My First Field Trip

Friday, March 20

I still don't have the beach pictures posted, but I do have pictures from Kyla's field trip to Whitaker Ponds this week. It was my first elementary school field trip, since Sydney was in preschool that day, I was able to tag along. We got to ride the school bus, which is exciting for the kids that live close enough to walk (that's us). It turned out to be educational and fun. I'm sure I missed some of the talk as I was busy taking pictures, so don't quiz me. I did learn that the ponds filter water from the storm drains of Portland. The kids learned about lots of plants and birds. My camera batteries died right when we spotted a great blue heron - darn!

So glad I found Kyla some boots at a second hand store recently - it was muddy! Here they are learning how to properly plant some water tolerant shrubs called Spirea.

Here's Kyla digging a hole for her plant. She ended up using her hands, those gloves will never be the same.After planting it was time to study macro (don't need the microscope to see them) invertebrates. First you have to catch them.

Then you suck 'em up and separate them into ice-cube trays and identify them using provided cheat sheet. A pair of boys even caught a tiny fish. Sorry, it was too hard to take pictures of the water bugs.At the end they returned their water and surviving bugs to the pond.Here's a bonus picture for getting to the end. I did a little editing, but willow trees always look so dreamy don't they?