Students playing one of the many cooperative learning games the instructors at Tanglewood taught us (left). Sixth Graders and Alt Ed. students loading onto the bus (right).

Tanglewood

         In October, 2004 the 6th graders and Alt Ed. students of the St. George School went to Tanglewood's 4H Youth Forestry Camp. While we were there for our two nights and three days we had lots of fun while learning. We went there to learn how to design and build a nature trail so that when we returned to St. George we could create an outdoor learning center for our community to enjoy.

        Wow we learned a lot over our lovely stay at Tanglewood's 4H Youth Forestry Camp! For example, we learned how to tell the difference between a softwood tree and a hardwood tree. We also learned how to use soil augers, compasses, and we learned how to pace correctly. On the third day at Tanglewood we made land management plans for a certain area of Tanglewood. In our groups we all made unique designs for a park that included restrooms, trails, a parking lot, and signs. This information will come in handy when we design and build our St. George School Outdoor Learning Center.

        I stayed in a cabin called Dog Trot and our teacher let us play harmless pranks on the boys and each other. For example, we put fake plastic body parts in the boys beds. It was a two night stay and we got down time for about an hour before dinner and we played soccer. Each night we were there we would have exciting activities to do. On the first night we had s'mores around the campfire that the instructors made. We walked around talking to each other while we crammed gooey morsels of marshmallows in to our mouths. Then we divided into our working groups and went for a night walk. We were forbidden from bringing flashlights on the walk; our instructor carried a flashlight but didn't use it because we wanted to test our "night vision". My group saw a porcupine on our way back to our cabins while cutting through the camp's soccer field.

    The second night we had a talent show and we viewed some creative, interesting, and plain out funny acts. No one was afraid of  making themselves look like fools so everyone enjoyed our last night at Tanglewood's 4H Youth Forestry Camp. Man we had some fun at Tanglewood.

The instructors were very concerned with the environment at meal time and made us think about helping our earth. At meals we had to try to take only as much food as we needed because we would dump our waste in a compost bucket, weigh it, and try to have less waste every meal.

    Finally, A lot of the students there were on the school's soccer team and missed two games. We had to wait for someone to call with the results of the games and we almost died from our yearning to hear the scores.

Horse Chestnut Tree PowerPoint Slide Show

  PowerPoint Slide Show
    We took a month to research certain trees and then made PowerPoint slides.We all learned new tricks on PowerPoint and now can make a slide on the drop of a dime. For example, I didn't remember how to use slide transition and a classmate showed me how. It ended up being as simple as breathing.

Persuasive Letters
   In ELA we had to write persuasive essays about a place we wanted to highlight on the nature trail we're building. We took pictures of this place and wrote wonderful letters. We improved our letter writing skills and refreshed our memories of how to write persuasive writing skills. Hopefully, my special spot will become part of part of the future nature trail in St. George so we can enjoy the lovely marsh in all four seasons. As soon as I saw this spot I felt connected to it and was entranced with it's beauty.

The marsh in St. George.