Hey sixth graders, We just had a great few days at the Audubon Center of the Northwoods. I'd like you to pick one small part of your 3 days and create a narrative paragraph. Remember to start with a topic sentence, add lots of descriptive details, and finish with a closing sentence. This will be a great way for our families to read about the many different things we did at the Audubon Center. This is due on Tuesday, February 16.
24 Comments
Nic
2/11/2016 06:54:56 am
I went on an amazing adventure at the Audubon Center. The last class I did was very tricky. In a group we had to make a shelter and a fire. We had only a flint and steel, a tarp, and a fire pan. We had to gather all the tinder and fuel logs by ourselves, except at the end we got rope. It took a long time are hands felt like they were in a freezer. We finally finished and made hot chocolate over a different groups fire because we had to put ours out with snow because of how late we got it going. The hot chocolate was very nice because of how cold we were. I hope to do it again and next time start a fire as sooner than a hour and a half.
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Sam. H
2/11/2016 01:09:14 pm
Has one ever wondered how do you start a fire? Or what would it take to survive? Well I learned how at the Audubon center of The North Woods. When I went to the survivor class, I learned many things. In this class, we learned what we needed to survive, and at what times certain things would set in. Example, after three seconds, panic sets in, after three minutes, one needs oxygen, three days without water, and three weeks without food.we also learned what we needed to start a fire, oxygen, fuel, and sparks/ lighter. After we learned what we needed, we headed out for a hands on experience. Once we reached our location, we had to set up camp. First we hung a rope between two trees and draped our tarp over it. Quickly after, we pinned down the edges of the tarp. Next we had the challenge of starting a fire. We hastily made a structure and tried to make fire, but all we got was sparks. Luckily, we got the boost of twine which ended up being the miracle fire starter. We started a fire, and made hot chocolate over our warming flame. After taking this class I truly realized the challenges that come with surviving in the wild.
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David V.
2/11/2016 03:27:46 pm
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Lukas Uhlenkamp
2/11/2016 04:22:48 pm
I did many interesting and fun activities during my stay at the Audubon Center, but one in particular was the survival training. It was the last activity of the trip, and I was very excited for it. We were briefed on what we would be doing, building a shelter, building a fire, and eventually, making some hot chocolate. We later walked to our location, and began to plan our shelters. We had a tarp, some rope, and anything they could find in the forest to build the shelter. My group found three trees and tied the rope around them to connect them. We then draped the tarp over the rope, making a triangular roof. The configuration gave us a roof, but not much else. We trashed that idea and went with one line of rope between two trees, and draped the tarp over that, making a tent. Using some heavy logs and stakes, we anchored the tarp to the ground. We now had a rough shelter, but we now needed fire. We were provided with a fire pan and a flint and steel, but the fuel was up to us. We gathered birch bark, small twigs for kindling, and larger ones for fuel logs. We set them up, and tried desperately to ignite the fuel with the flint and steel. We asked for help, and the instructor gave us some twine, to use as a fluff that was easy to ignite. Once we got a good spark, the fuel lit and burned with an orange-red flame, the twine burning away almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, the fire did not last long, and slowly died as we desperately tried to fuel it. Meanwhile, the two other groups had sustained fires, and for a while, abandoned our own efforts for fire. One group started to boil some water for hot chocolate. Later, using that fire, we lit all three fires, and enjoyed our hot chocolate. The experience was not only educational, but also very enjoyable, making it something that will live on with me for quite some time.
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Libby
2/11/2016 04:25:13 pm
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Malia
2/12/2016 11:14:19 am
During interim our class went to the Audubon Center of the North Woods. While we were there we did many things including rock climbing, orienteering, making fire and shelter, hiking and learning about raptors, voyageurs, wolves and much more. All of the activities were interesting and fun, but I'm going to be writing about orienteering.
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Roselene G.
2/14/2016 12:38:12 pm
My favorite part of the three day's trip was the rock climbing.It was so much fun getting to climb all the way to the top.I was a little scared because I'm afraid of heights but I got the courage and I did it. I like the games we played it was so much fun I like being with my friends it made me happy to see them.The leaders were so helpful and nice they made me feel safe I've never had any other place to make me feel welcome then the Audubon center.
