Now, enjoy a peak at how the plan became reality:
We began the outing by gathering in a field, reintroducing ourselves, and reviewing prior learning. Then, we got right into the day's focus: fresh water habitats by having a chat and playing a game.
I asked the children what they already know about fresh water habitats and what they hope to explore or come to know, and, then, explained that there are three main types of freshwater habitats:
- ponds and lakes
- wetlands
- streams and rivers
I, then, asked three children to stand holding signs that said “pond and lakes, “wetlands”, and “streams and rivers” before grouping the rest of the children up so non-readers and readers could be together and giving each pair or group a strip of paper with a description on it.
The children then had to run to the child who held a sign for whatever water habitat they thought the descriptor matched with and hand their strip to that child.
After that, children ran back to me for new strips.
Once all the strips had been matched by the children, I explained that some of the descriptors could match more than one type of freshwater habitat, but that, for the purpose of the game, each type of habitat should be described by ONLY four descriptors. I, then, had the children discuss ideas and make possible adjustments so that each type of fresh water habitat had four descriptors before, finally, revealing the “right” answers and discussing any observations and questions that came up.
After that, it was scavenger hunt time! I gave small groups of children a checklist of items to spy - and photograph if they wished - as we explored the nature preserve. Without delay, they were off and runnig!
We had barely made it onto the trail when children were calling out for photographs, "I found wet leaves!"
The hunt helped the children notice things around them as they joyfully trekked through the paths.
My heart never tires of seeing children walking together in the woods.
It also never tires of seeing them explore - as my youngest did as soon as we hit our first water crossing!
That crossing soon found many friends literally jumping into our day's focus - fresh water!
Everyone was having so much fun, we took a long break at this crossing.
Walking in water just drew the kids in!
Seriously, they were crossing over the water on the bridge, then through it down below, then back over it... enjoying themselves so much!
Finally, we moved on and continued along the trail to our lunch spot, where I read a book to those who were interested during our lunch break.
After lunch, it was time to find the leaf litter nets we'd placed in the moving water the week prior.
The older children enjoyed adventuring to collect the leaf litter bags.
Although we thought we had put them in good spots, we could not easily find them all at first.
But, keen eyes prevailed!
And the bags were recovered.
Meanwhile, one child found a dead fish, which ended up becoming a specimen for learning.
The leaf litter became the larger draw though.
The children were given tweezers, magnifying glasses, and more so they could pick through the litter to find creatures.
Of course, some crazy kids opted to take breaks to explore the water further and - eek - one or two of them also ended up with tiny leeches which we had to pull off! (Oops! That was an unexpected lesson!)
Other children enjoyed taking breaks to toss pebbles into a pond.
Even our youngest friends, though, did not take breaks long, but, rather, dug right into our explorations!
It was wonderful to see friends so engaged in discovery!
Better yet, one of our moms has a biology background and was able to help the children pinpoint the different species of critters they discovered.
They sure did discover a lot of them!
I cannot express how glad I am that this lesson engaged the children so much! It was a bit beyond my background, but, together with other moms and the kids, it became an experience we all enjoyed and learned from!
Then, after our formal explorations ended, it was time for free play and fellowship. Bubbles...
Hugs and love!
Stick play.
Private chats. (I still wonder what secrets were being shared here...)
And even a friend gifting my then recent First Holy Communicant with a saint book he relishes to this day. (The gift was an unexpected surprise and just one example of how wonderful it is to share time with fellow Catholics! I just love when learning, fellowship, and faith come together!)
