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General Ecology
Night Sounds and Sights
Here’s an activity that will be something new and unique for students. The night hike (with flashlights covered with a red filter) introduces them to the world of nocturnal animals. We will spend several minutes sitting quietly and listening to the sounds of the night and perhaps even getting a look at some birds or mammals active at night.
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
Nature Theme Hikes
Explore part of our 570 acres (or the nearby Ice Age Trail) on a hike. Nature hikes with a theme can be fun! Examples of a hike theme include: get lost hike, scavenger hunt, animal homes hunt, tree or wildflower identification hike, sensory hike, and curiosities hike.
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
Mysteries of the Bog
What is it about bogs that fascinates us, causing students to react with exclamations like, “awesome,” “gross,” and “may we go to the bog again?” We will hike to Blueberry Bog, a glacially-formed kettle bog that features a large mass of sphagnum peat moss to walk on and two kinds of carnivorous plants to observe. Stay on the boardwalk to keep your feet dry or take your shoes off and feel the wet sphagnum with your bare feet!
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
Limnology
Depending on the time allowance, we will begin with an indoor session about the unique properties of H2O , our absolute dependence on it for life, water quality, and aquatic ecology. Outdoors, we will collect and observe aquatic animals and conduct water quality tests at one or more of our aquatic areas (lakes, ponds, bogs, creek, marsh).
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
Exploring Special Places
Students will find their own special place out in the woods. They will choose from several observation activities in their personal “Explorer’s Guide”; activities that encourage them to use their senses to focus on the beauty of God’s creation around them.
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
A Sense of Wonder
One of our desires in outdoor education is to help students appreciate the Creator and the creation through developing a “sense of wonder” about the natural world. This session will have students using their senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to focus on the creation around us.
- Grades 7-12
- Spring, Fall, and Winter
