Homeschool Nature Classes -- Erosion and Chemistry

I'm so horribly behind in blogging, that I'm just going to do one entry combining our last 2 homeschool nature classes at Croton Point Nature Center...

The first class (Feb. 19th) was about erosion. We watched construction work on the park's bulkhead replacement project, which is designed to help minimize erosion.


Then the kids built models of "Mother's Lap", the small point on which the Nature Center sits, perched over the Hudson River.



When they were done, we tested out how their designs withstood the "tides" by pouring water in and agitating gently.

Before:


After:


(And yes, Mikro had help from mama in building his model... but he gleefully eroded it all by himself.)

Our most recent nature class, on March 5th, was about the difference between exothermic and endothermic reactions. The kids mixed a variety of substances and took temprature readings to see whether heat was released or absorbed in the reaction.



After class we did some feeder watching, then headed to the playground. We saw this cooper's hawk as we drove up to the Nature Center:



There were huge flocks of redwinged blackbirds.





A pretty little goldfinch also came for a visit.



Other birds we saw included a white throated sparrow, a house finch and some cardinals.