Welcome to the Team 2 ( Yellow Team) wiki page!

 

 

 

Team Member	Job During Quest	School	Email Address	Principal's Name and Email Address
Gail Holmes	Leader	NCDPI	gail_holmes@dpi.state.nc.us
Deborah West	Reporter	D.F. Walker Elementary	dwest@ecps.k12.nc.us	Sheila Evans sevans@ecps.k12.nc.us
Phyllis Caudle	Photographer	McIver Elementary	phylliscaudle@yahoo.com	Dottie Umstead umsteadd@mc.k12.nc.us
Keneshia Leveridge	Navigator	West Bertie Elementary	kleveridge@bertie.k12.nc.us	rduckenfield@bertie.k12.nc.us

 

 

Team Photo:

 

Upload your team picture at Ovi Share link

 

 

Reflection:

 

Day 1- Though it was hot as can be, there was lots to be learned. We took a gentle stroll down the boardwalk to discover our first cache. The second cache was a multi-cache and we had quite the journey ahead of us. We began at the same spot, an old retired still. From there, each team had its own trek to follow based on our colors. We defeated the mosquitos, thwarted the yellow flies, and had no choice but to surrender to the ticks. Fortunately, our heavily sprayed clothing managed to keep most of them from biting in. We were greeted by a beautiful deer at the end of our hike. She acted as if she could care less that we were in her home. She only paused to be certain we were not out to hurt her and then she sauntered away slowly on her way. It took our group the longest amount of time to find our caches. We were really good with the GPS. Maybe it was just the pattern of the caches that left us in the rear. We had no time left to make our tracks for the day, but we made sure to head back and log our journey.

 

Day 2

With the Dismal Swamp still burning, we had to move our NatureQuest to ECSU. We began our day with a talk from the Friends of the Dismal Swamp and received a small gift from their visitor center. From there we stepped into our lessons on identifying trees. The morning has been alot of fun. Signa Williams from the Dismal Swamp State Park came to share her specimens with us and help us to see the different types of trees in our area. We touched, sniffed, and observed the different traits of trees. From there we learned how to take core samples of trees and identify the ages. Next, we learned how to use the Biltmore Stick and Tangent to measure trees. What an amazing adventure. After a delightful lunch and instruction on using Photo Story 3 to make presentations, we reviewed our GPS units and set off to geocache. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. As our group arrived at our first cache, a cedar tree in front of the new dormitory across from the new Student Center, thunder began to signal a need to find shelter. We had barely discovered our mark and began our measurements when bright, sharp lightning sent us scattering from the base of the tree. As we hurried back to our base at Griffin Hall, the bottom dropped out of the sky. With our team in the lead for the wet t-shirt contest, we retired to the computer lab to blog these adventures and upload our photos.

 

Highlight of the Day

 

Choose one photo which best represents the day or the quest. Upload the photo at Ovi Share. In the space below, explain why your group selected this picture and how it represents the day.

 

Photo Day 1 Link (add a link to Ovi Share)

 

 Our beautiful deer friend...

 

Photo Day 2 Link (add a link to Ovi Share)

 

Teamwork solves the problems!

http://share.ovi.com/media/Indiana_Jones.mymedia/Indiana_Jones.10322?sort=4

 

Classroom Application

 

Day 1

 

When you return to school in the fall, how will you use what you learned today in your classroom?

This really required a bit of thought and it is on our second day of our journey that we are posting this reflection. You have to take into account the different age levels of children to decide which way it is best used in the classroom.

For 3rd graders this may really be a challenge. In their curriculum for science, they study soils. You could mark locations on campus for the students to retrieve a soil sample for study. Perhaps they may plant seeds in different areas of the campus and mark that location so that they can come back and check on the growth based on the amount of sun it receives.

For 4th graders- The science curriculum focuses on animals and the adaptations of animals, so it is really easy to see an integration of the animal tracking and the GPS in this grade. You could have students to find tracks and log the location or reverse. You could have the kids to make math problems that help other teams find a cache with clues. Students could use coordinates to find answers to their test questions in multiple caches. It would be easy to see a teacher using virtual caches in the community for discovering NC History information and have the kids to report back in a Wiki to explain what they found and how it is important.

For 5th graders- The study of U.S. Geography and US History is a highlight for the Social Studies curriculum. You can mark important areas in your community that have impacted this history. You could also use the animal tracking activities to discuss the population of animals as a renewable resource. Since Science focuses on systems with the interdependence of plants and animals, you could have one group mark and identify plants, one mark trees, and one mark animals then upload that information into a map to show what things are in the biosphere. 

 

How will you use what you learned today to train the teachers in your school?

 Show them what we learned and how it could be used to engage their students in authentic learning situations.

 

Day 2

 

When you return to school in the fall, how will you use what you learned today in your classroom?

When we return to school, we will be able to show our students how to use the Photo Story 3 program to make presentations as well as how to use tools for measuring trees. We can demonstrate the use of the Biltmore Stick, the tangent, and the tree boring apparatus, the increment borer. We used a really long tape measure as well.   

 

How will you use what you learned today to train the teachers in your school?

 

 

Most Intriguing Thing About Today...

 

Day 1

 The most intriguing thing about today was the intense search for ticks on each person as we searched for our caches. Who would have ever thought one single person could pull 38 ticks off in less than 2 hours!

 

Day 2

 The most intriguing thing about today was getting soaked while searching for our caches! The first day we caught on fire in the sun and today the fire was certainly quenched.. or should we say DRENCHED!

 

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