Nature Center Fieldtrip

Another back-dated post.

November 14, 2007
Got up this morning and was, running slightly late to work, which is very out of character for me. Since I was running late I didn't have time to get breakfast and as soon as I walked into school, the power went out! That hasn't ever happened to me in my 9 years of teaching! The whole school was completely dark and hard to get classes started without any light or power or even access to the PA system.
Well it just so happens that today I was scheduled to go on a trip with the 3rd graders as soon as school started. The power was out for about 40 minutes before it came on. We went to Valley Branch Nature Center, near the St Croix river, which serves as the border between MN and WI. Its a great way to introduce the city kids to "the great outdoors", so most of the time is spent outside. This was my first field trip in probably 4 years....when I agreed to go a few weeks ago I wasn't thinking about how cold it might be this time of year up here in MN. Today was COLD and WINDY!!! I had on a pair of warm pajama pants under my jeans, warm boots, winter jacket hat and gloves!

Check me out, forest woman.

We saw many cool things on the field trip, including some taxidermied animals that live in our state. Have you ever seen a beaver???!! (LOL) These bad-boys are BIG.

Some squirrels. The white ones are very rare. We see them all the time where my parents live.

And a group of wild turkeys. These guys were huge too!