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Tyler
2/14/2016 01:57:13 pm
Survivor
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Billy
2/14/2016 06:32:25 pm
During my time during the Audubon center one of my favorite things were the survivor class. In this class we learned to start a fire by having a spark, fuel to burn the fire, and oxygen. We first started out by making shelter for ourselves with rope and tarp, we first collect big branches as our structure for our shelter. After we had moved the branches to the places we wanted, we set the tarp on top of our structure of branches and tied the tarp to the branches so it wouldn't fly. We then advanced to making our fire by collecting kindle and sticks for our fire. After gathering the necessary supplies we needed, we moved on to starting our fire and getting it to go. The members of my group all tried and we were unsuccessful except for Alex who got a lot of sparks. Our doom come when David snapped our steel and we all didn't know what to do so we went and asked for another one, Will our instructor gave us another one but it looked strange. The steel was a long and wide like a steel beam but much smaller, we all went back and tried again. I proposed an an idea to go into our shelter to make our fire since it was so windy and we tried inside it worked much better without much wind. Will our instructor gave us some twine which we threw into our fire and tried again. After about quite a while we got a small fire and we rushed it outside since we didn't want it to burn our shelter. That was our mistake right there since it was so windy our fire died right away. We eventually went to the other groups because they all had a fire going. If there was something I learned that day it was that starting is not as easy as it looks and if I were really stranded I would be in big trouble.
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Avanthi
2/15/2016 12:33:37 pm
After spending three fun days at the Audobon Center, I have many memories that came back with me. While I was at the Audobon Center, I took 7 classes. One of the classes that I took was an orienteering class. I was in a group with Malia and Annika, and our goal was to find a quote by following the compass to a part of the quote. Everybody started at post "S". From post "S", the three of us started counting the number of paces to our next post, following the compass. Pace by pace, we went. Trudging through the deep snow, we went. After we had walked the number of paces that we were supposed to walk, we stopped. The three of us looked around, but there was no post with a letter anywhere. Luckily, Mr. Fines came up and helped us out. Apparently, we were way off track. Malia, Annika and I walked back to post "S", and started all over again. This time, our next post was in view. We wrote down the part of the quote that was on the board, and did the same procedure. We looked at which way we had to go to get to the next post, and from there figured out how many paces we had to walk to get there. And again, we walked to where we thought our next post would be, and again, it wasn't there. Jeff, one of the naturalists at the center, helped us this time. The three of us found the right path again, found the post, and wrote down the part of the quote that was written down. We did this a couple more times, sometimes finding the right post in one try. After a while, our quote was turning out weird. The author of the quote, E.B. White, was the third or fourth part of the quote that we had found. But we kept going anyways. Eventually, our quote had turned out really wacky. We walked back to Jeff, who was back at post "S". He also agreed that this quote was strange. Class was almost over, too. Jeff just told us to stay there, and he told us what the quote was actually supposed to be. Our quote had the same parts, but they were in a different order. The orienteering class was a tougher class for Malia, Annika and I, only because we trudged over logs and finding the wrong post. But otherwise, I had a lot of fun during my stay at the Audobon Center.
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Josh
2/15/2016 03:57:31 pm
Orienteering was one of the more difficult classes at the Audubon center. I was partnered with nick, my partner for the St. John's orienteering class too. The only differences between these classes was the place, and the difficulty. At the Audubon center, the distance between the points were much greater. The mere difference of one degree could send you in the wrong direction. Nick and I started off great getting to the first points fairly quickly. We reached a spot where we needed to travel about four hundred feet. We walked the distance and couldn't find the point. We searched for a while until we had to backtrack and start over. We eventually found the point but the class was almost over and we didn't get much farther. Orienteering was vey fun, but very challenging.
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Dojin
2/15/2016 04:16:43 pm
Sometimes lighting a fire can be easy. Sometimes it is hard. Anyone can do it if they have a lighter with charcoal, but lighting one with flint and steel with twigs and branches is a whole other story. The afternoon at the forest of the Autobon center we took the survivor class was cold. We had just made our shelter out of branches and a tarp so we were taking turns trying to get one spark to just light on the tinder of rotten leaves. Flamboyant sparks flew into our structure of wood like rain but none of it lit a fire. We cheered for each other as we hit the flint across the steel but when it was David's turn he broke it. When we started to blaming him, Will the teacher saved us with another pair. He also gave us some twine that I thought was useless but on our first try the fire lit up! Our hope soon ended when the twine burned up so we gave up and ran to other people and begged for a little bit of spark. All in all, the survivor course was awesome and although our group couldn't keep a fire going, I didn't really care because I just blamed it on Will because he didn't give us enough twine and also because we had built the best shelter. But I could also say that I would never survive in the cold forests due to hypothermia.
