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Welcome to the OMPS
Outdoor Education Laboratory
This
facility is used by students for a variety of educational
activities which are integrated into our curriculum.
Our staff strives to provide a multi-disciplinary
learning environment where authentic,hands-on scientific
investigation is coordinated with language arts,
social studies, mathematics and artistic interpretation.
Our goal is to create a living classroom where each
student is valued for his or her unique contributions
to our body of knowledge, and where each students
learns to appreciate and value the natural world.
The Woodlot and
Pond nature areas were originally developed in the
1960's and 1970's by staff and students of Old Mission
School. Use of these facilities waned as staff and
curriculum changed, but an environment study done
at the pond during Earth Week 1998, rekindled interest
in the Outdoor Education laboratory. Through the
combined efforts of the Outdoor Education Committee,
the Old Mission staff, the Sixth Grade Docents,
who complete a naturalist-in-Training program as
part of their science curriculum, the PTO and with
the financial support of several community service
groups and individuals, restoration of this facility
is underway. Our current projects are:
- The sugar shack
nature center Restoration
- The Carl Elzer
Pond observation Platform
- Nature Center
Species Inventory
- Plant identification
Program
- Natural Wonders
additions to our trail signage
- Trailhead Sign
Improvement
If you would like
to participate in any aspect of our restoration
project, or serve on the Outdoor education Committee
or arrange a guided tour of this facility please
contact the school.
This facility is
open to the public from dawn to dusk. The pond area
is unlocked during regular school hours, 9:00 am
to 4:30 pm. Please respect the use of this facility
for teaching purposes and do not damage or remove
any living or non-living components of the Laboratory.
Take only inspiration,
leave only footprints.
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Students
and non-profit organizations may copy and make use
of these materials within their own school districts
or may republish the pages on their Web sites provided
that a clear notice of source is included on the
web page.
TCAPS
Last updated:
3/16/01
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What's a MIT?
What's a NIT?
The dream of the
45th Parallel Project
Check
out the current student OEL and related science
activities. |
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Spring:
Is It Just a State of Mind?
It was four weeks ago that Punxsutawney
Phil saw his shadow and March has come in
like a lamb here at Old Mission School.
Is it beginning to feel like Spring, or
is it just my imagination?
Fifth grade Meteorologists-in-Training have been asking
the same question, but they are taking a more scientific
approach to the question. Mrs. Watson’s science classes
are participating in an international study sponsored by
Journey
North, to chart the onset of Spring. Teams of students
are hiking the trails in the Outdoor Education Laboratory
every Tuesday looking for the first signs of Spring: ice-out
on the pond, leaf-out on the maples, beeches, oaks and ashes
in the woodlot, the first frog song, the first earthworm,
the emergent tips of tulip leaves.
Yet Spring eludes us. An icy blanket of snow still covers
most the campus and, though we have found a few woolly
bears loitering near the front doors, no signs of the
new season have been observed.
But we have other ways of knowing that Spring will soon
be here. The sun is rising and setting farther north along
the horizon, and climbing higher in the sky. Its increasing
warmth makes us shed our heavy winter coats and leave them
on the playground. The photoperiod is lengthening a little
each day as we approach the Vernal Equinox later this month.
If you would like to follow the sunrise/sunset times on
your home computer, visit the U. S. Navy
Astronomical Applications website.
So, while you wait for Spring to arrive, enjoy the last
of Winter’s treats. Take a walk on crunchy snow, spend a
crisp evening stargazing
at Jupiter and Saturn while the air is still and dry, and
build one final snowperson to salute the season’s change
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