Dragonflies have found the pond.

HERE BE DRAGONS

Tolkien’s Smaug was a terrible beast indeed. In some ways, so are the large insects that spend their adolescence underwater and bear the same name.  DRAGON.  In recent days it has become harder and harder to find our American Toad Tadpoles. At first we wondered if turning off the stream might have caused them stress and led to their demise. New evidence has come to light, however, as this week there were numerous sightings of the fierce predator in our pond.

Dragonfly Nymphs

They are large. They are quick.  They are voracious.

Currently they are at the top of the Food Web in our pond.

See if you can spot one! Or Two! Or Five!
Just In....young American Toad found by four-year-old: 

Where's the Water?

Perhaps you have noticed that our pond and stream are not totally natural.

It's true. The system we have in place is designed to mimic a naturally occurring watershed but isn't one.

Hidden beneath the stones at the Northeast edge of the pond is a small pump that continually cycles the water from the pond uphill to the beginning of the stream. The water then flows downhill, over our waterfall, and back to the pond. During this process, water will be continually evaporating, just like it does from any natural waterway.

Just like any other waterway, rains will add to the flow of our stream. In our case, rain that falls in the Outdoor classroom will enter our pond, but the watershed also includes the roof of Kovler Gym. When rains falls on the roof, it is fed into our stream through the terra-cotta colored pipe near the water fall. In periods where there is no rainfall, we can also add water from the city water supply if needed throughout the small white pipe.

Water is tenacious, and will find any way that it can to travel downhill with the pull of gravity. Any small crack in the seal under the stream and pond will be exploited and expanded by water.

This week we do not expect a rain event, so we are running a test to be sure that no such leaks are occurring. In that time, the stream pump will be shut off to minimize the amount of evaporation so we can monitor the level in the pond more closely.

Once we are confident the pond is holding the water, the pump will be engaged again, and our stream will flow once more.

Week Two at the Outdoor Classroom

The Outdoor Classroom hosted students from Nursery School through High School! Highlights: 11th and 12th graders had the objective of exploring patterns, periodic functions, waves. Students explored the space and found patterns. They also took time to draw periodic functions. 

5th grade science (3 classes) students documented details of the space with words and objective evidence, they noted scale, focused on the area along creek and SW walls.  

Buddy Group N4 (Movrich) and 2nd Grade (Mahrino) noticed that "when you tap on a rock the tadpoles come out."  Other sightings: snails,crickets, grasshoppers, bugs with wings. 

Bloom and Mitzenbacher (5th grade) had the objective of learning what it means to be both "outdoors" and "in a classroom."  What can we learn from our surroundings?  Students also had a notebook exercise that asked the students to "think like a scientist and think like an artist."

Mandel and Dodds classroom shared the space to work on the concept of becoming friends with new people and places. 

Water is Life