Nature's Academy Field Trip

CHALLENGE A PHENOMENAL FIELD TRIP

Q- What is community?  

A-It's where learning comes alive through relationships!

This Thursday Mrs. Ulrich and Mrs.Thames put together an incredible field trip opportunity for our Challenge A class.   

One of the skill sets our Challenge A students have worked hard on honing this past year is their research through animal study.  

We spent the day with Nature's Academy where we were able to bring practical application to LIFE through dissection, observation, chemistry, and categorization.  

The students and the parents were treated to a top notch educational experience!

We began our day by hiking through the trail out at Ft. Desoto.  We learned about tree identification, bird identification, and even spotted poison ivy

The trail begins in the wooded area and then we slowly begin to move closer to the ocean.  It was interesting to see how the habitat and climate changes in the process.

Before we knew it, we were out on the beautiful beaches where we were struck by the beauty of God's creation. It was truly a perfect day.

The second stop on our tour was the opportunity to DISSECT!  Our students were able to learn about the anatomy of the shark and then keeping it classical we compared and contrasted how it differs from our very own. 

Jessica (yellow shirt) has a degree in biology and her passion was so very evident.  The parents were learning along with the students.

Our girls getting ready to get their hands dirty!

The boys patiently endured the waiting to begin the cutting!

Every student got a turn at opening the shark.

Jessica, helped our girls with their field of vision.

The most exciting part of the dissection was when they found a crab in the shark's belly.  Sharks only eat every two weeks so sometimes it is completely empty.  We were blessed to find this treasure.

Team Work

The third phase was learning about acid and PH bases.  The students were able to discover the health of the ocean through simple chemistry tests.  It was interesting to learn how storms and climate change effects the molecules within the water.  Sometimes making it more healthy and other times not so much. 

The fourth and final phase of Nature's Academy was observation.  Each student was given a net, water shoes, and the freedom to explore!

Mrs.Ulrich (Our fabulous Challenge A director) found the biggest blow fish they have caught in any of their classes.  It was an exceptional find.

Discovering and observing was a phenomenal way to end the first half of this field trip.

Stay tuned for part II on the Challenge A forum.  The second half of this field trip will be all about the relationships being formed.  Our students camped out overnight.  Our children are not even home yet.  Thank you to the parents who took the overnight shift.  You are a blessing!  There were footballs, guitars, manhunt and more!  

 I hope you have enjoyed this peek into Challenge A.  The second phase of the Trivium. (Dialectic)  It's fun beginning to flesh out the content that has already been drilled.  I'm thankful our children did not go into the experience without the solid foundation of the grammar.  Drilling, laying a foundation first, nets so much more understaning. 

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To Know God And To Make Him Known!