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Life returns to the forest in the Spring and
transforms it into a world of song, smells, and colors. Students will
experience the forest’s plants and animals through activities which help
them focus and learn about the changing springtime forest around us.
Students will learn about the yearly life cycle of a tree using growth and
analysis, leaves and sap flow. A maximum of four classes
may be scheduled for the Woodland Walk program. |
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Students will be oriented about the animals and
plants of the woodland before beginning the walk. Each group of students
will then proceed on a guided hike through the woodlands on a loop trail in
order to experience the forest’s plants and animals. Throughout the walk
students will stop at stations and form a semi-circle around the instructor
in order to help them focus in using their various senses to learn about a
variety of plants, animals, and forest activities. Students will stop in
order to learn about the muskrat, which builds its home in the bank of the
pond, and the mice and chipmunks, which build their homes in the ground.
Another stop will explore the habits and homes of bats. Plants, including
sassafras and witch-hazel, will be identified throughout the walk. Students
will be able to smell the sassafras root in order to relate the plant to a
familiar product – root beer! Students will also be introduced to the
unique adaptations of woodpeckers and flying squirrels. Students will learn
to identify a maple tree and how trees store food – sap – during the winter
and how people can gather sap from trees, such as the maple tree, in the
late winter and early spring. Students will have the opportunity to use
their sense of taste as they sample raw maple sap and refined maple syrup in
order to compare and contrast the beginning and finished stages of this
maple product. Students will also be able to identify, smell, and taste a
piece of a Yellow or Black Birch tree branch. Students will learn how the
forest “recycles” the fallen leaves in order to make new, rich soil.
Students can observe the layers of soil demonstrated through a soil sample
and then touch soil from the different layers in order to experience how the
make up of the soil layers varies. Students will also learn about the
animals that inhabit the woodland. The students will learn how to analyze
the growth of a tree by looking at its growth rings. Students will learn
how a tool called an increment borer can be used to determine the age of a
tree without cutting the tree down. Students will have the opportunity to
assist in using the increment borer in order to determine the age of one of
the trees in the preserve’s forest! The one and one-half hour walk will
conclude at the starting point where students may eat their lunches, visit
the gift shop, or board the bus for the return trip to school.
Woodland Walk
Vocabulary
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