Presenter: Mona Davis, Fergus Falls Public Schools and Molly Stoddard, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Prairie Wetlands Learning Center

Target Grade/Age of Students: Upper elementary but adaptable to all

Details: Search for evidence of 3 strategies animals use to survive winter right outside your door. You will need a notebook or journal, pencil, and outdoor clothing. MN science standards alignment will be provided.

Video Recording of the Presentation

The Chat from the presentation

Additional Resources Shared:

• Compass to Nature

• Field Investigations using KWHL

• iNaturalist and eBird

• Check out our Winter Resources Page for more activities and lessons related to animals in winter.

Presenter: Karen Harrison, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources School Forest Program

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary

Details: Connect students to the natural world using estimation and measurement. You’ll learn how to properly measure tree circumference using a standard unit of measurement.

Please come prepared with a pencil, paper, flexible measuring tape*, and tape (masking, painters, or duct tape will work). *If you don’t have a flexible measuring tape you can also use string, yarn, or ribbon with a standard ruler or measuring tape.

Video Recording of the Presentation

Standard Unit of Measurement Student Video

Standard Unit of Measurement Lesson and Student Worksheet

Additional Resources Shared:

• Minnesota School Forest Website

• Minnesota DNR's Outdoor Lessons Website

• Growth Factor Worksheet from Minnesota Project Learning Tree

Presenter: David Grack, Jeffers Foundation

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary

Details: Provide opportunities for your students to develop as scientists as they observe, discuss, and document natural patterns outside (at home and/or at school) throughout the year. Multiple lessons will be experienced and shared that focus on science practices and literacy skills.

Video Recording of the Presentation

Additional Resources Shared:

• Jeffers Foundation Website: Calendar in the Classroom

• Compass to Nature (has a section on phenology)

• Wheels of Time and Place

• Phenology Books:

  • Journal of a Prairie Year by Paul Gruchow

  • Backyard Almanac by Larry Weber

  • Nature at Our Doorstep by Matt Schuth

  • Claire Walker Leslie (books for supporting Nature Journaling)

• MN Phenology Network

• Aldo Leopold - Phenology

• GLOBE: Green up/Green Down

• Teaching with the Seasons Article

Presenter: Sue Mohn, Naturalist and Elementary Educator

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary

Details: Let’s have some fun connecting science, math, and literary standards to a nature-based celebration of sunlight--Groundhog’s Day! We’ll explore connections with the new MN science standards and how to help learners plan and carry out their own investigations.

Video Recording of the Presentation

Additional Resources Shared:

• Sue Mohn's Powerpoint Presentation (links to the resources in the slides are shared in the speaker notes section)

County Soil Frost Graph

NSTA article about an Early Childhood Program's Shadow Exploration

Article explaining the term resistance (tolerance) to explain one way animal's adapt for winter.

Video Recording of the Presentation

Presenter: Joe Walewski, Director of Naturalist Training & Danielle Hefferan, Naturalist Training and Curriculum Coordinator

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary

Details: Learn a little about lichen biology and ecology while studying the lichens near you! We will also reflect on how to incorporate wild pedagogies within online learning.

Additional Resources:

• Joe's introduction to lichens video (a great one you can view with students!)

• Lichen sorting activity

• iNaturalist

• iNaturalist: Wolf Ridge Naturalists Around the World

Video Recording of the Presentation

Presenters from the Department of Natural Resources:

Benji Kohn, Minnesota Mentor Network Coordinator

Janine Kohn, Minnesota Project WET Coordinator

Briedi Scott, Minnesota Project WILD Coordinator

Laura Duffey, Minnesota Project Learning Tree Coordinator

Target Grade/Age of Students: PreK-College

Details: Join our panel discussion as the DNR shares an overview of some amazing resources that are available for formal and non-formal Minnesota educators.

The DNR administers an array of National Environmental Education Programs and offers training opportunities to use the materials with a variety of audiences.

