Our First Nature Study

For our nature study today, we took a walk around the perimeter of our property. We saw some trails in our field where the deer have been foraging and several dust baths that the partridge and pheasants have been using. Our best find however was this;

It's a Black and Yellow Agriope orb spider.  I love the pattern on it.  It looks like someone with a beehive glaring out at me.  See the hands on the hips?  The spider was quite large at about 1.5" long. 

Now that we're back inside the kids are going to submit an entry into their little natural journals.   Did anyone else start "school" today?  How did it go?