This meeting was a hodge-podge of things. Explorers learned how to calculate stream discharge and velocity using our April measurements. They also started writing down what all they have gotten out of our year long water monitoring projects ("My boots aren't tall enough" was a popular comment.), weeding our butterfly gardens and learning how to use the new stereo and compound microscopes we were able to purchase from our stormwater grant.
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Explorers continued to work on their stormwater education posters. Almost everyone was able to finish up but several did take theirs home to put some finishing touches on theirs. If you student brought theirs home, make sure it makes it way back to Wahl-Coates by our next meeting. They drop them off in Ms. Moore's room. Topics ranged from: - Car washes - Paved surfaces - Dog poop - MacroInvertebrates - General Sources of pollution - Where runoff goes Explorers also tended to their Butterfly Garden raised beds. They were in much need of some TLC. Dead branches were pruned, dead plants removed and several cabbages planted. We hope to attract some Cabbage White Caterpillars so we can collect and rear them. What a great meeting! The meeting had three distinct segments. Club meeting, watershed experiment and art time! This was the officers first meeting to lead a meeting. They gave reports and started learning their roles. At the end of the meeting portion, Explorers were invited to share their individual science adventures. There was lots of talk about found insects, explorations of ditches, and the ECU lecture by Eileen Collins. After the club meeting portion, we conducted a little hands-on demonstration/experiment to help explain what a watershed is and how pollutants migrate into our waterways. This helped give them a visualization of how a watershed is bound by high elevation points and that pollutants, sediments, etc. migrate to the lowest point in the watershed. You can find the exercise on page 4 of Watershed Excursion Teacher's Guide published by the Southwest Florida Water Management District. Lastly, we got creative! Explorers began working on their entry to the 2013 Unnatural Resources Fair competition that will also be exhibited in the K-12 Youth Expressions Art Project at the Greenville Mall and at the K-12 Works by Pitt County School's Art Students at the Greenville Museum of Art. All three events take place in the second half of the school year. The theme for this year's Youth Express Art Project is biodiversity which fits perfectly with our botanical/entomology theme we had already selected. Using materials destined for either the trash can or recycle bin, Explorers started tranforming the objects into one of a kind insects and beautiful flowers. We want to thank all of the parents that sent items in and Mr. Phillips for lending us his classroom and glue gun and for providing direction and assistance! Explorers worked on pinning specimens for their entomology collection they will enter in the Pitt County Fair this fall. After they had pinned all mounting ready specimens, they explored the various gardens around the Pitt County Cooperative Extension to find more insects for their collection. They also found a tomato horn worm with braconid wasp larva which was quite interesting to see. The morning proved fruitful. Their pin boards are full as are their specimen vials. Explorers met this morning at the Pitt County Arboretum and Gardens to hunt for insects for their Entomology collection. They were quite fruitful in their hunt finding 21 insects! The insects are in the freezer and will be ready for pinning at our next meeting, July 21st. If you find an insect you would like to contribute to the collection between now and July 21st, place it in a vial/jar and then freeze it. Keep it in your freezer until our July 21st meeting! Thank you parents and Explorers for giving of your time this morning! Until we meet next month, happy bug hunting! Due to a scheduling change, we had our fun end of the year science art time yesterday. Explorers painted aluminum can flowers to place on their raised beds and to take home as Mother's day gifts. They also made sunprints using various botanical items from the valley. After they were done, they went bug hunting. Links: - Sunprints Inspiration - When Old Soda Cans Blossoms into Beautiful Flowers - Upcycled Insects - Aluminium Can Crafts - Metal Flowers Directions on how to make aluminum can flowers: Galvanized screws were used to attach the finished flowers to the wooden raised beds.
Explorers planted the following in the two raised beds:
The differences between annual and perrenial plants were discussed. And how to properly plant the plants was demonstrated. The Explorers had a great time planting and tending to the new butterfly garden. Explorers weeded one of the club’s two raised beds to prep them for planting at our next meeting, April 5th. Mrs. Lineberry's 1st grade class had been kind enough to weed one of the beds for us. We have an appropriate thank you planned for those special 1st graders. While weeding the raised bed, we talked about insects and their role in nature. They found insects and arachnids as they weeded and placed them in viewing jars to examine after weeding was complete. |
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April 2013
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