Morse Hill Wildlife

The News Project

by Jess Evans

This winter, I installed a wildlife camera at a known fox den on campus. The students were very curious about who we might see on camera visiting Morse Hill, and we waited anxiously for several days before checking the footage.

Our (anxious) patience was rewarded when we reviewed the footage; we spotted several different animals passing by the camera and checking out the den, and the students were eager for more information. The videos showed a pair of red foxes, a skunk, two raccoons, many squirrels, a coyote, and even a bobcat! Very surprising for the camera’s location, which was perhaps 50 feet from the parking lot and bordering a busy road near Lake Wyola.

After reviewing the exciting footage, our students were primarily curious about the foxes. They wondered why there might be a pair frequenting the area, and whether they might be preparing to have babies. I offered to put up a second camera at a second known fox den, to see if we could find out where else the foxes were hanging out.

We purchased a second wildlife camera, and I came up with an interesting way for the students to continue studying the animal behaviors at Morse Hill. They had all been enjoying our recent creative writing work centered around writing their own newspapers, so I decided to take their love of reporting one step further. When the new camera arrived, I divided the students into two “Investigative News Teams” and assigned each team a camera to watch. The students could decide where they wanted their camera to point.

One team quickly named themselves “Quickly Flying Moldy Hawaiis” (remember, these are mostly 4^th and 5^th graders!), while the other group chose the name “Peanut Butter Acorns.” Supported by teachers, both teams journeyed to their respective sites and set up their cameras. After a few days, I asked them to check their footage and start developing a news story based on the mystery of who they’d seen on camera (or what they were doing.)

The News Project took off! The kids were beyond excited to develop their own news broadcasts, complete with props such as news desks, microphones, and coffee mugs. One team decided to create an interview-style format for their news pieces, while another team had an expert who developed clay models of the animal dens. This work was made possible during the coldest months by the wood stove in our yurt, which kept us cozy while temps remained bitterly cold.

I’ve mentioned before that our “one-room schoolhouse” format has led to some really beautiful interactions between younger and older students. This trend continued during our News Project; my older students found ways to include our youngest learner, including helping him put on a puppet show to re-enact animal movement in the woods and around the dens and assisting him in making props.

To conclude this project, we asked students to rehearse their news shows. Much hilarity ensued! Finally, teachers were able to film the two separate news shows, edit them, and then present them to the kids during our “viewing party.”

This was a very successful project from my perspective. Students met goals in the academic content areas of English/Language Arts, Science, and Art while building social/emotional skills through communicating with their peers. Beyond that, the kids were proud of their work and engaged in the process of learning: the most important goals to me!