Outdoor School Adventures

Yesterday, Mr. Bennett's Fifth Grade visited the Wallowa Band Nez Perce Homeland Property. Their first stop was the visitor center in Wallowa where they heard about some Nez Perce and Native American history from the past and a little of what is still currently going on in Wallowa County. Their second stop was the Homeland Property where the Pow Wow happens every year on the 3rd weekend of July. They walked the 1.25-mile trail to the summit above Wallowa doing observations along the 2.5 miles round trip using all of their senses and did some close-up observations and drawings of a plant of the kids' choosing. They also worked with Montana, a Nez Perce Fisheries Biologist, doing water quality for the Grande Ronde Model Watershed. The fun-filled, educational day ended by catching and documenting invertebrates. Both of these activities were done in recently built side channels of the Wallowa River. They saw a fox, a weasel, and several marmots. A ton of birds were out as well. The waters were full of insects to study and millions of frogs too. Mr. Bennett and his class described it as an amazing day. Carrie Caselton Lowe was the person in charge and organizing the day with the help of the others. Mr. Bennett noted that it was such a wonderful experience for these kids. "Nothing like learning new information and not even realizing it because we were having so much fun outdoors!"
Stay tuned for photos of their upcoming trips to the Enterprise Fish Hatchery and the Starkey Experimental Forest.