The Things You Find at Skytop

Today, I taught a New Paltz 6th grade program, Water: Concerns & Solutions. This program is pretty awesome as the class hikes around the Mohonk Mountain House property and tests pH levels from various water sources. The program samples at the lake and up at the Skytop Reservoir. A highlight of the program is to hike up to Skytop, not via the Lemonsqueeze, but up some pretty steep stairs on Sky Top Path. Once at the top, the students are able to enjoy lunch and explore the Skytop tower. During their exploration, a Katydid greeted us! So I snapped a photo of it, of course posting it to Instagram, and later on today, the Mohonk Mountain House reposted it! I really love the Instagram social media platform. The Preserve uses my photos and reposts my photos all the time, so having my posts reposted elsewhere is pretty awesome! Love being a local photo celebrity! Just kidding.

Repost of my photo of a Katydid on top of Skytop by the Mohonk Mountain House

Kerhonkson Thank You Gift

The Perks of Being an Educator: the Thank You Cards

One of Kerhonkson's 1st grade classes sent me a "Caddisfly Thank You Book" for teaching their class about the Forest and Stream! It is beyond amazing!

Check out some of the pages! They are adorable, hilarious, and cute!

theChristyBel

The Cover

Love Mrs. Eck's Classes!

Nature Bingo is always fun to play!

Another Nature Bingo Fan!

Salamander Catching!

Program Finds: Forest & Field (Kerhonkson Elementary)

Reporting on some Nature Nerd Finds my 1st Grade Students from Mrs. Eck's Class of Kerhonkson Elementary found today in their Stream & Forest Program at the Coxing Kill. 

Enjoy.

TheChristyBel

Juvenile Northern Water Snake

Carrion Beetle

Juvenile Northern Red Salamander

Juvenile Northern Red Salamander

Program Finds: Forest & Field

A snake's most vulnerable moment in time is when it's about to shed. Snakes will shed their skin in one piece, including eye caps. They do this monthly. Skin becomes dull, their eyes become cloudy or "bluish," and they become more nervous (since they cannot see well). When you see a snake about to shed, please give it space to make it feel comfortable.

Program Finds: Forest & Stream (Lenape Elementary)

My Students Found the Tiniest Slimy Salamander of All Time Today!

Program Finds: Forest & Stream (Lenape Elementary)

Some nature finds from the 3rd Grade, Lenape Elementary class I had today during a Forest & Stream program:

Fringed Polygala

A Ring-necked Snake!

When curled up in a ball, it was the size of a quarter!

The largest Fishing Spider I ever saw

She was terrifying looking!

A Misty Morning for Lenape

This fog is really setting a mood for the Native American Lifeways program this morning!

Field Studies: SMAN DSRC Tour

Today I was able to teach a program I developed for the San Miguel Academy's 8th Grade, Junior Rangers. The program is called, A Day in the Life of a Conservation Scientist, and it taught once a year in the winter time to the SMAN gentlemen. I was able to teach this last year and after some tweaking from how it went last winter, I was able to restructure it and teach it again this year.

This program was modeled off of the Murie Museum programs that the graduate students would teach over at Teton Science Schools. The 8th graders rotate through stations that reflect tasks, jobs, and duties that our staff of the Conservation Science department do on a daily basis.

The students also get a tour of the Daniel Smiley Research Center's archive room where many of Daniel Smiley's specimens and historical data of the Shawangunk Ridge is housed. I am super proud of this program. The students get to examine skulls, herbarium specimens, archaeological specimens, taxidermy birds and mammals, collect weather data, and much more.

From what I hear, the boys really like this program as you do a variety of things inside while the weather is super cold. Also, seeing the specimens up close and hearing the stories behind many of them is super fun. If there is time, we take the boys up to Mohonk Lake (always a special treat) and they assist with collecting lake data.

I think this year's program went super well - got a lot of great feedback from the other educators, the SMAN teachers and students, and from the Conservation Science department. I cannot wait to revisit this program and make it even better for next year!

It's been really nice to actually create new programs for the Preserve (than just teaching pre-made ones). I feel that when I get to make new programs, I am actually using my degree to its fullest. I was super proud to definitely develop, implement, tweak, and re-teach this program for the second year in a row.

TheChristyBel

A Skull Study - Examining Mammals of the Ridge

Getting the DSRC Tour from legendary, Paul Huth

Studying Birds

Examining Native American Artifacts

Identifying Different Avian Adaptations

Reflecting on Pond Keepers

Bringing Some TSS to My Pond Keepers Closing Program
#WordWeb

Leaving Footprints

"Footprints" Found at the Reservoir
You Can Learn A Lot About What You Observe & See
Can You Guess Who's They Are?

