• Oct302009

    POSTED AT 08:34 AM

    BEACH DAY! Today we went to two beaches. Our first trip was to the National Seashore at Coast Guard Beach.  The waves were really big. We learned: “not to turn your back to the waves. Marshes help protect homes from hurricanes and storms,” “sand dunes help stop erosion,” “marshes filter the water to make it cleaner for the ocean and provide homes for smaller animals,” “every year 3 feet erodes from Cape Cod,”  “Cape Cod was made from glaciers.”
               

     

    At the tide pools of Chapin Beach, we learned that when crabs are having babies, the have a brown sack underneath them. We saw many green Asian crabs hiding under rocks. These crabs do not have any predators and have become invasive. We also saw a wire under the sand dunes that runs all the way to Portugal. Barnacles, slipper shell and periwinkles were everywhere.
     
        

     

    Our evening activity is spooky science fair.  Some of the experiments were flower and fire, heat up a soda can, binocular with obstacle course, pickle electricity.  Then we ended the night with a huge campfire, singing and smores! YUM!
     
         
        
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    Oct302009

    POSTED AT 08:31 AM

    It rained L!  BUT… we had a fun day.  We started the day with a huge game of predator prey. You really had to be on the lookout for predators. For instance you had to get food, oxygen and shelter in a certain amount of time. It was also harder to start at the bottom of the food chain.

     

    After lunch we hiked around in field groups and learned how to scale a wall using team work.  Some of us worked through the ropes course.

    Some of the classes we took included:  WWF, whales, water rockers, pig dissection, star charts, and float your boat.

     

    Our evening activity was the Underground Railroad. This is serious simulation activity where students, teachers and NC staff played a part in the historical rendition of slavery and the Underground Railroad. Please ask us about our experience in this simulation.
     
    Here are some pictures from "T" time.
        
      
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    Oct282009

    POSTED AT 09:28 AM

    Today we started with our field groups where we played some team building games like peanut butter river, flash flood and balance on a beam… one field group stayed balanced for 17sec (nearly a record).
        

    Since today is Two for Tuesday, we had two 2 class choices.  Some of our classes included:

    Starfish dissections   Turtle dissection

    Splatter painting      
    frisbee golf   f
    irst aid   
     
    Drawing with natural elements  
    t-shirt anatomy    gross anatomy
     

    Our night activity was the night hike.  We learned about triboluminescence, bioluminescence, cones and rods and nocturnal animals. Sugar crystals when rubbed together make light, which is piezoelectricity. Try rubbing two quartz rocks together in the dark and see what you get.

     

    Cabin A’s comments about the day were:

    “Really fun and exciting.” “NC is the funniest place.” “Creative.” “Exciting!”

    “ I am learning so much, I feel like I get to be myself and don’t have to be judged.”

    “This is where we should be kids, not just be normal routines- school and home.”

    “Exciting and everything we learned is interesting.”

     

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    Oct272009

    POSTED AT 09:12 AM

    We made it safe and sound.  We settled into our cabins and then had lunch. We learned about ORT and then went off to the first field groups were we got to know our NS staff member and learn more about GCS students.  After some “T” time, we attended our first class.  Some of the classes included:
     rocket making,     


    frog dissection,  


    feed your face,    

     building a geo dome, camouflage/staking and build a civilization. After dinner of chicken parm sandwiches, we were offered our first QUEST.  We learned to use the acronym of STOP when given a problem or challenge. Ask the students about their parade
    J
     
       
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    Oct232009

    POSTED AT 01:20 PM


    Welcome to the  Natures Classroom blog. I will try to post daily pictures and entries of our adventures at NC.
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