Soggy Marsh Dwellers

We came up with our group name today. It was the second day of our bush wacking in the rain and we felt like"Soggy Marsh Dwellers." We started at the Beaver Pond outflow with the various measurements we needed. Then we walked aimlessly for 2 hours in the marsh around the Creek Pond. We were soaked again and began to wonder if the marsh would end. Several times we went for higher drier ground but we really wanted to find the inflow to the Creek Pond from the Beaver Pond. We are two very determined people.

However, after stepping into ankle deep water and fighting with dense blueberry trees, I felt the project was not worth it! I needed to start over so we treked out of the woods and found a logging trail that came out just beyond the Beaver Pond where the main trail was flooded. I was very discouraged.

Apon returning to school and speaking with Eleanor and Lara (our teachers), I felt better in knowing that the spot we found last Thursday along the Beaver Pond stream could be used as the inflow to the Creek Pond and that Eleanor knows of 2 entrances to the other two sites we need to replicate from the 2005 group. That will be the focus tomorrow.

A word for the future students who take on this project... be very thankful we have GPS points for you to follow. The amount of tall, thick, wet marshy land we transversed should not be wished apon anyone. I have a deeper sympathy for people who get lost in the woods.

A Soggy Afternoon

My picture says it all! (I'm wet and sweaty and tired of bush wacking, tell me which way to go Mr. Pine.)

Elizabeth and I were out looking for our site 4 (the water inflow from Beaver Pond) and it was raining. We took the first logging trail off the main trail and it led us to the Creek. Very exciting since the day before was spent following the outflow of Beaver Pond while bush wacking and trying not to fall into the water. After finding the Creek Pond we were astounded to see 2 beaver hunts and a dam! I was first to notice the eaten/chopped logs (seen below). I noticed that I was starting to look around for signs taught in class about beavers, deer eating brush, fern areas being matted down by a possible large animal, a large frog traveling with a snake (they made a great couple! I hope the honeymoon goes well), and skat that was probably deer. Many GPS spots were recorded for Monday's plotting. All in all it was a very exciting day even though we didn't find what we set out to find.

Chewed Beaver Log and Creek Pond Beaver Dam

Computers!

Our class shuffled ourselves into project groups yesterday. I am working with Elizabeth on water quality in the Barrington Headwaters Forest. We spent the first research day on hashing out the research question, sub-questions, looking through past group binders, and Internet searching. The computer is what took up most of our time... it can be frustrating to find information posted on state sites!

July 16, 2007

While reading the weekends homework, Southwest Center for Education and Natural Env. Inquiry Process and Denise Dumouchel (2003) "Experiential Practice," it made me happy to know that my use of KWL and inquiry in my classroom is still a best practice technique. And for anyone thinking about using either... yes they do work.

In the second article, I loved the sentence
"No scientist ever finishes his work, just as no human being ever stops learning."
Does anyone know this to be false? I didn't think so!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, under resources p. 62 I would like to know if anyone out there has read Barbara Bourne Taking Inquiry Outdoors: Reading, Writing, and Science Beyond the Classroom Walls ?

Plus if anyone was interested in the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry, I have walked through their programs and it does a great job at allowing you to experience inquiry learning. The web site lets anyone down load there scripted workshops for the various understanding levels. http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/

The "I believe..." statements we worked on in class today were down right frustrating. When we began I thought, "I am a teacher..I know this." Ya Right! As Eleanor was drilling a student through her statement I quickly felt I had no idea what I believed in! I went home feeling like I had no teach training. But maybe this process will help. I just wish it to be easy.

My First Ever Blog!

Hey all! My name is Mossy Green named after my tree. It was an American Beech. Let me tell you the story I wrote about her.

Water slides down my smooth skin. I am fashionably dressed in green and off white. Some say I have eyes all over me. My branches don't start for some time but they stretch out far with 3 to 4 leaves on each limb. They each shoot off from the same point of origin. My trunk doesn't show its roots, I like to stay covered.

Other fasinating pieces of information we did that day were learn to use a DBH (diameter at breast height) measurement tape, size out a vegetation plot, and calculate canopy tree density and dominance. It was interesting to learn in measuring DBH, a person starts at breast height. As a teacher, I am always telling my freshman high schoolers that there are standards all over the world that everyone knows in order to communicate. Usually this is a standard metric number and here we were sweating in the abnormally cool air using a random height on a person that is backed up with a standard of 1.3 meters. Then I read an article "What is DBH?" and found that other countries vary this number. So I guess I will have tell the kids a bit differently.


The Scavenger Hunt was interesting. It got me thinking about our coexistance with nature. Viewing trees growing from the same area or trunk never struck me to ask "why." Then when we read Tom Wessels, he answered that question and more! It was like a whole new door just opened up. I wish that I had this interest when my daddy was alive so that we had more to talk about. But it still puts a smile on my face knowing that I did enjoy what he enjoyed. :)
It just took me a while to figure that out.