Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.
The sunny, May 9 day was perfect for Jefferson County's third graders to get out and learn about nature at the 4-H Ecology Field Day.
The topics of soil, bees, reptiles, trees, and aquatic bugs and plants were discussed by experts in their respective fields with students offered an up-close experience for all the topics covered.
With the schedule starting at 9:15 a.m., students rotated between different speakers with roughly thirty minutes with each topic before moving on to the next.
Speaker Sherri Kraeft shared her experience as a master beekeeper as well as provided information about the workings of beehives and the ways bees play a big part in nature; without bees, many of the fruits and vegetables that her young audience loved (including chocolate!) would be a lot harder or impossible to grow. Kraeft had a portion of beeswax for the Jefferson Somerset students to hold and a bee hive with transparent panel windows for the students to look into.
Crystal Hartman an expert with the UF Dept. Extension Fisheries in Gainesville took students out to the Extension Office's pond, where they took a look at aquatic insects and plant life within the pond before riding back on the 4-H's big white bus to the grounds for the next speaker.
Tom Gilpin, a senior forester with Bear Creek (Florida Forestry Service) talked about trees, especially the lives and importance of the trees and forests that Florida has. Set up under a shady canopy, students pointed out trees they already knew the names of and learned new information about familiar forests.
Steve Tullar, Drew Demott and Kristy Rojas with the Natural Resources Conservations Services out of Monticello discussed soil erosions. Soil is an often overlooked natural resource, but students learned about the limited resource and the need to care for the soil we can safely use for growing foods. They also learned about the different types of soil by getting hands on with three different pots of dirt. Tullar let students dip their hands into a pot of silt, a pot of clay and a pot of sand and try guessing which was which. Picking out which one held the sticky clay was easier, but the students found that guessing between the silt and the sand was a bit harder.
Tom Ostertag with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation out of Tallahassee held a talk about reptiles, and brought a few friends with him. Snakes, frogs, a restless turtle and an especially popular baby alligator helped Ostertag share information and safety tips about native Floridian reptiles and how they should be treated and cared for.
With the day broken only by a lunch around 11:30 a.m., the 4-H Ecology Day continued on past 1 p.m. before students returned to their buses and were brought back to school.
A prior ecology field day took place on Thursday, May 3, to which over 100 fourth and fifth grade students were also able to learn about the workings of our natural world.
Ecology is a branch of biology that studies the interactions of organisms to one another as well as to their physical surroundings.
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