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CGS 5th Graders Go For "Walk in the Woods"

October 27, 2010by CGS 5th Grade Students

Project Learning Center
By Lane and Jenna 
   
After we settled down, he started off with asking us if we had something that was special. Paige said family. After we talked about that, we played an adopting game. He put us in groups. There was 3 groups. Jenna was in group 2,Lane was in group 3.In our groups we had a work sheet. The work sheet had 9 problems. He only said to do 1,2,5,and7.try to get it all done.
  We picked out a tree ,then made a map of where our tree was.  The question also said to look for signs if the tree was healthy or alive.  We also had to find are leaf also draw it and say how it smelled and felt.  Finally, we showed everyone our map and picture of our leaf.  It was a fun and learning  activity.

Stream and River Demonstration
At the Arboretum

Glynn and Mike taught us that if we make a bridge with the government’s money, and we dam the underneath of the bridge, it will overflow and wipe out the bridge. But if we build a bridge without building a dam, it won’t destroy anything. If we dam the bridge up, what will we not have on the other side for crops, animals and ponds? Water. I hope everybody had a blast doing this because we, Alec and Kylee , did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Alec and Kylee

Wildlife in the Woods

Have you ever been to the arboretum in Waterloo, Kansas?
We had the most interesting station in ‘Walk in the Woods’ because
ours was about tracking and identifying different animals.  Our station was ‘Wild Life in the Woods’.
          Chris Schrek had lots of kinds of pelts to help identify different  animals. The best part of all was when Chris quizzed us about all the pelts and what they were from.
He also He also taught us how to identify animal footprints to track them in the wild. Chris Shreck, our presenter, was the best because Chris had everything for us to make it easier to understand.

By Jaden and Amber

Forest Benefits
Redwood trees are three hundred feet tall.  The parts of a tree are bark inner bark heart wood. It contains rings, and the rings tell how old it is. The rings get closer when they’re young, and when they are old they are far apart.

Trees grow with sun light, water   nutrients. We played a game with chips . Blue were water, red were sun light, white were nutrients. Every one was a tree, and there were chips on the ground and you had to pick them up to grow and to stay alive. And if you weren’t healthy you had to be turned into disposable diapers or paper, which isn’t good.

BY DAMON AND MOLLIE

Sawmill Demonstration

This was the first station.  First we talked about soil.   We learned it takes 500 to 1,000 years to make 1 inch of topsoil.  Soil is made of rock, water, and organic matter.  Soil also helps keep plants in the ground.

Dennis did a great job!  Walk in the woods is an amazing experience we will never forget.

By Paige and Jake

A Tour of the Arboretum

Mr. John Riggs, the owner of Riggs Arboretum, showed us around his forest.  The persimmon bark looked different from any other tree bark.  It looked like the back of an alligator.  If the split seed shows us a knife, winter will be cut in half.  If a spoon appears inside the seed, winter will hold on longer.  The loblolly pine was the tallest tree.  The yellowwood there is the 2nd tallest in the state of Kansas.  The rubber oak tree has rubbery stuff in the leaves.  They tried to make use of this during World War II, but it didn't work out.

It was a good day and fun.

By Kevin and Helena