Kids in the Woods Field Trip

The Forest Service funded a grant to take the 4th grade class at Barkley Elementary to Ridley Creek State Park for an outdoor education workshop. The 63 students were split into 4 'tribes' using colored handkerchiefs. The groups then moved through the 5 different activities and had lunch at a picnic area. In a Survivoresque competition, the tribes were trying to get the most Smokey Bear stickers by answering questions correctly during each session.

The kids learned a lot about trees, water, wildlife, and ecology, but the main goal of the field trip was just to take the kids outside in a natural setting and get them interested in nature. There are a lot more pictures posted on the school district website here - Link

The picnic area...


'Kids in the Woods'...



The four tribes...





Beth did an ecology lesson which had the kids build an 'ecoweb' of connections between different living things, the resources required for their survival, and the effects of pollution...




During a forest health lesson, kids learned about things that can damage a forest like invasive plants...

The water quality and quantity activity allowed kids to search for amphibians and aquatic insects....

Kids learned about different kinds of trees, how to indentify them, and how foresters measure them...

The kids also leaned about predators and prey during the wildlife lesson....