Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area Field Trip

We started our week by going to Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area. Thank you to our parent volunteers for attending the field trip with us. It wouldn’t have been possible without you.

The students participated in the Web of Life activity-based program which is designed to introduce students to the ecology of the aspen forest. It focused on the Aspen Parkland community, the inhabitants and their interactions.

Students learned that a community is a place where an assemblage of plants and animals live and have their needs met by the common physical habitat. The Aspen Parkland is home to many species of plants and animals which interact with each other and their surroundings in different ways.

An interrelationship occurs when two living things affect one another. These can be direct such as predator/prey relationships or indirect like the relationship between Albertans and the equatorial rain forest. All living things depend on the biotic (living)and the abiotic (non-living) factors of their environment.

While hiking through the forested area students were visited by a herd of inquisitive deer who cautiously came within a few metres of us! It was a thrilling experience and we were so excited to have come so close to these beautiful deer.

We even did some two-eyed seeing on our field study. Our volunteer guide Gary told us the story of why the First Nations people named the yellow flowers growing in the fields ‘Buffalo Beans’. The First Nations people recognized that these beautiful flowers bloom around the same time the buffalo babies were born and that the bulls would be ready for their spring hunt.

Science Learning Outcome:

Interactions of Living Things

● I can represent various food chains in local and other Canadian environments.

● I can classify animals in a food chain as carnivores, herbivores, or omnivores.

● Reflect on and share actions that can be taken to protect plants and animals in local environments.

● I am able to demonstrate respectful and safe practices during observations of plants and animals in local environments.

● I can explain interconnections in environments, including how plants depend on animals and how animals depend on plants to survive. 

● ​​I can discuss First Nations, Métis, and Inuit connection with environments and their knowledge of and relationships with plants and animals.