Jennie+Lavia

[|www.saltmarshalliance.org]

In light of the fact that I will be teaching young children, I will use the wiki space to prepare my students for a field trip to the Salt Marsh Nature Center at Marine Park, Brooklyn New York where they can either take a walk on this nature trail to observe and explore up close the marine life, plants and animals that live in this Forever Wild Reserve or take one or several of the educational programs the Salt Marsh offers or I will conduct an in class project on the marsh and its inhabitants by engaging the students in the study of birds or marine life or plants or wildlife. But first I will promote my students awareness of the salt marsh by providing them with background information about what is a Salt marsh? Why is the salt marsh a reserve and what types of animals and plants live in the Salt Marsh? and What can they do to participate in the restoration process.?

I will use this wiki in a whole class activity where I will display the information I gather about the salt marsh in short sentences along with pictures on a smart a board and explain to my students that the salt marsh at Marine Park is a coastal wetland that is rich in marine life. It is also called a tidal marsh because Gerritsen Creek brings sea water and marine life from the Atlantic Ocean and Jamaica Bay into the marsh. I will also emphasize to my students that the salt marsh is an essential source of nutrition as well as it is a nursery, feeding and breeding ground for countless species of birds, marine life, plants and wildlife. These species include:


 * Marine life **- Eel, Hermit Crab, Horse-shoe Crab, Bay Anchovies, Striped Bass, Razor Clam, Blue Fish, Pumpkin Seed Sunfish, Snails, Blue Gill Sunfish, Fluke, Ribbed Mussels, Mouth Bass, Blue Crab and Diamond Back Terrapin,
 * Birds **- Black Duck, Crow, Sea Robin, Sparrow, Bufflehead Duck, Cat bird, Yellow Crown Night Heron, Great blue Heron, Wood thrust, Brant Geese, Barn Owl, Bald Eagles, Flying Squirrel, Piping Plovers and Peregrine Falcons
 * Plants **- Salt marsh Cordgrass, Salt meadow Cordgrass and Marsh grass
 * Wildlife- ** Skunk, Garden snakes, Raccoons, Red backed Salamander, Black, Gray and Flying Squirrel

In addition, since the focus of this wiki is to build the students’ understanding of ecological restoration I will explain to them that in the past, for about 100 years, almost all of Marine Park has been changed by humans who filled the wet lands by planting an introduced plant species called Phragmites, a weed imported from Europe with thick roots and stems which sucks up the water in the marsh as well as invade the space of native plant species such as marsh grass so that they can create farm land and neighborhoods as well as an illegal dumping site for trash and even cars. Another problem was that the water in this marsh has been polluted by toilet, runoff from oil stained roadways and the dumping of danagerous chemicals which destroyed the habitat for birds, marine life, wild life and plants. But all is not loss for the salt marsh at marine Park because government and community based organization such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Urban Park Rangers are working towards restoring the salt marsh by removing and designing techniques to control the phragmities, reclaiming the wetland and replanting native marsh plants and reintroduce some of the marine life into the marsh that are presently house in the nature center (E. Bruce, Urban Park Ranger, Personal Communication, June 18, 2010)

Moreover, I will use this wiki to inform my students about the educational programs such as TreesNYC: Something Big is Taking Roots, Urban Raptors: Masters of the Sky and Conservation: Keep it Wild that the Urban Park Rangers offer at the Salt Marsh Nature Center. I will also stress that these programs focus on educating persons about what you can do to be a good steward of your local natural environment. They suggest that you and your families can create habitats at home by planting a tree or a garden even build a bird box for birds to nest and roost. They also emphasize that your parents can help the marsh by avoid the use of fertilizers on lawns, dump car oil at gas station and using less water at home by taking showers instead of baths, fixing all leaky faucets and pipes and using a drip water system instead of sprinklers to water gardens. Overall, the whole purpose of my wiki space is to give my students a preview of what they should anticipate when they visit the Salt Marsh Nature Center. [|Salt Marsh Pictures.doc]

I really like how you will use your wikispace page to provideyour students with background information about Prospect Park and the restoration efforts that are going on at Prospect Park. I like the two aspects of the restoration project you have selected to focus on with your students. I think the Tulepo Tree Restoration is a good way of helping your students learn about the removal of invasive plant species and reintroducing native plant species. Addtionally, I think the Lakes and Water plant activity is a perfect example of how the children can learn about how lakes are form, the types of plants that grow around lakes and how beneficial these plants are to lakes. Moreover, I like the after the trip activity, I think this is a good way of getting the children to reflect on what they learn. I like the idea of you posting their work, I thnk they would be really happy to see their work posted on the internet.
 * Comments on Marta Kheyfets' wiki page**