Rivers, Creeks and Ponds; A Summer Project

In preparation for the river trip we viewed a map that showed how the creeks we had been exploring flowed into the Anacostia River which in turn flows into the Potomac which flows into the Chesapeake Bay and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

The field trip started off with a naturalists talk about the types of wildlife we might find including birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and mammals. Children had a chance to examine turtle shells and mammal skins. In the nature center the class was able to view tanks of fish and turtles native to the Anacostia. The naturalist also reiterated how the Anacostia is a watershed for the Potomac and so on.

After the talk, we piled onto a pontoon boat for a trip upriver. We saw many turtles basking, several Ospreys, a Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron.

Children chose topics related to the study and did individual reports which were compiled to make a field guide for the rivers, creeks and ponds. The reports were shared and discussed with the group. Each child was given a copy to take home.

Maryland State Curriculum-

Reading- Determine important ideas and messages in informational texts-Summarize or paraphrase -The text or a portion of the text Connect the text to prior knowledge or experience- Prior knowledge that clarifies, extends, or challenges the ideas or information in the text or a portion of the text
Social Studies- Compare geographic characteristics of different Maryland communities and regions

Future

This project could benefit from being longer than six weeks. More.....

The field trips were perfect, close, cool, free and engaging. There were many more animals to discover and learn about. We barely scratched the surface on plant life and taxonomy. Rocks and mineral’s were another topic we barely had time to look into. The last week of camp, teachers made a list of what the children wanted to study in the future. Some topics that continued with the RCP study were; animals, rocks and astronomy. Other topics were; Mythology, video games Pokémon and Ears! Mythology was addressed this summer during story time as we focused on folktales, legends, and myths from a different continent each week. There really isn’t any reason why more than one project could be done at a time. With a full day, sub-projects can easily be addressed and keep the children from overdosing on one topic. This also allows for children that are not as interested in the main subject to find another focus.

I have seen teachers work with groups of children on totally separate projects but this seemed to stretch the teacher’s time and resources. Things like, experts and fieldtrips are easier to plan for the whole group. With the model of three teachers this may be a more practical possibility.

One thing I have discovered is that when the children are engaged, so are the teachers!

Week Six

Bladensburg Waterfront Park

Tuesdays field trip was to the Anacostia River which is where the creeks we have been visiting feed into. We learned they are tributary's and part of the Chesapeake Bay water shed.

Risa- I practically liked everything. I liked how it was planned. I especially liked the boat trip because it was fun. I liked watching the motor in the back. I noticed there was a lot of bubbly water.

Seo Young- I liked the part when we were on the boat because the wind felt nice on our faces. I liked the Great Blue Heron and the Kingfisher.

Kaitlyn- I got hurt when I was on that thing in the playground that went up and down and we were going really fast and I jumped and feel off and got hurt.

Amelia- I liked the trip except for the tight life jackets and I liked the boat and the wind and all the birds like the Great Blue Heron.

Erin- I liked the river field trip but I really wanted to go fishing. It seemed like an ocean and if you had goggles you could see lots of animals. I like sitting at the back of the boat and walking up and down it felt like it was pushing you along.

Jivan- My favorite part was seeing the Great Blue Heron.That was my first time ever seeing one. I like the boat and the playground.

Ulito- I liked trying the boat we made for the very first time it was cool because the boat went up and down on a wave. I liked the Osprey, it was the very first time I ever saw one. Before we went on the boat we put our little boat we made on the edge of the dock.

David- I liked the boat trip because I saw an Osprey for the very first time. My mom and cousin were there and watched the algae eater fish with me in the Nature Center. I like seeing the turtle kind of like sniffing the algae eater's dorsal fin and then it came in and bit it. There also was a Diamond Back Terrapin and a Red Eared Slider and an Eastern Mud Turtle that was behind a larger turtle in the Nature Center.

Sofia- I did not like the boat trip because I got sea sick, it made me feel bad. The Naturalist talk was interesting. I liked feeling the muskrat skin, it was very soft. I felt Timeline bad for the deer cause you could see the gun shot hole in the hide.

Arturo- I like the big model car thing (the caboose). We went in what used to be the bathroom of the caboose. We could climb up the ladder and look out.

Caitlin- I also liked the caboose and I liked seeing the Great Blue Heron, Osprey, Kingfisher and Turtles.

Culmination

Phase III of a project is the culmination. This is the time to share with everyone what was learned during the Project. The Blue Jay kids decided on a mural that doubled as a timeline and would show what they had accomplished during the summer. They worked in pairs to depict the six weeks.

Movement and Music Class

In our last movement class, Ms. Jenna had us create a dance by combining different movements with different repetitions, heights and speeds. We wrote them on slips of paper and picked from each group. She said this is how dancer sometimes choreograph dances when they are stuck. Click on the picture to the left to see a short clip of us working on the dance.

Movement class was fun because we could do mostly what we wanted to do. We made an obstacle course and we got to choose what to put in it. Kaitlyn

In music class Ms. D. taught us how to use recorders.She taught us the notes, B, A, G ,E, D.We got "belts" depending on if we could play the new notes we had learned. Seo Young

At the beginning of camp children were given a copy of the Presidents Physical Fitness Challenge form. To complete it they needed to do 1 hour of exercise at least five days a week. This was easy to do at camp since we went to the pool three days a week for an hour each time, had a one hour movement class every Monday and walked to an active field trip every Tuesday. Four of the students completed the form and received a certificate and patch. Several others were able to fill the form out enough to earn a participants patch. I'm sure the President is proud of you!