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Dalton News
Third Grade Trip to the Beczak Environmental Center
All five third grade Houses begin social studies with the study of geography. Through active learning experiences, the students discuss, define and come to a deeper understanding of the vocabulary of geography. Using a terrain model they grasp what mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, estuaries, brackish water, sea level and other terms mean.
Story by Mary Smeltzer, on behalf of the Third Grade Teachers
Story by Mary Smeltzer, on behalf of the Third Grade Teachers
Using the immediate world around us as a teaching tool, the students interact with the natural environment at Beczak Environmental Center, which is located on the banks of the Hudson River. Inside the center there are several fish tanks, and exhibits and information on the Palisades cliffs. The Beczak educators discuss the attributes of the Hudson River. It is a river that flows two ways; more than a100 miles of the river is brackish water; the source is on the highest mountain in the Adirondacks- Mount Marcy; and the mouth is the Atlantic Ocean.
Outside, the students explore the tidal marsh and seine the river. Wearing waders they drag a 30-foot seine net through the water to catch the fish and other Hudson River creatures. The students keep a tally of what is caught. Since it is brackish water- a mixture of salt and fresh water- the creatures come in from the ocean and down from the fresh water. Jelly fish, crabs, eels, shrimp can be caught, as well as bass, white perch, sardines and carp. It is definitely a trip they don’t forget.
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Outside, the students explore the tidal marsh and seine the river. Wearing waders they drag a 30-foot seine net through the water to catch the fish and other Hudson River creatures. The students keep a tally of what is caught. Since it is brackish water- a mixture of salt and fresh water- the creatures come in from the ocean and down from the fresh water. Jelly fish, crabs, eels, shrimp can be caught, as well as bass, white perch, sardines and carp. It is definitely a trip they don’t forget.
Grades K-3
53 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128
Grades 4-12
108 East 89th Street, New York, NY 10128
Physical Education Center
200 East 87th Street, New York, NY 10128
