What do the kids think ?

We continually evaluate and refine the programs and activities for our after school program striving to provide the best learning experiences and fun for the kids. Just before Winter break we gave the kids a short survey to see what they've learned. Below is some of the results we would like to share. 
  

HOLIDAY FUN RECIEPE

Holiday Greetings

Wildcat Pond

After the heavy rain a week ago Wildcat Pond

made it's appearance. This is a result of run-off 

from the playground and parking lot etc. It settles 

into this swale that was created when 

Weyerhaeuser was first built. This could be called

a bio filter. It works quite well in holding the 

run-off water and releasing it slowly into a drainage

ditch which flows into Tanwax creek and then the 

Nisqually River. This is the way storm runoff

should be treated.

It is interesting how fast the critters take advantage

of this process. While walking along a Wilsons Snpe

exploded almost from under my feet! These wetland 

type birds are hard too see until you are a few feet 

from them. 

It was probing the soggy soil for insects and worms.

Later in the afternoon a Blue Heron showed up

hoping to find a frog, bug or a soggy Vole 

swimming around.

Blue Heron

Wilsons Snipe

Mixed up dandelion

The dandelions in Wildcat are a little mixed up, 

I found this dandelion Dec 15th and figured it

was just late in blooming but after about 6 more

showed up are they just late or early blooming?

Tackling the Invasives

Two invasive plants have been slowly spreading in Wildcat Woods, Evergreen Blackberries and Scot Broom. Tough plants to eradicate without the use of chemicals. The kids have been using ropes to pull them out and cutting them down. We may have to find a mechanized cutter to make real progress. The 4th grade girls decided they were going to try the other day......

Six kid power and the plant is winning

OK loppers always work!

                                                                                                    

The victory celebration

                                                                                                        

"Grandma" what big teeth you have.....

"Critter Fur" is an activity that allows Outdoor Adventure kids to learn and explore what kind of fur/skin/feathers many of the critters in our world have. Pictures and videos only show you the basic information about what covers the animals.  With this hands on activity our tactile senses come into play. By having the actual hides/feathers etc. and by combining them with pictures allows the kids to get a more complete picture.
This year, thanks to Taylor Berry's grandma, we were able to have whole skins of a bobcat, coyote and best of all a wolf!  
     

Little Miss Muffet and her Spider(s)

 Nature has really opened her book for us this year.
The black and yellow garden spiders( Argiope auranti)
were all over Wildcat Woods. Black and Yellows are also known as the writing spiders, they will make zig zag patterns of silk in their webs.  One of the most common and largest spiders found throughout the US they are harmless to humans and very beneficial to the environment. Feeding on large insects including moths and grasshoppers. It would be interesting too see what would happen if a preying Mantis were to get into a one of their webs!
Growing and feeding all summer the spiders are at their full size in October at which time they will mate. (the males usually have their webs close to the females)
The female builds her egg sac in grass or ferns close to the ground. The young spiders hatch and emerge in the spring, they will spread out throughout their habitat and began eating the bad guys.
The 4th grade girls began finding egg sacs along the trails and like good Outdoor Adventure kids they wanted to study them in depth. 


 The egg sacs are quite big and contain hundreds of eggs.
The girls collected two sacs; placing them in a glass jar 
containing materials from their habitat, putting a net
cover over the jar mouth it was then placed in a safe place.
If all goes well the tiny spiders should hatch next spring.
The kids are going to monitor them through out the winter
and spring taking pictures to document what goes on
with the eggs. 
                                                                                                                                                                              

The 3rd Graders have the "Scat Scout Girls" and now 

we have the 4th Grade "Spider Girls"

The Pot of Gold at the end of the Rainbow?????

Of course you all know about the pot of gold at the end of

a rainbow.........The 4th graders were busy gathering materials for 

the new addition to the shelter at Terabithia when the sun popped 

out of the clouds and presented us with a beautiful rainbow. Not

wanting to waste a teaching moment I asked them what was 

special about rainbows, the answer of course was the pot of gold

and before any "scientific" explanation about rainbows could be 

uttered about 15 of the 20 kids were yelling and running over the 

hill to get the gold. A few minutes later they returned, did you find 

pot of gold? No Mr A the rainbow moved away from us and we 

didn't want to leave the school property.........

SCAT SCOUT GIRLS !

The second and third graders watched a film documentary about 
wolves, bears and salmon which showed biologists taking 
wolf scat samples. Scat will show not only what an animal has 
been eating BUT with microsatellite DNA fingerprints to 
individually identify each wolf in the population, know when 
it is born, know when it dies, and know which pack territories 
it visits.  We also use this genetic information to learn about 
the population’s genetic diversity. 
Our program may not have all the equipment to
do in-depth scientific studies, but we are very hands on and
do what we can with what we have. Bring in the 3rd grade 
"Scat Scout Girls"
Headed up by Mrs M  the team took on the task of finding and 
examining the scat left, dropped, pooped ? all over Wildcat Woods.
We do have a severe shortage of wolf scat around here, but there is 
no shortage of coyotes. They spend a lot of time hunting for 
meadow voles this time of year. (note: the vole population
in Wildcat is huge we will do a study on them soon)
Three samples were taken and upon first observation one
coyote was eating voles but one of them was dining on.....
a puddy cat!
The samples will be mixed with water and strained to leave 
solid (food) materials behind for identification. The results 
will be posted.  

Scat Scout girls displaying one of 3 samples they collected

Coyote Canis latrans

Using the proper collecting techniques, just as the 

biologists did, the girls placed the sample

 in ziploc baggies

And there you have the neatly packaged coyote scat.