The Pisgah Wildlife Center and Fish Hatchery Field Trip

We had such a wonderful day Tuesday on our field trip to The Pisgah Wildlife Center and Fish Hatchery in Brevard!  We had beautiful weather to match our awesome experience!  

We started our day with a hike guided by one of the Park Rangers!  He led us around showing us different types of plants and areas for Animal Habitats!

 We crossed creeks and bridges on our hike (and even spotted a small baby snake!!!)

 Our Park Ranger Guide was amazing with his knowledge of the plants and trees as well as how patient he was with our very excited group of Kindergartners!

 After our hike we ate lunch picnic-style before going to check out the trout in the huge water tanks!

 So many fish in one place!

 So fun to watch them swim and splash!

 Then we headed inside a classroom area to learn all about trout and their life cycles, including which type of trout is most common in our rivers (the brook trout)!

 Checking out trout eggs and the different stages of their development until they are baby trout.

  After learning all about trout, we went out and played a game where the students acted like they were trout up against all the predators and conditions that might cause harm throughout their lifetime.

 To finish up the day we headed back to the trout farms to feed the fish!  This was probably one of our class' favorite parts of the day!

 We can't thank the amazing Park Rangers enough for their kind words and helpful information about trout and the Wildlife Center as a whole!

 Truly a great day for all!  Our last field trip for the year is coming up next week when we walk to Weaver Park.  We will be leaving Claxton around 10 to walk to Weaver Park!  We would love to have you join us, if you are free and able that day!

Asheville Pizza & Brewing Field Trip

We had such a great time on Friday visiting Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company on our Field Trip to watch the movie "Trolls"!  We also ate some of their delicious pizza and had an awesome day!  Thank you so much, Asheville Pizza & Brewing Company!!!

Swimming with Lion Fish and Loggerhead Turtles via Google Expeditions

We had so much fun on our second Google Expedition to the Caribbean where we swam with Lion Fish and Loggerhead Sea Turtles!

 This is what the inside of the VR Headsets look like when opened up.  They run using a Samsung phone and an ipad using the Goggle Expedition App!  I am able to control what students are looking at and trying to find in each scene on the ipad while they are looking through the headsets!

 They truly love our virtual reality field trips almost as much as our real field trips!

 "Look, Miss Jones...Look at the turtle!!!"

 The smiles are their faces tell it all about how much they enjoy these lessons!

 I love watching them become explorers!!!

 Our new student, Zoe, who is joining our class from Florida really enjoyed her first virtual expedition, too!  Welcome to our classroom family, Zoe!  We are so happy to have you!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!  Don't forget tomorrow, Friday April 21st is PJ day!!!

Spring Egg Hunt Celebration

We had so much fun the Friday before Spring Break at our Spring Egg Hunt Celebration!  My little bunnies did a great job hunting for eggs and then sorting their eggs so that everyone got a fair-share/the same amount!

 My very determined little egg hunters were able to collect all of their eggs in less than 5 minutes!!!  It was very impressive!

 I have missed all my little bunnies very much over Spring Break and can't wait to get back to school tomorrow for a wonderful week! 

Skype Virtual Field Trip #3

 For our 3rd Virtual Field Trip we traveled to my hometown aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores, NC to learn more about Turtles and what we can do to help protect them from danger!  We read a book called, "Turtle, Turtle, Watch Out!" with the Marine Biologist from the Aquarium and also learned the differences between the turtles we have around Asheville and Sea Turtles! 

 One of the coolest things was seeing where a sea turtles brain is located.  The very small hole in the center of the turtle skull is where their brain fits!  This is why they often will try to eat plastic or balloons because they do not have very big brains and think the trash is a yummy jellyfish. 

We also got to meet a little turtle that had been pinched by a crab when it was trying to leave it's nest.  The crab pinched his flipper right off so he only has 3 full grown flippers.  Thank goodness for the rescue team located at the aquarium for saving this little guy and giving him a second chance at life!

Skype Virtual Field Trip #2

The Sea Turtle Hospital in Key West, Florida

We loved traveling to Key West, Florida for our second Skype Virtual Field Trip!  I think the highlight of our trip was meeting Bubble-butt the Turtle who was hit by a boat and when his shell grew back, it grew over his injury creating a bubble on his shell.  To help him swim the Turtle hospital will put led weights on his shell so he doesn't stay at the surface all of the time!  Because of his injury, he will live at the Turtle hospital for the rest of his life!  He has already been there for 19 years!!!  It was very impressive listening to all the wonderful things the people at the Sea Turtle Hospital, Key West have going on and all that they do to help out injured and sick Sea Turtles!

 This is a turtle that has so built up gas from eating plastic, so as she recovers they have placed led weights so she can still swim under the water instead of being stuck at the surface!

 I truly love watching my students being completely emerged in to a lesson!!!  Look at the concentration and interest in their faces!

 These loggerhead turtles are in timeout for trying to bite other turtles!  They also use the PVC pipe structures to help scratch their shells and clean any algae off of them, like how they would use rocks in the ocean to help keep themselves clean. 

 We learned that Loggerhead Sea Turtles are not very friendly with other Loggerhead Sea Turtles because they are a very territorial breed so they often will go after and try to bite other turtles with their very strong jaws!

This is an example from our Skype Virtual Field Trip Journals to help us keep track of all our Virtual Expeditions for the rest of the year!  I love how they are keeping track with what parts of the US we have visited and what their favorite part of each trip was!  Way to go, explorers!!!