Winter at Pok-O brings many things: snow, skiing, snow tubing, evenings spent curled up beside a wood stove, and...French Canadians!

Approximately one third of our client base comes to us from Montreal (our closest "big city") and other parts of Quebec. Although we had a few Canadian Schools in the fall, this is the time of year when they start coming with some regularity. These students are native French speakers who are learning English, and they come to Pok-O to practice.

This past week, we hosted 5th graders from the Sir Wilfrid Laurier school. These kids have been in an intensive English program since the beginning of the school year, and their hard work has certainly paid off---their English was very good. (I'm ashamed to admit that their English, after 5 months, was slightly better than my Spanish was after 5 years of studying.)

The English program at Sir Wilfrid Laurier was run for years by the legendary (at least among the Quebec English Language Learning community) Wynanne Watts. Wynanne retired last year (she serves on our Board of Directors now), so this winter we got to meet the new teacher, Marie Annick Poulit. Based on the level of English that the kids were speaking, we know that Marie is doing an excellent job!

Our program with Sir Wilfrid Laurier was three days packed with lots of activities. We did the full range of winter activities, including cross-country skiing, winter hiking, snow tubing, winter survival, and ice fishing. Below are a few pictures from ice fishing and winter survival:

In this picture, kids are using the ice auger to drill a hole for ice fishing. Because you need to both turn the auger and exert downward pressure in order to effectively use the auger, you either need to be tall, or work with a partner.

Here are some kids ice fishing. Unfortunately, we didn't catch anything on either of our early morning fishing expeditions. Fortunately, Chris had prepared something else for breakfast, so we got to eat anyway!

One of the highlights of Winter Survival is building snow shelters. Usually we build Quinzees, which are shelters that are built using loose, powdery snow. Given the weather lately, however, the snow was perfect for cutting blocks, so we built igloos instead. In the photo below, you can see the process of cutting snow blocks.

Here we are building the igloo...

Here is the finished igloo! Building a domed roof was beyond our engineering skills, so instead we built straight walls, then made a lattice with branches and topped it with more snow blocks. All in all, we were all pretty proud of our igloo!

Winter Ecology

Winter has arrived at Pok-O full-force, and with it comes our winter curriculum! Although we still offer many of the same classes regardless of the season, during the winter we lose some of our fall/spring classes (canoeing, for example) and gain some new ones, including Winter Ecology.

Winter Ecology is a class that looks at the challenges animals face in the winter, and the strategies that they have developed to address these challenges. We discuss migration, hibernation, and other adaptations, all the while doing some hands-on activities to help the kids really understand what the animals go through.

In the photo below, we are checking the results of an experiment about finding warm places to hibernate. Students are each given a small container filled with hot, liquid jello, and need to find a place that will keep it warm over the next 10 to 15 minutes. If they find a place that will keep their "animal" warm, the jello remains liquid. If their burrow is too cold, however, the jello congeals.

In the next picture, you'll see students playing the "Tracking Game." In this game, the students pair up, with one playing the role of the predator, and the other the prey. The "prey" walks across an area of clean snow, leaving tracks that they hope will confuse their predator. Then the "predator" gets a chance to try to follow the tracks, and see if they can end up in the same place as their prey. (In the picture, the predators are trying to figure out which way their prey went.)

After students track each other, we head into the woods to look for, identify, and follow real animal tracks. In a recent class, we followed a set of deer tracks for quite a distance, and were able to find branches that the deer had nibbled on and places where the deer had gone to the bathroom. (The students were especially excited to find the deer poop, as pictured below.)

Winter at Pok-O is a great time to head outdoors and learn more about what's going on in the cold. We'll try to post more about our other winter classes soon!