Last Day at the Pond

Posted November 8, 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 […]

Winter Finch Forecast

Posted October 31, 2013

I annually post Ron Pittaway’s compilation of data/observations for those that are interested in what irruptive species might be visiting their feeders this winter. This year it was posted as a Feature on eBird, the citizen science webpage for bird sightings. http://ebird.org/content/canada/news/ron-pittaways-winter-finch-forecast/

Whet at Laurel Creek

Posted October 30, 2013

Yesterday at the end of the day I went over to Laurel Creek to drop some things off for Laura. When I got out of the car the Chickadees were going nuts, accompanied by a White-breasted Nuthatch and an American Goldfinch. Former outdoor educator, Fraser Gibson, was coming out of the building and I pointed […]

Snappy McSnapperson

Posted October 21, 2013

Last June 7th, with Mrs. Gammie’s class from N.A. MacEachern P.S, we arrived at the pond to find the female snapping turtle laying eggs. We all gathered around her and watched in amazement at this part of the Eastern Snapping Turtles life cycle. I took some video with my phone. It is a short clip, […]

Where to start?

Posted October 17, 2013

A few weeks ago I had a great group of students here from Jacob Hespler Secondary School.  We had a fun time at the pond and the students were suitably impressed by the wide variety of living things we were catching. I often discuss with the visiting teachers how they address ecology in the classroom, […]

Southridge Greening Video

Posted October 17, 2013

Southridge Public School in Kitchener has been working with Dennis Wendland and Evergreen over the past few years to green its school grounds. The school has planted 49 trees, installed natural seating for students, and this fall, students are planting a naturalized garden with shrubs and wildflowers. Evergreen had a video made of students and staff involved in […]

What do you call a group of…

Posted October 16, 2013

A week or so ago, Mr. Harper’s Grade 4 class from Breslau Public School came to the Blair OEE Centre to do a Habitats and Communities study.  I was impressed with  their knowledge of some local issues like the Jefferson’s salamander – a provincially and federally listed species at risk – and how it’s presence […]

Nature+Knitting

Posted October 16, 2013

I have been wanting to combine two things I love: nature and knitting.  I decided to try dying some yarn with a natural dye.  We had a patch of goldenrod that had to be cut down, so as it was cut, I collected a pot ½ full of the blooming flowers.  I added warm water […]

These are a few of my favourite things…

Posted October 16, 2013

I reference a number of science and nature web sites in my program introductions with classes, and teachers and parents often ask afterwards if I could forward some of those links to them.  So, I have created a document in the form of a 5×8 index card describing some of the web sites I visit, […]

Watch your Step

Posted September 24, 2013

I had an unexpected surprise Friday afternoon.  Right after my Centennial School Grade 7 class left for the day, I was cleaning up and opened the outside classroom door.  Right on the side walk was a tiny baby snapping turtle!  Where did it come from?  The only clue was a small hole in a pile […]

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