We had sunshine today! Woohoo! We started class by designing beaver lodges in our nature journals. Some of us even shared our drawings with the rest of the class. Ms. Paige and Ms. Rachel were both very impressed by the number of artists we have in this group! We included details like sticks, mud, burrows, dams, lodges, trees, lily pads, water levels, and of course, many beavers. Then, we dressed up one of our classmates as a beaver–well, sort of. Each item they put on represented a beaver adaptation. We discussed that adaptations are changes that occur in organisms (plants and animals) over long periods of time that help them survive in their environment. These are changes to their behavior and bodies. Today, we learned that beavers have two layers of fur (one to keep warm and one to waterproof them), muscles in their nose and ears to block out water, clear eyelids to see while swimming, webbed feet to make them good swimmers, and more. We discussed that they use their tails to help build their lodges, but also to smack the water and warn about predators. They build the entrances to their lodges underwater so predators have a hard time getting in. Fun fact: beavers can hold their breath underwater for 15 minutes! Then, we set off on Fox Den Trail to splash at the creek before ending the day in the Pine Forest, climbing trees and adding onto our forts (beaver lodges) from last week.