We had such
a great time in April, we decided to go back to Camp Kawartha! This time, thanks to
the same TLDSB Outdoor Education Fund, we were able to try out the Wetland Wonders
and Sensorama programs offered by the Camp. 
It was so cool using the nets to
‘dip dip scoop’ and find lots of wetland creatures. Our class favourite was the water strider
because it was neat to see it walk on top of the water! In addition to using the nets on the Boardwalk, we also played a round of Insect Bingo. For this challenge, we had to look and listen for different things that might be in the Wetlands environment. For instance, we had to find a caterpillar who lives in this area, insects that use their surroundings to help camouflage themselves for safety as well as moss. It was very cool using our nature skills to do all of this!
We also had a great
time learning how to use our senses in nature to create our very own perfume.
Some of us made flowery smelling scents, while others concocted more musky
smells. Many of us also created a fun name for our scents. The Top 3 scents were "Steel Dandelions", "Cherry Blast"and "Flower Daisy".
Geocaching with Tammy and Jason:
Inspired by
our Special Helper’s sharing, our class was very fortunate to learn all about
how to geocache on a sunny Thursday morning. Willingly giving up their time, BAS’s
parents came in to teach the class about the field of geocaching, an activity
they enjoy doing together as a family.
After a
quick lesson about how to use our iPhones and iPads to help us locate ‘caches’,
we headed out to the Trans Canada Trail to see what this activity is all about.
Remembering Jason's advice to follow the orange line, we began heading North
until the geocaching app told us to change direction.
“Oh! We
need to start going E because the orange line is not at the N anymore!”
exclaimed VB. With this new direction decided upon, we headed up the side of
the trail and were then given a clue from the geocaching app that we were
within 20 metres of the cache. Looking closely, we eventually found a
camouflage container that we handed over to Jason.
Inside, he
showed us the log book that all caches have along with some awesome alphabet
foam letters that we got to keep! As part of the geocaching etiquette, Tammy told us that if we decided to take the item in the container that we needed to
replace it with something just as special for the next person. We decided we
would like the letters and exchanged them for some of our most coveted prizes
from our prize box. We also all signed the log book and used the app to
digitally log our find.
With this cache
complete, we noticed a second cache close by and decided to see if we could
find it as well. After A LOT of searching, we were able to locate a tiny
camouflaged pill sized bottle with a note inside! However, this note wasn’t a
message. It was coordinates that we could enter into a GPS to help us locate
the next cache in this ‘multi-cache’. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a GPS with
us, so we decided to maybe come back another time and see where the coordinates
would lead us.
Thanks
again to Tammy, Jason and BAS for sharing such an amazing learning experience
with us!
Camp Kawartha:
On April 1,
the class used some of the financing we received from the TLDSB Outdoor
Education Fund to visit Camp Kawartha. Upon our arrival, we were met by our
enthusiastic and knowledgeable leader Jamie and his student Melody, who helped create
an awesome day of learning for us.
Once inside
the totally sustainable building, Jamie and Melody let us explore some
activities such as a touch and feel station, a drawing area and a window with
three bird feeders! It was so cool checking out all of these things, but after
about twenty minutes, we were all asked to meet in the gathering space to talk
about our day and how to be safe while at Camp Kawartha.
After a
quick discussion, we had a snack and then headed outdoors for our first
program, Tracking and Trailing. As part of this program, Jamie and Melody had us
complete a Scavenger Hunt where we were asked to look and listen for different
signs of nature. One of the most exciting things we had to find was ‘scat’,
which Jamie told us is the scientific name for poop! With this knowledge now in
our brains, we ventured into the woods and actually found a lot of different
types of animal scat. Jamie was able to tell us that rabbit, deer and
porcupines were in the area just from looking at the scat droppings! Mrs. M
even noticed a porcupine WAAAAAAAY up in one of the trees! How cool is that?!
With our
first activity finished, we headed indoors for lunch to refuel our bodies
before taking part in our second program, Nature Arts and Crafts. Once outside, Jamie introduced us to
the idea of using things in nature to make works of art. Inspired by
the pictures we were shown, we created our own ‘snowball tree’, complete with
beautiful snowballs that looked good enough to eat! Some of us also created our
own nature structures using our surroundings.
To finish
off our day of learning about the environment, we had the chance to try and get
Chickadees to eat out of the palm of our hands! Jamie showed us how to all
stand very still and to make sure we were absolutely silent to make the Chickadees
feel safe and to get them to trust us. We all tried so hard, but the Chickadees
only landed in Mrs. Ridgway’s hand (such a cool experience!) as well as Mrs.
C’s hand. Maybe next time they will land in different friend’s hands. What a
great way to end such an awesome day!
