by Andi Newby
 “This was one of the best
days of my life,” a student
said to me through a
lopsided grin as he loaded
the school bus. Looking
around at the eleven slightly
sunburned yet happy faces,
I knew May 1, 2008 had
been a day they would
never forget.
 Thanks to a generous sponsorship by Change Magazine, I had the
opportunity to take the C.A.R.E. Club from Stewart Elementary
School in Hitchcock ISD to visit Armand Bayou Nature Center for
a first-hand look at the ecosystem we had been studying all year. The
C.A.R.E. Club (Children Actively Responsible for the Environment) is
a dedicated group of third and fourth graders who meet in my classroom
on Tuesdays after school to learn about the Galveston Bay estuary and
the inhabitants that live there. We began the year by investigating the
importance of brackish water and examining how the salinity levels
affect the organisms that need brackish water to survive. Each child
chose a bird native to Galveston Bay and spent the spring semester
creating a watercolor of the bird and writing poetry about it. The field
trip to Armand Bayou Nature Center was the culminating event that
allowed the students to see the birds up close that they dedicated so
much time and energy to studying throughout the school year.
 The bus ride back to Hitchcock buzzed with
laughter as the children swapped stories about their
adventures.
“We saw a huge alligator!” one student exclaimed
excitedly. “It was a mother, and she had two babies.”
Another student nodded her head. “We saw that
one too. She swam right under our boat!”
 “My favorite part was seeing the osprey!” a boy called
out. “I even have a feather to prove it!” He pulled a
plastic bag out of his pocket and carefully unfolded it.
Inside was an osprey feather, which he gingerly held up
for the others to see. I had been sitting beside him on
our boat ride when the feather had floated down from
a rather majestically-perched osprey, and I don’t think
a one-hundred dollar bill would have excited this child any more than that feather.
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