BIO FACTS for Young Naturalists

Every Monday, 1,500 elementary students link their minds to the world and to career and service opportunities that may well fuel long-term interests. On one recent chilly Monday during S.K.’s Community Learning Program, the natural world of Aquidneck Island was delivered to students through scientific findings on how animals survive and thrive.

“Since I can’t bring our sanctuary to you,” begins Yvette Haughney, AmeriCorps member and naturalist for a well-known preserve and vibrant environmental education center, “I’ve brought some BIO FACTS instead.”

“When we hike at Norman Bird Sanctuary, we look at rocks to discover geological facts about Rhode Island and world history. We investigate insects and fish to find out about the health of our water. From treetops to groundwater, we learn from our findings. Plant, animal and mineral BIO FACTS tell us a lot about survival.

“So you think snakes are slimy and have bones?” asked Yvette. A snake exoskeleton reveals, on the contrary, that “snake skin, like that of all reptiles, is dry, scaly and sheds. Do you think snakes can eat something as big as a mouse? Well, snakes have a special jaw that can swallow something three times their size!” (Just go ahead and try holding your hands behind your back while swallowing a basketball!)

A non-native loggerhead sea turtle skull with big eye sockets revealed another animal adaptation: living in salty water, the loggerhead has evolved a special gland under its eyes to expel extra salt from inside its body. The smooth and flat juvenile green sea turtle shell helps it move protectively. Unlike RI’s snapping turtles, grooved of shell and lazy in motion, this turtle lies flat to flee swiftly from its predators.

“Our next friend gets scared around loud noises. He may have no backbone, but he’s no coward! With eight legs and eight eyes, Ocho the Mexican red knee tarantula was named “eight” in Spanish. You won’t find him in RI; his natural habitat is deserts and rainforests, but Ocho was someone’s “cool” pet before his care became too much. BIO FACTS: he flicks hair from his body when angry to make other animals sneeze. And he sheds his exoskeleton when it gets too tight, emerging with bright, orange-red ‘knees’ on his jointless legs to attract mates.

The next creature’s reaction when frightened can be pretty gross. Micah the barred owl, with dark striping through his feathers, flies faster by releasing droppings to lighten his load. “Micah might have hit a car; the blow to his head was so traumatic that he was taken to a vet, probably no longer able to survive in the wild.” He now tends to pull out his own feathers, making it hard to fly. Owls naturally lose feathers: growing baby owls shed soft down, and adults grow a showy spring coat during mating season. The barred owl often can be heard calling in the wild—“Who cooks for you, who cooks for you all?...”

Micah feeds on store-bought frozen mice. Enrapt, students learned that the bones, fur and other remains from a good dinner are ground up and rolled into pellets in his gizzards before being upchucked. “Owl pellets are great to study, but they’re not clean—hands off if you find one!” So the next time you scare an owl and it poops, or a tarantula sticks you with hair, or a snake swallows a mouse 3x its size, you’ll know these are survival mechanisms. What BIO FACTS in your world would show an alien how you survive? How do YOU protect yourself, eat and attract new friends?

A big thank you to CLP for bringing the Norman Bird Sanctuary to S.K.’s elementary schools. Perhaps sharing the skills of the naturalist with budding scientists will help them learn about how humans survive in this ever-changing world.

Science of Ears: How to Fix Them When They Break

S.K. elementary students find out how their ears work!

Eileen Jones, President & Founder of the Gift of Hearing Foundation, visited S.K.'s elementary schools to talk about some devices that have been developed to help people when they go deaf. Sometimes these devices are implanted right into our bodies to help us operate our different parts — turning humans into “cyborgs”!!! The specialized skills needed to support such innovative devices, however, are in short supply. There is a certain future for those who would like to research and engineer miracle technologies to improve what we have — and to think up and make new devices.
Hearing is our connection to people (where sight is our connection to things). Hearing and speech go together: hearing loss = speech loss. For more information, please visit the Gift of Hearing Foundation website.

Scientists to the Rescue!

Marine Biologist and Research Ecologist in Action
S.K. schools hear from Biomes Marine Biology Center and the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve

By Rebecca J. Briggs, CLP Reporter

What do marine biologist Mark Hall and environmental scientist Jennifer West have in common? For starters, they both recently presented to S.K. elementary schools’ Community Learning Program. They also share an appreciation and fascination for wildlife that began in grade school, and led them both to study science URI. They now are both research scientists, committed to educating others on their discoveries.

