Our survival week concluded with a two-mile hike to locate various geocaches and answer some riddles. Students utilized their navigational skills by using the compass and their estimation skills by counting out steps to locate various caches along the trail. Once finished, students had a few minutes to put some finishing touches on the shelters that they'd started on Monday. Our time came to a close by dismantling our shelters and saying our goodbyes to Miss Katie. We truly enjoyed our time at the CNC this week and look forward to returning there for a field trip in May.
Would your family would like to venture out for a hike along one of CNC's beautiful trails? You can view the trails here: https://www.chippewanaturecenter.org/trails Perhaps your family would like to try some geocaching around our great state of Michigan. There are many geocaches right here in the Midland area. You can find out more here: https://www.geocaching.com/play Our CNC naturalist, Mr. Rod, taught us some first-aid basics. We learned about what should be included in a first-aid kit and how those items would be helpful in an emergency situation. Then he taught us about some common emergencies that could happen while outdoors, such as dehydration, anaphylactic shock, heat stroke, and hypothermia. Then we tapped into our problem-solving and acting skills to brainstorm how to treat a couple of injuries if they occurred in a survival situation.
After that, we learned about the basics of fire and fire building. Then we tried our hand at applying that knowledge by scouting around for dry materials to create a pile of tinder and kindling in a pie tin. (That was challenging considering it rained last night and this morning.) After some instruction on the basics of lighting a wooden match, each team was given two matches to light a fire. Take a look below to see how our fire-building efforts panned out on this windy morning. Today's nature experience was all about food. Our naturalist, Mr. Justin, taught us about plants to avoid and how our bodies may react if we touch or consume them. We learned to avoid poison ivy, poison oak, and high bush cranberries, among others.
Then he taught us how energy transfers through food chains/webs. We learned that energy transfers from the original source (the Sun) into a producer. After that, the energy may transfer into the primary consumer. Sometimes it even transfers into a secondary consumer. After that, we went on a hike in the glorious sunshine to look for evidence of producers, consumers, and decomposers. Can you spot any of those in the photos from our hike? Our naturalist, Miss Katie, led us through the next step in our survival week training: finding water. After discussing why it's not advised to drink unpurified water found in nature, the students learned about the latest in water purification tools, such as portable filtration systems. She also told us about some rustic purification strategies, such as building solar stills.
After that, students participated in an activity where they imagined being stranded in the wilderness with only a map, compass, some debris they found in nature, and the clothes on their back. They worked with each other to generate ways to use the resources to purify water. Finally, the children visited a pond and vernal pools to take an up-close look at some of the organisms that live in the water. The children found snails, a nymph for a dragonfly, fairy shrimp, a red tick as a mite, and much more. Our survival-themed nature week experience kicked off this morning. Miss Katie, our naturalist, taught us how to navigate using a compass. After that, the students spent some time building shelters. Although there was a limited amount of time and resources, the children were impressed with their efforts. Tune in tomorrow as our nature experience continues.
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June 2024
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