Ruth A. Bauer Celebration of Life
CIG Train-the-Trainers Course
June 17-21, 2019 Schmeeckle Reserve, UWSP Campus Stevens Point, WI
2419 Northpoint Drive, Stevens Point, WI 54481
Instructor: Emily Jacobs
The CIG Train-the-Trainers (formerly CIT) workshop is designed to improve your skills as a trainer using NAI’s Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) curriculum. Once you take the class and pass the credential requirements for CIT, you can use NAI’s curriculum and certify staff and volunteers at your own site or serve as a contractor to sites without a trainer on staff. This workshop is required for those who want to teach the CIG curriculum.
Click here for more information.
15th Annual Northwoods Birding Festival
May 31 6:30AM – June 1 4:00pm
Mark your calendars and join us in celebrating International Migratory Bird Day and our 15th annual birding festival with field outings, bird banding, and presentations by experts.
Advance registration recommended-field trips fill up fast! $50 ($40 members) and $20 students and youth under 18. (Additional $5 for same-day registration).
Register online on our website or by clicking this link.
Earth Partnership Indigenous Arts and Sciences Summer Institutes
Bad River & Red Cliff IAS
Tuesday, June 18 – Thursday, June 20
Red Cliff and Bad River, WI
Contact: IAS@badriver-nsn.gov
Ho-Chunk IAS
Tuesday, June 25 – Thursday, June 27
Black River Falls, WI
Contact: Michelle.Cloud@ho-chunk.com
Lac du Flambeau IAS
Tuesday, July 9 – Thursday, July 11
Lac du Flambeau, WI
Contact: chockings@ldftribe.com
Urban IAS
Tuesday, July 23 – Thursday, July 25
Madison, WI
Contact: earthpartnership@dpla.wisc.edu
Click here for more information and to register.
Wisconsin Standards for Environmental Literacy & Sustainability
DPI is hosting a one-day workshop and extended learning opportunities in July:
- Connect, Explore, Engage in Inquiry – July 29-31, Wisconsin Dells – Registration to come.
Victoria Rydberg has been writing a series of articles about the ELS standards. April will be focused on standard 6 and dynamic balance and May will be standard 7 about stewardship and civic engagement.
Academy of Natural Resources (ANR)
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a great place to study fish and wildlife management in a vast wilderness setting. The Michigan DNR recently expanded their Academy of Natural Resources (ANR) into the UP and Wisconsin educators are invited. The ANR program celebrates its 11th consecutive year of offering professional development to educators from Michigan and the Midwest. ANR North includes tagging along with the largest predator/prey study in North America, learning Native American management methods, boarding a lake Superior fisheries research vessel and more. To check out ANR North and the “original”, ANR Classic, go to www.michigan/gov/anr
Earth Week Activity
Join environmental organizations, concerned citizens and UWSP for a Walk for the Earth on Earth Day, Monday, April 22 at 5:30 pm!
Theme – Climate Change Awareness and Action
One goal of this demonstration is to bring together as many environmentally-based local organizations as possible to amplify our voices to bring attention to the climate change issue.
Groups will meet at the Sundial (between buildings 8 & 9 on the campus map) on the UWSP campus. The walk will go from the Sundial to Division St. and on down Main Street to the Square. There we will turn around and head back to the Sun Dial. We estimate total walk time to be between one and 1.5 hours.
Rain date Tuesday, April 23. same place and time.
We want organizations to carry a sign or signs that identify their group, the mission of their group as well as messages about climate change, the effects of climate change and citizen actions and awareness of climate change.
The walk is scheduled to follow a keynote address by Ramez Naam. Naam is a well-known technologist, author and futurist who advocates for action on climate change. His talk begins at 4 pm in the Laird Room of the Dreyfus University Center on campus.
We will gather contact information (emails and phone numbers) of the participants for future networking opportunities. By joining our voices together we can help build momentum that will mobilize effective and timely solutions to our climate crisis.
Questions? Contact:
Susan Zach zachfam@wi-net.com 715 572 4312
Karen Dostal kmdostal@wi-net.com 715 630 8864
Teaching in the Outdoor Classroom Workshop – June 17-20
Open to all who teach children including licensed teachers, teachers in training, home school educators, naturalists, non-formal educators, park rangers, volunteers, and Friends members! Working together as a team, we explore the many ways to use an outdoor classroom to enhance and strengthen a child’s education. The workshop is held in conjunction with the Summer Explorers Biology Camp for students entering 5th and 6th grades in the fall. Workshop participants may teach any grade level and have the opportunity to apply their new skills each day with a small group of interested students.
