Day Seven: Third Graders!

Today we had Syracuse Elementary School 3rd Graders.  Boy were they great!  It was cold, wet, and rainy, and there was a high chance of it being canceled, but it wasn't.  I was not sure what to expect from 76 third graders in these kinds of conditions but they ended up amazing me.  They were so excited all day.  Despite the cold, wet, and rain, no one complained.  No matter how cold they were, how soaked their feet got, or how drenched and muddy they were from falling in the wetland or during the game, they were all smiles.  Because it was so cold and cloudy, we had a very difficult time finding any turtles, frogs, or snakes.  We saw one frog but it jumped into the water before most of us could really get a good look at it.  The two animals we did see were Canada Geese and Red Winged Black Birds.  We also saw some Rollie Pollies and worms when we flipped over a log.
What we lacked in finding animals we made up for it by showing the students wild edibles.  We showed them cattails, garlic mustard, and sweet sicily.  They loved it!  They didn't all try every plant we offered them, and they certainly didn't all like each of them, but they enjoyed it overall.  We had lots of students asking and looking for more of each plant and wanting seconds.  They remembered the names of the plants pretty well and seemed excited to try and look for them in other places.  I loved their enthusiasm and excitement about this.  It was really fun to be able to focus on wild edibles today.  I've always showed the students garlic mustard, but today I was able to show them three edible plants which was much more exciting.
The hardest part about today was when one girl came up to me and said "I'm really not an outdoor person".  I asked her what her favorite part of the day had been and she answered me sarcastically saying "feeling like I have frostbite on my fingers and being wet".  She immediately followed that with, "but the microscopes were pretty cool!"  At least that part made me feel a little bit better.  It was so discouraging to hear someone so young make such a general statement like that.  How can an 8 or 9 year old really say they're just not an outdoor person?  That is so sad to me!  I think that that kind of attitude is more common in older students, but it is discouraging to hear no matter how old the person saying it is.  Another shaky moment today was when our group had a miscommunication about what a violet was and if it was edible.  One person was really 100% sure that the plant they were telling kids they could eat was a violet, and I was 100% sure they were wrong.  But then I started questioning myself because they were so sure.  I turned out that I was right and that they weren't violets, they were flocks.  Luckily, it seems that flocks won't do anything bad to you!  I had a minor panic moment when I found out I was right because I didn't want almost 40 kids to be really sick over eating something that they weren't supposed to.
My picture for today is of Paul collecting methane in the wetland in order to set it on fire.  The kids absolutely loved it!  Even though I have seen it multiple times, I still think that it is really cool!