On Thursday, November 10, Grade 2 and 3 students spent the day at Black Rock Forest. Both grades went on hikes, observing salamanders, newts, trees, and decomposers, particularly fungi. Squirrels, chipmunks, hawks and centipedes were other highlights. After lunch in students did more focused examination of small areas of the forest floor, searching for invertebrates. The Director of Education, Dr. Jeffrey Kidder, hiked with the boys and described many interesting trees and berries. In particular, the boys learned how the hemlock woolly adelgid, a tiny insect, is slowly destroying many hemlocks in the forest. They were fascinated at how a twig from a black birch could be chewed for a natural flavor of wintergreen. The students were accompanied by their Science teachers, Ms. Seto and Mr. Keany, and their homeroom teachers Ms. Gerber, Ms Hilton, Ms. Kehoe and Ms. Coleman.