Journal entries submitted by Laura and Annie
Today, we started off the exciting day by getting to school at 7:45 AM. We found our parent drivers and got in our car groups. After the two and a half- hour car ride, we finally arrived at Westminster Woods. We played on the field, either on the huge play structure, the baseball field, or the volleyball court until everyone arrived.
The first thing we learned about Westminster Woods was the train whistle. For the kitchen prep workers, the bell rang fifteen minutes before the meal. Then the bell rang twice for the meal.
At the homestead, we met with our naturalists. They each told us an interesting story about an experience they once had in their life. Then the students found out what they were waiting for… their cabin groups! Most children were happy with their cabin groups, but those who weren’t were very respectful.
After we found our cabins, decided our beds, and unpacked our luggage, we met for lunch. We did not eat inside the dining hall, but outside. We threw away our extra food and paper and plastic bags, but separated them, so food would go in the composter, the paper bags would go in the fire to fuel it, and the plastic bags would go in the landfill.
We were then assigned hiking groups and leaders. We did activities such as saying your name and doing your favorite dance move or stretch. A few groups went on hikes, and others did other activitie
s.
The students were very excited for free time. Some students bought souvenirs, some played on the field, some played basketball, and others played on the cargo net.
Then came dinner. The dinner consisted of chicken, macaroni and cheese, peas, salad, and bread. We weighed our leftover food that we threw away, and it weigh
ed about four pounds.
We went back to our cabins and got warm clothes on, and brought a flashlight along for teacher time and the campfire. In teacher time, we wrote down what we learned, what we did, and the science process skills we used. Then Mrs. Hansen planned an activity for us. After we finished writing down the many interesting things that we learned, Mrs. Hansen started teaching us a game like “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. Instead of using our hands though, we used our bodies, and it was with lions, traps, and humans instead of rocks, paper, and scissors.
After we finished playing the game, we went to Campfire. At Campfire was a man called White Bear who came to Westminster Woods just for the Campfires. He played guitar very well and taught us many new and exciting songs. Some of the songs that he and the other naturalists taught us were the “Skat Song”, the “Banana Slug Song”, and the “Wild Salmon Song”. Some of the songs that they taught us didn’t have names like a song about a frog. After Campfire, when we were all exhausted from our long day, we all went to our cabins, put our pajamas on, and brushed our sleep. We all slept very well in our cozy cabins.
The next morning we woke up at 7:30, excited about the day ahead of us. Most of us went and took nice, hot showers before we went to the playground for about 20 minutes of recreational time before breakfast. The breakfast was made up of French toast with whipped cream and strawberries, and orange juice. Soon after we finished eating our delicious breakfast, the naturalist started explaining our agenda for that day.
The day’s activities consisted of stream ecology, and going exploring on the beach. During stream ecology we used nets and old plastic containers to search for and catch critters in a Dutch Bill stream. If we were lucky enough to catch something, we put it in one section of a plastic container, and looked up what kind of bug or snail it was on a chart of the different kinds of creatures found in streams and rivers. After a fascinating time of searching in the stream, we went to eat lunch, have a few minutes if recreational time, and go to the beach!
We drove for about 20-30 minutes on a windy road to a beach called Shell Beach to explore the tide pools. While exploring the tidepools we found many interesting animals such as sea anenomes, octopi, and sea stars.
There are so many things going on at Westminster Woods that we will have to write more later. To be continued…….
