I have attended a curriculum training hosted by the Department of Environmental Management for two years now. It is the best saturday of the year. A homeschool parent retreat in the woods, with free curriculum, activities and catered food. Kim Sullivan leads the training and she also agreed to take us out to do our first habitat assessment. It was a lot of fun, and nice to have two experts there from DEM to help us identify the invertebrates.
I counted this as my birthday present. A hike with my kids and friends on a picture perfect fall day.
How many hikes have these two been on together? Upwards of 30 at least. Cutest duo ever.
DEM educator Kim Sullivan, teaching our kids about water quality indicators.
Kim showing the kids different invertebrates that might be in the pond. The kids then played a game wearing pictures of midges, dragon flies, or mosquitos.
Let the hunting begin. Spoiler – the water quality at this pond is excellent.
Crayfish.
Skimmed off invertebrates for identifying and counting
The duo inspecting their mud. They were really more excited than this picture captures.
Dragon fly nymph.