Getting a lesson in the outdoors

Third-, fourth- and fifth-grade Cranbury School students explore the environment as part of a nature program sponsored by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.

By: Jessica Beym
   There’s no need to travel far to experience the great outdoors.
   On a sunny Tuesday afternoon this week, a group of 15 Cranbury School students had a chance to do just that with the help of a nature series program sponsored by the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association.
   Outside of the school by the West Property, third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students wandered around the trees and sat in the grass, taking in everything from the sounds of the birds in the trees, to the smell of the flowers.
   Tara Miller, who works for the Watershed Association, led the group outside on Tuesday to explore the environment during their second weekly meetings.
   "We want to make them realize that you don’t have to go deep into the mountains to explore nature. They have this wonderful resource right here," Ms. Miller said, pointing to the Cranbury Brook beyond the trees. "The kids may have never even been back there."
   Over the next couple of weeks, Ms. Miller said, she and Cranbury School science teacher Bridget Lundquist will take the students on walks through the Cranbury Brook Preserve to observe animals, their habitats and the vegetation common to the area.
   This week, the students spent the hour-long program, which runs from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., outside in the field with their nature journals, which Ms. Miller made for them so they could write and draw about what they learn.
   With her journal and a small white wildflower in hand, Elizabeth Maxey, a fifth-grader, walked over to Ms. Miller to ask her about her discovery.
   "See its stem and the buds and how the leaves come up on both sides," Ms. Miller said. "It’s a Pennsylvania bittercress."
   Under the trees, fifth-grader Kelly Dredger and fourth-grader Raakel Vuojolaine sketched pictures of dandelions, buttercups and ground ivy. Then, using a field guide of wildflowers, the students looked up information about the plants, such as where they are commonly found and how they grow.
   "I like to come outside and learn about all the plants and the sounds," Kelly said.
   Earlier in the session, the students were asked to sit down under the trees quietly for three minutes and listen to their surroundings, and then sketch a drawing of themselves and where the sounds, both natural and manmade, were coming from.
   Fifth-grader Mackenzie Karp showed off her sketch of the tree she was sitting under as fourth-grader Brooke Lundquist examined a long-stemmed plant with little white buds.
   Their classmate, Emma Welsh, said she enjoyed spending the afternoon learning new things.
   "Ever since I was 5, I liked learning about nature and animals and their habitats," Emma said. "I want to learn more about the environment."