Blog
Blue Herons
Age 6-8
The Great Blue
Heron was the topic of the day. After a fun time exploring the
Tide Pools finding
Isopods, Water Jelly
fish, Purple and Yellow shore crabs, Red Rock crabs, digging for Mud Shrimp (unfortunately we
could just feel the network of tunnels, no shrimp) and trying to catch the Bay Shrimp
we headed to the grass to study the G.B.H. We were lucky enough to observe some G.B.H.
feeding and flying over our heads. I brought along the skull and an egg to check out.
We looked at pictures of the chicks, adults, what they look like when it is mating
season(big long feathers along the breast) and Juveniles. We practised the mating dance of
the G.B.H. to giggling and falling over! Our first game was all about the nesting habits. The Female
builds the nest using twigs that the Male brings to her. She is quite picky, tossing away the
ones that don't suit her. We tied various different colours of pipe cleaners to
sticks and scattered them around. A Female (one of the children) G.B.H. sat on the
branch waiting for the Male to deliver sticks to create the nest. The female had been shown
a card with the colour of pipe cleaners that she needed to build her nest. If the Male came along with
the wrong colour she would refuse and this went on until the child
figured out the correct colour. The children thought that this was very fun.Next up we talked
about what a G.B.H. eats- Red Legged frog Scates and Sticklebacks and also how the
bird waits patiently for the prey to come along before spearing the food, tossing
them in the air and guzzling them down. I set up a pond with these animals inside. Each
child was given a Heron beak with a sharp point and I used one with a Comarant. The idea was
to try and get the most food to feed your Heron while trying to not let the Comarant
have all the food. Fish were flying as everyone tried to get enough for their bird.
This created a great discussion about the food chain of the G.B.H. Chicks next- how do
they get their food, when they leave the nest and the Predators of the chicks. We
[played a game where the children were adult G.B.H. who had to feed their chicks (pics
with great wide open beaks) They had to balance a marble on a tub and get to the chick
without dropping the "food". This was a race to see who could feed their chicks the most
food. A predator game was next. We discussed what Fledgling meant and the process that the
bird goes through to learn this. We had a tree set up and a feeding ground set up
opposite. The Fledglings had to practise flying between the two while trying to avoid the
Eagle in the middle. Arms flying, children laughing and screaming= fun!!
That's all for today,
Enjoy,
Lisa
Blog
Bald
Eagles
Age 6-8
Spectacular,
that would be the word
to sum up the visit to the Bald Eagles nest. We had a great view of the
Eaglets using our binoculars and using a telescope a very kind lady let
us use. We spent a very long time observing the nest and watching the
parents fly in and out. The Eaglets no longer need constant brooding so
there are times that they are left in the tree. When we got there I had
a life size version of an adult Female Bald Eagle that we unfolded,
everyone took a turn lying down to see where they fit into the wing
span of the Eagle. I had a replica of an Eagles egg that we had a close
look at, feeling the different textures and checking out the
weight. We listened to the different sounds that a B.E. makes and after
about an hour exploring the nest, looking underneath to see what the
Eaglets were feeding on (we found Mallard duck wings and a carcass of
what looked like a mole or squirrel, shells and lots of feathers) we
played a few games. Eagles have great eyesght, 4 times the strength of
humans. I set up aspot where the children stood with their binoculars.
A few metres away I placed green pipe cleaners in the grass to
represent fish, as in the ocean fish are similar colour to the water.
The children had to act like Eagles, perch on their tree and observe
with their binoculars until they could spy the fish, swoop down and
collect the pipe cleaner. Eagles are patient hunters, observing from up
high and can spot a fish a mile away!
Next we played a fun game where we had a feeding ground with various food, we had an Eagle in the middle and Eagles in the tree. The Eagles in the tree had to fly to the feeding ground and then fly back without their food being stolen by the other Eagle ( eagles are also opportunistic hunters and will steal from others) if they have their food stolen then they return to the feeding ground and have to pick up 2 food instead of one as they have wasted more energy. Each Eagle had to collect at least 3 food but of course sometimes there was not enough food for everyone, because the Eagle in the middle stole some. This lead to a discussion about food sources and energy levels.The children really enjoyed this game!
Back to the nest to draw what we observed vand to keep exploring.
Some tourists walked by and stopped to ask what we were doing. Before I could answer the children had pulled out all our materials and gave a mini Earth Heads lesson. Soooo great to hear them explain their way through the props and give cool facts! Really great to see.
Take it easy,
Lisa
Blue Herons
Age 6-8
The Great Blue
Heron was the topic of the day. After a fun time exploring the
Tide Pools finding
Isopods, Water Jelly
fish, Purple and Yellow shore crabs, Red Rock crabs, digging for Mud Shrimp (unfortunately we
could just feel the network of tunnels, no shrimp) and trying to catch the Bay Shrimp
we headed to the grass to study the G.B.H. We were lucky enough to observe some G.B.H.
feeding and flying over our heads. I brought along the skull and an egg to check out.
