Students Celebrate Changing Seasons with Outdoor Educational Activities

On Wednesday, September 17, forty-two second- and third-graders in Glennallen participated in the Changing Seasons outdoor science event organized by the Wrangell Institute for Science and Environment (WISE). A similar event was held on September 16 in Kenny Lake.

The program began with a time-travel skit that introduced students to the concept of seasons changing due to the tilt of the Earth as it revolves around the Sun. Children learned about the science of seasonal change from adults in costumes, including a bear, fish, bird, and the literal star of the show (the Sun).

Afterward, the children were split into groups and rotated through various outdoor stations. Brian Marquardt from the Bureau of Land Management led kids on a bird-watching expedition (complete with cardboard birds placed in trees for students to find).

A hands-on activity by Diane Ellsworth and Hope Courtney from the National Park Service let kids create a river on a tarp to see firsthand how a watershed works.

Another station of note featured discussions about subsistence living, led by Bailey Roberts, an education specialist at the Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission (AITRC).

Elementary teacher Lori Jangala, who has taught for the past three years in Glennallen, appreciated how the activities reinforced the science and vocabulary lessons she’s been teaching in the classroom.

Expressing her appreciation for the event, Jangala said, “Thank you to WISE and all the volunteers that helped and adults that make it happen.”