Learn what educational materials are easily available for teachers to use outside and how to get trained in each program. The outdoor world awaits, let DNR assist you in learning and connecting your audiences to the outdoors!

Additional Resources:

Project WET

Project WILD

Project Learning Tree

MinnAqua Leaders Guide

FIN website

MN Conservation Volunteer Magazine/Teacher Lessons

• January-February 2021 Issue

MN Archery in the Schools

Arbor Month Teacher's Guide

Wildfire Prevention Teacher Resources

School Forest Program

Video Recording of Presentation

Presenter: Karl Erickson and Matt Wilkie

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary & Secondary

Resources:

Presenter: Larry Wade and Cindy Eyden

Target Grade/Age of Students: 2^nd – 6^th grade

Details: How to bring the outdoors into your classroom by creating live / virtual field trips, in which students observe animal signs and tracks, are able to ask questions and learn the joy of pondering nature's mysteries. Handouts included. Modifications to integrate to language arts, science, math will be discussed.

Resources:

Winter Nature School, Week 1 – Mysteries in the Snow – Animal Tracking

Fall Nature School, Week 7 – Signs of Deer in Nature

Animal Track ID Cards

Find more animal tracking ideas on our Winter Resources Page

Resources:

Link to the virtual Outdoor Classroom (pictured above)

Resource page: Creating a virtual outdoor classroom

Raven Lake: 360 Image Example

https://slack.com/

https://www.thinglink.com/

https://birdnet.cornell.edu/

https://www.conserveschool.org/

PODCAST featuring Jessi and Megan: Ecoliteracy SCHOOL: A Collaborative Program in Minnesota’s Great Outdoors

Presenter: Caige Jambor, Schoolcraft Learning Community (Bemidji, MN)

Target Grade/Age of Students: Grades K-8

Details: Join me in this presentation where we take a look at research and traditions, both modern and ancient, on the benefits and joys of being in nature. Follow along as I show you how we here at Schoolcraft Learning Community close out each day in the forest with our Sit Spots. We practice using our senses to investigate and observe our own wonders and notices in the natural world around us, without ever leaving out Sit Spot, and of course, the joy of sharing our findings with the group in our closing circle, whether you are a scientist or a storyteller.

Presenter: Deb Groebner, Regional Coordinator for Youth Eco Solutions (YES!)

Target Grade/Age of Students: YES! is for Students in grades 7-12 and their coaches (teachers)

Details: Learn about Youth Eco Solutions (YES!), which empowers youth to create solutions to today’s ecological challenges through hands-on projects with real-world impacts on environmental issues and opportunities important to their community. It is a statewide program operated from Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center in Spicer in partnership with Ney Nature Center in Henderson. During this workshop, educators will be introduced to YES! and learn about a few successful outdoor projects completed by students on YES! teams.

Presenter: Travis Zimmerman, Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary & Middle School

Resources:

• Travis Zimmerman: travis.zimmerman@mnhs.org

• Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post Website

• Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Website

• Books Suggestions from Attendees: The Gift of Sugar; Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back, Ininatig's Gift of Sugar : Traditional Native Sugarmaking by Laura Waterman Wittstock, Keepers of the Earth: Native American Stories and Environmental Activities for Children by Joseph Bruchac and Michael J. Caduto

Presenter: Josh Leonard, Belwin Outdoor Science, St. Paul Public Schools

Target Grade/Age of Students: Grades 3-5, 7-10, 12

Description: Can we see climate change? Let's start with seeing changes in climate, or changes in *microclimates* In other words, let's compare sunny versus shady parts of an outside area close to you - a schoolyard, backyard, park or forest. Participants will compare temperatures and/or plant growth in shaded vs. sunny (north vs. south-facing) areas around a building or tree. We will use dandelions as a model, but it isn't necessary to have dandelions to participate.