Instructors: ISD 544 Prairie Science Class teacher Mona Davis and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service educator Molly Stoddard.
Participants receive 28 clock hours of continuing education credit. Cost is $50. An option of free lodging is available on-site.
Register here. Enrollment is limited to the first 15 educators who register.
Click here for more information.
Sand Lake Conservation Camp
The annual Sand Lake Conservation Camp will be held June 19-21 at Camp Bird Youth Camp, near Crivitz, WI. This camp is for Wisconsin & Upper Michigan youth attending grades 6-8 in the fall. It provides positive outdoor experiences, helps foster an appreciation for nature, and introduces a variety of opportunities in natural resources and conservation careers. Topics include wildlife ecology, water quality, fisheries, outdoor skills, and more. $100 fee until May 22; after May 22 is $150. Cut-off date is June 3 and space is limited; registrations are on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, call 715-732-7784 or visit: http://www.marinettecounty.com & search for “Sand Lake” or “Sand Lake Conservation Camp”.
Campers make new friends, participate in hands-on activities, practice social & leadership skills, enjoy the outdoors, and just have fun! It’s a great educational hands-on opportunity and a unique summer camp experience focused on conservation and natural resources.
Click here for camp brochure. FAQ
The 30th Anniversary ENERGY FAIR IN CUSTER, WI
The Urban Ecology Center Institute
The Urban Ecology Center is fortunate to receive inquiries from people all over the world who are interested in the UEC model. The UEC Institute formed to meet that demand. In 2019, the Institute offers a focus workshop series as well as a 4-day summer Intensive.
In 2019, the Urban Ecology Center will host two-day workshops that dive into pivotal topics of the Center’s model. Staff professionals will facilitate in-depth, experiential lessons. Topics include:
- Nature-Based Early Childhood Education
- From Transactional to Transformational for Fundraisers
- Urban Land Stewardship Community Engaged Habitat Restoration
- Community Science Supporting Urban Collaborative Spaces
The Center’s second training Intensive for civic and community leaders from cities around the world is slated for July 22 – 26. Attendees will learn about the unique urban environmental education and community center model that the Urban Ecology Center has been running in Milwaukee for over 25 years.
Rather than travelling to other cities, the Urban Ecology Center is bringing interested groups to Milwaukee. 2018 participants hailed from Guadalajara, Mexico; Tiberias, Israel; Medellín, Columbia; and US cities in North Carolina, Missouri, Georgia, Philadelphia, Louisiana, and Texas.
More engaging than a seminar, more interactive than a workshop, only a little more serious than summer camp, this intensive is quite simply, more! Registration opens February 1.
Students for Zero Waste Week Campaign
March 18 – April 26, 2019*
*Schools choose one week (or more) to participate
Students for Zero Waste Week is a school-driven, week-long campaign to reduce waste on school campuses and within local communities with the intention of moving towards zero waste.
Students for Zero Waste Week invites your school to take the Zero Waste Week Challenge at school, in your community and at home by:
- Replacing single-use plastic items (such as drink bottles, sandwich baggies, sport packs, etc.) with reusable alternatives
- Replacing plastic straws with paper straws or consider not using straws
- Stepping up recycling and composting efforts
- Replacing single use condiment packets with bulk dispensers
- Powering down computers and other electronic devices when not in use
- And more!
For more information and to download materials, visit Students for Zero Waste Week
The extent to which your school is involved is up to your school!
Backyard Science Education
Great information for kids on the environment.
- What Is Environmental Education?
- About EE and Why it Matters
- What Is Environmental Education?
- How to Teach Respect for Wildlife
- Watch Out for Wildlife Activity Fun Book (PDF)
- Teach Your Kids About Wildlife Conservation
- Conservation Education Activity Guide
- Five Fun Activities for Teaching Kids About Conservation
- Build a Watershed
- In Your Watershed
- Drainage Basins and Watersheds
- Kids Make Great Citizen Scientists
- Kids Can Be Citizen Scientists: Here’s How
- Five Pro Tips for Talking to Kids About Climate Change (Without Freaking Them Out)
- Just for Kids: What’s Climate Change? And What Can I Do?