“When I was young, I was very interested in the animals I saw in the wild—how they lived, how they protected themselves, how they found their food.” So began Mark Hall of Biomes, southern New England's only private aquarium and education center in North Kingstown and online at http://www.biomescenter.com/. “I discovered early on that by keenly observing animals in their habitats, I could learn how they survived, and that by staying in school, I could develop the skills I needed to go on to college, and become a scientist.”

Mark held up a fist-sized butterfly fish, a ‘tropical stray’ that he found while scuba diving off Block Island. He queried his 1st through 5th grade audience, “Why do you think there is a black stripe across the fish’s head? Why is it so skinny? Why is its head so pointy?” Pausing to allow students time to observe, he continued, “The answers to these questions are clues to how the fish protects itself and gets its food.”

“Do you think this fish is native to RI waters? How do you think it got here—do you think it can survive in Narragansett Bay?” An astute fifth-grader answered, “I think the fish would die because it gets too cold in the winter here.” Indeed, it would: this stray was just the size of a quarter when it was carried to the North Atlantic on a strong tropical current, “just like a stray dog a long way from home.”

“It is skinny,” Mark explained, “so that it can squeeze into rock cracks where other fish don’t go. And it’s striped in order to confuse predators as to where its eyeball is.” Ah… discovery—boy, observing wildlife is cool!

Mark emphasized that his knowledge of marine biology has given him a greater understanding of land animals as well, (and this explained his next specimen, an abandoned boa constrictor!).

So, too, did Jen West’s graduate work in environmental education lead to her knowledge of wildlife. Narragansett Bay’s estuaries—where rivers meet the sea—have become her “living laboratory.” There she studies and counts fish, monitors how salt marshes filter pollutants, and researches human effects on natural ecosystems.

Estuaries are critical to tens of thousands of wildlife habitats. Their bordering wetlands are key to water quality, flood protection and water storage. Estuaries also have enormous recreational, educational, aesthetic, and commercial value.

“When we build a lot, ecological cycles change. For example, increased human population leads to more invasive plants, and fewer natural wildfires. Fires help native plants like the pitch pine to spread their seeds; instead, invasive plants compete with the natives that are the natural habitat for resident animal and fish species.” Moreover, when we build, “water can’t filter through the pavement or the rooftops, and toxic run-off enters the watershed and pollutes estuaries.” This is the basis for the stormwater projects that Jen coordinates as the Coastal Training Coordinator for the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Science has vast reaches and interconnections. As Mark and Jennifer agreed, “You can do a lot of good for society and nature when working in the field of science.” Jen invited students to practice being scientists at the Prudence Island research reserve out in the middle of Narragansett Bay. To schedule school trips year-round and find lesson plans and other resources, visit http://www.nbnerr.org/.

As the CLP program continues on into the winter, a big thank you goes to former Matunuck parent, Rian Smith, for organizing the biweekly Monday presentations. Rian works diligently with Matunuck Principal Deb Zepp…

Mrs. Zepp also should be congratulated for her calm and courage, as she steadily held ‘Reggie,’ Biomes’ boa constrictor, in front of Matunuck’s 300 wildly cheering students. All were relieved to hear Mark’s reply to fourth-grader Anthony Maine: “Has Reggie the Boa ever tried to constrict you?” “No. Boas are very, very strong, but the only reason they constrict is to hold on to something like a tree in the rainforest.” With that, Principal Zepp gracefully transferred Reggie from her shoulders back to Biomes’ chief scientist. Whew! Keep up the good work, CLP!

Reggie the Boa & the Principal

Wildlife Biology—A Career for Nature-Loving Kids

Did you know… that kids are linking the skills they practice in school today to the abilities they’ll need to master tomorrow? Opportunities to witness the beauty of the natural world—and express compassion for its fragility—help sustain their interest in the biological and earth sciences.
South Kingstown’s 1st through 5th graders spent one recent ‘CLP Monday’ exploring the vital role of the wildlife biologist. The district’s Community Learning Program featured Janis Nepshinsky of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who underscored the most important aspect of her job: preventing the extinction of Rhode Island’s wildlife.

Janis took the students on a visual tour of Rhode Island’s National Wildlife Refuges. Images of Block Island beaches, Charlestown’s Ninigret Park, Sachuest Point, and the John H. Chafee Nature Preserve at Pettaquamscutt Cove looked familiar to many. Janis listened to students call out their favorite local wildlife, from snapping turtles and trout to the newly reclaimed piping plover. “Every animal you named needs a place to live, food to eat, and a place to play, just like you do,” Janis pointed out. She drew their attention to the fact that Rhode Island has FIVE of the United States’ 545 National Wildlife Refuges.

