Ripple Effect
- coyotenatureschool
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Waterways are the lifeblood of nature. We love our little Crayfish Creek and wildlife do too. This little creek eventually joins the mighty Thames River and today we learned more about the yearly spring Thames River Clean Up. Todd Sleeper started this decades ago and his concern about garbage in the river has rippled out to many communities all the way to the Great Lakes.
Tell your families about the branches of this huge river. What name did indigenous people give to these branches of the river (hint: shape of part of a forest animal). Tell a story about some of the weird stuff that people have pulled out of the river on clean-up days.
You are invited to join the TRC this year on Saturday April 12th (it's a week early because of Easter) at Milt Dunnell Field in St Marys or find out about Stratford or other community clean up days. Every person who comes out can enter into a draw to win a Nova Craft canoe.
When you think of Wild Turkey, their beautiful feathers may not be top of mind. Todd shared the different body feathers. Can you talk about the patterns and colours of the tail, wing, and chest feathers. Isn’t it amazing that you can tell how old a bird is just by the stripes on its feathers!
We know some cool plants around the farm neighbourhood. Can you remember their names and the size they are now? We'll be adding four more to your nature memory bank next week.
Fun Looks Like…talk about what's happening here and the mentors who make it all possible.
Before you came to nature school today, did you know that you could use a tree to start a whole forest of new trees? Luckily, Antman (Robert) paid us a visit and revealed the secret to us! What is it that we need to start with? If you said a cutting, then you’re right! We learned other new words like cambium, nodes, and rooting hormone. See if you can use these words to explain the steps for harvesting a cutting and getting it ready to be planted.
Talk about the rooting garden and how we transformed it into a mini greenhouse. Remember to include words like wire, plastic, air vents, and mulch.
On our tree friends we looked for a sucker or a young branch with buds that would make a good cutting. Were your parents surprised to discover cuttings in your backpack? Hopefully they will soon be snuggled into some soft earth in your yard in a place that gets a lot of sun!
Your friends set out a mystery message of the day which we unscrambled before we left. Do you remember what the 3 words were?
Keep following the call of Nature forest friends:)
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