I had the best time ever. There were many ups and downs to this field trip. I consider in my opinion that walking there was a down because I had gotten a sun burn on the walk back. An up to this trip was that we had fun and were learning all at the same time. Now I can point out to my family where there is garlic mustard.

-Chiara P

I enjoyed going to the park and taking out the garlic mustard and planting other plants there, too. My favorite part of the day was working on the garden. My other favorite part of the day was going on the walk there and back. I learned what poison ivy looks like all year, and how diffrent it looks like through out the year. The way we could have improved this project would probelly be to have gone to the park more. An idea for next year could be something to do with animals, like go to an animal shelter.

I enjoyed the field trip because I learned a lot. The highlight of the trip was looking and pulling out the Garlic Mustard. It looked very interesting. One thing I learned was that Garlic Mustard can be bad in some ways. Another thing that I learned was how to help the community. We could improve the project by planting more plants. Some good ideas for another project would be to pick up stuff that on the ground like from littering.

I enjoyed the field trip. It was a lot of fun but we did have to watch out for poison ivy. We all had to finish our mission to get rid of the Garlic Mustard. I learned that if you shake the Garlic Mustard around the seeds will fall and spread around. I also learned that if you crushed it, it would smell bad. Garlic Mustard is bad because it kills other plants. We found out that if we get rid of the plants and were careful how to we could really help the other plants grow. Some other ideas I have for next year are helping animals or getting rid of garbage.

Today we went to the park to work .We pulled garlic mustard.  We learned about Poison Ivy.  The leaves of poison ivy mimic other plants leaves. The day was  very interesting.The effort was very good. We got a lot of work done and competed our goals. The only thing that we could have improved on was the organization of the groups so that they were more of a random grouping of students. Every one in my group was an environmentalist. If they were in the other groups it would have helped the other groups more. In all the project was a big success since we completed what we needed to and work hard all year to learn.

Today when we went on little service learning project we all got together to help the Keay Nature Center by removing as much garlic mustard we could. I believe we did a very good job. We all worked together and stayed in our groups we were assigned. I think some of the struggles we had to face was the heat, poison ivy, and bugs. Even though those were a problem during the trip, we had fun with it. We learned something today and it was we helped the center and we helped our planet as well, all with the help of team work. Next time we could have put a bit more effort into the idea of the project and also makes sure we have our materials in handy. Thank you Ms. Stewart, Mrs. Jeserig, Mrs. Klein, and Mrs. Keisler, Mrs. Salm for taking us on this trip and assigning this service learning project to help the Keay Nature Center.

Olivia

As Mrs. Keisler told us last week, one of the problems facing the Keay Nature Center (and all wild places in Illinois) is the encroachment of invasive species. Invasive, non-native species can crowd out native species. This has an impact on the ecosystem and the other species of plants and animals that live there.

One such species that is problematic in our area is garlic mustard. While the attached article discusses garlic mustard in Wisconsin, the same information applies in Illinois.

8TH GRADERS: Please read the attached article through the section on Mechanical Control (you can skip the section on Chemical Control).

Here is the link to the article: Garlic Mustard

Copy and answer the following (in complete sentences) in a comment to this post:

1) Name two things in the DESCRIPTION that would help us to distinguish garlic mustard from other plants.

2) If we went to the Keay Nature Center in winter, how could we recognize garlic mustard?

3) Why is garlic mustard a problem?

4) How would you recommend that we control garlic mustard at the nature center?

7TH GRADERS: Feel free to comment also.

Today during resource we had a special guest with us, her name was Mrs. Kiesler. She showed us a movie about the damage that garlic mustard does to our environment, and where it originated from. It started off in Europe and they brought it to the U.S, and since then it has been a hassle to handle. Mrs. Kiesler informed us that there has been some Garlic Mustard in The Keay Nature Center, so we are all planning on helping out to get rid of some. Just a reminder if you have forgotten what it looks like, it is a tall, four pedaled white flower, that when you crumble the leaves it smells like garlic. If you have any more important information about Garlic Mustard make a comment!

by Olivia K.

Now that we have visited and discussed what the park has to offer, what are some ways we can help? We are now at the stage of our service learning project where we need to decide what to do. A couple of suggestions we have had so far are:

1. Picking garlic mustard, picking up trash and possibly planting some new plants

2. Partnering with the park district to write and update the marker descriptions

Which of these ideas do you like best? Do you have other ideas that we could also do? Please add a comment and give us your ideas!