Water wonder

It was off to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg, Florida, for the Junior Kindergartners this week for fieldwork about the water cycle. After spending some time in the outdoor nature classroom learning how to tell water turtles from those that live on land, the students traveled along the trail following the water from swamp to marsh to lake.

Though the cold kept most of the animals from view, the children were able to spot some coots, moorhens and a magnificent anhinga drying its wings.

Among the new vocabulary learned on the trip were the words hammock (the branches and leaves overhead that created out shade) and scag (those important dead trees that provide homes and food for lots of wildlife).

Back at Shorecrest Preparatory School, Mrs. Craver’s students used the puddles left by the rain storm to learn about water, light and reflections. They discovered their reflections were only visible when they stood in the sun, not the shade. Another observations the children were fascinated by was that the reflections were upside down! Even the ball floating in the puddle created a reflection.