November 8th, 2013

Today was the last day of the Pond Communities unit here at Laurel with classes from Riverside P.S. and Smithson P.S. visiting.  For this unit we head down to the pond, catch amazing creatures, and bring them back to the Nature Centre to study them.  There was one thing different about today: it snowed.  A lot of flying insects survive our cold winters in their nymph or larval stage living under the water.  Other creatures live in the pond year round.  Here are some of the highlights of things we caught even in the snow.

It was a snowy morning at the Laurel Creek Nature Centre.

Busy dip netting at the pond.  Note the snow.

This is a really neat Caddisfly Larva.  It has made itself a case out of leaves.

This is the Giant Water Bug.  It is actually the first one we caught this fall.  What a super end to the unit.  Thanks to the students, teachers, and parents for making it a great day.