1-9-26: In order to experience what they are learning in the classroom with their Inquiry unit focused on, "What lessons can we learn from the indigenous peoples of the Eastern woodlands and the way they used the natural resources around them?", 4th grade students from Samara Community School spend the day at Westmoreland Sanctuary learning how to ice fish and how to build a fire.   They learned how thick the ice needs to be to ice fish and the tools needed to fish.  The trail getting down to the pond was quite slippery and students had a fun time slipping and sliding down the trail.  On the ice, students enjoyed skating around between the cones, even though they didn't have ice skates.  They worked on drilling a hole and then removing all of the snow using a sieve.  Finally students dropped a line to see if they could catch anything- better luck next time but students still had a blast on the ice!  After a great lunch break, students learned how to build a fire.  They learned about the fire triangle- of wood, oxygen and heat.  They learned the importance of putting down tinder first, followed by kindling, and finally pieces of wood, all of which they found in the surrounding natural area.  They then were able to practice creating sparks with flint and steel (one of the three tools they learned indigenous people used to make fire, along with the bow drill and the pump drill).  What they had read about in their Inquiry unit certainly came to live during this Sierra Club NYCICO trip at Westmoreland Sanctuary!