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Beverly Elementary fourth-graders take field trip to Hall Lake

Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 12, 2018

By Rikki King

Beverly Elementary fourth-grader Helini Kahsay looks on a picture list of bugs, Legand Marshall takes cell phone videos and Landon Smith spoons water and insects into a container during a a trip to Hall Lake to look at bugs, nature walk and release salmon fry on Thursday, May 3, 2018 in Lynnwood, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
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Beverly Elementary fourth-grader Helini Kahsay looks on a picture list of bugs, Legand Marshall takes cell phone videos and Landon Smith spoons water and insects into a container during a a trip to Hall Lake to look at bugs, nature walk and release salmon fry on Thursday, May 3, 2018 in Lynnwood, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)

Beverly Elementary fourth-grader Helini Kahsay looks on a picture list of bugs, Legand Marshall takes cell phone videos and Landon Smith spoons water and insects into a container during a a trip to Hall Lake to look at bugs, nature walk and release salmon fry on Thursday, May 3, 2018 in Lynnwood, Wa. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)
Beverly Elementary fourth-grader Helini Kahsay looks on a picture list of bugs, Legand Marshall takes cellphone videos and Landon Smith spoons water and insects into a container during a a trip to Hall Lake to look at bugs, enjoy a nature walk and release salmon fry May 3 in Lynnwood. (Andy Bronson / The Herald)

LYNNWOOD — The girls wanted to get good shots.

They figured out how to affix magnifying glasses to their smartphones, Gabriella Veighey said. Then, they captured the movements of snails, water striders, centipedes and nearly all the other critters on their list.

“My mom hates spiders and bugs, and so do I, but I still like to film them,” Sophia Billy said.

Emily Czerwonka’s fourth-grade class at Beverly Elementary took a trip last week to Hall Lake. The lake has been the focus of environmental work by the city, which is partnering with public and private schools.

The field trip included releasing salmon fry, a nature walk listening for bird calls and studying what lives in the water.

“I found a snail with its head peeping out,” Vivian Le said.

That prompted a discussion about whether or not eating the gastropods is delicious or sad.

The children fell silent as birds sounded overhead. Each has chosen a bird native to Washington to represent them in class. Gabriella picked the ruby-throated hummingbird. It has “grasping feet to grasp on the leaf” and a long beak for siphoning nectar, she said.

The trip was connecting lessons to where the students are growing up, Czerwonka said. The themes, such as habitats, are right there in neighborhood parks.

The class also heard from Scott Jenkins, a guide with the nonprofit Nature Vision.

He listened to their favorite finds and reminded them they had sifted through just a few scoops of lake.

“Even if it looks empty … down underneath the water, there’s a whole other world of life,” he said.

Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @rikkiking.

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