Today’s Ipswich class was about pond life.  First I studied the habitat and my teacher pointed out that there was a big beaver lodge in the middle of the pond.  When we were done observing the habitat, I went to the edge of the water and used a strainer and tried to catch some pond life (I called them critters).  The first critter I found was a damselfly larvae.  The other critter I found was an amphipod.  My class found a lot of different types of critters, including a giant water beetle and a crayfish.  I had fun at my pond life class.

This morning, I went to my first homeschool class at the MassAudubon Ipswich Wildlife Sanctuary.  The class is on journaling.  Each class we’re going to go to a different habitat and write in our journals about it.  This class was all about fields and the insects that can be found in them.  First, I went in the barn and made a collage by cutting out little pictures from magazines.  Next, the teachers explained why the field was a great place to spot bugs.  One reason is because fields don’t have many trees to give shade so there’s lots of light.  Some bugs really like light.  Then we went to the field and Andrew, one of my teachers, handed out nets and jars to help catch bugs.  First, I used a net.  I caught a moth with it but it got away.  Then I traded my net in for a jar.  I caught ten or more field crickets!  One time I caught two of them at once!  I also caught a thin green grasshopper.  We also had to pick our favorite plant so we could press it.  I chose a pink clover with white tips.  I’m surprised that I liked the class, because I don’t normally like bugs.  But these bugs were very interesting.  I loved class!  I wonder what habitat we will go to next week and what we will learn about.

On Saturday, I went to an art class at Ipswich.  I learned about animal tracks and painted a picture of a Red Fox and its tracks.  I used watercolors and some glitter to make the picture.  At the end of class I got to see tracks in the snow.  When class was done I fed some birds from my hand again.