We looked at pictures of the chicks, adults, what they look like when it is mating
season(big long feathers along the breast) and Juveniles. We practised the mating dance of
the G.B.H. to giggling and falling over! Our first game was all about the nesting habits. The Female
builds the nest using twigs that the Male brings to her. She is quite picky, tossing away the
ones that don't suit her. We tied various different colours of pipe cleaners to
sticks and scattered them around. A Female (one of the children) G.B.H. sat on the
branch waiting for the Male to deliver sticks to create the nest. The female had been shown
a card with the colour of pipe cleaners that she needed to build her nest. If the Male came along with
the wrong colour she would refuse and this went on until the child
figured out the correct colour. The children thought that this was very fun.Next up we talked
about what a G.B.H. eats- Red Legged frog Scates and Sticklebacks and also how the
bird waits patiently for the prey to come along before spearing the food, tossing
them in the air and guzzling them down. I set up a pond with these animals inside. Each
child was given a Heron beak with a sharp point and I used one with a Comarant. The idea was
to try and get the most food to feed your Heron while trying to not let the Comarant
have all the food. Fish were flying as everyone tried to get enough for their bird.
This created a great discussion about the food chain of the G.B.H. Chicks next- how do
they get their food, when they leave the nest and the Predators of the chicks. We
[played a game where the children were adult G.B.H. who had to feed their chicks (pics
with great wide open beaks) They had to balance a marble on a tub and get to the chick
without dropping the "food". This was a race to see who could feed their chicks the most
food. A predator game was next. We discussed what Fledgling meant and the process that the
bird goes through to learn this. We had a tree set up and a feeding ground set up
opposite. The Fledglings had to practise flying between the two while trying to avoid the
Eagle in the middle. Arms flying, children laughing and screaming= fun!!That's all for today,
Enjoy,
Lisa
Blog
Bald
EaglesAge 6-8
Spectacular,
that would be the word
to sum up the visit to the Bald Eagles nest. We had a great view of the
Eaglets using our binoculars and using a telescope a very kind lady let
us use. We spent a very long time observing the nest and watching the
parents fly in and out. The Eaglets no longer need constant brooding so
there are times that they are left in the tree. When we got there I had
a life size version of an adult Female Bald Eagle that we unfolded,
everyone took a turn lying down to see where they fit into the wing
span of the Eagle. I had a replica of an Eagles egg that we had a close
look at, feeling the different textures and checking out the
weight. We listened to the different sounds that a B.E. makes and after
about an hour exploring the nest, looking underneath to see what the
Eaglets were feeding on (we found Mallard duck wings and a carcass of
what looked like a mole or squirrel, shells and lots of feathers) we
played a few games. Eagles have great eyesght, 4 times the strength of
humans. I set up aspot where the children stood with their binoculars.
A few metres away I placed green pipe cleaners in the grass to
represent fish, as in the ocean fish are similar colour to the water.
The children had to act like Eagles, perch on their tree and observe
with their binoculars until they could spy the fish, swoop down and
collect the pipe cleaner. Eagles are patient hunters, observing from up
high and can spot a fish a mile away!Next we played a fun game where we had a feeding ground with various food, we had an Eagle in the middle and Eagles in the tree. The Eagles in the tree had to fly to the feeding ground and then fly back without their food being stolen by the other Eagle ( eagles are also opportunistic hunters and will steal from others) if they have their food stolen then they return to the feeding ground and have to pick up 2 food instead of one as they have wasted more energy. Each Eagle had to collect at least 3 food but of course sometimes there was not enough food for everyone, because the Eagle in the middle stole some. This lead to a discussion about food sources and energy levels.The children really enjoyed this game!
Back to the nest to draw what we observed vand to keep exploring.
Some tourists walked by and stopped to ask what we were doing. Before I could answer the children had pulled out all our materials and gave a mini Earth Heads lesson. Soooo great to hear them explain their way through the props and give cool facts! Really great to see.
Take it easy,
Lisa
Blog
SalmonAge 9-11
What
fun we had catching salmon! We
clambered down the rocks checking out Coyote prints as we went,
listening to the Red Tailed Hawk calling above us . The first thing we
did was check out the jars of preserved eggs, alevins, and fry, which
everyone thought was pretty cool. We looked at the life cycle of the
Coho and pictures of the different life stages. We discussed some fun
facts about Coho. I set out some pics of a lake, fast water stream and
a still stream. Then pics of Coho, Chinook, Chum and Sockeye. The
children had to match the salmon with their spawning sights. This was
to show that not all salmon have the same habitat then we set to
catching salmon. Safety talk about exploring this delicate habitat as
Musqueam stream is the last wild salmon stream in Vancouver. And of
course water safety. Then we explored! Watching the children waiting
patiently for their catch and suddenly leaping into action with YES and
OH MAN when one was caught or slipped away.was soo much fun. Everyone
managed to catch at least one. What was also wonderful is everyone
helped each other. We spent lots of time at the stream. The children
identified the salmon we caught as Coho. While we had a few in the
bucket we checked out the anatomy. Once everyone had enough we headed
to the meadow for a game of Jeopardy! This was hilarious as each group
made up their own buzzer sound and the were getting so confused each
time they answered by forgetting to put in What is...... before the
answer I think we spent more time laughing! We heard a Barred Owl
calling, Who cooks for you, who cooks for you, who cooks for you
alllllllllll..that was really cool! A small board game was up next, the
challenge- to get your fry to the estuary safely so they can go into
smolt phase. Unfortunately none of our fry made it! One got poisoned,
one eaten by a raccoon and one, lunch for a Blue Heron! Off we then
went exploring in the forest, following some wildlife trails.....Take it easy everyone,
Lisa