Every year, the Tantramar Wetlands Centre facilitates teacher workshops to train B. Ed students and educators on environmental and wetland education. During the 2013-2014 academic year, we facilitated two of these workshops. We hosted students from Crandall University in November 2013 and travelled to Fredericton to do a workshop with St. Thomas University students in January 2014.

Facilitators introduced participants to the Project WET curriculum, which focuses on water, and shared resources, such as Resources for Rethinking. Workshops activities included H2O Olympic competition,  examining macroinvertebrates and learning about river ecosystems. Take a look at the photos below to see some educators having fun while learning.

Participants are introduced to the Project WET curriculum and to the wonders of water, with hands-on activities they can do with their classes.

Students compete in the H2O Olympic “boat races” to learn about surface tension and water pollution.

Students learn about surface tension while competing in “pole vaulting”.

Participants each develop a riverfront property and learn how they impact others downstream through pollution.

Discovering macroinvertebrates (a.k.a. “critters”) while searching through vegetation samples from the Tantramar Wetlands Centre marsh.

The workshops always end with an H2O Olympics medal ceremony to honour the competitors.

Spring is an exciting time at the Tantramar Wetlands Centre. As the ice melts and animals return and reappear, we start to measure time by which birds we see and how fast the ice is melting.

Tree swallow on a nesting box. Tree swallows let us know that spring has arrived.

Spring is also a very busy time in the marsh. In preparation for our Spring Program, we trained dedicated Wetheads during their enrichment period, helping them become experts leaders for all of our activities. We also hosted the Ducks Unlimited Training Day to help prepare participants from other wetlands sites for the Project Webfoot spring program.

Wetheads learning about cattails in spring training during enrichment.

Ducks Unlimited Project Webfoot Training Day at TWC this spring.

During May and June, over 60 Grade 4 classes visited the TWC  from around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, mostly sponsored by Ducks Unlimited through Project Webfoot. Over 60 Wetheads lead these students through various fun activities and games that teach about the importance and biodiversity of wetlands, invertebrate and bird identification, and our relationship to our natural environment.

Students on the critter dipping dock searching for invertebrates and other critters in the marsh.

Students learning about what they found in the marsh while critter dipping, such as snails, leeches and dragonfly nymphs.

Students participate in a relay race while learning about the benefits of wetlands.

Students learning about biodiversity by playing touchboxes.

Students learning about duck populations, conservation and migration after playing Migration Headache.

Wetheads assist students in using binoculars to see and identify various birds in the marsh.

We always enjoy the annual visit from MASSIE students (Japanese university students participating in an exchange program at Mount Allison University). Even though it was too windy to canoe, we went bird watching and critter dipping.

MASSIE students critter dipping in the marsh.

Japanese univeristy exchange students searching for insects in the water.

You can view more pictures in our Photo Gallery or on Flickr.