09/04/2026
Last week, our Middle Schoolers in grades 5-8 headed to the James River for their first Field Study of the year. As they hiked down the Larus trail to Pony Pasture, they hunted for local flora and fauna, including a search for paw paws! Along the way, they collected water samples and filled their field journals with notes and sketches.
At the river, students rotated through four data collection stations: a macro-invertebrate station, a turbidity and chemical quality station, a landscape station examining the riparian buffer, erosion, and soil quality, and an observational drawing station where everyone sketched what they saw.
This is just the beginning of this ongoing Field Study. Students will return to this same stretch of river throughout the year, building on their data and following their research wherever it leads.