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Minwoo C.
2/15/2016 05:07:37 pm
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Logan
2/15/2016 05:16:50 pm
Logan Richter
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Peter
2/15/2016 05:29:10 pm
One activity that i enjoyed most is rock climbing. Something that I want to share about my experience is that climbing walls from the side is very hard if you don't enough wall grips. In are class we put are gear on, the gear was a helmet and a harness. The class was very fun, I almost climbed one of the hardest walls and completed the rest of the walls.
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Matthew
2/15/2016 06:08:40 pm
Audubon Center: Fire Starting
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Ari
2/15/2016 06:35:02 pm
Over intern, we went to the Audubon Center of the North Woods. We did several interesting and educational activities. One I enjoyed, was KP. KP stands for Kitchen Patrol. Each student was assigned 1-2 meals for KP. I was assigned Tuesday: breakfast and dinner. When you were on KP, you first would quickly eat the meal. After that you would serve the class and whoever else was eating. The food options were set up almost like a buffet, but instead KP would serve you as you walked up. After the meal, KP would help clean up. Some jobs you would consider: washing tables, doing dishes, drying dishes, or putting silverware or dishes away. The overall experience of KP was fun. I enjoyed it a lot. :)
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Luke
2/15/2016 06:49:57 pm
Have you ever tried to make a fire in the woods in the middle of winter? To make a fire we need a spark, kindling, tinder, and oxygen. We can get the oxygen from the air We can get a spark from the flint and steel and We can find our tinder and kindling around us. For tinder we are using little strands of weeds and birchbark. We are going to set up the kindling and tinder like Lincoln Logs how we were taught. The Lincoln Log setup is done and we can start trying to light it with the flint and steel. Schhhh, no spark at all. Schhhhh, wow a BIG spark! Time to keep doing it schhh schhh schhh."Oh I got it!" We add in bigger and bigger sticks until the fire is really big. We put some water in a pan on and soon it was boiling. We make hot chocolate and drink it by the fire. With some hard work and determination we were able to make a fire and enjoy hot cocoa in the woods.
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Kenton D.
2/15/2016 06:54:53 pm
My favorite thing at the Audubon center was the raptors by family presentation. We learned about all of the different families of raptors and about their characteristics. There are four different types of raptors and there are two types in one. The first type is Eagles, eagle wings when spread out are sort of broad and big feathers at the tips. The tail of a Bald Eagle is broad with an egg white color. Eagle feet have three toes in front and one toe in back, the talons on a foot are big and sharp. Eagles are scavengers and pick up either dying fish that are floating up to the surface or the fish that are already dead, that's one interesting but disturbing fact. The next family is Hawks. There are two types of Hawks one of them is the accipiter Hawks like Cooper's hawk, or the sharp shinned hawk. Accipiter wings are a little broader than an Eagles and also have feathers at the tips. Accipiter feet like an Eagles have three toes in front and one in back, their talons are about the same size as an Eagles but are still very sharp and deadly to other smaller birds. During the presentation I got to see a real live red tailed hawk and they're HUGE! It even pooped on the tarp! The second to last family is Falcons. Falcons are my favorite type of raptor because their built for speed. Falcon wings are Skinny, sort of curved and have hardly and feathers on the tips. Falcon feet are pretty much just like a Hawks except the talons are curved more which helps them catch smaller birds right out of the air. Falcons have black markings around their eyes to keep the sun out of their eyes. The last type is owls. Owls are nocturnal so they hunt for mice or small rodents at night time. If you look at an owl wing compared to a falcon the owl looks more tattered which makes it quieter in the night. Owl feet have two toes in front and one in back and the back one will actually rotate up to the front to help catch prey. I want whoever to possibly go to Audubon themselves because I had a really great time.