“Part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist’s job is to protect the homes of animals, “habitats,” from harm caused by invasive plants, people and their pets,” Janis explained. No dogs, horses or motor vehicles are allowed on a National Wildlife Refuge; nor hunting, fishing and wild harvesting. The plants and prey are there for the animals that live there,” Janis added, reminding students that many species of birds need RI’s coastline for nesting grounds and food. “Birds fly south, migrating from Maine to Florida, and these wildlife refuges act as ‘rest stops’ for refueling, just like your families need on long trips.”

When Janis showed a two-foot long, preserved snapping turtle with its brilliant shiny shell, the 300+ students were in awe. When she told of poachers suffocating the turtles for their shells, they were stunned. Seeing the water-loving turtle on his back was saddening—and further convinced them that protecting wildlife is a worthwhile career.

What kind of skills do you need to be a wildlife biologist? First-grader Julianne H.and third-grader Katarina K. learned firsthand, as they held up samples of wild animal tracks, skins and other intriguing ‘tools of the trade.’ A biologist must be able to identify what kind of wildlife is spending time on the refuges. The upper jaw of a deer and the lower jaw of a coyote prompted careful observation and thoughtful answers as to what these animals eat. A snapping turtle’s creepy looking track print was a surprise, as guesses of “raccoon” and “bear claw” were proved wrong. A playlist of cool birdsongs on a waterproof iPod turned into an remarkably accurate game of matching birds to their calls. It seems that a wildlife biologist must pay attention, observe keenly, and be able to recall, measure, count, and reason.

Keep up the good work, CLP!

Fall CLP presentations also feature Mark Hall of Biomes Marine Biology Center, Claire Hall of the “Did You Know?” Foundation, and Jennifer West of the Narragansett Bay Research Reserve. All four South Kingstown elementary schools participate in this academically enriching and community-bridging program.

Take a walk on the wild side!
Can you name the National Wildlife Refuge in either photo? If you can, and you’re an S.K. elementary school student, call CLP reporter Rebecca Briggs, (401) 533–0116.

By Rebecca J. Briggs, CLP Reporter, with Rian Smith, CLP Program Manager

The Charlestown Press, Nov. 19, 2009 (Page A-7)

The Narragansett Times, Nov. 11, 2009 (Page 6-B)

S.K. Schools's CLP: Enriches, Educates and Inspires!

Did you know… that although #5 plastic yogurt cups do not get recycled in RI, you easily can avoid sending them straight to the landfill?

“Reuse it!” answered first-grader Aislinn M. when put to the question by Claire Hall of the "Did You Know?" Foundation. Second-grader Jake B. was quick to point out that even though some plastics like #1s are recyclable, their caps are NOT. By golly, I think they’ve got it!

Indeed, kids today are becoming more mindful consumers. South Kingstown children are also on their way to becoming more conscientious practitioners, with problem solving careers on their horizon.

S.K. schools’ district-wide CLP engages students in learning about the diversity of people, the wonders of place, and environmental stewardship—and in learning to make a difference within their larger community. This year brings a new focus on science and career awareness. Says CLP program director and Matunuck principal, Deb Zepp, “We want students to see their schoolwork as part of the journey to exciting careers. And we want them to connect science to the real world and real people.”

Imagination and problem-solving skills have been pinpointed as the tools for success today. For children who like to explore, fix things, be creative, or investigate the natural world, many vital and stimulating careers in science, engineering and technology await.

CLP’s slate of innovative presentations opened with Biomes Marine Biology Center, the “Did You Know?” Foundation, Narragansett Bay Research Reserve, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this year. Community role models and student volunteers illustrate how passion for community can be fulfilled by a career in the sciences, improving both day-to-day life and the world beyond. “It’s fun and interesting,” observed fifth-grader Dave B. after learning from Claire how to use plastic CD holders as photo frames. “There’s always something new to learn.”

The number of S.K. students taking advantage of—or initiating—opportunities to pursue environmental interests is growing. CLP has helped sprout school recycling clubs; a district-wide, weeklong effort to reduce waste at snack time; an ‘eco-concert’ to raise funds for an environmental cause; and hands-on, after-school environmental enrichment programs that enable 5th and 6th grade students to take their awareness and career interests to the next level.

