Monday, March 28, 2016

PLT Early Childhood Online Training

Project Learning Tree's (PLT) award-winning early childhood materials help you foster young children’s wonder and curiosity about the natural world as you safely take your young learners outdoors and bring nature into the classroom. 

PLT’s new online workshop consists of 5 self-paced online coursels (each a 20–30-minute learning experience) with simulations and videos that model PLT’s early childhood activities, along with accompanying planning worksheets that provide guidance and support for you to try out PLT activities with children in your context.

What’s Included
This professional development experience will teach you how to use PLT’s materials effectively in your own educational setting and how to access many additional resources.

The course includes:

The Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood e-guide contains over 130 experiences that engage children ages 3 to 6 in outdoor exploration and play, and downloadable music files that encourage children to sing, dance, and move. A print version of the guide and music CD are available for an additional fee. Topics include exploring nature with five senses, meeting neighborhood trees, and experiencing trees through the seasons. 

The workshop can be completed during your own time, wherever you are, as long as you have internet access. It provides useful links to online resources, state-specific resources, and 5 coursels which are 20–30-minute self-paced learning experiences that make up the larger course. Exercises and worksheets will help you plan and facilitate group experiences with early learners, and design environmental experiences that maximize their use of 6 types of Learning Centers found in your Environmental Experiences for Early Childhood activity guide. 

Cost $30.00

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Free Seedlings for Iowa Schools from Trees For Kids


To celebrate Earth Week next month, the Trees for Kids program is offering free seedlings to schools and communities across Iowa.

Each school building and community may order one free custom packet consisting of 200 bare-root seedlings, 50 each of four selected species. Recipients are not required to plant their trees during Earth Week (April 17-23, 2016), but must have them planted before May 31, 2016.

To take part in this offer, schools and communities need to complete a simple application form and return it to the Trees for Kids program via email or postal mail by April 1, 2016. The application form can be found at www.iowadnr.gov/urbanforestry by clicking on “Trees for Kids Earth Month Celebration.”

Schools and communities receiving packets will be asked to email at least one photo of the trees being planted and a short paragraph indicating where and why they were planted.  No other requirements are necessary to receive the free trees.

The Iowa-grown, native trees and shrubs provided by the State Forest Nursery are naturally adapted to Iowa’s weather and soil extremes. Trees provide many benefits including wildlife habitat, environmental protection in the form of improved energy efficiency and water quality. They are vital hosts to pollinators and provide seasonal beauty to our landscape. Planting trees has been a traditional way to celebrate Earth Day since its beginning in the 1970s.

Schools and communities can create their own custom packets or select from a variety of recommended specialty packets, such as:

  • Fall Color –Trees and shrubs with vibrant fall color
  • Fastest Forest – Great along streams and wet areas, these grow at least 3 feet per year
  • Pollinator Packet – Provides vital host species for butterflies and other pollinators
  • Privacy Packet – Great to use as a visual barrier or along a fence line
  • Spring Flowers – Create spring color with these flowering shrubs and small trees
  • Storm Resistant Packet – These trees resist breakage from wind and ice storms
  • Wild Edible Packet – Enjoy an edible landscape

Photos and information about various packet species can be found at www.iowadnr.gov/ seedlingcatalog. The seedlings are between 8 and 24 inches, depending on the tree or shrub species. Size requests do not apply to this program. Order early for best species selection.

The Trees for Kids and Trees for Teens grant programs are funded by Iowa Department of Natural Resources Forestry Bureau, MidAmerican Energy, Black Hills Energy, Alliant Energy, Iowa Bankers Association, Trees Forever, Iowa Tree Farm Committee and the Iowa Woodland Owners Association.

For more information about ordering no-cost Trees for Kids seedlings, contact Laura Wagner, DNR Trees for Kids Coordinator, 515-725-8456 or laura.wagner@dnr.iowa.gov

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Reconnecting Children with Nature: Growing Up WILD Early Childhood Training

 
This workshop leads you out the door and provides hands on activities and resource materials to help you lead your own nature explorations. Growing Up WILD activities use age appropriate practices and concepts to build on children’s sense of wonder and invites them to explore nature and the world around them. Specially written for children 3-7, activities include sections to address many learning areas: math, science, language, literacy, health living, play, and creativity.
 
Growing Up WILD received the 2009 Family Choice Award and the 2011 Renewable Natural Resource Foundation Excellence in Journalism Award.

April 23, 2016
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Story County Conservation Center (56461 180th St, Ames)
Registration:
Iowa Child Care Providers Training Registry— Click on Search Trainings, then search Reconnecting in the Title.
Registration Deadline: April 15, 2016
Cost: $35

For more information, contact Malisa Rader at 515-708-0822 or mrader@iastate.edu
 

Drawing on Nature



A sense of wonder is sparked when art and nature meet. Nature provides the stage and art provides the script to help you awaken a love of learning in your students complimented by a lifelong bond with their natural world.

·         Spend a class just drawing patterns in nature.
·         Students can spend a class drawing lines they see tree branches making.
·         Students can create texture rubbings of various textures they find in nature.
·         Students can spend a day just drawing leaves on various plants.

Reading Connections
Martin, L. C., and D. Cain. 2003. Nature's Art Box. Storey Books.
Ryall, J. 2012. Nature Art. Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Thomas, P., and C. Orback. 2007. Nature's Paintbox: A Seasonal Gallery of Art and Verse. Lerner Publishing Group.