Winter is coming.... to our Pond!

As the temperature drops, our tiny pond is cooling off faster than the larger bodies of water around Chicago. Already there have been two mornings when a coat of ice covered the pond, but life under the solid layer goes on!

Here is a short video of one of the Water Boatmen still swimming around just under the ice on the surface. A bit chilly for a few laps!

Stories around the campfire

As the weather has turned colder, we've started to adjust how we use the outdoor spaces at lab. The garden has been largely put to bed for the winter and soon the pump that feeds our stream will be taken out until spring. The plants and animals in our outdoor spaces will go dormant for the winter or head south if they can.

For us, non migratory mammals that stay active all winter, we have to adapt. Coats, hats, cocoa, fire and stories make winter more bearable. With that in mind we held our first Stories Around the Campfire day on Friday. Seventeen homerooms teachers brought their students out and listened to our librarians tell stories as the warmth of the sunshine stored inside the logs burned away in front of us.