SRE 2nd grade takes a field trip to Lake Wallace

What do you get when you mix science, writing, math, and a generous helping of adventure?  A field trip for the entire 2nd grade!

18 BHS students hosted all 200 2nd graders on a beautiful early spring morning, thanks to the hard work of all of the 2nd grade teachers and chaperones.


Right square in the middle of the field and the bright sunshine ...

Marijo leads the way as students convince Desert Toad to come visit Lake Wallace ... with rich description, capitals at the beginnings and periods at the ends of sentences.

Hard at work thinking about the differences between the desert and a lake in an Eastern Forest.

Down by the trees ...

How many thumbs tall is that tree?  Students used Artists Thumb and Timber! methods to estimate tree height,  then we compared the estimates

Well, that's one way to find out the circumference of a tree.  How many 2nd graders does it take to hug a tree?

How many 2nd graders does it take to hug an Austin?

Then it was off to the lake's edge ...

Mr. Clark gets everyone ready to do respectful exploration and to look carefully at the life in the thriving ecosystem that is Lake Wallace.

Explorers hard at work scooping and sorting

Take a closer look ... you'll be surprised what you'll see!

Then over to the picnic tables for more scooping, sorting, identifying and sketching (that's documenting to you scientists!)

Lily sets the stage for the 2nd grade residents of Belchertown to really find out who lives in their ecological community

Yep, there's a lot of variety there, and it's all creatures who are part of a thriving ecosystem, living their lives all while providing us with clean water and clean air

Cool bug

We like Mayflies!

Take good care of that snail!

Now that's a lot of explorers!

And even more!!

The high school crew at the end of a long day of bringing the beauty of Lake Wallace to elementary kids.
See you when you get to high school, 2nd graders!

Astronomy and Owls over February break

(Oops, mixed up the chronology of this event!!)

It was a beautiful night with a half moon.  Though it was cold, 20 community members came out to celebrate the crystal clear view of the sky.

Orion's nebula, the moon's craters, Jupiter and its moons were all big hits.  Though the light from the moon washed out some detail, that didn't much matter!    Participants took turns peeking through the Levy's scopes at the celestial sights, and there was lots of conversation about the movement of the earth around the sun.  We were all taken by the arrangement of Jupiters moons ... like duckling following after their mama!

Once we realized our toes were going numb, we bounced up and down 16 times and set off towards the lake.  Crunching over the snow, we were pretty sure most of the animals anywhere nearby would have taken off for parts unseen!  We followed up our noisy walk with a quiet pause at the crest of the hill above Foley Fields and could hear a dog barking up by Jackson Street ... not much else.

Cold toes once again insisting on attention, we knew we had to "sample" the area.  Aiden and Ms.Levy gave a few hoots and, wouldn't you know, a Great Horned Owl hoots back.  Funny though, we gave the "who-cooks-for-you" call of the Barred Owl.  That spurred lots of conversation of how a Great Horned might feel about having a Barred Owl in its territory.  We all agreed that a smart Barred Owl would leave.

ducklings?

In the sword, below Orion's belt

Our ploy, the Barred Owl

The master of the Lake Wallace woodland, the resident Great Horned Owl

And look whoo showed up in Meg's backyard in Naperville, Il!!

(full disclosure ... not our pictures!)

Ecomentors head down to the lake for the first sampling of "spring"

Even though we still had a few more days of frozen weather, March 26th turned out to be a great day to explore!  Loads of things to find, including an impressive number of owl pellets!!

This is Lake Wallace in late winter

Listening for instructions before we go

Snack up!  there's hard work to be done!!

The intrepid explorer is ready for discovery

Staging at the picnic table, ready to scoop, sort, identify and document ... How's that for a research station?!

The newest members of Ecomentors learn the fine art of spoon-based science research

Looks like there are a few critters waking up for the Spring!

Katie, Meg, Maggie at Lake Wallace.
 They came all the way from the Chicago-area to join us on our excursion ... Thanks!!

New England Outdoor Writers Association's first annual Youth Writing Contest

Tom Fuller, accomplished author (and Mrs. Fuller's husband!) and outdoor writer, got the Belchertown Public Schools on board for this inaugural year of the Youth Writing Contest.

The Contest: 

The written topics must be an outdoor-oriented topic of the student’s choosing. Appropriate topics include the following: hunting, fishing, boating, archery, shooting, field trials, sporting dogs, camping, woodcraft, skin diving, scuba diving, hiking, rock climbing, cross-country skiing, trapping, snowshoeing, wildlife watching, natural history, conservation, ecology, and similar activities which add to the knowledge and enjoyment of nature and natural resources... not exceed 500 words. 

The students responded with a celebration of place and community, the BHS Woodland Ecology classes responding to the prompt "This is Where I Live... " and the 8th grade writing Pastoral Poems.  Other students submitted work by following their inner muse.

We are delighted to say that Katelyn's story is being transformed into an illustrated childrens' book (in consultation with the Clapp Memorial Library) with Science pages.

We are thrilled to say that Matt's Pastoral Poem went on to win the Massachusetts state prize.
Kudo's to Matt and all of his teachers!!

Left to right, Cheryl Cummings - JBMS Science, Jen Poli and Ginny Doucette - JBMS English, Tom Fuller, Devon Gneda - BHS finalist, Katelyn Clark - BHS winner, Casey Waskiewicz - JBMS finalist, Matthew Davidsohn - JBMS and Massachusetts state winner, Gillian Follett - JBMS finalist, Louise Levy - BHS Science.  Not pictured, Ruthann Sterling - BHS finalist

Stay tuned for next years contest!!  Information should be available come October.