Did you know that it takes role models today to motivate and educate the movers and shakers of tomorrow? Keep up the good work, CLP!

Elementary Ecology: The Benefits of Aquaculture

Dr. Robert Rheault has a shellfish farm called Moonstone Oysters near Point Judith. Also president of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association and secretary of the Ocean State Aquaculture Association, he is committed to promoting public education about aquaculture.

His enthusiasm captivated South Kingstown's 1st through 5th graders last fall. One would never have guessed that this young audience, unlike his customary graduate students and members of Congress, had drawn beads of sweat across Bob’s brow during his many hours of preparation.

Shellfish live in most of the world's seas and some of its lakes and freshwater rivers. Starting as microscopic specks of dust, one million baby oysters can fit in your hands like grains of sand. Their shells are so transparent you can see their hearts beating.

Some farms grow shellfish in floating upwellers, where plastic mesh cages, bags or baskets let water through while keeping algae out and protecting babies from predators. These are hung, shaken and flipped in the sun to clean the water-blocking algae and sea squirts. This farm gear creates tremendous marine habitats and improves species diversity, serving as artificial reefs where juvenile fish and crustaceans can live, find food and refuge, and breed.

With no books to consult, protecting baby shellfish from predators is a challenge. Blue crabs, for one, just won’t let go and can consume 200 baby clams an hour. Once the size of a quarter, shellfish can resist crabs and starfish, and settle down to grow in sand or on rocks.

Shellfish improve water quality as they feed by filtering microscopic plants from water. One oyster can clear over 15 gallons a day—a small farm, 30 to 100 million gallons. They also remove nitrogen, lower bacterial counts, improve water clarity, and diminish algal blooms. And they filter silt from the water—better light penetration helps oxygenate deeper water and can improve eelgrass survival.

Clean water is critical to marine life, especially when grown for food. Anything thrown down street or indoor drains, especially poisons or chemicals, and excess lawn fertilizer, pet waste, and trash on beaches can damage marine life.

Illustrations and quotes are student reflections when asked, "How does aquaculture help oceans, and what can you do to help keep marine habitats clean?"

“My Place” launched S.K. Schools’ Community Learning Project with local heritage, natural history, and natural resources. “My People” is addressing basic needs and diversity, and in the spring, “My Environment” will focus on natural processes and local flora and fauna.

By Rian Smith

Students Connect with Neighboring Farmers

Rhode Island’s Farm to School Project shared the benefits of buying RI grown with S.K. elementary students. Kimberly Sporkmann, project coordinator, first explained why children might care about keeping local agriculture going, citing history, economics, environment, and nutrition. Different farmers took the stage next at each school: Chris Faella, Faella Farm, Peace Dale; Sarah Partyka, Farmer’s Daughter, South Kingstown; Pete Rundlett, Moonstone Farms, Charlestown; or Jeff McGuire, South County Apiaries, Wakefield. To conclude: a locally grown apple for each child.

When the climate warmed 5,000 years ago, RI’s first people changed from nomadic hunter-gathering to village-based agriculture. By the mid-18th century, RI had developed an agricultural tradition, with livestock, flax, apples, and onions widely grown and traded. Today, RI’s 700 farms cover 10% of the state.

Agriculture plays an important role in RI’s economy, especially greenhouse and nursery products as well as milk, potatoes and fish. The fertility of land on Narragansett Bay means Washington County has the state’s largest agricultural sales. With a climate mild enough for farming almost year round, residents take advantage of buying locally grown foods, supporting RI farmers—their neighbors—in the process. Farms preserve the environment—and can make communities better places to live. Buying local preempts the need for shipping and packaging, and thus helps reduce pollution. And the health benefits of fresh nutritious foods, especially on school lunch trays, are invaluable, and those responsible, commendable.

Without bees, there would be no plants and no food. Beekeeper Jeff McGuire introduced bees as the only animal that makes food for humans. A student volunteer donned a white bee suit, with vest and jacket while Jeff shared tips for avoiding.

Honeybees, non-natives to the U.S., were brought by pilgrims to pollinate crops and other plants. Beekeepers still pollinate—without bees, grocery shelves would have many fewer fruits and vegetables, and many flowers would not set seed. But bees are disappearing. Jeff suggested students ask their parents to use less insecticide and fertilizer. And to leave dandelions—one of the first spring flowers, full of pollen and nectar—at the edges of their lawns, or to plant wildflowers. One bee creates only 1/8 of a teaspoon of honey; it takes many bees and 50,000 flowers to make one pound of honey.

