POSTED BY: Alison Anholt
Last week was field trip week as students from three grades traveled to the ends of New England on various hiking and nature exploration field trips. The fourth grade learned about seafaring at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, seventh graders studied plants and water in the White Mountains, and the sixth grade explored Cape Cod’s fragile ecosystem. Here is an account of the sixth grade trip to Cape Cod by science teacher MaryEllen Saint George.
Wednesday- We drove to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, run by the Audubon Society, where we met our guide, Dennis Murley, who led a box turtle tracking activity and habitat restoration work, pulling invasive plant species. We stayed overnight in comfortable dorms at Cape Cod Sea Camps on route 6A in East Brewster on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.
Thursday morning- silent hike at Fort Hill, Eastham. Students were instructed to walk silently, in a spaced formation, the 1 1/4 mile route that winds through cedars, meadow, marsh overlook, and red maple swamp in an effort to grasp the wonder of the place. Followed by lunch at the Penniman House.
Thursday – Dick Hilmer, owner of Osprey Sea Kayak Adventures, www.ExploreCapeCod.com was our guide on a kayaking expedition through Nauset Marsh in Eastham. Dick is a Cape middle school teacher who introduces students to the marsh system and the geology of the area, including glacier formation, outwash plains, estuarine habitat, ebb and flow of tides. Great trip!
Ken Kinkor, director of the Whydah Museum in Provincetown and a story teller, told the students about Cape pirates, finding the Whydah and its treasure, and shipwrecks of the Cape.
Friday – We drove to Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, Wikis Way, Chatham. Students then had to wade barefoot through freezing water to board the Rip Ryder, the Monomoy Island Ferry from Chatham, captained by Keith Lincoln. After a short, brisk ride through the waters of Monomoy, Keith’s mother, Jan Lincoln, led us on a walk across South Beach, a barrier strip of dune and tidal flats along Nantucket Sound. Here, Ms. St. G. spotted three of her favorite shorebirds: ruddy turnstones, black bellied plovers, and red knots. We even came across a pair of mating horsehoe crabs, the ultimate of sightings! We continued on to where the grey seals were hauled out. They put on a spectacular performance for us. They were abundant in numbers, demonstrated bottling and spyhopping, and appeared to be very curious about GUS 6th graders.
- MaryEllen SaintGeorge, Science Teacher