The Alliance for the Mystic River Watershed Ecosystems & Relationships Residency 2026

Directions: Make a ✔, sketch, or write observations about what you discover.

🌊 Find Eccleston Brook.      Record: Temp ________________ pH ______________

🐸 Turn the page over and draw or describe life in - or near -  the brook.

🌱 Moss is 450 million years old. It was one of the first plants to move from the ocean onto land. 

Find and draw 2 kinds of moss.

Moss #1       Moss #2

• 🪨 Lichen grows on rocks, and moss can grow on lichen. Find them growing together.

• 🌿 Find a plant growing on a rock

• 🌸 Find a purple flower 

• 🌼 Find a yellow flower

👀🐦 See a bird. Draw or describe it here. 

🐦 Listen for a bird. What does it sound like?  Spell out the rhythm you hear!

🕸️ Find a spider web. Draw or describe where you found it

• 🪵 Woodpeckers peck dead trees to find insects living inside.
  Find a fallen tree with signs of woodpecker activity.

• 💧 A vernal pool is a temporary spring wetland that provides habitat for special plants and animals. Some animals can only be born in vernal pools - like the dragon fly! What is the relationship between dragon flies and mosquitoes? Find a vernal pool.

• 🪨 18,000 years ago glaciers left behind giant rocks called glacial erratics.  Find one!

• 🚜 Humans have been planting the land for many years.
  Find a farm.

• Sing a song about nature

👣 Humans are part of the ecosystem too. Draw or describe evidence of humans in the woods.

🌎 Turn the page over and draw or describe a beautiful place in nature where you enjoy being.

• ⭐ BONUS: Bring a leaf back to the classroom to identify and recreate with clay.