Canoeing Adventure: Saving the Bird!

       It was rainy and grey as we set out to the wetlands on Thursday afternoon. You might wonder, why canoeing so late in November? The purpose of our canoeing trip was to think about writing a story from perspectives. How would those on land tell a story of the canoe trip and how would it differ from the story of those people in the canoes. We quickly realized the benefits of choosing to visit the wetlands on a rainy day: wildlife sightings.
      Our first sighting was of two Great Blue Herons. One in the creek as we entered the wetlands, the other across the pond. 

        Even more exciting was the sighting of a family of what we believe to be River Otters swimming right in front of the second Blue Heron. They were too far to see but you can take a peek of them swimming by clicking here. 
        All of this, before we ever set foot in a canoe. 
        Full of excitement from our wildlife sightings, the groups set off into canoes or settled into camp chairs to observe and collect details for our perspective stories.

         That is when the adventure really began. The second group of canoes embarked on their canoe turn. At this point, it may be easier to learn the story from the students themselves. Read the story of the Grebe we saved from the perspective of the people watching from the shore and from the perspective of those in the canoes.

          Perspective One: On the Shore, by Bridget Murphy

It started when I had just finished canoeing with Tom Handel. We were all sitting down and preparing to write about our partners. It smelled like rain and my toes were all numb and curled in my too small boots. My pants were soaked from kneeling in the wet canoe. I was just turned around getting my pencil. When I turned back, I noticed that Ada, who was my partner, seemed to be stuck. I could tell because she was the only person in the canoe I could see. It looked like she was trying to paddle her way out but the canoe wasn’t moving at all. I felt a little confused, how did she get stuck like that? I thought as I wrote some stuff on my paper. I wrote that she was probably stressed and receiving a lot of instructions from the adult in the canoe. Awhile later, I was very sure that they were stuck because they were sitting there for very long and all the other canoes were around them. When they came out, I was relieved for them and I assumed they were too, so I wrote that on my paper. This is where it got confusing. I was just about to sit down when all of a sudden, a canoe came up to the dock and Mrs. McClellan said something to Mrs. Duden. She looked a little frantic, everybody in the canoe looked serious. Mrs. Duden nodded, went and grabbed a backpack, and quickly handed it to Mrs.McClellan. I was so confused, Why would they need a backpack? I asked Mrs.Duden, she said there was a baby duck that had gotten stuck in a net.

“Where?” I asked her.

“In Tom’s hands.” She replied quickly.

WHAT!? I thought as I tried to get a look. That’s when I noticed Tom was crouched down in the canoe as if he was holding something and was telling the kids what to do. Everyone on shore was crowded by the dock.

“Where’s the duck?” someone yelled. Tom lifted up his arms so we could all see, that’s when I saw the poor shivering duck, with a net wrapped around his head. Right then I couldn’t feel my cold cramped feet or my wet soaked pants anymore. I only cared about that scared trapped Duck. I started to worry. Will the duck be alright? How will they save him. I saw that people were taking bags out of the backpack and handing them to Parker. I got even more confused, Why don’t they just take out the thing they needed from the backpack instead of emptying everything else out? The canoes all stopped and crowded around something I assumed was the duck. I staired, hopping the duck would be alright. They all stopped and cheered. I was so happy! The duck was okay, everything was alright.

Perpective Two: In the Canoes by Ada O'Hare

As we glided away from the dock, our paddles swished through the water, We were going canoeing you see, we had seen otters earlier that morning and decided to go see if we could find them. Heading toward where the otter was last seen, there was a sudden flurry of splashing water. We decided to get a little closer to see what is was. An otter? A bird? It stopped moving altogether and we saw that it was a bird. Is it dead? We were about to leave because we thought it was dead, It was so sad.

       Then it started splashing again. It’s alive! But it's stuck! I thought. Tom Handel asked us if we wanted to save it. “Yes,” I felt like screaming but I didn't. And so we did, Tom Handel put one foot in the water and reached over to grab the duck. He had to really work and try to detach the stick. Then he saw the netting. He said he needed scissors to cut it free so he took the bird and we paddled out we had to get to shore so he could get his backpack (which had the scissors in it.) We got the bag and found the scissors then we cut the bird free and released it into the wild!

          Wow! What an exciting day! I could not have asked for a better opportunity to write a story from two angles. Next week we will be visiting some classes in the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Grade classes to share our story and our writing. Stay tuned for all the perspective writing to be shared!