Fall Festival @Wildlife Refuge

This weekend, as a "field trip," we attended the fall festival at our nearby National Wildlife Refuge. The theme this year was the whitetail deer. It was beautiful weather and we enjoyed some fun activities. We took a two hour school bus ride on the back trails of the refuge while a biologist talked about deer, trees, the deer's impact on trees and lots of other biological information about the refuge. This biologist spoke on a pretty high level-somewhere near a college level, so a lot of it probably went over the kids' heads, but Ron and I did get some intellectual stimulation (bits of it flew over our heads too!) The other activities were really good for the kids, though. Plus, my kids don't get to ride the school bus anymore, so it was like old times : )

Here is a scene from the bus ride. The biologist noted that this refuge (as well as our land) is at the conversion of three biomes- the prairie, the deciduous forest and the pine forest. I don't always appreciate what a special place we live in.
And here is Sadie measuring her wingspan against that of a trumpeter swan's. The refuge has been successful in reintroducing trumpeter swans to the area. The kids also got to identify animal tracks, animal scat and look at live deer.
There were three huge bucks on display. These were farm-raised deer, so they were not taken out of their original environment.
We also listened to a doctor speak about ticks and Lyme's disease.

It was a very intellectual and biology-laden day. (And it was free. I always like free : )

One thought I had about doing a field trip like this is that normally when school kids go on a field trip, it is aimed at their age/grade level, for instance, third grade. All the information and activities are geared towards third graders. An event like this is geared for all levels, so if your third grader has a comprehension level or interest that is higher, he or she will be able to get this info also- there won't be a third grade cap on what they could potentially learn. Does this make sense? It is just my opinion, but if there is any teachers out there reading this, let me know if this is valid.