Who knew that squinting through a tiny toy microscope could be so much fun?
North Kitsap fourth graders got to learn how to see the critters that live in the beaver pond up close during their field trip to Buck Lake this Spring.
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| Fourth grade science girls |
I just wound up my 17th or 18th (lost count) year helping with these field trips organized by Ken Shawcroft from Hansville Greenway Association. The students brave the weather (although never dressed for it) and tromp out almost a mile to the Quiet Place on the Buck Lake nature trail.
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| Buck Lake Nature Trail |
You can imagine how awed they are as they turn a corner on the trail and this avenue of trees opens up for them. Feeling like they are in a storybook, they follow the hushed trail. Turning another corner, they reach the Quiet Place platform where they are greeted by the scene of floating islands. My group of hikers spent a few minutes just gazing at the pond. They picked out wetland plants that they could identify. Cattails, sedges, skunk cabbage and even Labrador Tea. One girl remarked that she wished she was a frog so she could jump from one lily pad to another.
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| view from the quiet place |
I, donning my high boots, trudge out into the water. I scoop up water into white tubs and then I drag my homemade net though the vegetation growing out of the water. The kids can hardly believe what I come up with. Caddisfly cases, tiny whirlygig beetles, crustaceans called scuds, damselfly larvae and, when I am really lucky I fish out an impressive looking dragonfly larvae. The kids vacillate from being totally grossed out and being so excited they can't wait to find more. They get the connection that what starts out as a strange looking water creature turns into a beautiful dragonfly that they see flitting about the water.
Learning by observation and personal discovery is the way to learn science. I am convinced that this experience will translate into excitement about science and a greater appreciation for wetlands and wild places. What other critter can kids catch so easily and can be observed so closely as the bugs in a pond?
I, donning my high boots, trudge out into the water. I scoop up water into white tubs and then I drag my homemade net though the vegetation growing out of the water. The kids can hardly believe what I come up with. Caddisfly cases, tiny whirlygig beetles, crustaceans called scuds, damselfly larvae and, when I am really lucky I fish out an impressive looking dragonfly larvae. The kids vacillate from being totally grossed out and being so excited they can't wait to find more. They get the connection that what starts out as a strange looking water creature turns into a beautiful dragonfly that they see flitting about the water. 
