Wetlands Outdoor Education

1. What do you remember best from Outdoor Ed this year? The thing I remember best from outdoor ed this year is the canoe trip that our class took on the river. I remember this the best because I learnt the most during this trip. I learnt how to work as a team as we were tested with the strong winds, heat, and rapids. I learnt to communicate with my team and tell the stern if I see any rocks, strainers or sweepers. I also learnt how to tell which is the best path by locating a v created by the water. This v shows a safe path for the canoe to travel through. This trip taught me many lessons such as; trips don’t always go to plan, how to persevere, and how to improve based on my mistakes. 2. What challenged you the most from this past year in Outdoor Ed? What challenged me the most during this year was organizing the “Frostbite Games” at the beginning of the year. The “Frostbite Games” was a mini Olympic Games that we set up for the Grade 7 and 8s. This challenged me the most becau...

A) What I did well One thing I did notice I did well was that I persevered and kept hopeful throughout the day even when I was tired and aching from paddling. I also improved my j-stroke throughout the day and learned how to help the stern stir the canoe. I also did a good job of spotting the hazards and communicating with my partners. B)  What I need to improve I need to improve rafting up and slowing down. At some times we had a hard time stoping at the side of the bank and turning back into the current. C) What I really enjoyed I really enjoyed seeing the beautiful sand banks that reached up very high. I also enjoyed taking breaks and talking with my canoeing parteners and classmates about the rapids and the scenery. D) What I found difficult and why I found the length of the trip difficult because it got me really tired and exhausted. This made it difficult to stay positive and have the strength to paddle on. E) Would I recommend canoe excursions in the future? ...

On June 8th our class is taking a 6 hour canoe trip. We should bring: - shoes (ones that will stay on your feet and protect your feet) - windbreaker jacket (to keep us warm) - sunscreen (more than SPF 25) - bug spray - hat - sunglasses (make sure to strap them around your neck/head) - change of clothes/towel (in case you fall in) - water bottle - food/snacks (make sure to put in ziplock bag) - bail bucket - rope - whistle

1. What worked in my station? -What really worked at my station was the repetition of questions. This reminded the students of the main points and helped it stick in their heads. The games also gave the students a picture of what we were talking about. The activity where we put the tarp over the children really gave them a picture of what the earth would be like if lots of greenhouse gases were in the air. 2. What didn’t work at my station? -The only one problem we had at our station was that the kids didn’t remember the names of the gases or where the gases came from. 3. What was a difficulty I didn’t expect? -I didn’t expect that the kids would be so distracted after lunch. At some points it was hard to keep them from wondering around and talking. 4. Were there outstanding students at my station? Why? -Yes there some outstanding students. I think that was because they were more interested in the wetlands and about learning and teaching more. 5. What could we do be...

On May 18th, Barret Miller came to our school to help our outdoor ed class prepare for this week. This week we are interpreting to grade 4 students at Rivers Wetland Centre of Excellence. Many people in my class were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to hold the students attention. They were also concerned that they wouldn’t be able to explain the concepts to the students. Barret Miller helped us forget those worries by giving us helpful tricks and ideas to keep our audience’s attention. He told us that we could show biodiversity using jelly beans. We could fill one jar with colourful jelly beans and another with black jelly beans and ask the students which jar they would rather eat. Most kids will say they want to eat the colourful ones. The colourful jar represents the wetland with lots of plants and animals and the black jar of jelly represents an ecosystem with not many types of plants and animals. We also reviewed our topics that we will be presenting this week. On Monday my ...

Tomorrow Mr. Miller will be doing a presentation on interpretation for the Grade 10 Outdoor Ed class. We are having this presentation to prepare us for the interpretation we are going to give to the Grade 3 and 4 classes that are coming to the wetland on May 29th and 31st. For this presentation the class is preparing questions to ask Mr. Miller in relation to the interpretation we will give. I will be interpreting greenhouse gases and the water cycle to the students. For the greenhouse gases part, I will ask these questions; -How would you explain the complex subject of greenhouse gases to a Grade 4 student? -How can I get the students to care about the greenhouse gases they are producing? And how can I suggest they reduce their contribution to greenhouse gases? For the water cycle part, I will ask this question; -What can I do to help the students understand evaporation, since it isn’t really something that they see?

On May 14, the Grade 10 Outdoor Ed class went canoeing on the Saskatchewan River with instructor  Jack Coulson. We started at the dam by placing our canoes horizontal to the shore to load up. This time we had 3 in a canoe instead of 2, so that the canoe would be more stable and we could have more power. In my canoe Femke sat in the bow, Noah sat in the stern and I sat in the middle of the canoe. The first thing we did was learn to ferry across the river. We did this by starting horizontal to the shore and paddling upstream, this caused the canoe to move straight across the river. We then followed Mr. Coulson to our first rapids. The first rapids were steady so we all easily flowed through.  A few times during the trip we rafted up so that we could talk about how to get through the rapids. One canoe got stuck in a strainer, so we saw what can happen if we get stuck and how to deal with that. We then carried on, another canoe got struck on a rock while going through some rapids....

