Bluebonnet Swamp Field trip

On Friday, March 22nd, we had a field trip to the Bluebonnet Swamp. This was one of our largest turn outs. We had 140 something people (adults and children) on this day.

This picture was taken by a member of our group who is a photographer and had a wide angle lens.
First, we started off the trip with an introduction to some of the animals that they have on display and got to pet several of them.

Then we were able to walk around and look at the different animals and display cases that they had.

Next we walked on the walking paths through the swamp, but we didn't get to see much because the kids were just interested in getting through it at fast as they could!

Finally, we went back to the building and got to witness feeding time!

Highland Road BREC Park Observatory Fieldtrip

We had two fieldtrips back in February at the Highland Road BREC Park Observatory to accommodate our group.

 
First we started off with a powerpoint presentation about the sun and the moon including solar flares and sunspots, lunar craters and maria.

After the presentation, we broke into 2 groups. One group toured the observatory and looked the telescope outside to see a solar viewing while the other group made a planisphere (star map).

Our group making the planisphere.

Our group with the completed planispheres

The other group working on theirs.

Touring the telescope room

The dome runs on a track so that they can point the telescope in whatever direction they need too without opening the whole roof.

Looking through the telescope at the sun...We were able to see sun spots. It basically looked like a circle with 3 black dots. At first, I couldn't see anything but then realized that was all it was. The worker kept having to adjust the telescope because the earth kept moving!