Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

06 Jun, 06 AM - 08 Jun, 06 AM

During this school year the fifth grade has spent six weeks with a focused study on Botany (a brief description below). In order to allow the children a chance to be in a functioning ecosystem in which many of the aspects of the world of plants can be view directly is the purpose of our visit to Big Creek. I look forward to leading the children through the forest trails and from those shaded areas to the open, sunny meadows of the hilltops. The children will also be able to witness the different bio-zones as they travel through the preserve. Many of the individual species that we studied more extensively are growing in the preserve and it will be great for the children to see how they are established with other plants to create a healthy functioning ecosystem. Our study of plants began with how the plant stands between earth and sun. We considered the various parts of the plant- root, stem, leaf, flower and fruit. We studied the distribution of plants according to elevation, and what latitude on earth the plant grows. We investigated the nutrient cycle and how life rises from the deterioration and recycling of dead matter. Then we studied the characteristics of plants- fungi, algae, lichens, moss, ferns, conifers, monocotyledons and dicotyledons. We related the progression of characteristics of more simple plants to more complex plants to that of childhood- infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school age children. We learned the parts of the flower including- pistil, stigma, ovary, stamen, pollen, petal and sepal. Our study also included a focus on a number of individual species that grow locally. For service learning the children collected seeds from a number of local plants (including coastal live oak, coffee berry and sticky monkey plant), propagated them in our green house and have cleared an area in which to plant them. Planting should happen this next week. They also propagated shitake mushrooms, and have collected a number of seeds from foods from grocery items which they will be planting to take home.

Visit #24830 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 23564 | Public Use

Botany up close and personal

k_12_instructor - K-12 Schools Monterey

Reservation Members(s)

Theo MAehr Jun 6 - 8, 2011 (3 days)
Group of 24 K-12 Student Jun 6 - 8, 2011 (3 days)
Group of 8 Volunteer Jun 6 - 8, 2011 (3 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Redwood Camp 33 Jun 6 - 8, 2011