On a chilly day in December STEAM’s Nature School bundled up for a trip to Sky Meadows State Park. We were warmly greeted by the staff in the carriage house who had a fire going in the wood stove to take the chill out of the air.
Ranger Cathy began with quizzing us on
how much our students knew about the water cycle. They were impressed with all that the students knew. The discussion led to a lesson all the ways that water can become polluted.
They learned about water sheds and how the water travels through the watershed. Ranger Abigail led an activity that demonstrated how water moves through watersheds by making their own watershed with parchment paper and sprayed it with water. They also did another activity where each student was given a different type of pollution to scatter on a watershed then sprayed the watershed to see how the pollution moved through the environment.
Then we bundled up and went for a hike to see one way that pollution can be stopped from getting into the stream.
We came to a shrubby area by a stream that didn’t look all that spectacular. However, the students learned that that area had been planted along the stream to protect the water from contamination from the cow manure frogs the nearby fields from entering the stream. We discussed many ways in which riparian buffers help keep are streams healthy.
The hike was nice and we didn’t feel cold moving around on the sunny day. We conclude with lunch and journal time by the wood stove.
Thanks to all the staff at Sky Meadows for the engaging program!
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