Rivers, Creeks and Ponds; A Summer Project
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After a fun day of exploring a new section of Paint Branch Creek, we happened upon a University Environmentally Scientist on the walk back home. He was out in a pond with his net catching insects. Talk about a teachable moment! He came over and told the children about his study of mosquitoes and how he was collecting predators for his experiment. He showed us a Water Scorpion he had caught and we were actually able to compare notes because we had caught and identified one on our trip to Dragonfly Pond.
We took a couple of Sun Fish back to camp and put them in the aquarium with some minnows. The children notice that there were fewer and fewer minnows. Those Sun Fish were like Piranha!
- Recognize that doing science involves many different kinds of work and engages men and women of all ages and backgrounds.
- Identify and describe the interactions of organisms present in a habitat.
Week Five
Monday, Kaitlyn's Dad, Dr. Mundy, gave a talk on the three terrestrial planets, Venus, Mars and Earth. We found out why Earth was "just right" in size and temperature to sustain life. We also learned how the water helped lock up the CO2 in limestone rocks to make Earth a better place for life.
Tuesday we revisited the Paint Branch Creek. We spent the whole day exploring. We even brought our lunch. Mr. David met us down there with a short fishing rod. He helped each of us catch a small Green Sunfish. We brought a couple of them back and put them in our aquarium. Some of us collected clay to use back at camp. Paint Branch Creek was named for the red clay that was thought to be used by the Native Americans for body paint and pottery.
Our Field Trip to Paint Branch Creek by Amelia
On our field trip Mr. David came and met us at the PB Creek. He caught Sunfish. We brought three back but they ate almost all our minnows. We caught a whole bunch of Sunfish and a lot of them died. Eli took three of them and we cut them open. Jivan cut off it's head and we saw the brain. It was a big pinkish, redish, glob. We played a Poke mon stickish game at the creek. It was kind of stickish because there were three people that were in charge, Uli, Jivan and Arturo. They found these big branches that fell off and they used them as boats and that is the stickish part. Uli fell off and got soaking wet. Caitlin, me and Sofia and Erin, were Pokemon servants. It was kind of weird. We had to catch food for them. I took a big chunk of clay and used it for bread and put leaves around it. We caught dead fish for them to eat too. We also had to clean the boat. We took a big piece of clay and rubbed it on the boat and then put dry sand all over it. And then we washed it off but we wanted it to stay on in a thick layer to make the boat stronger. The names of the boats were Black Beauty and Branch Beauty. Uli named them, don't look at me he did it!
Wednesday we visited the Bio/Psych building on campus to talk to two scientists about their research. Dr. Herberholz taught us about crayfish and showed us his large collection of Louisiana crayfish. Ms. Bely took us to her lab and let us use her microscopes to view some of the water we collected from the Dragonfly pond. She also let us watch as she feed the lab pet leech. It was a very interesting day.
Friday we walked over to McKeldin Library after swimming to take our books back. The reflection pool was a big hit, somebody said we should have kept our swim suits on! I wonder what the PH was there.
We went to The Mall on Campus.We had a picnic and went swimming in the water. We used the waterfalls as diving boards. Everybody was spraying each other with water on the way there. a Blue Jay Kid
Peanut Butter Cup by Risa
We have a Guinea Pig named Peanut Butter cup and he is real cute and we always play with him. Today we made a house for him out of Unit Blocks. The house was a big rectangle with lots of shapes inside of it. We made him a bathroom a kitchen, a dining room and a living room and a bedroom. He was crawling all around. We also cut him up some hay tops and put it in with his kibbles (that is his food). He liked it. He makes whimpering sounds when he is happy. We learned about that from the book Sammy. Today Uli and Jivan fell asleep during story time! The End