Teacher Training Workshop #2
This week we welcomed our second Teacher Training Workshop on Sedge Island. The adventure began in the middle of the Barnegat Bay when the extreme low tide made it difficult to get to the island and we had to literally get out of the boat and pull it across shallow sections.
The group started out with a short paddle around the marsh and stopped several times to note certain species and learn more about the history of the area Along the way we noticed a large number of naked sea butterflies, not normally abundant in the bay, but beautiful none the less.
Back at the Sedge House we looked at different lesson plans in the packet and created our own watershed ,complete with polluting chemical plant and pumpkin patch, and examined the extensions and cross curricular possibilities of the activity.
The next morning John Wnek, with Project Terrapin, arrived and the group was treated to a lesson on diamondback terrapins before we headed out in the kayaks. Once again we were battling the low tide and snaked through the marsh trying to stay in deeper channels. We stopped on a sandbar on the outside of the marsh and watched the boats in the Oyster Creek Channel. While paddling we saw a group of over 40 American Oyster Catchers on one sandbar! On some further off sand bars we were treated to the start of the bird migration season. We saw: brown pelicans, double crested cormorants, various species of gulls, semipalmated plovers, greater yellowlegs, willets, sanderlings, semipalmated sandpipers, black bellied plovers, ruddy turnstones and many many more!!
Back at the house we conducted water quality tests and went over extensions and different equipment that can be used in the classroom. We watched a beautiful sunset and prepared our dinner with many additions from the bay including, a white clam sauce made with hard clams, steamed soft shelled clams, blue claw crabs as well as some green crab claws, and one sautéed soft shell crab.
The morning the group was leaving one of the small terrapin hatchlings emerged and the group got to see the first sedge terrapin hatch out!
This group was full of firsts and everyone was happy to experience new things and leave with information to bring back to their classroom and to their life. We look forward to reading your comments about your trip and hope to see you back on sedge!
***To comment on this post, click on the "Comments" link below and choose "anonymous" as your identity (easiest way to post) don’t forget to sign your name on your comment***
The group started out with a short paddle around the marsh and stopped several times to note certain species and learn more about the history of the area Along the way we noticed a large number of naked sea butterflies, not normally abundant in the bay, but beautiful none the less.
Back at the Sedge House we looked at different lesson plans in the packet and created our own watershed ,complete with polluting chemical plant and pumpkin patch, and examined the extensions and cross curricular possibilities of the activity.
The next morning John Wnek, with Project Terrapin, arrived and the group was treated to a lesson on diamondback terrapins before we headed out in the kayaks. Once again we were battling the low tide and snaked through the marsh trying to stay in deeper channels. We stopped on a sandbar on the outside of the marsh and watched the boats in the Oyster Creek Channel. While paddling we saw a group of over 40 American Oyster Catchers on one sandbar! On some further off sand bars we were treated to the start of the bird migration season. We saw: brown pelicans, double crested cormorants, various species of gulls, semipalmated plovers, greater yellowlegs, willets, sanderlings, semipalmated sandpipers, black bellied plovers, ruddy turnstones and many many more!!
Back at the house we conducted water quality tests and went over extensions and different equipment that can be used in the classroom. We watched a beautiful sunset and prepared our dinner with many additions from the bay including, a white clam sauce made with hard clams, steamed soft shelled clams, blue claw crabs as well as some green crab claws, and one sautéed soft shell crab.
The morning the group was leaving one of the small terrapin hatchlings emerged and the group got to see the first sedge terrapin hatch out!
This group was full of firsts and everyone was happy to experience new things and leave with information to bring back to their classroom and to their life. We look forward to reading your comments about your trip and hope to see you back on sedge!
***To comment on this post, click on the "Comments" link below and choose "anonymous" as your identity (easiest way to post) don’t forget to sign your name on your comment***
posted by Sedge Island at 1:46 PM
1 Comments:
Great pictures!!! What a wonderful time I had ...group was so much fun.....definitely plenty of things that I can use back at school. My husband is so disappointed that he could not be there with us after seeing and hearing about all of the fun that we had. Would like to pick your brains this year for other great environmental activities to do with the kids.
Have a wonderful rest of the summer!!!
Jill
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