Hometown waters: Exploring and mapping life in vernal ponds

Generously Funded by:

Applied Materials Foundation (2022- 2023)

Cell Signaling (2023-2024)

Hometown Waters in 2022-2023 was a partnership between Beverly Cove School and Pathways for Children in Gloucester. This project-based learning experience engages young children in exploring and documenting life in vernal ponds in their own community, and in sharing their finds with the public.

Beverly Cove School’s Second Graders created Maps of Camp Paradise, highlighting three different ponds on the property. The students visited the ponds both in the early and late spring, and observed, identified, and compared the life within them. They decided to make their maps three dimensional and in some cases, to add symbol keys, to help viewers gather information from the maps. These very different pieces are all collaboratively - designed maps created of the same City of Beverly owned public open space.

Pathways for Children Gloucester investigated the vernal pond at the end of Stillington Road in Gloucester, part of The Trustees Ravenswood Park. They visited both in the early spring and late summer, and thus were able to observe wood frogs and spotted salamanders, among other creatures, in their egg and larval stages, as well as adult frogs. Their completed pieces are clay models of the pond and the life they observed.