Twin Valley School District elementary fourth graders enjoyed an educational field trip at French Creek State Park on May 20.
This was the district’s fifth annual field trip to the state park that included activities such as fly fishing, geocaching and tree identification.
The following teachers and their 4th grade students included Honey Brook (HBEC) teachers Janeen Moyer, Julia Sutu, and Lisa Thiry; Robeson teachers Becky Johnson, Ed Deren, Valerie Smith and Pam Russell; Twin Valley Elementary teachers Sue Sanger, Barry Llewellyn, Stephanie Pierce and Stephanie Burger.
The long awaited sunshine was the best visitor of the day, after previous week’s cancellation due to rain. The children were ready to romp, explore, and have fun in this outdoor learning environment.
“Once a more limited event it changed after three Twin Valley elementary teachers went to a presentation at French Creek and this comprehensive all day event was born,” said Mrs. Susan Sanger, Twin Valley Elementary teacher, who planned and led the event.
“Coordinating the day requires months of planning. Finding interesting station masters, making schedules, coordinated buses to transport the students to different areas of the park, scheduling students in their learning groups, getting chaperone information, gathering park maps and making name tags for everyone, are just some of what goes into pulling the whole day together for the kids,” said Sanger.
The 24 station masters who volunteer their time make this event happen. Sanger finds people with a specialty and they plan their station. Each station is 40 minutes long and this year each child visited three stations throughout the day.
“Once all station masters are secured, students receive a course selection packet via email. They write down their top 12 choices and then I put them in groups using a grid that match some of their choices. With 265 kids, students do not get all their choices but I try to give them two,” said Sanger.
At arrival, there are, “Get to know you activities” set up by Becky Johnson. Mr. McKay, the Robeson principal, goes over the behavior expectations.
The day includes a lunch set up in the woods. The general feeling of the kids is awe, stretching their imaginations and creativity as they are exposed to unique hands-on learning activities by professionals that span the gamut of art, science, technology, learning games, and ecology, to name some.
There was fly fishing with Master Angler and Stream Evaluator Edgar Payne and Master Anglers Julie Fox, Emerson Freese and Carol Nichols.
Emma McClune of Mrs. Sanger’s Class said, “I had a fun experience at French Creek, especially the fly fishing. I learned you do slow and then fast. I caught one. I had a great time.”
During a map hike in the woods, students looked for locations like a treasure hunt with Delaware Valley Orienteering Mary Frank and Ed Scott.
Nick Slauch, of Mrs. Moyer’s class, HBEC, said, “When I was there I really liked looking at all the fish and wildlife!”
There was Geocaching during which students had to find hidden containers, called geocaches, with GPS devices and post online. French Creek has numerous geocaches hidden within. There are 1,659,078 active geocaches and over 5 million geocachers worldwide.
At the Stream Exploration station, they discovered critters living in the stream identify them to see if stream is healthy ecosystem with Mr. McKay, REC Principal.
At Animal Adaptations with Mr. Craig Sell, TVEC Principal, they learned how animals disguise themselves in a world where it is eat or be eaten.
Twin Valley student Zee Kaiser said, “I like the hiking because that’s what me and my parents do a lot.”
Noah Lewis, also Twin Valley, said, “I like how there was wildlife everywhere and I could get really close to it. Usually it’s hard to find a good spot to find animals.”
Kodi McNutt from Mrs. Sutu’s class said, “It was a very beautiful trip that we went on. I met new friends! I’m excited to see them at the middle school. We had a very good time and I’ll always remember it!”
“It was very adventurous and filled with nature. It is my favorite field trip ever!” said Destiny Ciofalo from Robeson.
A student from Mr. Llewellyn’s Class- Collette Lennon said, “I liked the Salamander Station. It was with Mr. Llewellyn, my 4th Grade teacher. I liked it because I never saw, or touched, a salamander before.”
Mr. Llewellyn, 4th Grade Teacher, TVEC said, “As Station Master of the Salamander Station for the past 5 years, I get to see the students in a whole new light, away from their schoolwork and studies. It gives me great pleasure to share my interest in salamanders, and nature in general, with these kids, some of whom have never seen or touched a salamander before.”
Michael Ishmael, Mrs. Moyer’s class, HBEC said, “I think it was a very interesting place because I got to learn so many things. For example, I saw deer tracks, raccoon tracks, and I got to see what poison ivy looks like.”
Sarah Majcher, of Mrs. Moyer’s class, HBEC, said, “I think it was an amazing experience because I got to identify all these new trees and study them.”
Britney McGeady from Mrs. Thiry’s class, HBEC, said, “Now that I learned about the different trees I’m going to look at them differently from now on.”
“I can speak for my class that they we’re excited about going and then couldn’t stop talking about it when they returned. What they learned from the varied station masters was valuable and exciting to them,” said Sanger.
Ben Spiri from Mrs. Burger’s 4th grade class said, “The French Creek 4th grade field trip was a fantastic hands-on experience filled with excitement, education and fun.”
“It was fun and exciting in all sorts of ways. The best nature field trip I have ever been on!” said Katie and Cassie Ramm from Robeson.
Peg Dombach, librarian at Twin Valley Elementary Center summed it up. “The 4th Grade field trip to French Creek introduces the students to many ways they can enjoy and learn about the outdoors. Because this state park is local, students can continue to enjoy the park and the many activities with their families.”
