Plymouth Meeting Friends School

Plymouth Meeting, PA

PMFS Habitat Study

All classes have been studying the Plymouth Meeting Friends School (PMFS) habitat. They have collected and pressed flowers and leaves and have drawn pictures of birds and other animals that they have seen on the school grounds. All of these have been put in an album to be added to in coming years. The following articles were written by the different classes about their experiences.

Debbie & Edna's Primary Class

We've been finding wildflowers. We've found dandelions and their seed heads. We've also been finding buttercups and heal-alls. We've seen deer and rabbits. In the winter in the late afternoon at Extended Day when it was dark out, we saw a raccoon in the woods with its glowing eyes. There's also a cat that lives around school that sometimes comes out. We also saw a hole, and some people thought it was for a skunk, but it might have been for a groundhog. There are probably a lot of underground holes. Once we saw a black bird that couldn't fly.

Heidi's Primary Class

Wildflowers are pretty. They have all sorts of habitats. They usually live in groups. They have all sorts of colors. They are in the woods. They need certain things like water, sun, and soil. They can't have too much shade. Some are yellow and purple, and some are pink. They have all different shapes. Lots are white. The butterflies drink from the flowers. Bees eat the pollen inside the flowers. Some flowers smell good. You can draw flowers. They are very useful. They are a part of each and every one of us. They are a pretty gift from Mother Nature.

Third Grade

Our Butterfly Garden has a lot of different flowers. There are little purple crocus. There's lots of mint growing. and there are starflowers too. Sometimes the garden has dandelions in the spring. The garden has touch-me-nots. They are like a pod, and pop when they are in your hand. There's also milkweed in the garden. It takes a lot of work to have a butterfly garden because there are weeds that we need to chop down with the clippers so you can see the flowers. There are some trees that have to be protected by poles because they are fragile. There are a lot of sticks in the garden and leaves from the trees that need to be cleared out. The garden has a rain gauge that measures how much rain falls, and a pond with fish that was built by the Class of 1996. Suzanne (our teacher) orders larvae and keeps them in the science room. We feed them until they become butterflies and them let them go in the butterfly garden. There are monarch butterflies that get nectar from the flowers. They are orange with black spots. Why have a butterfly garden? It's fun to watch the butterflies grow, and when we release them, it's fun to watch them fly.

Forth Grade

We studied the birds around the school. Most of the birds are colorful. Most birds live in nests or hollow trees. When a woodpecker is pecking, it is either making a nest or trying to get food. Baby birds are born from eggs. Chickadees weigh less than a pencil when they are born. Many birds migrate south in the winter. Mourning doves are white, black, gray, and a little brown. Crows can be taught to talk like a parrot and are attracted to shiney objects. The crow's song goes "caw, caw, caw." Birds eat worms, insects, and seed. Some birds of prey eat small mammals and other birds, like pigeons.

Fifth Grade

Everything at our school looks natural, there's not a lot of cement. We live in a deciduous forest. It's very green. There are lots of pretty and nice smelling flowers, such as lilacs and dogwoods. We are near big streets. We have lots of bushes, especially yews. We have many big, old trees, like sycamores and Norway maples. We have lots of grass and woodchips around, and a big variety of trees. There are also small rocks, such as quartz on our school grounds. Our school is very pretty.

Sixth Grade

The squirrels at PMFS are really annoying because they steal our cookies. The mice steal popcorn and hind it behind books. The skunks that sometimes live under the library small bad. Rabbits hid under poles and tarps next to the Meetinghouse. There are also lots of rabbit droppings and tracks behind the shed. There is a groundhog family that lives in the shed. We saw a groundhog running in the ditch behind the shed. There are several dead animals on school grounds, like the remains of a bird that got run over by a lawnmower. We also have wasps and bees. The bees are in an observation hive in the science room and are interesting to watch. The queen has a blue dot so we can find her. Whenever a hawk goes by people get really excite. We had koi in the fish pond that we think the raccoons got. Now we think there is a frog in our pond. We also have deer and garter snakes.

Suzanne Marinell, Science teacher, and the fourth graders at PMFS.

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