A teeming hive stacked with honeycombs enlivened Jeff‘s presentation. Excitement rippled when one escaped, and noses sniffed the circulating honeycombs.

When asked to consider, “What can we do as a community to help bees thrive? And to help farmers continue to farm?” students responded:

• Do not step on a bee! — M. Robinson, Gr. 2 (Tyrrell)
  



• We can stop people from stepping and poisoning bee hives, because they do not know about it. We can not step on fruit and vegetables if you see them. — S. Hutchins, Gr. 2 (Tyrrell)
  



• Did you know that if you don’t like tomatoes and you like pizza, you’re eating tomatoes? We can help farmers by not throwing away food if we don’t want it. We are lucky that bees pollinate so we can have food. — A. Wilkinson, Gr. 3 (Heid)
  
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  What we can do as a community is to not pick dandelions. — C. DelMastro, Gr. 3 (Heid)




• If I saw a bee, I would not swing my hands all over the place. I would not even try to get some honey from its hive. — C. Farias, Gr. 3 (Fogarty)




• Don’t squish/step on bees — don’t pick too many wild flowers — don’t disturb a beehive — BE NICE TO BEES! — J. Lindstrom, Gr. 3 (Fogarty)
  
  
  
• Bees produce honey for us to eat and wax to make candles if the power goes out. Don’t kill bees! Bees feed us. — J. Wilson, Gr. 3 (Desmarais)

• We need bees. Without them, we would die. — L. Hogan, Gr. 3 (Desmarais)




• No stepping on bees!! Let the bees fly! I learned that without plants, we would starve and wouldn’t have clothes. — P. Boucher, Gr. 3 (Masson)




• To help bees we can’t step on them the next time we see them. Or by leaving dandelions alone or other wildflowers like purple ones or blue flowers you didn’t plant. — R. Doyle, Gr. 3 (Fogarty)




• Bees help farmers. They help plants grow and since they produce food, they help keep people alive. — S. Glickman, Gr. 3 (Desmarais)




• Help bees produce honey by not killing dandelions. — T. Burnap, Gr. 3 (Masson)




• To help the bees we could not wave your hands around. So they will not get mad because then they will sting you and die! — C. Fredette, Gr. 4 (Behr)




• To help bees I would stop spraying the grass and bees’ homes. We need bees to help farms. Without bees we would not have clothes. Bees should be our friends. — K. Foster, Gr. 4 (Tuoni)
  



• We can stop stepping on bees, we can not use cell phones a lot, and we can stop using pesticide! — J. Hannafin, Gr. 5 (Pacheco)
  



• What should we do to help bees? We could not go into their habitat and maybe take their honey. We could also not use bad pesticides, and leave them to their lives. — J. Hagopian, Gr. 5 (DeFeo)
  
  
  
• We can save dandelions for the bees. Not use bad things. Farming: we can eat foods that come from our state. — E. McCool-Guglielmo, Gr. 5 (Pacheco)

The Rhode Island Farm to School Project encourages all RI school districts to buy locally grown foods to serve in school meals. It results from a collaboration between RI’s departments of Environmental Management, Health, and Education; and Farm Fresh RI, RI Farm Bureau, Southside Community Land Trust, RI public and independent schools, and RI’s farmers. Visit www.kidsfirstri.org to learn more.

Developing environmental literacy and awareness is a primary objective of South Kingstown elementary schools’ Community Learning Project. Community leaders have developed students’ “sense of place” so far this year through interactive presentations on local natural resources—parks and open spaces, watersheds, marine and wildlife, aquaculture, and agriculture. Sustainability has been featured throughout, emphasizing what the students themselves can do to help.

1,350 S.K. Students Take a Winter Hike

The South Kingstown Land Trust took all S.K.’s 1st through 5th graders hiking last December.

Before heading out, the Land Trust’s Claudia Swain established a sense of place. She placed South Kingstown in geographical context, and showed photographs of local open spaces. She asked how students felt about their part of the world, their comfort here, whether it was “home.”

Claudia demonstrated how to prepare for a hike—clothes and shoes, snack, water, insect repellant, camera... And shared a fundamental tenet of conservation: “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints.” Students then got to hone their observation skills: stare at a partner, look away, and then try to detect what s/he had changed in the interval.

They learned that S.K.’s Land Trust is a group of people who preserve and protect the natural resources and open spaces of our town for the enduring benefit of our community. They work to maintain nice healthy places where we can live and grow, farm and hike… With clean water soaking through the ground of enough open, undeveloped land to fill underground aquifers.

