On Thursday, April 27, Denby and I took our 5th grade class to Waihee Refuge for a field trip. Because it was a smaller group, we were able to really get in depth, get hands on and had an amazingly fun learning day. Denby is an absolute wealth of knowledge and shared some really awesome stories about the history and nature of this special place - she made the day such a sucess and we are so grateful to learn from her!! The students learned about what makes the Waihee Refuge unique:
history - the students learned about the history, the Hawaiian villages, the Heiau, and why the land is so important for us to preserve (it was sold to a golf corporation at one point!)
dunes - the native plants, birds, the ecology of the sand dunes, and the restoration projects taking place
watershed - we did a segment in STRETCH class on watersheds and this trip helps solidify that knowledge and actually give the students a very good visual and an "ah-ha" moment when they saw Waihee Stream and how it empties out into the ocean
hands-on activities - we did beach clean ups and reenacted a historical story. During the beach clean up we were able to use the tablets to track the different kinds of debris we found. We also had a lesson on native plants and had the students find them and categorize them into different species. Check out the following pictures and video of the awesome field day:
history - the students learned about the history, the Hawaiian villages, the Heiau, and why the land is so important for us to preserve (it was sold to a golf corporation at one point!)
dunes - the native plants, birds, the ecology of the sand dunes, and the restoration projects taking place
watershed - we did a segment in STRETCH class on watersheds and this trip helps solidify that knowledge and actually give the students a very good visual and an "ah-ha" moment when they saw Waihee Stream and how it empties out into the ocean
hands-on activities - we did beach clean ups and reenacted a historical story. During the beach clean up we were able to use the tablets to track the different kinds of debris we found. We also had a lesson on native plants and had the students find them and categorize them into different species. Check out the following pictures and video of the awesome field day: