October and November Outings

Upper Elementary & 3rd Years
Antelope Island

Several of the students took pictures of the natural beauty
that is so often missed by the eye of the common visitor.

We were fortunate enough to witness several herds of bison
on the island. The students even noticed a couple of calves!

We were very grateful to Adrian for bringing his set of binoculars
and was kind enough to share with the group!

There is such a fascinating menagerie of habitat forming
between the lake, the shore and the interior!
Jule`, one of the lower elementary teachers, is leading
us back to the vans for more adventures.

Another shot by a student which we
suspect is a deer footprint.

Eric was one of our photographers of the day, as well.

Tyler was relieved at the absence of
swarming brine flies at this time of year.

Another student photo...

We compared the sand from our school to that of
the rounded oolitic sand found at the Great Salt Lake.

Nicholas took this close-up of the foaming waters.

Nicholas discovers more fascinating features of the island.

We spotted two bison near the roadside, however
they refused to cooperate with the photographer!

The antelope graced us with
a warm farewell as we were leaving the island.

Gratitude to Antelope Island!

Upper Elementary
Look Out Pass
of the West Desert

The trail here leads up to a great view
of the basin and range!

Allison is signaling to the camera that she is finished
taking her photos, so we know which pictures belong to whom.

Students took turns taking pictures
of the area and, of course, each other!

Nicholas found a rugose coral fossil
in a piece of limestone.

We found the top of the ridge to be breezy and chilly!

Students are busy with their s.g.s. on the desert habitat.

Bjorn and Elise are prepared for the chill in the air.

Look Out Pass always lends us great inspiration!

Upper Elementary
Mill Creek Canyon

This outing was devoted to exploring our animal totems.
We discussed how Native Americans consider animals to be great teachers to us.
We also peered into other areas of life where people look to animals for inspiration and strength, such as sports mascots and symbols in countries. Then, we did a visualization exercise
in which we discovered what animals seem to add
inspiration and strength to our own lives.

It is always fascinating to see how each person relates
to nature in their own way.

We used sage to do the traditional smudging as we
prepared ourselves for our own inner journey and meditation
on this beautiful fall day.

After our meditations, we journaled our experience including our animal totems,
which some times, comes as no surprise to the children.

We also discussed the specific uniqueness and strengths of our animal totems as we considered how we might learn from them and integrate their wisdom into our own lives.

Gratitude to all animals of Earth!

We also took time to look for our own walking staff
amidst the brilliant tones of autumn.

There is so much to gain
when we observe nature closely.

UEM
Groundwater Study
with Shirley Steinmacher
(one of our many amazing parents at MCS!)


Shirley is a senior geologist at MWH and was kind enough to
share some of the process involved in investigating, as well as,
the remediation of groundwater contamination.

Shirley's project involves investigating for ground water contamination
in the seven communities surrounding the off-base Hill Air Force Base.
We got to see how they were drilling to install a ground-water monitoring well,
which enables them to sample ground water for contaminants.

Nathan holds a piece of bentonite which seals the monitoring well and prevents cross contamination between clean and dirty ground water.

The auger drill rig turns down into the soil and pulls it out, so they can install pvc casing with a well slotted-screen interval to sample ground water at desired depths.

She is unlocking the well vault to access the monitoring well
as she measures the depth of the water.

Here, we get to see how they log the soil types.

We learned a lot from this on-site experience!
There were many discussions of ways that our ground water gets
contaminated and ways we can prevent it.
Ultimately, we discovered it costs a lot more
(money, time, and energy) to clean up a mess than it does to
prevent contamination in the first place!

...because, we all live downstream from someone else!

Many thanks to Shirley!