I took a glance at my calendar and just realized...the summer is almost over! Although it has been amazing, I still feel like there is more I want to accomplish before saying goodbye. Working with the kids of South Boston has been an amazing learning process. Their enthusiasm and desire to learn has been inspiring, and has pushed me to make the extra effort to keep them engaged.
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| My very first week: a brave boy pets a spider crab. (We're at the Children's Museum, here, not Southie!) |
So, what's been going on at Castle Island, you ask? Well, the past few days have been exceptionally exciting for the children at McDonough. Their counselors - many of whom are avid sailors and instructors - raced each other in Pleasure Bay this past Friday. The kids were numbered off and while some were allowed on the sailboats to help race, the others stayed on the dock and cheered for their respective teams.
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| Sailing races! |
After McDonough Sailing Center counselor Danielle came out victorious, we got back to the activities :) Each day, the kids take turns coming out on the sailing center's Whaler - it's a motor boat! - and help pull up Save the Harbor's lobster trap. And no, of course the kids don't do all the work; that thing is heavy, especially when it has more than ten lobsters hanging out inside it. We spent a LOT of time discussing molting and regeneration in crustaceans. Three of the lobsters had lost a claw at one point in their lives and were all at different stages of regeneration. One lobster appeared to have lost its claw at some point after entering the trap (we found it's lonely claw laying desolate inside). Another lobster's claw was only about an inch long, was bright red, and had not yet hardened into a shell. Last, we picked up a five pound lobster that had abnormally small claws for its body size. Very interesting!
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| Lobsters galore again! |
Until next time,
Mary
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