Blog Archives

RANGER TEACHING DAY

4/19/2017

On Monday, our High School River Rangers had their second teaching day of the season! The day started off with a Professional Development session focused on how instructors can engage the curiosity of their students. River Rangers discussed different techniques to get students exploring, curious, and asking questions. They then were challenged to engage the curiosity of the students arriving!

The juniors from KIPP Denver Collegiate High School taught a class of 3rd graders at Overland Pond Park, delivering curriculum on water health indicators, beaver adaptations, rafting, and pollution in the city. They each co-taught with a partner, which provided the River Rangers an opportunity to plan out their lesson, receive feedback from their peers, and support each other through the curriculum! The Rangers had an extra challenge that day, as there were 3rd graders learning 5th grade curriculum. This curve ball allowed them to adjust their group management and delivery of information to the youth, applying knowledge they learned during a Professional Development session on age-appropriate teaching.

In the afternoon, River Rangers facilitated and participated in the critter crawl, doing a great job of managing students, engaging their curiosity, and being enthusiastic when students caught crawdads and aquatic macro-invertebrates!

To hear more about our River Ranger program, click here!

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APRIL 7TH IS INTERNATIONAL BEAVER DAY!

4/5/2017

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MORE THAN JUST A FURRY FACE
International Beaver Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the hard work of Denver's furriest engineers! As integral members of the South Platte River community, beavers are critical agents in preventing both floods and droughts. The dams that they build often flood the areas around riverbanks and create freshwater wetlands, which serve as a natural filtration system for the river!

THE COMEBACK KID
During the 1700s and 1800s, fur traders wiped out most of the beavers in Europe and North America, while profiting off of their precious pelts. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that humans began to realize the important role that beavers play in moderating water levels, and advocates began to restore and protect the remaining populations of beavers. Today, North American beaver numbers have grown to about 300 times the size they were during the height of the fur trade.

IT’S A BIRD... IT’S A PLANE... IT’S... A BEAVER?
When Idaho residents began to threaten the local beaver population in the late 1940s, scientists devised a plan to relocate the beavers to a less inhabited region of the state. Officials within the Department of Fish and Game used parachutes left over from World War II to airdrop the beavers out of planes into the Idaho backcountry. All but one of the beavers made a clean landing!

PARTY ANIMALS
You can celebrate nature’s amazing engineers by heading down to the South Platte River and keeping an eye out for some of the signs of beavers, like teeth marks or lodges. Don't be disappointed if you don't see a beaver, because they'll probably be sleeping. Beavers are crepuscular, which means they are most active at twilight! Chompers, a SPREE force special agent and our beaver boss, told us that he plans to celebrate the holiday by treating himself to a delicious cottonwood at his favorite spot along the South Platte River.

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SPRING BREAK CAMPERS BECOME HERPETOLOGISTS

4/4/2017

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Have you ever wondered what a herpetologist is? Campers at SPREE’s Spring Break Camp learned all about reptiles and amphibians, becoming herpetologists-in-training.

Campers started the week by creating their own field journal out of lunch bags (click here for directions). We also delved into the differences between reptiles and amphibians and what they have in common. We ended the warm day with a critter crawl to see what we could find in the South Platte River.

On Tuesday, campers explored the many adaptations of herps. Whether dressing up like a frog, or playing games outside, campers enjoyed hands-on lessons and activities. (Did you know that frogs like the Northern Leopard Frog use their eyeballs to help swallow their food?)

We got messy on Wednesday creating fake amphibian skin (create your own slime here using household ingredients). Later we did an experiment to learn what it means to be ectothermic. Campers also created camouflage animals and had the group try to find them.

On Thursday, campers learned all about frogs and toads and made their own toad abode to take home. We also did a nature hike around Johnson Habitat Park to look for signs of our herp friends and explore their habitat. Curious about Colorado’s herps? See great images of them here.

We ended the week sharing our knowledge by creating our own field guides and making posters to remind everyone to keep our river clean. We uncovered some fun facts, like finding out that the world’s smallest frog can easily fit on a dime!

Two middle-school Junior River Rangers helped younger campers with catching crawdads, making crafts and much more. If you have a child who has attended SPREE camp in the past and will be entering 6th-9th grade in fall 2017, they could be a Junior River Ranger, too! Find out more here.

If these activities sound like fun for your child, register for a week of SPREE Summer Camp! Find out more here.

Stay tuned for fall holiday camps here or sign up for our email list here.

Northern Leopard Frog image credit (Brian Gratwicke/Wikimedia Commons)

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THe Greenway Foundation Blog

RANGER TEACHING DAY

APRIL 7TH IS INTERNATIONAL BEAVER DAY!

SPRING BREAK CAMPERS BECOME HERPETOLOGISTS

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THe Greenway Foundation Blog

RANGER TEACHING DAY

APRIL 7TH IS INTERNATIONAL BEAVER DAY!

SPRING BREAK CAMPERS BECOME HERPETOLOGISTS

Archives​

Categories

Archives