Studying Habitats and the Transition Zone

The Grade 4 class has been studying habitats in Science. They've visited the forest, the meadow, and the river habitats in Rouge Park. Today the class visited the transition zone, the micro-habitat between the forest and the meadow. They explored the area, made observations and then wrote about their insights and experience in their Journals.

We are BACK!

This blog hasn't been updated in a while.

Mostly this has been due to changing teacher roles and responsibilities. However, our commitment to place-based education and experiential learning hasn't changed. What better way is there to make learning 'real' to students, than to take them out into the real world?

Through the dedication and commitment of Mr. Daffern, Walking Wednesdays at Rouge Valley has continued in various forms through the last few years. It hasn't always been on Wednesdays and it hasn't always been with the same grades, but it has been happening. In fact, the idea has been growing and spreading to other teachers and other classes. With 'Walks' happening on various days and by various classes, we really should be calling it Walking Rouge Valley (or Walking RV for short)!

We hope to share some of the photos that have been taken over the last while. These will be posted along with some current happenings on our Walks.

Just to get us started, here are a few photos taken earlier this year.

Into the Forest

Tiyalize, Rm 209

Today our class went through the meadow, through the forest, over the Rouge River and into a new area of the Rouge Valley. My favourite part was when we closed our eyes and listened for different sounds. We heard different kinds of birds and pointed in their direction. It was awesome.

Water Art

The following graphic artwork was created by Mitchell from Rm 208. Each "word cloud" was generated using the software found on Wordle (www.wordle.net). He brainstormed the topic "water" (How is it used? Why is it important? How do we conserve it?) and typed out all his ideas into the program. The program generates a word cloud based upon the words that are typed. The more times a word is typed the larger it appears.

Memories of Walking Wednesday

By Kristof, Rm 208

Every Walking Wednesday we explore our community in different ways. We go to the park, meadow, forest, river and neighbourhood. One time we observed scat, animal bones and fur. I think the scat was from a fox. One time Rachael discovered a snake under the grass. I found a slug in the grass. We went to the meadow and collected soil samples. My favourite memory is when I collected a caterpillar to observe. Then, I released it back in the wild.

By Ardijana, Rm 208
We went on exciting adventures in the meadow and the forest. We investigated many animals and plants: caterpillars, praying mantis, snakes, snails, grass hoppers, rabbits, ants, birds, field mice, white trilliums, magnolia trees. We observed animal bones, fur and scat. I think it was a squirrel that got eaten by a fox or coyote. We investigated growing soil and compacted soil samples. We learned that growing soil has more insects and worms living in it. We learned about the butterfly life cycle. We looked for parallel lines and multiplication patterns on houses. We looked for examples of simple machines in our community. We mapped important places in the community. My favorite memory was when I observed the white trilliums in the forest. I liked them because white was my favorite color.

By Mitchell, Rm 208
We watched changes to the meadow and forest as the seasons changed. We collected soil samples and learned about growing soil and compacted soil. We learned about the butterfly life cycle. We looked for patterns and shapes on the houses in the neighbourhood.

By Parwez, Rm 208

On Walking Wednesdays we look for different kinds of insects, plants, animals and features in our environment. We drew maps of a park and the meadow. In winter we looked for Simple Machines in the community. We also looked for parallel lines and multiplication patterns in the neighborhood. We investigated growing soil and compacted soil by using an auger to take soil samples. I learned that good growing soil has lots of worms and humus. We investigated a gall that grew around a fly egg on the stem of a plant. My favorite memory was investigating the “wooly bear moth” caterpillar. Back at school I looked it up on the internet and a library book.

By Rachael, Rm 208

Every Wednesday we investigate our environment in the forest, meadow and community. One time, I observed the grass moving and I found out it was a snake. I learned that a caterpillar is a butterfly when it hatches from the chryslis. We investigated compacted soil and learned that plants will not grow on it because its surface is too hard. We observed animal bones and fur. I think it was a squirrel that was eaten by a coyote. My favourite part was when Shenell and Mr. Daffern’s class saw a rabbit.

By Timothy, Rm 208

On our Walking Wednesdays, we looked for parallel lines and patterns on the buildings. We observed changes to the meadow and forest as the seasons changed. While hiking through the forest, we saw white trilliums and birds in the Spring. We learned about compacted soil and growing soil. We saw snails on plants. We got to do mapping in our community.

By AJ, Rm 208

This year we did many amazing things on walking Wednesdays. We learned how the magnolia tree changed through the seasons. We searched for simple machines in the community. We learned about the life cycle of a butterfly. We investigated animal bones, fur and scat. We think it was a fox that ate a rabbit. We saw a snake lying down under the grass. We went hiking through the forest. We saw a gall growing around a fly egg on the stem of a plant. My favorite part was when Mr. Daffern released the painted lady butterfly that we had hatched in the class.

Tree Planting with the Friends of the Rouge

By Parwez, Rm 208.

On Wed, May 21st we went on a tree planting field trip with Mr.Daffern’s class and Miss Calma’s class. We went there on a big school bus. We met Colin there. Colin is from “Friends of the Rouge”. Colin teaches people how to take care of the forests. He showed us how to plant flowers and trees. Colin had some volunteers to help us plant the flowers and trees. We dug a small hole, put the plant in and covered the roots with soil. The next plant had to be 2 trowel lengths away. To plant the hickory nuts we dug a small hole, put the nut in, covered it and stomped the soil flat. The next hickory nut had to be four steps away. We planted some sunflowers, evening primrose and hickory nuts. The weather was cloudy, windy and cool. We had to wear a jacket, boots, a hat, sunscreen and jeans. We had fun planting flowers and nuts.

All About Soil

We spent several weeks in April learning about "soil". We took soil samples from our meadow and sifted it to investigate its composition. We observed the differences between healthy growing soil and compacted soil.

Back at school, our class made a chart to describe: what we knew, what we learned and what we wondered about "soil".

After snapping some digital photos in the forest, our students used PowerPoint to label areas of healthy growing soil and compacted soil. Shown below is Parwez's work from Rm 208.