Mini-Grant Funds Unforgettable Trip to Caratunk
Ms. Lisa Hopkins has been a much-loved third-grade teacher at Martin Elementary for many years. She has been awarded many grants for her popular third-grade class trips to Rhode Island Audubon Society’s Caratunk Wildlife Refuge, right here in Seekonk.
This year her class of twenty-one third graders attended the program in early June. The students were delighted to be outdoors in the bucolic morning setting, with the “sights of pretty flowers, colorful birds, and interesting creepy crawlers,” and were anxiously anticipating the morning nature hike.
They were listening intently to the introduction by the Audubon naturalist when the resident family of woodchucks (a mother and her kits) emerged from their home under the big white barn. As they watched and learned about the woodchucks, the peaceful morning took an unexpected turn into Wild Kingdom. A Red-Tailed Hawk swooped down over their heads and snatched a kit to the astonishment of all! The students witnessed the predator event and the mother woodchuck searching frantically for her lost offspring.
Needless to say, Ms. Hopkins and the other teachers jumped into action and reminded the children about their lessons on the food chain and keeping nature in balance, a necessity for a sustainable environment. It was quite an emotional day and a circle-of-life moment that the students and teachers are not likely to forget.
Read what the students had to say below in the brochures they created after the program.
We are grateful for Ms. Lisa Hopkins’ many years of dedicated work and for her recognition of the importance of environmental education for her young students.