Geography Day VI & VII - Lenni Lenape & Philly Zoo

Second to last stop was, Lenni Lenape.  Students listened to and saw pictures during a presentation about the Lenape Indians.  After the presentation they were able to learn more about the Lenape culture, such as how they prepared food, their beliefs and rituals, games and entertainment, and the tools they made to hunt and build with. 

Finally all the fourth graders met in the gym for an end of the day assembly.  A woman from the Philadelphia Zoo brought some animals to share with us that live in New Jersey. 

Black-footed Ferret named Amy: 

Great-Horned Owl named Mia:

 Snake named Bebe:

And a retired (I believe she said from Disney's parks) porcupine who loves to eat almonds:

On our way out of the gym students were able to touch an alligator's skin.  Yikes!  What a way to end a great day!!

Geography Day Part III, IV, & V - Star Lab, Tour of NJ, & Square Dancing

Next, we were off to the Star Lab.  I had NO idea what to expect. Before we went into the Music room our guide gave us some background information.  I couldn't exactly understand why he had to speak to the class in the hallway...that was until we went into the Music room.  We learned that he makes telescopes for a living.  He gave us a tour of the planets and the constellations in the Raritan Valley Community College's Star Lab!!! 

It was too dark inside the Star Lab to take any pictures...and let's face it, who can take pictures inside a planetarium? From the outside it looked like an inflatable igloo.  Students crawled through a dark tunnel before sitting inside the dome.  Our astrologist projected pictures of the planets and explained many of the constellations.  Very cool!

After a brief snack, we were off to a tour of New Jersey with Mr. C  (http://www.walterc.com/pages/bio.html).  He was VERY entertaining while presenting a slideshow of New Jersey's history.  

One of my personal favorite parts of the day was SQUARE DANCING!! Yeehaw!  I got so into it, not only did I probably embarrass your children (and drive my square dancing group crazy - let's just say my competitive side came out - I may or may not have told them we have to get this dance PERFECT, made the boys skip, and kept telling them to put more energy into the dance!!! I'm sure they'll be very relived next time they go to gym and I'm NOT THERE) BUT now I know how they feel when they beg me for water after gym class.