Camp Peregrine

This past week I survived my first week of Mohonk Preserve Summer Camps. There is much to get used to as far as logistics and the Preserve's methods to approaching camp (it's pretty different from what I am used to), but it went pretty well. Working with 7-10 year olds has been great. Ideally, I prefer the wee little ones or the much older ones, but this group of kiddos we had this week were pretty awesome. They definitely set the bar high for future summer camp sessions for me. This week was a short week due to the July 4 holiday, so I only had three days with them (I missed the last day as I had to leave for Maine for a wedding - next blog)! But the three days were pretty great. We hiked them all around Spring Farm, Duck Pond, and a scramble at the Mountain House. The campers were able to do some ecosystem studies, play lots of games, develop community, pass around the Leadership Stick, and admire wildlife. It was a pretty good week and a great way to ease myself into the Preserve's camp season. Usually my camps are themed and very activity structured to keep the campers engaged. This camp approach is very flexible and student-centered (something I had to get used to). But overall, I really liked the feel for it and definitely got my brain spinning on how I can make future camps more of my own. I am really looking forward to my second week and making that week much better than the first.

TheChristyBel

Rock Rift Hike

Northern Red Salamander in the Duck Pond Stream

Pond Study at Duck Pond

Mason was one of my favorite campers

Savannah Testing Out Her Bees Wax Boat

Black Rat Snake Visit at Spring Farm

Discovering Red Efts in the Forest

Hiking at Spring Farm

Perks of Being a Teacher

This morning I received a huge envelope in my mailbox. To my surprise it was a "Thank You" poster from my Pond Keepers and Forest & Stream - Ms. Carubia's 3rd Grade Class from Kerhonkson Elementary. They were totally adorable, a little crazy, but overall excited to be outside and getting their hands dirty! Getting gifts is definitely a perk of being an educator, even if you are not with these students everyday. This gift really made my morning!

TheChristyBel

The Special Perks of Working with Little Ones

Mossy Head

Look who decided to pay us an upclose and personal visit during my 3rd grade Pond Study program at Duck Pond today! None other than our infamous friend, Mossy Head! This Common Snapping Turtle has to be the size of the seat of an office, swirly desk chair! Whenever it comes up close, I get super nervous with our students checking it out, but they always keep a good distance and Mossy Head never really gets too close. 

#RespectWildlife from a good distance!

TheChristyBel

Mossy Head Visits!

A DSRC Tour for the SMAN Junior Rangers

So far during this new job, I have been teaching programs that have already been brainstormed and written up. Today, I was able to create a whole new program for Education that revolved around the Daniel Smiley Research Center. Since I work in two different departments, I was chosen to lead the San Miguel Academy's 8th graders in a Daniel Smiley Research Center-based program. 

If I have not already explained this, the Daniel Smiley Research Center is where the Conservation Science department is housed. The DSRC is home to our collections room where Daniel Smiley kept specimens of flora and fauna that were discovered on the ridge, even archaeological, Native American artifacts found in rock shelters on the ridge, and it houses over 120-years of weather, lake, and natural history records.

Originally, this program was planned to have a snow-shoe hike around the Mountain House property. However, we have not been getting much snow to make snow-shoeing possible. So, we had to put on the "flexi-pants" and come up with something else. I decided to do a rendition of the Murie Museum back in the Tetons.

I created a workbook/DSRC journal that focused on up to 8 activities that allowed the students to float through stations for about an hour. These activities portrayed similar activities that our staff and research associates perform at the DSRC. So, it was basically a "Day in the Life of the DSRC" tour. Below are some of the stations I created.

TheChristyBel

Station 1: Bird Identification Using Specimens, Guides, & Observation

Does this plant have alternating or opposing leaves?

Station 2: Understanding the Herbarium

Identifying Birds

Station 3: Mammal Identification Through Skull Anatomy
Station 4: Examination of Native American Artifacts (in the background)

Herbivore, Carnivore, Omnivore?

Station 5: Measuring Precipitation from the night before

Station 9: Visiting Mohonk Lake to Obtain Lake Samples

Snake River Montessori Visits

Enjoy Some Moments From Snake River Montessori's Visit to the Kelly Campus.

Silent Conversations to Determine Their Field Research Project

Notice What They Stated With The Foxes...
Read the Blue Print Pointing to Foxes.
Ha Ha!

Working on Becoming Water Quality Test Experts!

Stream Team Analyzers!

My Council of the Purple Flying Chipmunks!

My Students in Front of 'Yoda' aka the Gros Ventre Slide

I'm loving the Spring Teaching Practicum.

Love my students!

Love teaching without a lot of snow!

Loving the science that they are learning!

TheChristyBel

Bringing the J-Factor

I am so sorry everyone! I know I have not been very productive on the blog in awhile.  I have been extremely busy with class and teaching....who knew graduate school would be so busy?!?

But I just wanted to stop by and say, I AM ALIVE and well...SURVIVING.

I will post some new entires soon regarding some of the things I have been up to.  But until then...it's time to incorporate some throwbacks with the present!

TheChristyBel in her Alter Ego 2011 Super Suit!

Yes, I was teaching in the field on cross country skis with the Alter Ego 2011 Super Suit on!

Lux Aeterna in Wyoming!

More updates to come, everyone! Hang in there!

Xoxo,

TheChristyBel