Learning Outdoors
Resources from Environmental Education - 12/3/20
The Honorable Harvest
Exploring our Water Story in Google Earth
Another learning opportunity from Green and Healthy Schools WI is this program about Exploring our Water Story with Google Earth. Check out the video to learn about the interactive digital methods for studying water and watersheds. The mapping tool referenced in the video can be found here.
City of Waukesha - December Lantern Walk
2021 Saving Endangered Species Youth Art Contest
EE Teacher Book Pick
Enjoy this book recommendation from EE teacher Rita Keber!
The nonfiction book Weather, A First Discovery Book by Gallimard Jeunese relays information about the four seasons. Each season tells about what changes are seen and felt. The book has “magic” pages where a clear page with white reveals a new picture under the white section on the next page. My favorite part of the book is predicting what is underneath the “magic” white part before I turn the page.
Audobon Society Christmas Bird Count
Energy & Climate Resource Expo
WIBEE: The Wisconsin Wild Bee App
Planetarium Corner
Each week, Lisa Swaney (the Planetarium Director) will share some fun opportunities here!
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Did you miss your chance to see the solar eclipse of 2017? Have you always wanted to experience a total solar eclipse? We are less than a month away from that opportunity. Just like everything else in 2020, you can experience the next total solar eclipse by live streaming the experience from Patagonia on December 14th. There are plenty of resources within the link to explore and use if you have any eager and interested scholars. It’s never too early to start planning or to excite audiences for the quickly approaching 2023 North American annular eclipse and the 2024 North American total eclipse.
The Phenology Phorum
First Ice
Written by EE teacher Laureanna Raymond-Duvernell
It’s happening. Cold nights are settling in, and cold days follow close behind. Where we could get away with just a jacket a couple of weeks ago, we now need a hat and mittens to travel outside comfortably. Winter is making its way in!
Last weekend, the girls and I went hiking at Lapham Peak in the southern Kettle Moraine State Forest here in Wisconsin. No plans, just needed to get outside, so we took the trails that felt right.
We were led to a small pond on the edge of the park boundaries that was just a side trail away. Hiking paused to make room for exploring.
The pond was not what we had expected, however. It was iced over! Nothing thick enough that a strong stick couldn’t poke through, but definitely solid enough to hold smaller sticks skated across the surface. We admired the patterns created, the bubbles trapped under the surface, and the clarity with which we could see directly down to the leaves and mud encased in the ice.
Keep an eye out for these first signs of winter - frost on our windows and plants, light flurries without accumulation - and look for changes in the water you have around you. Pair your observations with the book Here Comes Jack Frost by Kazuno Kahara. Beautifully and simply illustrated, it takes the reader from being dismayed by winter to being amazed by it.
Sit-upons
Support for Outdoor Learning
To see detailed outdoor learning ideas, check out this slideshow.
To see a flyer that outlines our support offerings this year, check out this link.
Science Joke of the Week
We Want to Hear From YOU!
Email: ekoeppel@waukesha.k12.wi.us
Website: https://sdw.waukesha.k12.wi.us/domain/173
Location: 810 West College Avenue, Waukesha, WI, USA
Phone: 262-970-4333
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDWEnvironmentalEducation
Twitter: @sdwenved