Both Lindsay and Rachel's 3-4 classes headed out this Fall to Kettle Cove Beach to explore the rocky shores as they prepare to launch into their Casco Bay Ecosystems studies.
Here's a recent snapshot from Lindsay's class outing:
On our trip to Kettle Cove, we explored the different intertidal zones we had learned about in class. We were lucky to be there at low tide, and we walked all the way out into the lower intertidal zone. We played in the tidepools, made hypotheses about what we were seeing, and identified species. As we walked back, we noticed how things were changing as we went from zone to zone. We were surprised by how obvious it was to see the differences. We got back to our picnic spot and looked back to find that the different tidal zones were literally color-coded. The kids guessed that it was because of the amount of sunlight that hit different zones when they were out of water. It was a pretty cool moment!
As we gathered for snack, we read a chapter of Braiding Sweetgrass For Young Adults by Robin Wall Kimmerer. We read about indigenous wisdom and different ways of being in relation with the land.
"The land is the real teacher. All we need as students of the land is mindfulness. Paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world and receiving the teachings with open eyes, open mind, and open heart."
We took some time to pay attention and kids got out art supplies and had some time to capture what they were seeing and feeling. We practiced this again back at school while looking at goldenrods and asters. Although they don't have much to do with rocky shore ecosystems, they are having their moment, and we had to stop and watch! Have your child show you the "yellow paper trick", and see what they can tell you about the relationship between goldenrods and asters!
A highlight of the week was when one of the students used one of the vocabulary words, and said, "The bees were so tenacious!", another quickly quoted a Kahlil Gibran poem from last week and shouted, "We are the seeds of a tenacious plant!"
