Haw River Field Trip Info
Packing List
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Field Trip Info
The Explorer Team (8-3) will be going on a field trip to The Summit Environmental Education Center at Haw River State Park on November 14-15, 2019. During the trip students will be participating in team-building activities and a variety of academic activities relating to their studies in Science and Social Studies. We are very excited about this trip and know it will be meaningful as well as educational.
We will need parent volunteers to serve as chaperones for this field trip. Parent chaperones will be asked to ride the buses with our group. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Mr. Manholt at [email protected] before September 13, 2019. Names will be entered in to a lottery and drawn randomly to ensure fairness in chaperone selection. You will be contacted by September 20th if your name is drawn. All chaperones must be registered and approved by WCPSS for security purposes. This must be done each school year and can be done in the school media center.
During their visit to the Summit Environmental Education Center at Haw River, Explorer Students will participate in a variety of activities that are related to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Science and Social Studies and designed to enhance their bond as a team. The planned activities include the following:
Challenge Course/Teambuilding helps to create stronger student bonds, teaches students to work together as a team and helps to build trust. Students will be led through small group games/challenges, initiatives and low rope elements all are designed to help the group to become a team and work better together. We will plan to do all of the challenge course elements outside rain or shine. In the event of thunderstorms the activities can be adapted to indoors.
Wetlands Ecology is one of Summit’s most popular courses. Students will learn what a wetland is, why wetlands are important and what we can do to protect wetlands. We hike down to the park’s wetlands, making observations as we travel. Once we are at the wetlands students will do macroinvertebrate sampling from the boardwalk. After collecting samples of detritus and macro-invertebrates, we will return to the main campus area and put the creatures on a Projection Microscope. This microscope helps us to identify the macroinvertebrate species.
Orienteering teaches students basic map and compass skills. Student will navigate from point to point through Haw River State Park. It is similar to a scavenger hunt. Chaperones accompany each student group through the orienteering courses. The chaperones role is to help keep the students focused and to be there if a group gets confused. Prior to going out onto the orienteering course, the students and chaperones will get a lesson in map and compass reading.
Night Hiking is our evening activity. No need for a flashlight for this evening activity; just your sense of adventure! A SEEC Night Hike is a relaxing excursion into the misunderstood world of frogs, toads, owls, bats, spiders, deer and other fascinating nocturnal creatures. Night Hikers will have an evening full of fun, informative and 'eye-opening' activities. Students will learn to appreciate the darkness and become more in-tune with their own special adaptations for dealing with the dark. The evening will wrap up with time around the campfire and the roasting of marshmallows!
Fox/Rabbit/Coyote is a terrific learning game that teaches the basic ecological principles of predator/prey relationships. Students are divided into rabbits, foxes and coyotes. We hike up to our Fox/Rabbit/Coyote maze and begin stalking each other. It is similar to tag. The foxes can tag the rabbits, the coyotes can tag the rabbits and the foxes. If you get tagged you become whatever tagged you, i.e. if a fox tags a rabbit the rabbit becomes a fox. This is an illustration of population dynamics, herd behavior, and other ecological principles.
We will need parent volunteers to serve as chaperones for this field trip. Parent chaperones will be asked to ride the buses with our group. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Mr. Manholt at [email protected] before September 13, 2019. Names will be entered in to a lottery and drawn randomly to ensure fairness in chaperone selection. You will be contacted by September 20th if your name is drawn. All chaperones must be registered and approved by WCPSS for security purposes. This must be done each school year and can be done in the school media center.
During their visit to the Summit Environmental Education Center at Haw River, Explorer Students will participate in a variety of activities that are related to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Science and Social Studies and designed to enhance their bond as a team. The planned activities include the following:
Challenge Course/Teambuilding helps to create stronger student bonds, teaches students to work together as a team and helps to build trust. Students will be led through small group games/challenges, initiatives and low rope elements all are designed to help the group to become a team and work better together. We will plan to do all of the challenge course elements outside rain or shine. In the event of thunderstorms the activities can be adapted to indoors.
Wetlands Ecology is one of Summit’s most popular courses. Students will learn what a wetland is, why wetlands are important and what we can do to protect wetlands. We hike down to the park’s wetlands, making observations as we travel. Once we are at the wetlands students will do macroinvertebrate sampling from the boardwalk. After collecting samples of detritus and macro-invertebrates, we will return to the main campus area and put the creatures on a Projection Microscope. This microscope helps us to identify the macroinvertebrate species.
Orienteering teaches students basic map and compass skills. Student will navigate from point to point through Haw River State Park. It is similar to a scavenger hunt. Chaperones accompany each student group through the orienteering courses. The chaperones role is to help keep the students focused and to be there if a group gets confused. Prior to going out onto the orienteering course, the students and chaperones will get a lesson in map and compass reading.
Night Hiking is our evening activity. No need for a flashlight for this evening activity; just your sense of adventure! A SEEC Night Hike is a relaxing excursion into the misunderstood world of frogs, toads, owls, bats, spiders, deer and other fascinating nocturnal creatures. Night Hikers will have an evening full of fun, informative and 'eye-opening' activities. Students will learn to appreciate the darkness and become more in-tune with their own special adaptations for dealing with the dark. The evening will wrap up with time around the campfire and the roasting of marshmallows!
Fox/Rabbit/Coyote is a terrific learning game that teaches the basic ecological principles of predator/prey relationships. Students are divided into rabbits, foxes and coyotes. We hike up to our Fox/Rabbit/Coyote maze and begin stalking each other. It is similar to tag. The foxes can tag the rabbits, the coyotes can tag the rabbits and the foxes. If you get tagged you become whatever tagged you, i.e. if a fox tags a rabbit the rabbit becomes a fox. This is an illustration of population dynamics, herd behavior, and other ecological principles.
