UR in a nutshell

This is not the post I thought I'd be writing for the start of Urban Rangers 2015, but we want to extend our deep appreciation to the parents and students of our 2015 groups from the bottom of our hearts.  You are amazing parents, and here are some highlights from our courtyard excursion yesterday with your equally amazing children!

Ant hill discovered by Marcella

In a matter of minutes, this group of Rangers discovered a raspberry bush in the courtyard that no one else in the past two years ever noticed!!  I think raspberries would have been a big theme to work with this summer!

Snails are the official insect of the Urban Rangers!  It was inspiring to observe the new Rangers scream in delight at finding snails, and to also see the returning Rangers rush to guide the rookies to all the snail hot spots and share snail info learned from previous summers.

Determining whether or not the shell was inhabited was step one in our snail discoveries.

Another new discovery was a clump of mushrooms growing in a damp corner of the courtyard--again, amazing to watch new Rangers discovering the secrets and beauty of the courtyard for the first time!

Several returning Rangers told tales about our past adventures--Brayden's bumble bee interaction from year one (and what we subsequently learned about bees from that experience), the discovery of mole holes underground, and here we see the group gathered around one of my personal favorites: the cement deer excavation! 

And of course, our beloved pill bugs aka wood lice aka potato bugs aka roly polies!

I am too emotional at the moment to fully gather my thoughts about the 2015 URs, but at the forefront of my mind is the community we all created together in the past two summers and in the 30minutes of this summer's program, and the comfort in knowing what a personal impact this program had on those who participated.  What we observed yesterday in the courtyard were students who were excited about learning science, creating art work, and working together, and evidence in their stories of past experiences that show what they gained from UR.

THAT is what learning looks like.

THANK YOU AGAIN!  Please check in soon for updates!  -K & M