Echoing that they’d rather be hiking and playing in the woods, students finally embarked... On a VIRTUAL hike down SKLT’s Browning Woods Farm trail.
Signs tell the farm’s 200-year history, prevent hikers from getting lost, and mark the original farmhouse’s ruins. Others identify wildlife—red salamanders, marsh ferns, eastern box turtles...

But only close observation brings the trail to life. Low to the ground are wintergreen berries. Looking up, an oak tree; and down again, its leaves and acorns. Not far behind, a squirrel and a trail of acorn caps leading to its nest. Bark above and needles below help identify trees like the triple-needled pitch pine. The American holly grows wild and festive in the winter with its red berries. Some plants like the sassafras vary greatly through the year. Dead trees that might have been culled instead form habitats for animals such as the pilliated woodpecker.

The white pine’s five-pronged needles make a natural cushion for lying with your feet propped up against its trunk, to view its soaring branches. Trail signs also direct attention upwards, perhaps to a great-horned owl’s nest.

Students end their hike animatedly, and are invited to come back any time! To bring friends and family, maybe take photos for SKLT’s annual contest. And to join SKLT’s 600 volunteers, perhaps helping them check their more than 120 properties over 2,000 acres.

Above all, simply to experience a sense of the place that is South Kingstown.

Asked what they would like to see 100 years from now on Browning Woods Farm trail, students answered:

• “The stone walls! The signs! The pond! The trees!” — J. McNamar, Gr. 1

• “… L. would like to see frogs, reindeer, Santa, trees 100 years from now while L. is on the trail.” — L. Robinson, Gr. 1

• “… salamanders, chipmunks, birds, squirrels, and other animals that live in the woods.” — R. Grimes, Gr. 2

• “… the nature trail actually existing and it either having more wildlife or the same amount... I would like it if people protected and gave birdhouses to nature.” — R. Doyle, Gr. 3

1. “… a red cardinal in 100 years. I learned today that near the So. Kingstown Land Trust there are three hiking trails. And there are tons and tons of trees on the three hiking trails. In one part of the trails there is a big open space where people used to live. Sometimes you see root tunnels and rocks that look like stairs.” — T. Wentworth, Gr. 3
2. 
   

• “… an owl. I also would want to see the white pine tree with my feet on the bark. You don’t need a big load of stuff, you just need a backpack with things you need. I want to go some day! Keep the trails clean…” — A. Wilkinson, Gr. 3

• “… that no trees are cut down.” — S. Rabidoux, Gr. 3

• “… a red-backed salamander, a turtle, and a red-headed woodchuck.” — D. Colllina, Gr. 3

• “… wild animals. Also I would like to see some trees that you don’t see around right now.” — C. Farias, Gr. 3

• “… the same things.” — C. Neary, Gr. 4

• “… old trees not being cut down.” — G. DiMillio, Gr. 5

• “… more holly bushes and more streams and berry bushes. And more animals.” — J. Hagopian, Gr. 5

• “… exactly how it is now, with all the trees and plants. Also I would like to see some more wild animals.” — A. Riggs, Gr. 5

Excerpts from student journals:

ILLUSTRATIONS (above): [1] A. Wilkinson, Gr. 3. [2] M. West, Gr. 5. [3] T. Smith, Gr. 5 . [4] M. Tibbits, Gr. 4. [5] E. Duckworth, Gr. 4. [6] J. Lindstrom, Gr. 3. [7] O. Manni, Gr. 4.

SLIDE SHOW (right): J. McCarty (1st), J. McNamar (1st), R. Grimes (2nd), C. Rekos (2nd), H. Sunderland (2nd), E. Tondre (2nd), S. Briggs (3rd), T. Burnap (3rd), D. Collina (3rd), C. Farias (3rd), C. Fredette (4th), H. Misto (3rd), S. Rabidoux (3rd), S. Calvino (4th), C. Hogan (4th), C. Moffitt (4th), M. Robinson (4th), E. Thulier (4th), G. Dimillio (5th), A. Edson (5th), J. Hagopian (5th), J. Hannafin (5th), L. Leonard (5th).


NOTE TO PARENTS: Just ask your child if s/he wants to go! The Browning Woods Farm trail is off Shannock Road — visit www.SKLT.org and click on Trail Maps. Joining SKLT gets you their newsletter listing events, hikes and SKLT-sponsored programs — and helps preserve S.K.’s open space!














By Rian Smith