McNary Environmental Education Center hosts its largest ever group of 4th and 5th graders

The biggest group visit ever to MEECe.
162 4th and 5th graders
from Amistad Elementary School in Kennewick, WA

Divided into groups of 12, Amistad Elementary students participate in learning activities. Here one group begins their safari past a kildeer nest on the gravel of a restricted refuge driveway. Thirteen groups rotated through 9 learning activities from 9:30am to 2:00pm.
Students played migrating waterfowl by running through storms of jump ropes, hunters with beanbag shot, predators in the field and contaminated food. Some succeeded in making the trip from their nesting place in the north to wintering fields at McNary.
Each group enjoyed the touching area in the classroom while the activity leaders showed and explained the unique feathers of the owls, the softness of a beaver pelt and various vertebrate bones. Mounted bird specimens, on loan from the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society, were viewed only because touching is not allowed.
After students viewed a variety of old bird nests, they scavenged for sticks, grasses and mud to build a nest. The problem was to make a nest from those materials with only thumb and forefinger which simulated the only tool a bird has, its beak.
Fourth and fifth graders ran a relay race to find "food" with a sieve, tweezers, or other tool that illustrated various beak types of birds. The lesson made clear how a variety of species can live closely in the same geographic area because they are adapted to consuming different foods.
The Nature Conservancy game "Web of Life" used at the McNary Environmental Education Center is the shrub-steppe version. The sun is the beginning and when each student plays a role and "consumes" a plant, animal or insect, a ball of string is unrolled and captured by the "consumer" until an intricate web results. When one element is "lost" the web breaks down showing the subtle inter-relationships in our environment.
Activities that took place below the brushpile that protected wintering warblers were the insect study and the bird calls. At any one time during the thirty minute segments, students concentrated on their particular activity under the guidance of MEECe or school volunteers and teachers from Amistad (translation, Friendship).

Feedback Back to the McNary N.W.R. Homepage

Send E-Mail to:webmaster@nwr.mcnary.wa.us

Last Modified: Saturday, 28-Feb-2004 21:30:26 EST

	Divided into groups of 12, Amistad Elementary students participate in learning activities. Here one group begins their safari past a kildeer nest on the gravel of a restricted refuge driveway. Thirteen groups rotated through 9 learning activities from 9:30am to 2:00pm.
	Students played migrating waterfowl by running through storms of jump ropes, hunters with beanbag shot, predators in the field and contaminated food. Some succeeded in making the trip from their nesting place in the north to wintering fields at McNary.
	Each group enjoyed the touching area in the classroom while the activity leaders showed and explained the unique feathers of the owls, the softness of a beaver pelt and various vertebrate bones. Mounted bird specimens, on loan from the Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society, were viewed only because touching is not allowed.
	After students viewed a variety of old bird nests, they scavenged for sticks, grasses and mud to build a nest. The problem was to make a nest from those materials with only thumb and forefinger which simulated the only tool a bird has, its beak.
	Fourth and fifth graders ran a relay race to find "food" with a sieve, tweezers, or other tool that illustrated various beak types of birds. The lesson made clear how a variety of species can live closely in the same geographic area because they are adapted to consuming different foods.
	The Nature Conservancy game "Web of Life" used at the McNary Environmental Education Center is the shrub-steppe version. The sun is the beginning and when each student plays a role and "consumes" a plant, animal or insect, a ball of string is unrolled and captured by the "consumer" until an intricate web results. When one element is "lost" the web breaks down showing the subtle inter-relationships in our environment.
	Activities that took place below the brushpile that protected wintering warblers were the insect study and the bird calls. At any one time during the thirty minute segments, students concentrated on their particular activity under the guidance of MEECe or school volunteers and teachers from Amistad (translation, Friendship).

Feedback	Back to the McNary N.W.R. Homepage
	Send E-Mail to:webmaster@nwr.mcnary.wa.us