Catch of the World

Today we went to Beczak Environmental Center. This is one of our favorite places to go. Every month there is a different topic. This month we learned about The Catch of the World. First Ms. Doreen talked about the Hudson River. How it starts aat Lake Tear of the Clouds in New York, near Mount Marcy. And it ends in the Atlantic Ocean near New York City. We learned about high tide and low tide and about brackish water. Then Ms. Doreen showed the kids what waders look like and how to put them on. She talked about the rules for being in and near the water. After that she broke the kids up in to teams of two and they were all off to the river.
Ms. Doreen and her assistant took the kids out in to the river two at a time. The kids each held one end of the seining net and drug it along the bottom of the river. After they came back up on shore they took all of their catch out of the net and carefully placed it in buckets so they could look at everything. They counted five different species of fish including grass shrimp, anchovies, and blue crabs. There were a total of 57 blue crabs. After every team finished they started over again so each child could have another turn. Unfortunately one team drug up several large rocks that tore a big hole in the net. That ended the seining for today.After they came back inside they talked about all the different fish they caught. Then Ms. Doreen showed them pictures of fish that she has seen near the Figi Islands. She showed the kids a map so they could see that the Figi Islands were near Australia.When the program ended Dakota and two other homeschooled boys went out in back of the Center and played for another hour. THey rolled around in the grass and had a great time. It was great for the mommies to have time to sit and chat for a while.

If you ever get the chance to visit Beczak you should do it. It's a great place.