Well I am not doing a good job updating this blog…promise to work on that.
How is it already February? I feel as though I just moved here a couple months ago. The year is flying by and we're already halfway down with out winter practicum. Last week we taught a group of high school students from Fort Washakie on the Wind River Reservation, and this week we taught 8th graders from Tongue River Middle School. I discovered that I really love hosting programs, too bad I don't get another chance!
But before practicum started, we took a Winter Ecology class. It was a lot of information packed into two weeks, but we did some fun activities and projects! There was a winter foraging activity where we wore shorts and T-shirts and pretended we were animals foraging for food in the winter. Hershey's Kisses were worth 1 point, Hershey's Hugs 2 points, and miniature candy bars 10 points! We had to get 100 points to survive the winter and 150 to reproduce. The majority of us died. But I got a ton of chocolate out of it!
 |
| Before the winter foraging activity (photo by Kevin K) |
 |
| After (photo by Kevin K) |
We learned about animals, plants and humans in the cold, some snow science, winter tracking with one of the best female trackers in the country, and winter weather patterns in this area. I discovered I'm an awful tracker, but still really love identifying plants in winter!
 |
| Looking for tracks with Michelle |
 |
| Studying a moose bed |
 |
| More tracks |
Ashley, Wyatt and I did a project looking at whether people sleep warmer in sleeping bags while wearing lots of layers or minimal clothing. We set up a tent and had people lay still in a sleeping bag for an hour at a time, once in layers and once in underwear with a temperature logger to chart their temperature over time. We didn't find any significant results, but it was a fun project that didn't involve digging snow pits!
 |
| Making our teacher help us out (photo by Ashley) |
 |
| Setting up the temperature logger (photo by Ashley) |
 |
| Just being silly (photo by Ashley) |
Between classes and teaching we've found some fun things to do. I'm getting a little better at cross country skiing, and still trying to find a time to learnt to downhill ski. I also went ice skating for the first time since sophomore year of high school and remembered how much I love it! Ashley and I plan do go more often this year and next.
The frost on the trees around here after the fog is amazing. I haven't managed to capture a great picture yet, but it's a goal of mine this year.
Last night we had a formal/prom here on campus, so we all had fun getting a little dressed up for the occasion. Props to Katherine for putting the event together! We had some brief ballroom and medieval dance lessons, but then the night turned to competing over the playlist to put on some seriously silly dance songs. It was a blast!
 |
| The grads (the royal court) |
Next week our teaching team has Ecological Inquiry week 2 and we will be presenting our topics. Paige and I will be taking the class out with a biologist from GTNP to look and listen for wolves with telemetry! I have yet to see a wolf. Hopefully Wednesday will be my lucky day!
I'm probably forgetting something that has happened since winter break, but these are the highlights.
~Meghan
