A Treasure or Just Another Tree

On one of my many power walks around the elementary school, where I work, I noticed a grove of trees. Occasionally, I will take a short detour under the cool canopy-covered pathway.

For about six months now, I have been carefully watching over a patch of trees that I call Smith Children's Forest or los bosque de los ninos, in Spanish. It sits along side one of Metro Atlanta's oldest highways, near my elementary school.

Over the years,

Project Learning Tree #46: Schoolyard Safari

Red-tail Hawk

http://www.kiwifoto.com/galleries/birds/red_tailed_hawk/

I think that I prefer the title Schoolyard Scavenger Hunt over Schoolyard Safari because the term safari conjures up big game hunting in Africa. While the students were on a hunt, it was a small-scale hunt for life or signs of life. Each student was given their own spiral nature journals...Thanks to Mrs. Jackson.

While we were outside today looking for life in our outdoor classroom (OC), we observed a red-tail hawk soaring overhead. It was a beautiful sight. One of my students even tried to sketch the predator in her journal, after attempting to coax me into drawing it for her.

Today was the second time that we found time to sketch in nature, but the first time that we combined sketching and a Project Learning Tree (PTL) activity. Schoolyard Safari gave the students a sense of purpose for their writing and observations. They used magnifying glasses to get closer perspectives on living things in nature.

The students were given two primary directives (like in Star Trek): 1) Respect all living things. (Observe, Record, Leave it alone) and 2) Be quiet in this outdoor habitat. Those are the two rules that I wish ALL people would learn when interacting with nature. One student even commented that it was great when students come outside and be quiet at the same time. After the activity ended, the students wrote silently about their experience. When it was time to stop writing, I had to practically force them to stop. What a wonderful world it is... when students want to keep writing.

2011 Great Backyard Bird Count

My First Bird Sketch

Yea! What started as simply enjoying the outdoors and watching my favorite feathered friends turned out to be my first four-day participation in the Great Backyard Bird Count!

My locations ranged from power walking at Rex Mill and RTS, to the WAWA Arbor Day celebration, to "down home" with my Mom and Grandmother and finally in my own backyard (making observations from my kitchen window). In all I spotted: 325 Sand Hill cranes, 2 Canadian Geese, 5 song sparrows, 3 Tufted Titmouse (mice?), and an Eastern Phoebe.

It was an awesome weekend for birding!

A New Day for Recycling at RTS!

Last Tuesday was the final time that the EE Kids recycled paper on Tuesdays. Beginning this week, paper will be recycled on each Thursday. This change came about because we have so many boxes being recycled from the cafeteria and NOT broken down that we are unable to place ANYTHING in the recycling container on Tuesdays. In the past, we were forced to hold the paper until Thursday and complete recycling at that time.

By switching to Thursdays, our EE Kids are able to FINALLY have one whole afternoon (4:00-5:30 p.m.) dedicated exclusively to environmental education activities. YEA!!!

Tomorrow, we will discuss keeping proper journal logs and hold our 1st EE session.

An Arbor Day Event at WAWA

February 18, 2011 was Arbor Day in Georgia (according to the Ga. General Assembly). It was a day for celebrating the wonderful plants called trees! At the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance (WAWA), community children came to the Interpretive Center for educational activities, nature hiking and tree plantings on Saturday, Feb. 19.

The afternoon began with indoor educational stations that included introducing children to Arbor Day vocabulary and concepts. While I actually planned to be a casual observer, I was recruited by the Education Director to facilitate with one of the activities. At my table, I discussed the difference between old growth versus new growth forests (primary vs. secondary succession) with the students and assisted them in making "forest collages" in their nature journals. Each collage was as unique as the children who created them. I managed to take a few pictures during the event to document Arbor Day 2011.

The children and the adults who attended the event had a great time. This was my first Arbor Day event; however, it will not be my last one.

EE Kids: Back on Track

Last week was a busy one for the EE Kids and me. We spent the majority of the week preparing for a LIVE SKYPE session with oceanographers aboard the JOIDES Resolution. The scientists were on an expedition to study ancient sea volcanoes or seamounts off the coast of New Zealand on the Louisville Seamount Trail. The JOIDES Resolution will journey to Coast Rica on its next voyage, which will begin in three days and 10 hours from the posting of this blog entry.

Kevin Kurtz, an author with Sylvan-Dell Publishing invited us to chat with them, after his trip to our Saturday school session in December 2010.

One thing that I learned about preparing for this session was that my 4th and 5th graders were ill-prepared to create thoughtful questions for the crew. Even though they were able to fully understand the blog, created by Kevin, the questions that they submitted were ones that could easily be answered by re-reading the blog!

Therefore, I looked at this first SKYPE session as one where I modeled the creation of questions and provided them with the opportunity to practice orally presenting the questions to the scientists. From the looks of it, our EE Kids need much more exposure to research and the preparation of more "thoughtful" construction of questions.

As I shared with my students, I am glad that Georgia is finally realizing that SCIENCE is an important topic that can easily integrate other subject matters within its content.