I teach middle school, first and foremost, because I love kids that age and love sharing books and writing with them. Reason #2? Probably the field trips. I have never quite gotten over that feeling I used to get in second grade when I’d arrive at school, see the yellow buses waiting outside, and know that we were leaving. Walking right out of the building to go to an official interesting place.
My seventh graders and I went to one of those places on the Burlington, VT waterfront today. We took a trip on the University of Vermont’s research vessel, the Melosira. If you teach and live within striking distance, I highly recommend this trip. My group started the day with some activities in the lab, then ate lunch and climbed on board for a variety of lake-science activities.
Our guides used this special net to collect plankton samples for examination under the boat’s two dissecting microscopes.
Want to peek through the microscope? Go on… Zooplankton and other lake critters under the cut.