Habitats at Morningside Nature Center

[taken in part from a friend's blog]


Our group took a lovely field trip this week to Morningside Nature Center. They’ve been doing programs for both public and home schooled children for years, and it shows. Their presentation was well-organized, engaging, and really reached the kids.

The title was “Animal Homes.” There was a brief discussion of animals’ physical adaptations which give them advantages in their environments (complete with skeletons and taxidermy for illustration), then the focus moved to habitats. The kids learned that the 4 necessary components of any habitat are: food, water, shelter, and space. Then the fun part began.


Each student was given a small plastic animal and a laminated sheet with information about it. Then, with the presenter’s guidance, they built a habitat for the animals in a big wading pool filled with sand that included all the necessary elements. The presenter talked them through the food chain and how it influenced the spacing and placement of different species. One of the children was feeling contrary and refused to place his frog in the habitat, but instead of derailing the lesson, the presenter used the frog’s absence to demonstrate how the entire ecosystem could be disrupted by the destruction of one species. It was really quite ingenious.

Then she used a toy bulldozer to level some trees and build a “house” by the lake, and she talked about all the various ways that humans dwelling in that particular spot were likely to cause damage. She guided the kids through ways that humans could more thoughtfully establish their own habitat within the system to minimize environmental impact, and the kids really got into it. It warmed my heart, I have to say.

Then we went on a nature walk. It was quite cold, so we didn’t see any animals, but our guide pointed out many signs showing where they’d been.

Yellowstone and vulcanism

Discussed geology with the kids in and around Yellowstone park. What causes geysers and hot springs, and how a magma chambers can heat the liquids and earth above it. Discussed the possibilities of an eruption and how remnants of earlier eruptions on volcanoes in western United Sates can be found in several western states.

Mineralogy and Geology; gardening

A geologist from the University of Florida talked for thirty minutes today to "K" and "P" of the different types of rocks and minerals and how they form. "P" was able to identify the difference between internal and external in relation to a diagram of a volcano. They were able to hold and feel rocks and minerals of various types, look at them with a magnifying glass, and then drew their own volcanoes and rock formations.

After this activity they helped to pick ripe vegetables in a community garden, and to tell the difference between zucchini that were ready to harvest and which should be left to ripen more.

Ft. Clinch Camping

Enjoyed group camping for first time. Explored Ft. Clinch park. Cold water!!

Butterfly Release

Went to the Florida Museum of Natural History today. We looked at the exhibit of native butterflies and how they pick different native species of plants to lay their eggs, and watched the release of new butterflies into the tropical rain forest enclosure. We also visited the Fossil, Everglades, and Alien Invasion exhibits.

Can You Dig It?

We attended the Florida Museum of Natural History's annual "Can You Dig It" event tonight. We were able to see the live demonstrations of:

• an erupting volcano (talking about pyroclastic clouds as well as comparisons of the Pompeii eruption and the Mount St. Helens eruption);
• "magic rocks" which glow under UV lights (we got to see things glow orange, green, pink, and white) based on their component elements (like calcium);
• flint knapping, where master flint knapper Tom Nutter was making stone arrow heads the "modern way", and then discussed with us how it would have been done by Native Americans;
• the work of water and how it shapes Earth's surface and subsurface, including ridges and rivers and canyons;
• and the ground water system, complete with a 3-D model of a cube of earth down through to the deepest aquifer, and also a water model to show how pollution can get from contaminated sewers, septic tanks, and similar into our drinking water supplies.
  

We also explored mineral hardness and how a rock with a hardness less than 2.5 (which is the hardness of our nails) would flake when scraped, got to feel different stalagmites and stalactites, looked at shavings of different "rocks" under the microscope (including granite and limestone), and saw the gem cutting process (from mining the minerals to extracting the "pretty part" to shaping to setting for jewelry). We also briefly participated in the "fossil dig", but were less than impressed with it, as it was just a sandbox with different mineral rocks thrown in there -- there was no "excavating" required.

PK City

P and K spent much of today creating PK City. Copious time was spent perfecting animal life locations, arranging buildings, walkways and train tracks in relation to existing roads, and having nice spiders around to catch bugs.

Farm animals are found in pens, with guard dogs:


Water animals are located on the largest body of water:


A small lake is populated by a sailboat:


Traffic includes car, train, and pedestrian:


There is a town square, complete with a clock tower:


Even fictitious creatures, like dragons, have a home here -- lying in wait to destroy!!: