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Friday

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:05:00 -0800

Friday was our last morning at the Headlands. Despite the beautiful views and exciting learning opportunities, I know the kids were looking forward to coming home.

We were VERY excited to have ZERO WASTE for our last meal. So excited, in fact, some students composed a song about it and taught it to the rest of the group!

Your student can tell you what their group was up to on Friday morning. Despite the shortened schedule, we still had a variety of cool experiences.

Later, we had the opportunity to do some watercolors up on Scottie’s Bluff. And Jason shared with us that everything we’ve learned this week should not stay in the Headlands; but rather, we should take this knowledge and these experiences and carry them home with us now and wherever we go in our futures.

Finally, after Ms. Wood gets a chance to look through the Headlands journals, they will be returned to the students. Ask to see them in a week or so... the students recorded many observations and reflections in their journals throughout the week!

We learned that we all own the Marin Headlands, so why not plan a visit with your family soon?

Casey Group - Thursday

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:49 -0800

Today we hiked to Hawk Hill. People said the hike was hard, but it wasn’t that bad. During our hike, we saw about ten Buteos (this is a type of hawk) and a few Accipiters.

In the blue shirt on the bottom row, three from the left, is our wonderful guide Casey Coyote. This is the summit of Hawk Hill, our destination for the day. Casey led us on a challenging, but fascinating, seven mile hike which highlighted the different types of raptors (birds of prey).

The Turquoise Dodo Birds Falling Sanctimoniously would like to thank Casey for a wonderful week.

Pete Group - Thursday

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:40 -0800

Today we had to walk and turn on Swiss Skis. After much yelling and arguing, we managed to walk several feet and even turn a full 360 degrees! Trust us, it’s MUCH harder than it looks. For one thing, if one person doesn’t lift their foot, then no one can lift the ski. And then everyone screams at them.
But we managed, and no one got maimed.

After a delicious lunch of turkey and cheese sandwiches, we got to play in the squishy grass! Squishy grass is really tall, thick grass that is fun to jump in and run through. If you jump on top of it, it holds your weight.

Below is us doing another team challenge. We had to get a golf ball and a marble into a bucket using tubes. It was much easier than the skis, and much less stressful. We had a lot of fun. And then we ended with cookies.

Jason Group - Thursday

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:27 -0800

We went and looked at a fake tide pool and looked at both sea stars and sea urchins. They both had tiny little tube feet and grabbed onto us when we touched them. One of the sea stars were stuck on the clear wall and it pushed its stomach out onto the clear wall so that we can see it.

We went to the Marine Mammal Center and learned why all the patients were there. After seeing the animals we walked around and looked at a bunch of posters explaining what the volunteers and scientists do there.

This sea lion was here because it had a illness because of toxins in a certain type of plankton. When the fish eat the plankton, they get the toxin. Then the seals eat the fish and get it. The toxin can cause brain damage if it is not treated. One of the seals in this enclosure looked pretty healthy and was walking around, but the other one was laying on the ground and acting strangely. The volunteer said that that one hasn’t eaten but has a chance a 8:00 pm.

At the evening meeting, we record the garbage, compost and weather of the day in our notebooks.

Night Activities and Pictures

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:59:04 -0800

So, the kids are generally out in the field until 4 pm each day. From 4 - 5:40 pm, kids have free time and can play a variety of games outdoors, or chill in their dorms. It is during this time that students have been volunteering their time to work on the blog. After Ms Mytko uploads the day’s pictures*, a student from each hiking group will choose his or her favorites from the day and write a little about what that group did during the day.

However, after dinner, we have done some very cool activities, although we don’t have pictures to share. Here are some of the things we have done AFTER the sun went down....

MONDAY NIGHT - The kids gathered in the Coast room and played a cool strategy game in which they were members of two different tribes, each with different resources.

TUESDAY NIGHT - We did a vigorous night hike, and at the summit there were amazing views of the ocean and the bay! Students spread out and took 5 minutes to sit quietly, listening to the night. 20 6th graders sitting in silence for 5 minutes... can you believe it? :)

WEDNESDAY NIGHT - We headed to the beach to check out some of the bioluminescent plankton trapped in the sand. Students learned a little bit about how bioluminescence works and why organisms use it. Seeing the tiny flashes of light in the sand was truly incredible. One student said to me, “It’s like watching the stars in the sand!”

THURSDAY NIGHT - We went to our Farewell campfire. The kids are sure to learn some wacky new song and games... ask them for their favorite! Lots of fun songs, challenges, you know, the usual! (Unless you haven’t been to a campfire, then that would be kinda hard to explain...)

** the pictures from the “teacher cameras” will be available in next week’s Tech class. Students will use iPhoto to sort and edit pictures into their own personal collection from the trip. If students already have a flash drive at home, please have them bring it so they can quickly take their photos with them. However, I am glad to burn a CD for any student that does not bring in a flash drive.

This last picture shows the girls “exercising” before bed in the girl’s dorm. We can only wonder if the boys were doing the same thing...

Casey Group - Wednesday

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:40:30 -0800

Never before had us, The Turquoise Dodo Birds Falling Sanctimoniously, flew on a human (or Dodo bird) roller coaster. Yes, we know. We don’t have wings, but that’s why they invented airplanes. Anyway, we all... OK fine, JUMPED over a human roller coaster.

when we were almost at
the lighthouse, everyone was
put in groups and given a card
with something to do with plate
tectonics, such as Subduction,
and MORE! Everyone created a
skit about that subject.

When we went in to the lighthouse yard/courtyard, we had to go through a tunnel that was in a mountain. And our instructor kept saying that we were traveling back to the 1850’s and some of us were making up dramatic scenes of us going back in time. Some of the lines we had were:
“Hey, my camera is a cardboard box!” and
“The clothes I am wearing aren’t invented yet!”

And, guess who won the GOLDEN PINE CONE?!

COACH VINCE!!!!