On Our Way Home

We are just packing ready to get the plane back to Cayman this afternoon - we have had such a busy and interesting week! We have missed our classmates who were unable to join us - see you soon! Here is a photo of our whole class team - we look forward to putting all our learning together for our showcase in June - look out for details to come!

Day 5...A Trek Through the Park

Well, today was our last day at the Boyd Hill Nature Park with Mr George and we spent the whole morning walking from one side of the Park to the other...looking around us every step of the way to see what we could see. We also learned about how we could help to preserve the environment for the future - to ensure that there is still a habitat for all these wonderful reptiles, amphibians, birds and animals in the years to come. We looked at some of the invasive plants that take over the habitat and prevent the native plants from growing. Without the native plants, the creatures that rely on them for food will not survive. There are many volunteers in the park who will spend time helping to cut back on these invasive species. It is also necessary to clear up litter and other pollutants that affect the water, the plants and therefore the animals. There are many things that we can teach others about to care for nature while still enjoying the things we like doing. All the plants and animals in a habitat rely on each other for survival - if we allow any of them to decline then we affect the whole system. So - we hope that we can educate others when we return to Cayman...look out for our messages in the weeks to come!

Using Clues to Find Out Who Lives in the Park...Day 4!

This morning Ms Jeanne joined the class to tell them about how biologists use clues such as sounds, tracks, scat, and body parts like bones and skulls. Once we had looked at and talked about examples of these, it was time to go out into the park and put our detective skills to the test. We heard cicadas, ospreys and squirrels; we saw snake and racoon tracks; we found gopher tortoise and coyote scat...and we saw alligators, wading birds, gopher tortoises, a southern black racer snake, a southeastern five-lined skink...and much more! It is a magic place!

Once we returned to the centre, the class helped Mr George to look after the box turtle enclosure. Often conservation projects, such as this one, are supported by volunteers. So, we became voluntreers for a while and we helped to ensure that the turtles were being properly looked after by clearing the weeds and overgrown bushes in their enclosure so that they had a sunny spot to lie in the sun.

Day 3 at Boyd Hill Nature Park

Today was the third day for Year 6 visiting St Petersburg, Florida where they are attending Herpetology Camp at Boyd Hill Nature Park, St Petersburg, Florida. After the daily snake holding session, the children spent time learning about turtles. They talked about different types of turtles, including tortoises and terrapins, and looked at examples of different shells and mouths. They also looked at X-rays of different female turtles showing their eggs and then made generalisations about the shape and number of eggs that different turtles lay. Mr George had taken in two of his teaching assistants, including the 'not yet fully grown' Florida Snapping Turtle. A trek around the park let the children see both turtles and alligators in and around Lake Maggiore. In the afternoon, they worked on piecing together a 'jigsaw' of a turtles shell. Vocabulary today? Ask our students when they return to explain the meaning of carapace; plastron; keratin; riverine; molluscovore or crepuscular! The day was finished off with a picnic dinner followed by an evening/night hike. Once it was dark, Mr Greg shone a flashlight (covered in red cellophane) onto the lake...and there aere at least 10 pairs of eyes shining back...alligator fedding time!

Day 2 at Boyd Hill Nature Reserve

Hi All, from the Year 6 travellers. Hope you are enjoying our photographs! Today the rest of us had a chance to hold snakes - they do not like sunscreen or perfume or any kind of lotions that people put on their skin - so some of us could not hold them yesterday...but today we made up for it! We went out to catch Cuban Brown Anoles (small lizards) and measure them so that we could work out their averge length - Nick was our best anole catcher! Kodi found a baby gopher turtle and George was very impressed - apparently they are very seldom seen, especially in the daytime. We learnt a lot about non-native species today and the problems they bring to the areas they are now living in. We watched a Star Trek episode that showed how creatures that do not belong in a place can upset the balance of life there. We added lots of words to our vocabulary list - biodiversity; indigenous; endemic; sentinel species...and much more! We had a visit from Mr Chep who took some of his friends to meet us...a green lizard; a tarantula; a box turtle; a pet rabbit and two snakes - the largest a boa that was over 6 feet long!

Year 6 Pupils visit St Petersburg, Florida

Our Year 6 pupils are in St Petersburg, Florida this week attending a herpetology camp. This 5 day educational experience is being held at the Boyd Hill Nature Reserve and the children are being taught by George Heinrich, a Field Biologist of Heinrich Ecological services (http://www.heinrichecologicalservices.com/). Today the children considered the similarities and differences between amphibians and reptiles; found out about all the different classes of creatures that are amphibians and reptiles; walked in the park and saw gopher tortoises, ospreys and an alligator; and finally handled a variety of non-venomous snakes which are natives of Florida. There are 18 species of snake living in the different habitats that make up the Botd Hill Nature Reserve. We will update this post as the week goes on - but here are some photos from our first day!