Bay to Dunes

 We took a great field trip last week.  Our class separated into two groups...you'll see which half I was with by the photographs!  Our guide was Holly...and she was great!

 After going around saying our names in a circle, and giving our name in association with an animal or something in nature, we took off on some trails over the dunes.

 Holly would stop and tell us something.... or ask us a question... as we walked.

 One of our activities was tracking.  Holly gave each pair an identification chart for the footprints of animals.  They went around, circling any tracks they found, and then trying to identify the animal that made them.

 Another job we had was identifying the European Beach Grass, an invasive plant to the dunes.  Holly showed us how to pull them up so we got all the roots. 

 We then had a contest to see who could pull up the longest root!  Looks like Madison is in the running for the longest!

 Looks good, Maiya...but it's not as long as Madison's...

 

Russell looks a little disappointed in his root!

We went to the beach for a while.   They all ran around, rolled down dunes, looked for tracks, looked for shells, tried to hide... just had fun!

Alex and Bryan weren't very successful in their hiding!

Stephanie started to create a little artwork on the beach!

Once our beach time was up, we went back to the bus and were driven over to a different area.  There we met Mrs. B's class...we all ate our lunch, then had time to play awhile!

After lunch, off we went to the other half of our field trip!

This half was spent at the bay.  We looked at the web of life....used binoculars to see all kinds of interesting animals and plants....

After using binoculars, each student was given a small magnifying box.  (clear plastic)  They tried to catch an insect or other creature, so they could observe them under magnification.

They were instructed not to get IN the water...um?  looks pretty close!

Again, the students got ID cards...so they could try to identify what they had caught.

Making the web of life...

We saw how everything is connected... and how the loss of one creature can disrupt the entire web...

What a great field trip this was!!!