The J. Seward Johnson Sr. Sixth Grade Environmental Education Experience

INTRODUCTION PURPOSE of TRIP: To learn about our area’s surrounding environment through an outdoor experience. WHERE: (1) Stony Brook Watershed Center and Reserve, Hopewell, NJ (2) Kunkel Park (Stony Brook Stream) in Pennington, NJ WHEN: HOUSE 1: Monday, May 23 and Tuesday May 24 HOUSE 2: Wednesday, May 25 and Thursday, May 26 Rain dates: Friday, May 27 and Tuesday, May 31 (ONLY USED IF WE ANTICIPATE SEVERE STORMS! BE READY TO GO IN RAIN!)

INTRODUCTION TRANSPORTATION: School district school busses DEPARTURE and RETURN: Depart from JW at 8:30 am and return to JW at 2:50 pm (regular school hours) LUNCH: One bag lunch with a beverage is needed for each day. (Watershed is carry-in/carry-out so no garbage is left behind). SPECIAL NOTE: Make sure you do not plan any doctor’s appointments/early dismissals either of the days of your House’s trip as we will be out of the building.

What do I bring each day? ○A BACKPACK CLEARLY LABELED WITH YOUR FULL NAME AND JW HOUSE # ON THE OUTSIDE (Ex. Name: John Doe, House 1) You can use masking tape to label the outside of your backpack Inside the backpack for each day you need: ○A bag lunch ○A light-weight, refillable water bottle ○A notebook or clipboard with paper ○Pencils/pen ○Sweatshirt or light jacket (be prepared) ○Plastic bag for sitting on in case ground is wet ○Extra pair of socks (in case they get wet) hat Optional sun lotion poncho (NO umbrellas)

How do I prepare each morning of the trip? (1)Arrive to school on time (by 8:25 am). Make sure you are wearing your old sneakers and appropriate clothing for the day’s weather conditions. (2)Go to the Commons with your backpack ready and labeled. Look for signs in the commons labeled with your Group number and Bus number in case you forget what you are told today. (3)Go to the Auditorium to sit with your group. Signs will be posted on the seats. (4)After attendance in group is taken and announcements are over, follow your chaperone to your bus. You will carry your backpack with you all day. * NO CELL PHONES! (chaperones and Watershed personnel have phones) * NO GUM!

So you are asking.... ●What is my Group #? ●What is my Bus #? ●What is my Schedule for each day? Listen carefully as I tell you now. Use the sheet provided to fill in this information. The next slide shows you what your sheet looks like. DON’T LOSE THIS SHEET!

My Information!

What do we learn when we are at Watershed Reserve?

Station 1: Sustainability Challenge Through a mix of scavenger hunt, tour and a game of “Green Jeopardy”, students will learn about green infrastructure at the LEED Platinum-Certified Watershed Center. We will start with an examination of the terms “sustainability” and “green infrastructure” and look briefly at the larger concept of living a sustainable life. We will then turn our focus to the Watershed Center, beginning with a brief scavenger hunt, completed in small groups, culminating in Green Jeopardy, a game show-style competition. The activity continues with a brief, formal tour of the Center and its green infrastructure and concludes by circling back to the broader notion of sustainability, generating some personal “pledges”, goals to live more sustainably.

Watershed Reserve Building

Students will work together, utilizing natural materials, to create shelters in the forest. An emphasis will be placed on engineering and engineering design process. Station 2: Shelter Building

Station 3: Meet the Trees Students will learn how to identify some native tree species utilizing field guides and dichotomous key. Students will learn about trees as renewable resources gaining knowledge of the traditional uses of these tree species.

Station 4: Life in the Pond Students will visit the pond outside the Watershed Center and collect organisms for examination using our dissecting scopes in the laboratory. Emphasis is on morphology and adaptation.

What do we learn when we are at Kunkel Park (The Stony Brook Stream)? At this site, there will be a closing for each of the 4 activities that will include a brief period for reflective journaling. After the trip, back at JWMS, you will use those journals for a culminating reflective activity. This reflection will be read and graded by your science teachers.

This “double station” begins with an inquiry session with the student groups before splitting into two separate but related activities. Each student group will visit both activities. The overarching question at this station is – Does this stream provide a suitable habitat to release our fish? Biotic factors – This is an “in-the-stream” activity, where students assess stream water quality by examining the biotic community. This may include the benthic macroinvertebrate (insect and kin) population in the Stony Brook, other vertebrates or perhaps another direction as directed by student inquiry. Participants at this station will be required to walk into the water. Abiotic factors - This is a streamside activity where students assess stream water quality by examining the abiotic factors in the Brook. This will include utilizing water test kits, as directed by student inquiry. Chemical parameters may include nitrate, phosphate, dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity. Students may also examine land use maps to infer the impact people have on water quality. Stations 1 & 2: Fish Release Activity

Kunkel Park Stream

Abiotic Factors Discussed Aquatic Biotic Factors Assessed Water Quality Testing Aquatic Biotic Factors Assessed

Station 3: Language Arts This activity will be implemented in the floodplain forest near the Stony Brook. Students will utilize observation skills, gaining information about their environment in order to craft some short written poems (haiku).

Haiku/Poetry Artwork of Observations when you return to school

Station 4: Ecology of the Flood Plain Forest This activity allows students to discover some of the flora and fauna of the floodplain forest and examine the relationship between the abiotic and biotic components of this habitat.

Graded Reflection On Friday, May 27 (assuming we do not need this as a rain date), we will spend science class reflecting on our experiences at the Watershed and the Kunkel Park Stream. You will be writing and drawing......

QUESTIONS