Snapshot of a work week, continued:

On Tuesday, after dropping off four kids at school(it would have been five, but Willow is home with an earache), I arrive at work around 8:50. The bell for field class rings at about 9:00. Once all of the kids are at our meeting spot, we play a name game called zap. Then we put some small, clear plastic bags over the leaves of some nearby trees, fixing them in place with rubber bands. This is to illustrate that transpiration occurs. We will check the bags after lunch.
I hike the kids past the pond and we stop near the hostel again. Once we are circled up in a planet Earth, I place a large garbage back over a pile of rocks in the middle of the circle, making sure there is a depression in the middle. I then sprinkle dirt over it. This becomes my watershed model, and I use it to explain watersheds and erosion. I pick three volunteers to use their water bottles to make it "rain" on the model, and we all observe that the water collects in the center valley, taking the dirt with it. Discussion ensues. Afterwards, I hike them around the corner and down the trail to where the trail crosses over the creek. This area features a lot of Redwoods, and we see our first couple of Banana slugs for the week. The kids descend on them like paparazzi. At the creek, I demonstrate how to make face paint by rubbing wet sedimentary rocks together, which leads into an explanation about weathering. Not all of the kids want to get their hands wet. A camper named Redwood helps me test the water for pH, and I discover that the reading is somewhere around 8.2, which is more alkaline that I would have hoped. I wonder if the probe is malfunctioning. I briefly explain, pH, water testing in general, and tell the kids what a riparian community it is. Being long-winded, I launch into a talk about riparian corridors. The kids finish face-painting, I burden them with a few additional safety rules (watch out for wet and wobbly rocks, don't climb the embankments, walk in a single file line, help each other, avoid getting your feet wet...) and we start walking up the creek, crossing and recrossing it as we proceed. I stop at one point to challenge them to find something unnatural (make by humans) in the creek bed. Eventually somebody figures out that there are chunks of asphalt in amongst the rocks. From there, it doesn't take the group long to work out that there is a road uphill from us, and that at some point part of it slipped into the creek. Eroded road, ha ha.
Upstream, we find a Pacific Giant Salamander nymph, sitting camouflaged in a deep, slow-moving section of the creek. The kids gather around to look.
The next step is to climb away from the creek bed via a steep little trail. We utilize tree roots as hand holds. Once out of the creek, we clamber up to the ranger road. We circle up in a nearby clearing and I make sure everybody is up to speed on the concept of photosynthesis. We then play a game called "race to the sun," which is a tree-building race where two kids try to get carbon dioxide and water molecules (played by the rest of the group) to link up and form trees. I play the sun. Whichever "tree" reaches me first wins.
Lesson over, we check out some nearby clusters of wintering ladybugs and a nearly two decade old landslide area. Then I hand out journals. The kids do the photosynthesis page.
Time is running out, so we walk down the ranger road towards camp. We play the "downhill game," during which nobody can touch each other unless I play some notes on my penny whistle. If they're still touching after I say "touch", or at any time other than right after they hear the penny whistle, they have to go to the back of the line. This is the only time in which Terra doesn't have to be at the back. I fool enough kids so that there is a steady flow of people heading towards the back of the line. Terra makes it about halfway towards the front before she makes a mistake and has to go back. At the bottom of the hill, I notice that it's only a couple of minutes before noon, so we stop playing the game and hurry back.

Lunch happens.

The afternoon hike starts at around 2, and the first thing we do is check the transpiration bags. They're full of water droplets. We discuss why.
I then give them a quick lesson on energy flow through food chains (energy is lost as it moves from trophic level to trophic level) and we play a quick game of telephone (meaning is lost as the sentence passes from camper to camper).
Then I tell the kids that we're going to do a community comparison study, starting with the chaparral. We hike to the chaparral, making note of some raccoon scat and deer tracks on the way. The kids get out their journals, and I divide our group into three. One group gets to use the light indicator/soil moisture probe, one group uses the sling sychrometer to test for humidity, and one group measures leaf size and thickness. This type of study is less effective in February than it is in the Spring or Summer months, due to uniform soil wetness and fog, but it's always good to let the kids use scientific instruments. The real fun begins when we get to search for animals. The categories in the journal are herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, and decomposer. We find a tailless Northern Alligator Lizard (a bit of a surprise in February), some California Newts, Slender Salamanders, and a small Tree Frog. Countless worms and beetles are also discovered. Jellyfish is nearby with his group, and they join us for awhile. Many pictures are taken. Most of them will be blurry because the kids have once again forgotten the focusing distance on their disposable cameras.
We hike to a nearby Redwood grove to see if our readings and findings will be any different. Temperature and humidity turn out to be a little different, but soil moisture is pretty much the same. We find a number of Ensatinas, and more California Newts. Time runs out, so we hike back to camp.

Since it's my night to work, I'm in charge of doing recess duty with Jellyfish. Cod helps out too. After the recess bell is rung and the cabin groups have assembled in the amphitheater, we review recess rules and call out the names of the kids who have discipline tasks. There are a lot of them, so after the other kids are dismissed to recess, we have the majority of the discipline kids set up the dining hall for dinner. I take a few of them around back to break down boxes for recycling. Recess is short today, because the hub host has to give the shower talk, so by the time the kids have finished their tasks, they have less than ten minutes of recess left. That will teach them not to mess up. After the bell rings, I write down my 4c choices for the day. I pick the girl who helped me do water testing in the creek, and a boy named Wolf who contributes to class discussions.
Then I have some down time. I check e-mail and call Jen. Camp Dinner tonight is baked potatoes and broccoli. The kids have chicken.
The minute the kids leave the dining hall, our lead teacher, Buzzard, Jellyfish, and I have to get things ready for the astronomy program. For Buzzard, that means setting up the astronomy Powerpoint presentation. For Jellyfish and I, that means folding the tables, pushing them up against the walls, and sweeping the floor.
A little before 7 PM, the bell rings, and all of the cabin groups assemble in the amphitheater. From there, I dismiss them one group at a time into the dining hall. Buzzard starts the presentation. I've seen it a million times, so I go outside to check on the cloud cover. The forecast said it would be about 83%. It is really about 100%. Not good for an astronomy program night. As the slideshow progresses, I listen to my I-pod and watch the skies. Towards the end, Orion appears, but then gets smothered behind a blanket of cloud again.
After the slideshow ends, I dismiss groups from the dining hall. Half of the groups I dismiss go to the lower field to do a planet walk with Buzzard (we have posts set up to show relative distances of our solar system's planets - this is our cloudy night alternative to telescopes). The other half also go to the lower field, but to Jellyfish for a constellation talk. I stay in the dining hall with the remaining groups, and we play a game called astronomy password. Actually two games, with some of the classroom teachers running the other one. I quickly figure out that these kids, most of them at least, are quite challenged when it comes to simple astronomy vocabulary. Despite this, we have a lot of fun.
Halfway through the remainder of the evening, there is a rotation during which the kids in the dining hall trade places with those on the lower field. I oversee another game of password.
Next, all groups again converge on the central amphitheater and I tell them a star creation myth (actually not a true myth, since I made it up last year, but people never complain). I finish at about 9:10, and our current night host, Nettle, takes it from there. Time to go home.

More to come...