Digging in the Dirt

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Today was a great day --- FIELD TRIP!!

25 students and 5 teachers armed with picks, chisels, hammers, goggles, and gloves headed into some rock walls that contained Herkimer diamonds and trilobite and other fossils.  The rain held out, and the temps stayed cool for a few hours of searching, exploring, and enjoying nature.

I find that the best learning comes from hands-on  outdoor exploration with kids.  It forces them to slow down and look, ask questions, discover, and enjoy the world they live in.  For the most part, they were focused and excited, and some became experts on looking for vugs in the dolostone.

A few of the girls and I headed to a huge area that contained many rocks with fossils. We climbed up and down huge boulders,  looking at the fossils from millions of years ago.  We also found the skeletal remains of things that I did not recognize but took back with me anyway.

At the end after lunch, we got a tour of the cement factory, complete with nerdy protective eye wear and hard hats. The rain held off until the end of the trip, and the ride home was eerily quiet.  Guess everyone was worn out from a full day of adventure!

Photo is the inside of the cement plant and one of the large fossil rocks.  Two sets of batteries crapped out on me but not before I got a few photos.

Back soon for the report on the Encaustic Painting trip on Thursday!

patti o fossil

PS photos taken in Cementon, NY, a bit north of Saugerties. We got special permission, thanks to  Cheryl, the plant manager at Lehigh Cement Company.   It takes a lot of work to pull this off...but it was so worth it!

PPS-the cement company is on the far shore to the left in the photo that is the trademark of my blog and many of my paintings.  

Comments

priscilla said…
I literally live about a mile from there in West Camp. Thanks for a look inside a place I pass all the time.
5:24 PM
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