Thanks
again to Jamie and Melody at Camp Kawartha along with all of our volunteers who
joined us on this trip.
Mid-Winter Edition:
For our third trip to Ken Reid Conservation Area, thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Fund, we headed out on a chilly, but sunny and bright day to enjoy even more time outdoors. After arriving to school, we boarded the bus and were off for a morning of tobogganing fun.
Once we arrived at Conservation Area, we noticed an octagon in the parking lot with our 'math eyes'...the STOP sign. This reminded us that we needed to wait for an adult to be near us and to double check to make sure no vehicles were coming into the parking lot by looking left and then right and then left again. Being 'old pros' now at how we begin our time at Ken Reid, we dropped off our bags in the Field House, but made sure we all popped our helmets on for the adventure we would be having soon.
Why did we need our helmets? To wear when we went tobogganing to help keep our heads safe of course! Tobogganing??? Yes, tobogganing! For this trip, we decided it would be, "so much fun to see how fast and far we could go on the hill by the playground" which was mentioned by CM plus many other students when we were pre-planning what activities we could do. So that is exactly what we did for our entire time at the Conservation Area.
To make sure things were safe down near the water, we had both Mr. V and Mr. VW check the ice to see if it was safe because both of them knew what to look for. With their OK, we quickly grabbed our toboggans and tested out how far we could speed down the hill. Thanks to the ice that was hidden in the snow, many of us flew down the hill with no problem at all.
"The black toboggan went way farther than the other ones because it could have four kids in it" noticed RM. "The green toboggans were easier to steer (once we got the hang of it!) because they were made for just two kids" shared FL. "I liked the blue crazy carpets the best because they went down the hill so fast!" mentioned AA while GS added "yeah they were crazy fast!"
Overall, we decided that all of the toboggans each had something special about them, but the very best part was just getting to take them up and down the hill to have fun. With our morning almost over, we headed back to the Field House to have lunch and re-energize before jumping back on the bus to head back to school. Such a fun-filled day of physical activity, nature and learning!
For pictures of our day, please visit our Twitter feed @ridgwayfdk!
Early-Winter Edition:
On this partly sunny, partly cloudy, slightly snowy Monday, we took our second trip out to Ken Reid Conservation Area, thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Fund, to learn about nature during the early winter months. Even though there was very little actual snow, we did observe many signs that winter is quickly approaching and will soon take its toll on the Kawarthas.
After dropping our things off at the Field House, we went on a whole group walk to the bridge to see if any of the turtles we did not see on our last visit might have decided to return. Unfortunately, we still did not see any turtles, or alligators as some thought we might. We did see another sign of the weather changing when we noticed that the water on the pond was half covered in a thin layer of ice! It was very neat to observe the area where the water and ice met out in the middle of the pond. Mrs. Corner was able sneak over and take a picture of us, but we also took one of her too!
As we made our way back to the Field House, we remembered all of our safety rules that were shared with us during our visit. Many of us were very hungry by the time we arrived, so we took the opportunity to eat our lunch and warm up a little before heading back outdoors.
Out on the trail, our Senior and Junior Kindergarten paths crossed in the Cedar Forest Trail where we took a few minutes to say hello and do a listening activity together. Upon entering the trail, both groups shared that we noticed how tall the trees were and that their tops were MOVING, but their trunks were standing still! Some us thought it looked like they were dancing while others focused on the fact that the swaying branches sounded like ocean waves! Very cool!
By the end of the day, we all considered ourselves to be well informed about the signs of winter as we boarded the bus and made our way back to school. What a great day!
Fall Edition:
Last week, thanks to the TD Friends of the Environment Fund grant we received, we ventured out to Ken Reid Conservation Area to take in all that Fall in the Kawarthas had to offer. We had a wonderful time checking out Howler's Corners, the new off leash dog park, but sadly, there were no dogs there at the time we were there to see in action. Maybe next visit!
We did, however, hear a Conservation staff member tell us a little about the Area and some of the guidelines he wanted us to follow, especially to stay on the marked paths so we wouldn't get lost! With our welcome speech shared, we quickly refueled our bodies by having lunch before heading out into nature to complete some sketching and trip through the Butterfly Meadow Trail.
Many of us chose a favourite area around the main building to capture what Ken Reid looked like during fall from our own Kindergarten perspectives. Some of us chose to sketch a tree with a few leaves hanging on and others chose to draw either the praying mantis or the garden orb weaver spider that we noticed on the Field House wall. The praying mantis was very cool and we watched it climb up the wall and then back down. OR was even brave enough to pick it up and let us have a closer look!When we headed out to the Butterfly Meadow Trail, we also completed a scavenger hunt with our the friends in our group. We had so much fun finding different types and colours of leaves, special signs at the Conservation Area and neat things that you can only see during the Fall.
