Day Two of Teaching...this time...Kindergartners!

Today, we taught a more quiet group of students. They were kindergartners who, for the first few minutes, were practically silent! When we asked them about it, they said they were always that quiet. We soon heard their voices in excitement as we entered the forest! They were asking lots of questions and although maybe not quite as excitable as the younger students, they were in awe of everything they saw. We found worm scat, some big holes that animals live in, coyote footprints, deer footprints, and so much more.

We walked on over to Onion Bottom pond after we found some awesome macroinvertabrets. At first, we saw some turtles sun bathing on some old tree branches that are laying above the water. Then, we observed and analyzed a deer carcass. Finally, we climbed up on the lookout to see what we could see once we got up a little higher. The students found all sorts of things. In the picture above, the students found a frog down in the algae covered pond. All they could see was his head but that was still really cool! I really enjoyed how much enthusiasm the students had while they were searching for things up there. They were making all sorts of observations. To aid in their observations, we decided to play the shape matching game. They did really well with this game and made it into a challenge to see how many different shapes they could find.   

While out on the lookout, I found this beautiful little bird sitting on a branch in a tree overlooking Onion Bottom.

I also got the exciting opportunity to lead the snake talk with Stacy Squirrel. I had Obsie, the two month old black rat snake out to teach the students about them. Stacy Squirrel had Don, the two year old northern water snake, out to teach students about. Both snakes cooperated really well and the kids loved seeing and learning about them. They seemed extremely engaged, which was encouraging. What I love about this age group is that with a few exceptions, these students are not yet scared of snakes. All but maybe five or eight students total touched both Obsie and Don. We taught them about their habitats, eating habits, growth, tendencies, types of birth and camouflage. Since the snakes were behaving, we let the students touch them. We started off with a few quick rules about how to touch the snake since it has scales, and then we took the snakes around the circle to the students and let them touch! I thought it was a hit...plus I had fun too!

After we got back from class, Abby Apple Tree and I decided to go kayaking out on the wetlands. We got a great workout, and enjoyed the beautiful weather as we let ourselves sometimes drift with the wind blowing us across the lake. While on our trip, we saw geese with their new baby goslings! We were so excited to see them as they stayed extra close to Mama. 

As the day came to a close, a few of us went on a night hike. We used our senses other than sight to find our way along the hike. We watched bats drop out of their house, ate some cattail roots (tastes like cucumber!), walk by individually for a while to see what we notice, test our eye sight with a few games and even try a dried glow worm! 

Overall it was a great day filled with lots of new experiences, people, and knowledge. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!