Our Class Project
In the fall of 1997, our fourth /fifth grade class applied for the Wetlands Grant when we attended the Wetlands Conference in Anchorage. Our school is located in the Bayshore Subdivision in South Anchorage and Bayshore Pond is in our back yard. Many of our students walk on the boardwalk that surrounds the pond and see the wildlife and plants in this wetlands area. In the winter, the students cross-country ski on the boardwalk and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings.
Our grant application included the creation of an interpretive sign that will share the information about wetlands and the wildlife found in and around Bayshore Pond. We also wanted to purchase dipnets that could be used to collect invertebrates in the pond for data collection. We have also ordered a microscope that will reside in our classroom so specimen from the pond can be studied. Sharing information about wetlands on a webpage was also part of fulfilling our grant.
Our grant was approved in the middle of winter and we waited for the pond to thaw before taking our first pond walk in the spring. Mr. Andrew LaForest of CR Services and a Bayshore parent donated his time and supplies in the construction of the interpretive sign that will be put up in early Fall after school begins. The photos and data collecting strategies came from Mr. Glen Oliver who is a gifted education teacher at Kincaid School and a parent of one of my students.
We went on a pond walk in early spring to observe nesting ducks and birds but still noticed the ice on the pond had not melted. When warmer spring weather finally melted the ice on the pond, we marched to the pond with nets in hand to collect invertebrate samples and data on the population of invertebrates in the pond. Mr. Oliver and several parents went with us.
In the fall of 1998, our fifth grade class was
able to get a sampling of pond life using water collected by Mrs. Stutzer.
We found many daphnia, some worms, and a few leeches but no damsel flies
or water boatmen. A couple of weeks later our class went to collect specimen
at the pond. Almost half of the class had been on the pond walk in the spring
and they served as leaders in the collection of invertebrates from the pond.
We parents joined us. We collected and counted the invertebrates we had
collected and returned to school with a few samples so we could study them
using the microprojector. We had a wonderful time learning more about these
tiny creatures. The data we put together is found on our invertebrates page.
We hope to make another trip to the pond in the spring of this year.
Check other wetland information regarding our grant , our study of invertebrates, all about wetlands or go back to the Wetland Contents Page.
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