What a beautiful May day to spend in Fish Creek Provincial Park!

The journey of our grade 4 and 5 classes started with a handsome coyote greeting our bus just inside the Fish Creek entrance! Everyone got a close look at it “safari style” from behind windows. Once inside the interpretation centre, the students enjoyed a “game show” formatted information period discussing native flora and fauna of the region and the expectations of visitors to provincial parks. Then the classes divided and conquered: Mrs. Summer’s class continued on inside the museum while Mrs. Winters’ class ventured outside for exploration and creative writing.

Inside the museum, students learned of the timeline of the area, beginning with glacial movement through the valley, the appearance of mammoths, camels and prehistoric horses approximately 11, 000 years ago, to bison, pronghorn antelope and appearance of human activity around 8,000 years ago.

On the opposite walls we found the history of the important settlers to the site: John Glenn, William Roper-Hall, and Patrick Burns. Students focused on one of the three, sketching their portrait and learning their history in order to adopt their persona for creative writing in the afternoon.

After lunch we walked along paths to learn of the origin of Fish Creek (Known first by native peoples as Sikome Creek – meaning “black fish” creek for the abundant trout in its waters. “Black Fish Creek” shortened to “ Fish Creek”, and the word Sikome was honored in the name of the manmade lake nearby. Unfortunately, on our walk, we encountered a fallen young owl, reminding us of the natural cycle of life and death in the park.

We explored the buffalo jump and pound used by the First Nations groups for over 8000 years and listened to a story of the jump from the perspective of one of its members.

Lastly, we were left to adopt the persona of our chosen settler and wrote in our journals about the Fish Creek valley through their eyes.

The day flew by! As usual, it was a pleasure to participate in an outing with such creative, attentive and well behaved students. What a great way to be transported back to the grandeur and beauty of an age gone by right here in our own neighborhood!

Ramona