On May 1st, 2019, forty-two students from the 5th grade class at Flagstaff Junior Academy visited Griffith’s Spring to study concerts old and new.

 

With large groups, it’s always important to spilt into smaller groups for optimal learning and minimizing impact. On this day students rotated between collecting aquatic macro invertebrate specimens, measuring water chemical qualities, and looking for evidence of the   pioneer settlement that gives Griffith’s Spring its name.

 

Students found many exciting water insects, including the case of a caddisfly! They also found bits of broken porcelain, fence posts, and what may have been the remains of a house foundation left by the Griffith family who might have been some of the luckiest settlers around to have homesteaded near this precious water source. Additionally, students spent a bit of time pulling some invasive weeds that they had studied about in the previous days. They acted out how invasive take over an area and which invasive can be most problematic in our area.

 

It was an incredible day with so much learning!