What I learnt during the quick wetland tour: - there are turtles living in the wetland - skunks are the main predator for goose eggs - insects get plants to grow a home that the insects can live in the growth -we saw a decomposing muskrat. We could tell it was a muskrat because of it’s long teeth that are used to chew cattails. - lady slipper flowers are related to orchids

Today our grade 10 class went canoeing. I saw that you have to hold on to the gunwales and keep low while getting on the canoe, otherwise you will be unstable. We practiced j-strokes. J-strokes help keep your canoe go in a straight line without having to switch sides to paddle on. We also learnt to brake by holding the paddle still vertically in the water. We then learnt to raft up, which means that all the canoes come together and hold on to the canoes beside you. For the first part I started to paddle in the stern then we switched and I paddled in the bow of the canoe. We also learnt about hyperventilating and the rule 1-10-1, which stands for you will hyperventilate for 1 minutes, you have 10 minutes to get to shore, and 1 hour to stay conscious. I enjoyed the canoeing and me and my partner did pretty well. For our moving water canoeing next time Mr. Coulson said to bring a windbreaker jacket, extra clothes in a waterproof bag, something to get the water out of the canoe.

May 4th 2018, the Grade 10 Outdoor Ed class tested the water from the Wetland Centre of Excellence. We tested/recorded: -water depth -water temperature  -oxygen in the water by adding chemicals -pH level by using a sonde machine pH=7.2 -calibration by using a sonde machine -ammonia in the water by adding certain chemicals -phosphate in the water by adding certain chemicals -transparency by using a transparency tube Overall the water tests brought good results, although there was some 

Freeman Tilden made some principles to help others do their best to interpret successfully. These principles can be summarized to relate to audience, reveal information about the topic, be a combination of many arts, provoke interest in the topic, and be a part of a greater whole. When interpreting you should: 1. Try to relate to your audience. Consider the age, group make-up, and if they are local or not . By knowing this you can determine how you can relate what you are teaching to their personal experiences. Answer questions that are most commonly asked or questions that may be about the general area, such as what trees are common to that area because you will be seeing a lot of them throughout your interpretation. 2. Next you should reveal information about the topic. Try to do this in an interesting way that your audience will remember, such as using a metaphor or a simile. For example you could compare a ducks feet to swimming flippers and ask you audience how the flippers ma...

Here are some projects I made about wetlands: Importance of Wetlands Presentation-  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14sx-z3V6nwi8IDf2dbV6tkNLcedHiMK8BqL8HTMPeP0 Wetland Infographic-  https://create.piktochart.com/output/29644324-wetlands

Yesterday during a presentation given by the Oak Hammock Marsh I learnt about the four main parts of a wetland. The four main parts are water, soil, forestry, and wildlife. I learnt that a wetland is usually around 2 meters deep, and if it is deeper than that, it is concidered a lake. I learnt that cutting down trees, draining wetlands, and letting cattle near water can lead to unhealthy watersheds.  There are three layers of soil including topsoil, subsoil, and a layer of parent material. We heard bird sounds and matched them with the bird they belong to. I learnt that unlike other birds the Mourning Dove sounds sad, which is how it got it’s name. We also counted the rings of a tree to find out how many years old it was and we measured the diameter of a tree. We also identified water bugs and learned how to count the rings of a fish structure. Other activities also included scat identification, fur identification, track identification, deciduous twig identification, and coniferous...

What is interpretation? Interpretation is a way of teaching people about something, but not just so they remember, so that they understand and care about what you are teaching them about. Through interpretation people should get first hand experience with objects they can see. It is important for your audience to see, hear, and most importantly do what you are teaching. Freeman Tilden wrote a book called “Interpreting Our Heritage”, which is a book about interpretation. The most important outcome that you should be looking for while interpreting is a respect, interest, and love of nature from your audience.

        I think that the most important thing that a wetland does is balance water levels.  Wetlands absorb excess water like a spong through their roots and soils. Much of the water that floods flat land can be absorbed and stored in a wetland. That means that wetlands also contain water during times of drought. Animals can still find food during a drought because a wetland will still have some moisture to grow plants. This is especially important as we are seeing climate change alter water levels all over the world.

For my Importance of Wetlands Project I am going to include topics such as: - Filter and cleanse water - Provide a Habitat  - Protection from erosion  - Benifits agriculture  - Reduces climate change - Benifits the economy - Biodiversity  - Historicaly important  - Education and research  - Pest control - Area for specific plants - Cultural connections - Absorbs excess water  - Helps is to look at our “ecological footprint” - Recreational activities  - Base for organizations