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Annika
2/15/2016 07:15:21 pm
At the Audubon Center, we had many fun classes that I really enjoyed, including Survivor. In survivor, our group started to build our shelter on the top of the hill. We ended up moving down because at the top of a hill there will be more wind. We used four trees to put the tarp over. Since there was still some space on a side that wasn't covered, we put snow on a corner to weigh it down. The inside of our shelter blocked out wind and covered above. It was a lot warmer than it was outside. With our shelter built, we needed to start a fire. For wood, we had to get two parallel piles of sticks and from that, get a square shaped pattern. Next, we needed to add kindling to help the fire stay. (Leaves, birchbark, pinecones) lastly, we used some small sticks and pine needles to light the fire on. We took turns using flint and steel to make sparks. We tried so many times but just couldn't get it. When we asked for help, we were given twine. With twine, it only took two tries for the fire to start. Although I was nearly freezing, survivor was an enjoyable class to take.
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Aidan
2/15/2016 07:44:03 pm
Survivor Class
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Noelle
2/15/2016 07:44:06 pm
Out of all the amazing things we did at the Audubon Center, one of my favorites was the rock climbing wall. It was exciting when we started out with spotting and making our way along a wall with a partner. It was kind of hard to get farther than a few feet away from a starting point. After doing that for a while, we started playing a game called "Fish out of Water". We played that game by flopping around on the ground until the supervisors called out directions. They would tell us to be only using green handholds or be completely below the black line or something like that. We played a few rounds of that game and I did alright. After that, we got to start climbing up the high walls using the ropes. Once the supervisors gave us a tutorial, two walls were opened and we lined up at one of the two walls. I started at the more difficult one because I wanted a bit of a challenge. A couple of people went before me and did pretty well. When it was finally my turn, I was a little nervous but anxious to start climbing. As I began to make my way up the wall, I realized that this wasn't as easy as it looked. It was hard to get a good hand or foothold and I kept losing my grip. At one point I slipped and swung away from the wall but grabbed on to the rocks again when I swung back. I tried to move up from there but couldn't, so I gave up. As soon as I was down and unhooked, I got in line for the other wall. The line for this wall was really long, but it was worth waiting for. Once I was all hooked in, I started climbing pretty quickly. I made it to the top in probably under half a minute and chose to walk down the wall. When I was done with that wall, I decided to give the other one another try. While I was in line, another wall opened up so I was eager to climb my current one. My turn finally rolled around and I felt more confident than last time. As I started climbing, I used some of the techniques I saw other people using. I made it higher and higher and got so close to the flat part of the wall that concludes the climb. Unfortunately, I was unable to go any higher when all the useful hand and footholds were out of my reach. I decided to give up and make my way down after a few minutes. That was the last wall I climbed up before we had to stop going up the walls. Our supervisors let us play a couple more rounds of Fish out of Water before it was time to get off the walls for good. Even though the climbing wall was pretty difficult, it was still one of my favorite activities done at the Audubon Center.
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Alex
2/16/2016 05:59:07 am
During interim my sixth grade class went to the Audubon center for 3 days. There were many different classes to learn about but my favorite one was the survivor class. First we were split into groups of 4 and one group of 5. Billy, Dojin, David, and me were a group. Each group had to make a shelter than make a fire with a flint and steel. My group made a triangular shaped shelter with a rope and tarp. Once that was done we could make a fire. Our class instructor showed us how to set up the fire in a log cabin formation so it would start and stay burning. We all took 4 strikes with the flint and steel and we used it so much that it broke and we had to get a new one. After a while the new flint and steel made a lot of sparks on one of my strikes and we got fire but then it was put out by the wind. The survivor instructor tried to help us with a different set up but still couldn't get fire again. When the class was over we had to take down the shelter and bring the flint and steel back to the main buildings. After everyone got into the building the class instructor talked about how we could use what we learned in a real life survival situation. The Audubon center was really fun and I would go there again if I could.
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Holly
2/16/2016 06:02:14 am
The Audobon Center has many classes to take but the Ojibwe hike was my favorite. We learned about the cultural Ojibwe and some trees that live up north. There were tons and tons of white pine that were super big they stretched to the sky. We stopped at maple tree and we each got a spoon full of maple syrup. This syrup was sweet and rich it tasted like heaven. 10 minutes later we got to go in a tipi and it was huge (not like the dorm room) but was huge. He started a fire and past around cups Mr. Fines pasted around the coco next our leader Jeff gave us warm water. The weird thing was that he forgot to pass out spoons. We all sat down next Libby and Matthew read a story. Sooner rather than later we had to head back. There are many great classes at the Audobon Center but the Ojibwe hike was my favorite.
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AuthorThe authors of this blog are the 5/6th graders at St. John's Prep School. Some entries are created by their teacher, Mrs. Anderson Archives
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