t supposed to be a “pretty picture.” This is detailed drawing
from DIRECT OBSERVATION, drawing for SCIENCE, drawing for
INFORMATION.
o Their drawing doesn’t have to be perfect because they are going to
label it, too.
o The journal entry will enable them to look back a week or month or
year from now and remember the walk very clearly.
o This is what scientists do, they record their observations.
Then explain the exercise. Help children pick appropriate things to draw. Tell the
group how long they will have for each section. Keep an eye on time and give a
1 minute warning. Talk about scale: their drawing should not be much bigger
than their fist. Leave room for writing, too.
2. Observe first, without drawing !!! (1 min.)
 Notice everything they can about it. Shape, color, feel, smell, where thin and
thick, holes, veins, markings, irregularities, head, eyes, legs, openings.
 Encourage them to start asking questions about it in their mind: What is that
for? Why is it shaped like this? Where is the…?
3. Draw the object(s) (5 min.)
 Suggest first outlining the basic shape lightly.
 Remind them to include the important details, and help point these out.
 Most children are eager to draw. If not, try some reassurance and prompting.
 Encourage them to get something down.
4. Label the object(s)
 Ask them to label their drawing (specific “Red Maple leaf” or general category
“black flying insect”). If they are not sure of a name, they put a question mark
after it (“Nettle seeds?”)
 If the object is small, show them how to draw a scale bar (a line shaped like
“I” that is as long as the actual object).
5. Write from observation (5 min.)
 Underneath or next to their drawing ask them to write a few words or notes
describing their object, being as specific as they can: shape, textures, colors,
feel, smell, where thick and thin, veins, irregularities, head, eyes, segments,
legs, openings, movements, fast or slow, other behavior. Where did they find
it? Just one or many? Write down in words what they can’t draw. Perhaps
label the parts of their drawing. Where did they find it? What was it doing?
6. Stop drawing and writing and THINK (5 min.)
 Throughout the journaling process, but especially at the end, prompt
wondering: Why does this maple seed have a wing? Why are this insect’s
eyes on the side of its head? What questions pop up in your mind as a
leader? Share them. You don’t necessarily need to know the answer
(although it’s great if you do), simply conjecture with the kids.
 With further guided questioning, encourage students to THINK about the
organism or object they drew in larger contexts, such as habitat, food web, life
cycle, seasonal survival, and adaptations against predators. Try to engender
excitement about being able to learn more very, very easily through follow-up
research in an encyclopedia or the web. Even if the teacher doesn’t get to it,
they can look it up themselves or with their parents. Who knows what
interesting things they’ll find out!
If you discover something else exciting on the walk, feel free to journal about it
instead, but use the same approach of drawing with closely connected writing.
The teacher may also give you direction for the journaling activity. At the end of
the journaling, continue with the walk wrap-up as outlined in the walk guide.
Back in the classroom:
 Complete Discovery Sheet (if appropriate), make a copy for each child in your
group, put child’s name on each and hand out. If children color their drawings,
make sure they use colored pencils - markers and crayons quickly obliterate
their drawings. Return BBY supplies.
Art Teacher notes:
Grade 1: First Grade classroom teachers use the term “Slow Motion drawing
and writing” to refer to careful work. To draw an object, 1st Graders should be
able to touch it . The simpler the better. 1st Graders have a rudimentary
understanding of: “observation,” “outline,” “shape,” “pattern,” and “detail.”
Grade 2: Second Graders understand the concepts of “organic (irregular) shape,”
and “scale,” and should understand how to put “details” into their drawings.
Grade 3: Accuracy is stressed in Third Grade drawing. All the basics of drawing
have now been introduced.