What state standards would be helpful to address in conference workshops?

Possible dates for 2010 conference

 We’re entertaining the idea of of having this conference 1 or 2 weeks later (Monday, Oct 25th, 2010 or Monday, Nov 1st, 2010)

We’d love to hear thoughts about this change and if it would work with your school’s schedule.

Let us know how you’ve used the information you’ve learned from the 2009 conference

We’d love to know how you’ve used what you’ve learned at the conference in the classroom.

The following indicates when workshops are being offered.

Curing Nature Deficit Disorder

A Conference for Teachers

Workshops

(as of September 14, 2009)

Brochure With Registration

Adaptation is for the Birds

Cheryl Mast,

Director of Outdoor

and Environmental Education

Amigo Centre

An assimilation activity that can easily be used in the classroom brings to life an understanding of the various kinds of food that birds eat and why they don’t all eat the same thing. Beyond different sizes and styles of beaks/bills, birds also have other adaptations that aid them in survival. Time will be spent discussing and experiencing hands-on examples of these adaptations. Come hungry…leave filled with ideas.

Go Ahead, Bug Me!

Pat Underwood, Parks Naturalist.

Berrien County Parks & Recreation

Commission. Love Creek Nature Center.

Love them or hate them – insects can capture a student’s attention. This workshop will be full of tried and true activities that help students explore and appreciate the wonderful world of insect that are found in the schoolyard.

Life in the Soil

Nancy Brown, Program Director

Elkhart County Soil and Water

Conservation District

Did you know there is a greater mass of life under the soil surface than above it? This session will provide you with background information to increase you comfort level when taking students outside in you school yard to investigate life in the soil. Students will learn the components and importance of soil, and the variety of life that exists there. They will never again think soil is “just dirt.”

Quick-Frozen Critters

Judy Wells, retired teacher

While students play this active game of “freeze tag”, they will also be learning about animal adaptation, predator/prey relationships and how these factors influence wildlife populations. Participants in the class will also go home with supplies to do this activity in their classes the next day!

Limiting Factors

Louis Seaman

Director of Outdoor Education

YMCA Camp Eberhart

What pressures influence whether an animal lives or dies? You will leave this workshop with many quick, easy, and portable nature activities that help answer this question.

Paper Plate Astronomy

Chuck Bueter

Founder, Paper Plate Education

Fellow, Great Lakes Planetarium Association

Use paper plates to make observations of sky events – it’s fun, effective, and cheap. In each workshop, participants will explore several sample plate designs, then make-and-take their own paper plate creation. This isn’t simply arts and crafts. Paper plate designs can range from simple yet functional recording forms to complicated dials predicting the locations of the planets. See more at: http://analyzer.depaul.edu/paperplate/nature.htm

Magical World of Owls

Michaele Klingerman

Interpreter,

St Joseph County (Ind.) Parks & Recreation

Owls are mysterious creatures which captivate people of all ages. Discover what adaptations make the owl the ultimate nocturnal hunter. Activities will include pieces and parts for hands-on discussion, owl pellet dissection and an interactive predator-prey game.

Art and A Need for Weeds!!

Jan Grodnik, retired teacher

Collecting small weeds, grasses, flowers, seeds, etc… is fun for everyone. Pressing them and turning collected materials into attractive, interesting and useful art brings success to all students! These also make nice gifts.

Camouflage: the game of survival

Krista Daniels, Interpreter

Elkhart County Parks

Discover the challenge of hiding in your own skin or be eaten. Hands-on, interactive lessons teach about animal survival, camouflage, and creativity. “Project Wild” & “Flying Wild” curriculum will be introduced.

Deadly Links

Judy Wells

retired teacher

In this physically active role play game, students become a food chain of hawks, shrews and grasshoppers. When pesticides are introduced to this food chain, students will begin to experience some of the consequences that pesticides can cause in a natural system. Participants in the class will also go home with supplies to do this activity in their classes the next day!

How to Analyze a Habitat

Brice Emanuel

Executive Director, YMCA Camp Eberhart

Unless you live in a certain habitat and study it through all the changes of seasons year after year, you cannot claim to know it. This workshop provides a groundwork for helping students truly understand their surroundings.

Magnificent Maple

Courtney R. Franke

Elkhart County Parks Department

Learn history, math, science, economics, and have some fun outside. Learn how to identify a member of the maple family. Learn how to collect some maple sap (cheaply) and produce your own real maple syrup.

Grants for Education 101

Nancy Sinnott,

Director of Financial Development

YMCA of Michiana

Have a great idea, but it will cost $$ that you and/ or your school just doesn’t have? There may be options you can explore to get that $$ and get started. Nancy Brenner Sinnott has over twenty years writing program grants, mostly for school related programs. She will explore the where, when, why and how of getting funding, some which may be in your own backyard!

Salmon in the Classroom

Shana McMillian, Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery

Salmon in the classroom is an exciting program that teaches students about our state’s freshwater resources through interactive hands-on learning. This learning experience allows students to raise, care for, and maintain the salmon in their classroom from fall until spring. The program concludes at the end of the school year with the release of the young fish into local waters that feed into the Great Lakes.

Water Critters & Water Quality

Nancy Brown, Program Director

Elkhart County Soil and Water

Conservation District

Professional surface water quality monitors identify benthic macro invertebrates to assess water quality in rivers and streams. This session will teach you to adapt those principles to conduct the same procedure with your class. Your students will enjoy catching, identifying, and classifying invertebrates that live on the bottom of a river or stream. You will be able to teach insect life cycles, scientific methods and more!

• Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators by David Sobel 2008
• No Student Left Indoors: Creating a Field Guide to Your Schoolyard by Jane Kirkland
• Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv