Field Trip

This past Friday the third grade classes had a wonderful field to the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center (SANC). This trip was the first of four trips that we will taking to the SANC this year and its focus was on the Lake Michigan watershed.

This trip was divided into three main sections. The first part was a classroom portion where the children learned about what a watershed was, where water flows, its routes to the oceans, and water's overall importance to people. We also learned that 95% of all fresh water in the United States is found within the Great Lakes.

After, the children hiked down to Lake Michigan and built a watershed in the sand to mimic how water flows from all around the lake into it. We also built a small model to illustrate how even if pollution is buried deep in the ground, it can still pollute the lake.

The last portion of the trip involved testing Lake Michigan. Students were given various tools and tested the lake's acidity, bacteria count, and temperature. They also measured wind speed and collected litter from the lake shore to measure what was blowing into the lake.

It was a wonderful trip and the students were all very well behaved. Our next trip to the SANC will be in January where we will learn about animal habitats and Native Americans of the Great Lakes region. To see more pictures, visit our website at www.3grade.ws or click here.