- Talking Climate Change With Kids
- How to Teach Kids About Sustainability
- Four Tips for Teaching Kids About Sustainable Living
(Site suggested by Hannah Ainsworth’s elementary science class – Jane, Michelle and Sam)
National Children & Youth Garden Symposium
Building Blocks for a Sustainable Future
Call for Session Proposals
The American Horticultural Society is pleased to announce its 27th annualNational Children & Youth Garden Symposium (NCYGS), the only national professional development event of its kind where we are cultivating tomorrow’s gardeners by energizing, inspiring, and training today’s garden educators. The 2019 event will take place July 10-13 in Madison, Wisconsin, hosted by Community Groundworks, the University of Wisconsin’s Environmental Design Lab, and the Wisconsin School Garden Network. At the core of the symposium are peer-led educational sessions that focus on relevant, thought-provoking topics, provide attendees with practical knowledge and skills, and appeal to attendees representing a variety of experience levels, educational settings, and youth audiences.
Now’s your chance to share your expertise with garden educators by presenting a session! We are calling for sessions that embody our theme, Building Blocks for a Sustainable Future. Sessions should introduce attendees to innovative sustainable gardening curriculum and practices, and partnerships; explore “green” career resources; and highlight model partnerships and management techniques for attracting the human, financial, and intellectual capital needed to sustain youth gardening endeavors. Session presenters receive a discounted registration rate to attend the symposium. Please reference these tips and guidelines and submit your session proposal online by December 31, 2018.
Save the date for the 27th annual National Children & Youth Garden Symposium!
Who: adults working in many different capacities – garden designers, educators, community leaders – to connect young people with the natural world
What: an annual professional development event, training educators in current trends and best practices in garden- and nature-based learning
When: July 10-13, 2019
Where: Madison, Wisconsin with excursions to the Troy Kid’s Garden, Madison Children’s Museum, Olbrich Botanic Gardens, and more
Why: share ideas, success stories, and inspiration with like-minded colleagues from across the nation
How: four dynamic days of:
- peer-taught sessions covering a range of relevant topics in small group settings to encourage substantive discussions
- field trips to regional sites with a garden/nature focus
- expert keynote presentations
- structured and informal networkingopportunities
For more information about NCYGS or to unsubscribe from future NCYGS emails, contact education@ahsgardening.org.
As we celebrate the holidays with tables filled with produce brought to us by pollinators (cranberries, pumpkins, apples, herbs, coffee, chocolate, peppers, tomatoes, etc.), populations of monarch butterfly are still struggling across their North American range. They need milkweeds and other nectar-bearing native wildflowers to be planted across the landscape to support their amazing tri-national annual migration. Help out our pollinator friends this holiday by ordering milkweed plugs for spring!
Many gardeners, farmers, conservationists, and other land managers find it tricky to find locally appropriate milkweed plants. Help is here! Our partners at the non-profit,Monarch Watch, have created the Milkweed Market to offer low cost or free (for non-profits and schools) milkweed seedlings for your pollinator gardens or larger-scale projects. Monarch Watch distributed over 147,000 milkweed seedlings in 2018 through partnering nurseries in Kansas, Oklahoma, California, and Florida. Simply order ahead of time (now) to make sure suppliers can meet the upcoming year’s demand. Preorders and early applications are necessary to help determine how many plants are needed for production.
Three ways to get milkweed seedlings for Spring 2019:
- Purchase young milkweed plants by the flat through the Milkweed Market:https://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/market/
- Funding is in place to distribute 100,000 FREE milkweeds for restoration projects, which provides free milkweeds for large scale (2+ acres) habitat restorations on both private and public lands. Monarch Watch is currently accepting applications for Spring 2019: http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/free-milkweeds-for-restoration-projects/
- A separate grant is available so schools and educational non-profit organizations can apply for one free flat of milkweed at this link:https://biosurvey.ku.edu/application-free-milkweed-nonprofits-and-schools
Thank you for your help in spreading the word and planting more milkweed for monarchs. If you do not see milkweed available for you now, re-visit the Milkweed Market later to see if they have added products based on new seed acquisitions. Please contact Dena Podrebarac at Monarch Watch with any questions at denap@ku.edu.
FREE- SCIENCE RESOURCES
Titled: “Bringing the Universe to America’s Classroom!” produced by WGBH- PBS LEARNING MEDIA. There are some great lessons dealing with climate, weather, and the solary energy from the sun… just to mention a few!
https://wpt.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/universe/
Each topical collection listed below includes a lesson plan and supplementary resources that feature a range of innovative media. Some of the media-rich education resources featured in these lessons include: IMAGES, INTERACTIVES, GAMES, VIDEOS, and DATA VISUALIZATIONS. Flexible support materials aid instructional use and integration into the classroom. The material contained in this product is based upon work supported by NASA.
There are units for all grades K-12.
