Where oh where to begin? Upon arrival on Sunday for this workshop Shawna and her support staff were very welcoming. I must say the amount of support materials for this class that was laid out before us was like "Christmas" for an educator. Wow, and thank you for bringing all that to us. I'm still not through it all. They will be of great resource for years to come I'm sure.
When signing up for this workshop I was not sure what to expect. As it turned out, this has to be one of the most informative, busy and fun classes I have ever experienced. It covered many related topics blending them together in a very understandable format. They included forest ecology, fire and fuel management, fire education for the public- including much needed land use policies, history of fire suppression, fire mitigation, PLT activities, plus many more. This workshop had many presenters showing how so many agencies play an important role and just how much good can be done working together. I was impressed.
My favorite parts were the field trips and of those Lemon Reservoir stands out. John Ey went all out for us and for that it made his erosion presentation even better. His ingenuity and good old know how was heroic in proportion. His work saved the drinking water of Durango, Colorado as the Simms Table (my next favorite thing from this class) will undoubtedly save many lives and homes as it is already being put to test in many areas.
I hope to incorporate knowledge from this class into my curriculum, sparking a fire in them on these important topics.The PLT activity of burning a match stick forest kept all us adults engaged, I can't wait to do it with my students. This inquiry-based activity combined with many of the other PLT activities and games will make for a great enrichment.
A great thank you goes out to all of the presenters with special thanks to each and everyone of them for their countless hours of dedication for making this such a successful work shop. My plan to even begin to incorporate some of this information is as follows. I will also be using the wonderful posters and pulling up different web-sites to enrich my students knowledge base on this subject, as well as get them excited and and curious.
Education Enrichment Plan: To intergrate PLT activities into our newly adapted Treasures Units as follows. I'm sure I'll change and interchange theses some as I get used to them, but here is how I see it at first glance. I would also send home the corresponding Family/Caregivers connecting letter home to encourage home participation even if I use activities from the Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. Most of theses activities make excellent connection to the five senses of which are great ways for my age of students to begin making connection to their outdoors.
Unit 1 Families: Section One, Exploring Nature with the Five Senses; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #3 Get in Touch with the Trees. We would examine tree cookies and do the Tree Ring/Life Ring activities making them into mobiles to hang in our classroom, all as an introduction. Books: Burns, Diane L.-Trees, Leaves, and Bark, ISBN: 1559716282 and Hoban, Tana - Ist it Rough? Is it Smooth? Is is Shiny?, ISBN: 0688038239.
Unit 2 Friends: Section One, Exploring Nature with the Five Senses; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #4 We all Need Trees. Books: Huges, Mereidith Sayles - Tall and Tasty: Fruit Trees, ISBN: 0822528371, Ryder, Joanne - Hello Tree!, ISBN: 0525673105, and Ehlert, Lois - Pie in the Sky, ISBN: 01522165843.
Unit 3 Transportation: Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide, Activity #85 Modified Version of Travel Log, Disscusion of different modes of transportation needed to approach putting out wildfires. Books: Bingham, Caroline - Fire Truck, ISBN: 0789492210 and Dig Dig Digging, ISBN: 0805068406.
Unit 4 Food: Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #5 Signs of Fall. Books: Sherrow, Victoria - Chipmunk at Hollow Tree Lane, ISBN: 1568990286 and Senisi, Ellen B. - Fall Changes, ISBN: 0439240948.
Unit 5 Animals: Section Three, Meeting Neighborhood Trees; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #10 Trees as Habitats. Books: Bishop, Nic. Forest Explorer: A Life-Sized Field Guide, ISBN: 0439174805 and Word, Jennifer - Forest Bright, Forest Night, ISBN: 1584690674.
Unit 6 Neighborhood: Section Three, Meeting Neighborhood Trees; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity# 9 To Be a Tree. Book: Miller, DebbieS. - Are Trees Alive?, ISBN: 0802788017.
Unit 7 Weather, Unit 8 Plants: A visit to website weatherwizkids.com. then Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons; Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #7 Bursting Buds. Talk about basic fire triangle, Matchstick Forest activity combined with Acticity #81 from Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide. Books: Evans, Lezlie - Rain Song, ISBN: 0395850770, Fire Education Team Big Book Illustrated by Hergie and Peluso, Beth A. - The Charcoal Forest: How Fire Helps Animals and Plants. ISBN 9780878425327. I would also like to have them experience how it feels to use emergency fire shelter.
Unit 9 Amazing Creatures:Section One, Exploring Nature with Five senses; Activity #2 Sounds Around. Books: Owen, Roy - My Night Forest, ISBN: 0027690059 and Merriam, Eva - Quiet Please, ISBN: 0671798162.
Unit 10 I Know A Lot: Section Two, Experiencing Trees Through the Seasons: Early Childhood Environmental Experiences, Activity #8 Adopt a Tree. Books: Iverson, Diane - My Favorite Tree: Terrific Trees of North America, ISBN: 1883220939 and Jones, Andrea Koehle - The Wish Trees, ISBN: 1434392058.
Cannot wait to begin!
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