njfossilhunter Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Ralph Johnson of MAPS and Bill Shankle of DVPS and I filled in for Carl Mehling of AMNH in NYC to lead a trip of a AMNH sponsored trip to Ramanessin brook this past Thrusday . At first we became concerned when the bus had not arrived on time and Ralph and I went looking for them just in case they were parked at the other school down the road and when we came back we noticed a yellow school bus parked at the other end of the lot and I mentioned to him they the bus looked empty or that they maybe all little people and when we got closer we noticed that they were all middle school kids all 23 of them.....we were not expecting a bus load of kids ....Ohhh Boyyyy. No wonder Carl couldn't make it......LOL Good thing we had a bunch of extra screens and shovels with us. At first they didn't find much and the kids started to lose interest so I started grabbing the screens and filled them up and set them on the gravel bars and told them to start looking threw them and soon after they started finding teeth and before you know it most of them were finding fossils and I couldn't keep up with the demand for new loads of screens filled with the stream matrix All in all we had a great time...I know I did. I even found a nice Ischyodus Bifurcatus 2 TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ynot Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Nice of You to teach so many kids how to really have fun!! Thanks for sharing. Ynot Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys." Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough." My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection My favorite thread on TFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njfossilhunter Posted August 19, 2017 Author Share Posted August 19, 2017 Here is a group photo of the kids and our brave and fearless leaders. 1 TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FossilDAWG Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Great job! Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagurus Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Wicked awesome. Start the day with a smile and get it over with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey P Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 Kudos to you and Bill and Ralph for bravely leading an expedition of middle schoolers into the heart of New Jersey's Upper Cretaceous. Also, nice score on the ratfish jaw piece. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sixgill pete Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 To me, this is leadership at it's best. It is what is sadly missing from so many youth's lives. I salute you, and anyone who provides this for kids. 1 Bulldozers and dirt Bulldozers and dirt behind the trailer, my desert Them red clay piles are heaven on earth I get my rocks off, bulldozers and dirt Patterson Hood; Drive-By Truckers May 2016 May 2012 Aug 2013, May 2016, Apr 2020 Oct 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Looks like you guys had fun! Nice ratfish jaw piece too! : ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimravis Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Great job in perpetuating the hobby. I use to do a similar thing with a couple friends at Pit 11 (Mazon Creek). The Braidwood library would sponsor a couple trips a year and we would sometimes have 2 bus loads of people, including tons of kids. My son and I would stop out at Pit 11 and "salt" the area where we were going to be collecting. We would throw out tons of ferns ( ferns were not normally found at that location) and a bunch of random fauna (Jellyfish, worms, etc). As you noticed, unless they are finding things, they loose interest- and at Pit 11 that is very easy to do. We would kind of indirect the participants and they were always happy to find there own fossil. At the end of the trip we would also free raffle off some nice specimens and also provide everyone with a grab bag full with 20-25 fossils each- it was always a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njfossilhunter Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 Thank you....everyone for your kind words of inspiration and encouragement . I really enjoy working with the kids out in the field there is a sense of satisfaction when you bring children into a peaceful environment like the brooks for instance to collect things that nature has to provide....It make life so much better and meaningful for all of us. 2 TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpevahouse Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 A great thing to do. Children need to be introduced to history at an early age. Outside, hands on activities are the most successful with children. Museums are nice for adults but young children usually don't have the patience. But if they can stay active and have direct physical contact with things they will respond well. I've managed activities at our local museum and the kids always love being able to touch and hold things. Looking at old things behind glass just doesn't work well with children. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njfossilhunter Posted August 22, 2017 Author Share Posted August 22, 2017 On 8/20/2017 at 4:26 PM, jpevahouse said: A great thing to do. Children need to be introduced to history at an early age. Outside, hands on activities are the most successful with children. Museums are nice for adults but young children usually don't have the patience. But if they can stay active and have direct physical contact with things they will respond well. I've managed activities at our local museum and the kids always love being able to touch and hold things. Looking at old things behind glass just doesn't work well with children. That's great you work with children as well............It could be a lot of fun to watch there eyes light up when they find fossils that as a few of the kids asked if they could keep what they have found....... TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankh8147 Posted August 22, 2017 Share Posted August 22, 2017 Nice! That's quite a group there; glad you had fun and congrats on the ratfish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpevahouse Posted August 23, 2017 Share Posted August 23, 2017 A couple of years ago I organized a fossil exhibit at the local historical society museum. Cranbury 4th grade class came one weekday. The exhibit was relevant to what they were studying at the time. They showed great enthusiasm and genuine interest in the fossils. A local collector donated a few boxes of shale with fern fossils from St Clair PA. I let the kids use a hammer to expose fossils and take their finds home. I also put together small starter fossil kits for the kids and asked them to encourage their family to make a trip to Big Brook. Hopefully the kids will be influenced by their experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njfossilhunter Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 3 hours ago, jpevahouse said: A couple of years ago I organized a fossil exhibit at the local historical society museum. Cranbury 4th grade class came one a weekday. The exhibit was relevant to what they were studying at the time. They showed great enthusiasm and genuine interest in the fossils. A local collector donated a few boxes of shale with fern fossils from St Clair PA. I let the kids use a hammer to expose fossils and take their finds home. I also put together small starter fossil kits for the kids. I also asked the kids to encourage their family to make a trip to Big Brook. Hopefully the kids be influenced by their experience. Thats a wonderful thing to do...I have been thinking about doing something like that and last year I asked my granddaughters school if they would be interested in me setting up a display for the kids and they told me that they don't do things like that but she did bring some fossil shark teeth to school for show and tell and the kids loved it....She had her first trip to the brooks this summer.....She loved it.... TonyThe Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find. I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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