We Went To See The Giant Sequoias In California With Ranger Jenny Over Skype!

Last week, we had such a wonderful Skype with our new friend Ranger Jenny who is a Park Interpretive Specialist at Calaveras Big Trees State Park in California.

Our 3rd graders have been learning about Sequoia trees in their Journeys our English language arts curriculum at Van Meter. When the teachers came to me for some ideas on resources to support the topic, I found some special things to bring into the classrooms with the students.

First, I found a California State Parks virtual reality...

...Google Expedition, Walking Among Giants that we used our MERGE headsets with.  Our kids always love going on virtual field trips with these. 

Next, I went to Skype in the Classroom and found the perfect Virtual Field Trip to the giant sequoias at Calaveras Big Trees. You will find it here to sign up too. 

I watched this video and looked up...

...the Calaveras Big Trees State Park site as well.

I knew that this Skype in the Classroom Virtual Field Trip would be such a wonderful tie in for our 3rd graders.  

I reached out to Ranger Jenny and scheduled a time for her to Skype with us. 

So last week, we gathered....

...all four sections of our 4th graders into one of their classrooms...

... and Skyped with her in the Calaveras Big Trees State Park.  We loved seeing her in front of the giant sequoia tree.

She engaged our kids with great questions and interesting facts as she walked through the park showing us different things.

She even let them...

... ask questions along the way.

One of our favorite things she taught us was about different pinecones in the park. Ranger Jenny had us guess which pinecone was from the Giant Sequoia.

We were all surprised when she held up the tiny one!

She also got up onto a giant stump where....

...one was cut down year ago.

At the end, lots of questions were asked and we loved all of things she taught about the park and....

...about her job as a State Park Ranger.  

Thank you Ranger Jenny for connecting with our 3rd graders in Van Meter, Iowa.  You were terrific and we can't wait to connect again!