"Today in the Outdoor Classroom..."

...we were COLD!

Why does it seem so much colder today than when it was 12F just a few days ago? It was meant to be a rhetorical question because I was internally regretting my choice to wear only one pair of socks, but our very knowledgeable naturalists responded, "because of moisture." Yep. 

Water transfers heat so much faster than air. During man overboard drills and exercises I used to call down to engineering and ask for the sea-water inlet temperature as we were working to recover the mannikin that was having a rough day. I then took that number to a chart to determine how much time, approximately, we had to rescue "Oscar." (It was always Oscar.)As a fair-weather kayaker I've also been taught about the sum of the air and water temperatures: air plus water less than 120F means you need special cold-water gear. Short version, it was cold and damp, and I was underdressed. Coincidentally we didn't see or hear any animals today. Hmm.

We talked about signs of spring and how to tell a leaf bud from a flower bud: (usually) the flower bud on a plant will be larger than the leaf bud on the same plant. Then we looked for signs. We found the male flowers on our bald cypress (pollen allergy sufferers, be warned, spring is coming), melting snow, and greening plants among others.

Fifth graders were full of energy and really spent most of the time getting it out, starting with making butt jokes (in two languages), then by performing a play about a "smoooooooth ukulele." Despite all the wiggles and giggles, some good observations were made, questions were asked and dum-dums were earned!

...we had a blast!

Fifth graders started the afternoon working on their play—but first they had to shovel the snow off of the stage. Sure. While the enthusiastic show-snovelers were hard at work, a couple of other Naturalists looked for, and found, a thing that I discovered that made me simultaneously sad and hopeful. Our newly installed rain garden was hit hard, quite literally, by this storm. Recently large chunks of very heavy ice fell from the roof and crushed and broke several of the young shrubs. Sad, because so many people worked so hard to put them in, hopeful, because shrubs can handle such things and will regrow. Once all the chunks are clear of the area I'll take a look and see what kind of pruning/repairing might be needed. And we'll get to see how plants handle adversity. Everyone reconvened for play planning and preparation. I think the concept of a plan for an idea of a theme has formed. I can't wait to see what happens over the next few months. I finally gave them their journals for the Noticing Nature project and asked them to try to make an observation a day for 14 days and then write/draw/sing/dance how they felt when they made the observation. It is an entirely optional "assignment." I forgot to give them a lollipop.

Fourth graders discovered the nest of the very rare, only seen on Fridays, Penguinus silverspringii, aka Silver Spring Penguin. These unique to the northern hemisphere nesting penguins are only found in one location on Earth, what they do from Friday-Thursday no one really knows. They also divided into small groups and had fascinating nature-based adventures. One pair of "sisters" had "an evil mom who kicked us out of the house and told us not to come back for a week, so we have to survive." And they were "five and cute, because animals don't eat other animals that are cute." Hmmm...at risk of offending my vegetarian and vegan friends, chickens are very cute as well as delicious. Despite relying on their looks our intrepid survivalists did remember that they needed to acquire food, water and shelter in order to make it through the week. I hope the dum-dum lollipops helped. Others went on scouting missions for a new fairy subdivision. And others just flitted around pollinating the rest of the groups with their high spirits. Everyone seemed happy to be outside just breathing the fresh (as in cold, and clear) air.

If  your fourth-graders ask you what an extortionist is, please tell them that they are. They managed to get two dum-dums (and might have learned something in the process!).

...went tracking and trailing! 

Some of our naturalist didn't make it due to many factors beyond their control. It's all ok. Also, fifth grade teachers, apologies for leaving you off the message this morning. I still had almost everyone; thank you.

Fifth graders had a short lesson near the doors (where it was a toasty 44F in the sun (we were all de-layering!). We talked about the subnivean zone, that special micro-habitat/climate that exists below the snow but above the ground. Generally speaking, snow depth should be greater than 6 inches. My plan was to show them that the air temperature above the snow, the temperature of the snow an inch or two down and the air temperature just above the ground under the snow varies drastically. The air temperatures today were right around freezing (once we left the corner, south-facing brick wall). We still discussed how organisms might appreciate a constant temperature of around 32F under the snow compared to one well below that above it. 

We talked a little bit about why caves (and unheated basements) tend to stay around 55F year round; I told them 65, but it depends on where you are in the world. Generally speaking a (deep enough) hole in the ground will tend to remain a constant temperature approximately equal to the average annual temperature of the are where it is located. In MD, that range is 55-59. 

It was my first day back, and I hadn't done my usual walk around, so once we finished taking temperatures and analyzing our data, we explored. We found animal tracks and signs! The first sign I saw was an obviously recently dug hole in the ground. I didn't see any clear tracks around it (but the snow and ice were still hard). My first thought was, "oh, no, the rats are back." Then I found the tracks. Perfect, almost textbook, examples of rodent tracks moving in a "bounding" gait, with the hind footprints in front of the fore footprints. Having had some limited experience tracking and trailing mammals (once in Alberta in February!), I knew immediately that the squirrels were back in the OC. I eventually found other signs that reinforced my hypothesis and concluded that I had not seen rat signs. Eventually, I did stick my hand into the hole and found a wall at the front of it, suggesting that no one was burrowing, just searching for food. This site has good information on tracking squirrels and other animals generally: https://www.bear-tracker.com/gsquirel.html (I have consulted with Ms. Cabrera virtually several times and respect her expertise).

Our naturalists are great observers and had a good time being detectives on the trail! It was a fun day.