This May, South Sound GREEN has been making the most of many field trips rain or shine! Nearshore field trips have started for Olympia 3rd graders and 8th graders. Students have been having a blast at Burfoot County Park playing CRAB-O (hairy shore crab themed bingo) with us and spotting adaptations among intertidal life with beach naturalist volunteers. Prior to the field trips, SSG educators led classroom visits to teach students about hairy shore crabs, adaptations, and how to hold wildlife by practicing with wooden crabs that they get to color and take home.
The 8th graders have been exploring Meyer’s Point with our community partners for their nearshore trips, getting to pick from a variety of hands-on stations. Students have had the opportunity to dissect oysters with the Nisqually Tribe Shellfish Program, look at plankton under the microscope with Pacific Shellfish Institute, search for biodiversity along the beach with the Puget Sound Estuarium, study local forestry with the Department of Natural Resources, and survey native and invasive plants with Capitol Land Trust!
SSG continues to help out at Eye on Nature trips with our friends at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Tumwater 3rd and 4th graders use their best listening ears and keenest eyes to observe wildlife and practice data collection, as well as being inquisitive towards native plants to learn about their traditional uses. We’ve been fortunate enough to have bright dry days while we lead groups of students on the trails to find salmonberry and red-winged blackbirds, amongst many species at the highly biodiverse refuge.
This spring also saw the completion of Salmon Cedar Canoe field trips for the year. These trips, which SSG has helped lead at the t Salish Roots Farm and the Squaxin Island Museum, illustrate to students how valuable plants are to indigenous communities and how the plants all around us can affect our lives whether or not they are cultivated like they are in the medicine wheel garden. Kids are most often surprised to find out that Stinging Nettle can be used as medicine, food, and corded rope! Students also help remove the invasive Yellow Archangel on site.
We are excited to continue with Olympia nearshore field trips throughout June after all the fun we’ve had this month and we hope that you’ve been enjoying the warmer weather as the seasons change!
