Marsh Madness
Marsh Madness InstructionsDescribe your participation in the Marsh Madness program sponsored by California Waterfowl Association. Include what you did, what you learned, and how you feel about working with elementary school students. Explain how our community benefitted from this program and if you recommend it for students next year.
Marsh Madness was a new and fun thing to do, because I did things that I would have never done, like working with elementary students and seeing the sites, where I was going to teach them about the wetlands. But most of all I learned how important it is to keep our wetlands alive because it’s a big struggle to remake them, and we need them because believe it or not, they are what make our surroundings better. Working with the students was great; it was easy to get the message through to them, hopefully what they learned makes a difference in the future. If they keep this program available for the students next year it will get people thinking about what going on with our world.
I really enjoyed working with the elementary school students on the 23th of May. Even though I didn’t actually take them around on a tour around the wetlands, I enjoyed myself. I tried new foods such as deer, pheasant (tasted like chicken by the way), duck, and fresh fruits such as cranberry, and blackberry. Most of the students liked the food, some were really disgusted by it, but personally I liked it. I think it’s good to try new things because you’ll never know if you’ll like it or not.
On this field trip I was the official photographer. What I did was take pictures of both elementary students and high school students working together. It was a really good experience for me because it was the first time for me to work with a camera on a field trip. This is a really good program because it will help the students learn new things about the wetlands and help maintain the habitat.
I have to say spending this time with those kids was one of my most enjoyable experiences of my life.The reason I say this is because I really never had children really look up to me and listen to what I’m saying, as far as what we were teaching them about our environment. Even though I really didn’t know very much myself I still took pride in teaching and helping these children and I can honestly say I have never experienced a joy like that it and it all came from just help little kids.
I will always keep with me the fact that I was most of the kids favorite high school student. What I mean by that is that all the kids really liked joking and being around me and they really paid attention to what I was saying to them. The fact that I made these kids laugh and have fun while they are learning some thing completely new them and most of the time kids won’t pay attention if it’s boring. S o I believe they took in a lot more because of the way I presented information to them as far as making them laugh, and me being a litte goofy with them to show them that everything you learn doesn’t have to be in school and you can learn and have fun
To conclude my comment I really want to say thank you to every one involved with Marsh Madness and Calvine High School, because this was one of the most rememberable moments of my life and I will never forget it honestly. Also if this little comment makes it back to the elementary school and to the kids I would like to say all of you kids are beautiful and I hope to see you students take what you learned and use all throughout your lives. Once again I want to say thank you for the privledge to work with these great kids and also for those kids bringing a new person out of me.
I just wanted to thank all of the wonderful Calvine Marsh Mentors and teachers. Every single one of you should be very proud of yourself! You not only made a huge difference in elementary school childrens’ lives, but also made a great impact on California’s natural resources. I was so proud to see all of you take the lead and grow in so many different ways. At first you were all a little shy, but you very quickly grew into confident teachers excited to share all of the information you had learned. Thank you for stepping up to the plate and making the Youth Leadership Program so successful! The California Waterfowl Association could not have asked for a better group of Mentors. Please keep in touch. If you ever want an internship, college advise, free educational materials, to volunteer, or just to say hi, please do not hesitate!
Jennifer thank you for your kind words and hard work and contributions to the youth of our community. I will always remember the success of Marsh Madness 2007 as a result of the stellar contributions of all involved from California Waterfowl Association, Herman Leimback Elementary School, and of course the students of Calvine High School. Thanks to all…..
Thanks to Tony, the teachers at Leimbach, and all you students that participated. It looks like a real educational experience. You all look real professional out there!
I feel that the Marsh Madness was very fun and it helped me out a lot on my vocal skills. My participation in this event was to teach kids about wetlands and different animals that inhabit the land. First CWA taught us about the wetlands and different animals, then we had to go on our own and teach the children the same thing that we learned, but in a way that only we can do it. The first week we were prepped on what’s going to happen over the next couple of weeks, and were given background information on wetlands. We were broke up into groups and had a chance to choose different stations that we felt comfortable with learning ourselves before teaching it to younger kids.
Then we went to the Leimbach Elementary School where we set up our shops to teach the kids about different animals. When were doing this it seemed that the kids really enjoyed looking and learning about the different kinds of animals that inhabit wetlands. The following week we visited a wetland where we prepped for our final job. We all went over our different tasks that we would be doing on the following week, we then were greeted by a group of bird watching ladies who taught us about different birds that inhabit the land like, red winged blackbirds, humming birds and ducks.
The next week was the most enjoyable, we got to take the kids out in the wetland and show them different birds and plant life and crawdads. We went into the dried up lake and showed them different animal tracks, they really liked that. From this trip I have learned that there are only 10 percent of wetlands left and we should take care of them. Also that bird’s need wetlands to migrate to when where they stay at is way to cold for them to stay. I really enjoyed working with the elementary school kids as they were fun to work with; some of them paid attention and seemed interested in what we were talking about.
I really had a lot of fun during the Marsh Madness Mentoring Program! I learned so much about wetlands that I did not know before. It was actually kind of cool being able to learn something and teach it to someone else. I must say, out of all the days, the last one was the best. We got to actually be at a wetland and show the kids what we knew. Additionally, we got to try different foods like duck, deer, catfish, berries, wild rice,and more! And I’m just glad I had the opportunity to experience something so meaningful.
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