K-2: Waves (light), Space, Earth’s Systems, and Weather/Climate
3-5: Space, Earth’s System
6-8: Space, Earth’s System, Weather/Climate
9-12: Space, Weather/Climate
$1250 Scholarships for Amazon Rainforest PD Workshop
Educator Academy in the Amazon Rainforest
The July 1-11, 2019 Educator Academy in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru is a cross-curricular professional development workshop for K-12 formal and informal educators to learn and use:
· 21st Century Instruction: Inquiry-Based Exploration ~ NGSS ~ STEM ~ 5E
· Inquiry Protocols & Resources: Project Learning Tree ~ Cornell Lab of Ornithology ~ & More!
· Global and Cultural Perspectives: ~ Sustainability ~ Global Education ~ Indigenous Cultures
Join Al Stenstrup, Project Learning Tree; Dr. Nancy Trautmann, Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Kristie Reddick, The Bug Chicks; along with scientists Dr. Steve Madigosky, Widener University; and Randy Morgan, Curator/Entomologist, Cincinnati Zoo as you:
· Work side-by-side with scientists and researchers on citizen science projects and field studies on the ACTSPeru Rainforest Canopy Walkway in one of the world’s most biologically diverse environments.
· Explore conservation and sustainability via hands-on workshops with indigenous communities.
· Spend a day in an Amazon village and explore the role of education in creating a sustainable future for Amazon children.
· Work in grade-level cohorts to develop strategies for using the Amazon as a vehicle for incorporating standards-based inquiry, STEM, and sustainability education into your classroom.
PLT Certification, BirdSleuth, and other resources included. Academic Credit and Machu Picchu Extension optional. $1250 scholarship deadline February 1, 2019. With a scholarship, Academy Program fees are $1345 (airfare not included). Space is limited to 30 educators – Register early to secure your spot!
Get the details and download a syllabus and scholarship application at here. Contact Educator Academy Director, Christa Dillabaugh, for more information:
Email: christa@amazonworkshops.com
Phone: 1-800-431-2624
Developing Elementary Literacy Skills through Outdoor Learning Workshop (EE Stipulation)
- CESA 4, West Salem – April 11
Click here for more information
STEAM Point Days
UWSP Continuing Education is looking for energetic presenters to take part in STEAM Point Days (formerly known as STEM Exploration Days). STEAM Point Days are offered by UWSP Continuing Education and Outreach via three annual events. The two larger events are held at UWSP with one in November for boys and one in February for girls, both catering to students in grades 7 and 8. The third event is for boys and girls in grades 6 – 8 and is held at Treehaven in May. This is a great way for you and/or your students to showcase passions and inspire middle school students to consider a major in your department.
Presenters may provide one to three, one-hour, hands-on STEAM workshops at the UW-Stevens Point events and up to four, 40-minute workshops at the Treehaven event. Workshops are intended to engage and interest students into entering STEM careers with an understanding that the “A” within STEAM is an essential piece of being successful within STEM careers.
If you have STEAM workshop topic idea and are interested in presenting to area youth at one or more events, please complete the workshop proposal form. Workshops are typically limited to less than 25 students and we can adjust capacity to meet accommodate your plans.
For more information on STEAM Point Days visit: https://www.uwsp.edu/conted/ConfWrkShp/Pages/STEM/STEAM.aspx
Event dates:
- STEAM Achieve at Treehaven: Friday, May 3, 2019
“STEAM is an educational and integrated approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics, where principles of the arts-the creative process, critique and innovation-support critical thinking used in areas of STEM. STEAM education encompasses a larger pallet of learning resulting in students who are thoughtful risk takers, persistent and collaborative problem-solvers, and experiential learners”.
Project Dragonfly
Miami University’s Project Dragonfly is accepting applications for 2019 Earth Expeditions graduate courses that offer extraordinary experiences in 16 countries throughout the world. http://EarthExpeditions.MiamiO
Earth Expeditions can build toward the Global Field Program (GFP), a master’s degree that combines summer field courses worldwide with web learning communities so that students can complete the GFP master’s part-time from anywhere in the United States or abroad. http://GFP.MiamiOH.edu/18-19_n
Project Dragonfly also offers the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) master’s degree that combines web instruction from Miami University with experiential learning and field study through several AIP Master Institutions in the U.S. Applications for Miami’s 2019 cohorts are being accepted now with place-based experiences provided at zoos in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, New York, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis. http://AIP.MiamiOH.edu/18-19_n
Graduate tuition for all programs is greatly reduced because of support from Miami University.
Prairie Wetlands Learning Center
