Field trip! Urban Delaware River

This morning we had our second field trip. We visited the Coast Guard Base on Columbus Blvd to experience the fire department's fireboats. Tide was almost out, so we had to walk down a steep ramp to the floating dock. Two ships were tied up at the dock- a brand new pumping boat and a 60-year old workhorse which we were told helps the Coast Guard chop up ice floes in Winter. We boarded the pump boat and the groups went up one by one into the wheelhouse to hear the pilot speak. I kept an eye on deck, so Cindy will have to elaborate. While the groups waited their turn I tried to engage the kids in thinking about what they saw along the river and how it was different from our previous ship. The children were very excited to see ducks, seagulls, and a very small school of fish in the water.
After the talk the pilot asked the engineer to start up the pumps. The boat has three spray nozzles: one on the bow of the boat which swivels left and right, one at the stern which swiveled up and down and left and right, and one very large one on top of the wheelhouse that shot the water nearly straight up. The students had great fun taking turns controlling the direction of the spraying water, pretending to put out fires. It was even more impressive when all three nozzles were going at full force!
After that great adventure, the pilot took us on a tour of the rest of the pier. We looked at a buoy boat which checks on and places red and green buoys in the river to direct the boat traffic. We also saw various police boats. Some were very small and fast, others had removable sides for aiding in rescue and to allow divers to ease into water. We saw a Pilot boat which takes a pilot out to a ship to steer a foreign ship up the river. On the opposite bank of the river we viewed huge container crane elevators that lift container boxes onto ships. We saw a stack of orange shipping containers, and even saw one drive by on the bed of a truck. This helped explain how goods are brought from other countries, like toys and food, in big containers and then set onto trains and trucks to carry throughout the country. The Pilot also explained that it's the Coast Guard's job to protect us and to inspect the goods and people that come into our port cities on boats.

Saying goodbye to our pilot, the kids hopped back on the bus to make a short trip to the Great Plaza at Penn's Landing. We ate lunch at the riverside- a challenge with all the hungry seagulls about! There's a very detailed engrave scale model of the Delaware River along the promenade, so after lunch we lined the kids up for a follow-the-leader down the river. Before we started I asked if they remembered in which state was the river's source (New York!), and then as we go down the river what state is on our right (PA!), and on our left (NJ!) and where is the mouth of the river (Atlantic Ocean!). Walking down the river we noted all the tributaries and major cities along the path. We had enough free time to allow for some sketching. I helped one boy do a grid enlargement of the river engraving he wanted to draw so much. I drew out a grid on his page after asking him to count how many tiles there were. Then we looked at each tile and found the lines to match up with the squares on the page. Other students drew the Ben Franklin bridge, and others noted the many birds about.

We took one last stroll down to a Steamboat docked at the landing, then returned to the bus and back to school. There's so much new information to think about! I'm eager to get back into the classroom so we can process these ideas with our art projects and writing. One more Field trip to go on Friday!

Field Trip!!

This morning we all got onto a big yellow school bus with our students and some parent chaperons for our trip up to see a rural section of the Delaware River. We had the kids bring along their sketchbooks and reminded them to be aware of people, houses, plants, animals, uses, and problems of the river throughout the day. I told them they might want to sketch something they noticed from those categories as we might want to use that information later on in our project.
I was surprised that we took mainly back roads and no major highways on the ride up to Upper Black Eddy, Bucks County. This route offered numerous opportunities for the children to observe rural community and land features, and they were eager to sketch on the way up. "HORSES!!!!!" was a common cry. Students noted corn-stubble fields, barns and fences, mountains, ponds, geese, deer, small creeks which grew into larger streams as we neared the river, the Delaware Canal, and of course the Delaware River! Mrs. O'Donnell passed out a tourist map of the Bucks County area to the kids mid-trip, and students searched for the boat we would ride on. As they examined the maps I asked them how many bridges they could find, where the canal was and how it looked different from the river (it was thin and straight not wide and curvy), where the compass rose was on the map, etc. Some students were inspired to sketch the map or the boat as they imagined it would be afterwards. This was the first time I'd ever been on a field trip as a student or a chaperon where I felt the journey itself was part of the educational experience!

When we arrived in Upper Black Eddy, we were greeted by Captain Dee of the Bucks County Riverboat Company. We boarded "The River Otter", a flat bottom pontoon boat which we were told could navigate the river even in 2 foot shallows! Before we launched, Captain Dee asked if we had noticed all the mud on the ramp and dock, and explained that just a week ago the river level was a good 6 feet higher due to massive rain. He also showed us what the highest flood level had been in recent years and told us that people who live near the river often have their houses flooded. Some of the houses must even be rebuilt on stilts to avoid the floods.

We motored upriver under a truss bridge that had been built in 1843 and saw lots of logs piled up against its stone supports- further evidence of the recent heavy flooding. Along the way Captain Dee helped the kids brainstorm some of the river animal life. In particular he explained the contrasting spawning habits of the American Shad and the American Eel. The former lives in the ocean and swims up the river to spawn, and the latter lives in the river but migrates all the way to Bermuda and the Sargasso sea to spawn. The kids spotted Turkey vultures circling the New Jersey bluffs and a Great blue Heron at the water's edge. It surprised us all when the Heron took flight and swooped past the boat! Dead fish and turtles were some other notable wildlife. I was impressed by the breadth of Captain Dee's repertoire of information. I wondered if Mrs. O'Donnell had asked him to cover certain topics, as it all seemed wonderfully relevant to our goals.

After our boat ride we hopped back on the bus, crossed to NJ over the truss bridge we'd ridden under, and headed downriver to Bull's Island Recreation area. We stopped for a quick picnic lunch, then took a walk over the pedestrian-only suspension bridge which connects NJ and PA at Bull's Island. The kids enjoyed standing in "2 places at once" between the states, and experiencing the vibrations of the suspension bridge.

We then headed back to the Visitor center lawn for a presentation by a state park historian (I missed her name!). The historian shared maps and pictures of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and explained that it was built in 1830 by workers with shovels and wheelbarrows to connect trade between Philadelphia and New York City. She told us how the boats were towed up the canal by mules on the towpath. She revealed a working model of a canal lock and explained how the parts worked to lift and lower canal boats like an elevator for going up hills. She also showed us a model of a swing bridge with an A-frame which would allow boats to pass when the bridgekeeper heard their horns blow. I'm not sure how much the kids retained from her talk... there were a lot of bathroom trips, worries about the numerous bugs (daddy long legs and stick bugs!), end-of-trip distraction and tiredness, and the kids were too spread out on the lawn for the historian to really actively engage.

On the bus ride home we encouraged more sketching. I pulled out my own sketchbook and started drawing kids, much to their delight. I was transported back to my school days when my classmates would ask me to draw them and I found my niche as the class "artist".

It was along and exciting trip. What better way for students to learn about rivers than to experience them first hand? I believe this will provide rich background for our further explorations. Back in the classroom I pulled aside pairs of students for quick video interviews about what we've learned so far.

I have to compile the video footage I've shot so far and add it to the post.