Last week I had the opportunity to teach at the only Feathered Frenzy program scheduled for this season. I am glad I got to take part in this homeshcool day, with many of the same students we’ve worked with before at other programs. The program is similar to other programs at the Learning Center with a powerpoint presentation, stations and a hike. This time all about birds. The presentation is a good one for the material, Paul went through it with zest. The stations all ran smoothly, but the feet station was a hard one to fill the time with. I was with the older students, 13 and up. I got them to walk like or act like they were using the different types of bird feet. They looked silly, but were having fun with a kinesthetic activity. The nest making part of the nest station was great. Many in my group were very inventive and creative in constructing their nest.
The hike was intended to be about bird sightings. The salamanders, frogs, toads and snakes out on the trail was more enticing to my group. We walked as pairs. Each group with a set of binoculars, to search for and identify birds. Most of them ended up in my hike bag before long. And, most of the shoes were wet before we returned to the Learning Center. On the hike, all of the students interacted well with each other and myself. There were many questions and many good ideas and answers from other students in the group. This walking and talking on the trail is great. I hope to be able to include more natural history interactions into my future classroom.
This week, I will be doing a Rock Cycle and Exploring Nature. I am excited about the Rock Cycle. I taught and did the intro in the fall. It’s a really fun program to teach and learn. The school wants a swamp gas demo, this could be interesting...
I observed excellent peer interaction among all the students. Their parents have done a great job providing many socializing opportunities for their children. The students were all very caring, friendly and helpful. It was all positive.
ReplyDeleteSounds like this homeschool group was a good one! I had a tough time with the first homeschool program I taught back in the fall. I wonder if this is a different group, or if I was just less comfortable with teaching back then. It's interesting to me how the homeschool families tend to coalesce into their own sort of informal "schools". I'm glad for the students that they get some time to interact with their peers. To me, the lack of that interaction always seemed like the biggest downside to homeschooling.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, great job to both of you for adapting the program to go with what you were actually encountering out on the trails. I know sometimes I feel like I have to stick to the lessons that they came for, but if there is something else really cool that the students are interested in, it's generally worthwhile to just focus on that.
The past times that I did the home school group I had the older students as well. They all said that they have done most of these programs before and just like coming to ML. However, that never stopped their inquisitiveness and ability to ask very good questions.
ReplyDeleteI think all of them had been here before, not for feathered frenzy though. Good kids, good activities, good time.
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