The first stop was to a local pond ecosystem where students, with their chaperons, were allowed to explore the ecosystem. Students were provided with a "scavenger hunt" list of items to look for, but were allowed to explore anything that caught their eye. It was an exciting time of pure exploration and inquiry! We saw tadpoles, a turtle, looked at what types of plants grew near the water and in the water, investigated where the pond's water source was, and collected a number of interesting water bugs. One of the chaperons was incoming WATERS fellow, Meilani, who will be working with Mr. Estock next year!
The next stop was the Yakima Arboretum. We were provided with exploration backpacks and allowed to explore the entire arboretum as guided by an ecosystem map. In the different ecosystems we could ask questions from the guide book and look for interesting plants and animals.
Our last stop was to the Raptor House Rehabilitation Center in Yakima where we were invited to learn about falconry and even met some of the birds that are kept at this location. We learned about falconry and about local falcon species. A couple of lucky students had the chance to help fly the falcons.
It was a great end of the year fieldtrip!!
A special thanks to the Yakima Arboretum for hosting us. www.ahtrees.org
And the Raptor House Rehabilitation Center for the fantastic tour and demonstration! www.raptorhouse.org
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