Brick pond brings science and collaboration
May 26—ASHTABULA — Students from Allison Bartunek's first-grade class and third-grade students in Lori St. Angelo's class teamed up with Aaron Chamberlain's and Stacy Gancos' seventh-grade STEM classes last week to explore the brick pond.
The pond is situated behind the Ashtabula Lakeside Elementary Campus on Wade Avenue.
The project began as a pen pal project when the Ashtabula Area City School's seventh graders wrote letters to the first and third graders. The younger students were so excited to respond the older students that they immediately wrote letters back.
"Their smiles lit up the room as they read their letters," Bartunek said. "I have never seen my students so excited to write."
AACS parent Suzanne Westlake, who works at the Ashtabula County Soil and Water District office in Jefferson, helped the students explore the brick pond. They found animal tracks and a tree that a beaver had chewed.
RoLesia Holman, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for AACS, helped the students discover the biodiversity of the brick pond.
The students were full of smiles and excitement as they hiked around the pond, Bartunek said.
"My pen pal was so nice to me," said Emerald Bopp, a first-grade student.
Gancos said, "The kids loved meeting and walking with their pen pals as they took pictures of nature around the pond. What a great collaboration! I hope we can do it again and keep this project going."
The next step in the project is for the students to work together with their pen pals to identify species from photos they took. They will then determine how the species' needs are met by the environment.