Resources:

Jamboard: https://jamboard.google.com/d/1pPyplhZ3AHHzPmLt1tocZVGZyeKpYeeGDUsAun17huQ/viewer?f=0

Dandelion Lesson: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14kpwJO5qdiCobBAxPTEsyRLl1iVpozISgtwatuls3o4/edit?usp=sharing

John Latimer (jlatimer@kaxe.org) presents Phenology programs to schools throughout MN.

Journey North Tulip Test Gardens: https://journeynorth.org/tm/tulips/AboutSpring.html

Signs of Spring Scavenger Hunt - From Nature Seeker Workbook by Larry Wade https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBetm-zZuxJxsso16pAgjLVZyOv5DcUS/view?usp=sharing

Presenter: Marte Kitson, Minnesota Sea Grant

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary & Middle School

Description: How to Participate in the Great Lakes Bioblitz using iNaturalist. What is the Great Lakes Bioblitz? A bioblitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many wild, living things as possible in a specific area over a short period of time. This bioblitz focuses on the Canadian provinces and the states that have coastline on the Great Lakes. It begins on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 2021

and ends four weeks later on Thursday, May 20, 2021.

Resources:

How to join the Bioblitz

Another iNaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biocubes

minnesotawildflowers.info

prairiemoon.com - Range map for native plants

Presenter: David Grack, Jeffers Foundation

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary & Middle School

Resources:

Bird Detectives: Day 1

Bird Detectives: Identifying Bird Characteristics

Bird Feeding Station Observation Form

Birding Using Sense of Hearing

Presenter: Anna Jennerjohn and Elizabeth Stretch, UofM, College of Education & Human Development

Target Grade/Age of Students: Grades 2-6

Description: Help students develop their innate sense of wonder about the world around them, and support them in asking and answering questions. We will explore the “Wonder Wander” technique in which students make observations and write questions about their nearby nature. Then we will make further literacy/science connections by creating Haikus from the wonderings. Students can connect to nature right outside their window whether they are learning from home or at school. Please bring a notebook and something to write with and, if possible, a view out the window.

Resources:

Form for creating Sensory Poems (Shared by Larry Wade)

Presenter: May Vang, Conservation Program Manager and David Woods, Conservation Program Director

Target Grade/Age of Students: Elementary, Junior High, High School

Description: Have you thought about planting a pollinator garden or rain garden with your students but don’t know where to start? Join us to learn about Urban Roots, a non-profit organization located on the East Side of St. Paul that empowers youth through nature, healthy food, and community. We will be sharing how we involve our youth in the process of designing, installing, and maintaining these gardens as well as how we incorporate educational activities in these outdoor spaces.

Resources:

Example of a rain garden guide

Watershed district grants

Capitol Region

Ramsey Washington

Mississippi Watershed (Minneapolis)

Bee Squad - Pollinator Plant ideas

Xerces Society - Lots of pollinator information

Presenter: Cristina Palmisano, Emma Chapman, Ashley Smith

Target Grade/Age of Students: All Grade Levels

Description: Explore, wonder, and discover through the incredibly versatile tool of nature journaling. This workshop will cover the purpose and benefits of nature journaling, some of the basic skills needed, and ways to apply the tool to several different subject areas. Please come prepared with paper and pen or pencil and an object (preferably from nature) that you think is neat.

Resources:

How to Teach Nature Journaling (Website with resources)

How To Teach Nature Journaling by John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren

Presenter: Katie-Lyn Bunney

Target Grade/Age of Students: All Grade Levels

Description: Monarch butterflies are one of the most recognizable and charismatic insects in North America. Their life cycle and ecology, coupled with their inherent magnetism, make them an intriguing and simple organism to slot into science education and to use as a topic across subject areas for all age levels and abilities. This presentation will provide some tips, tools, and ideas for how to incorporate monarchs and other pollinators into your outdoor education and help conserve monarchs and their migration.

Resources:

MJV website

MJV Store

Webinar Archive

Handouts

MJV's FAQ on the ESA listing decision for monarchs

Monarch Conservation Education Page

Monarch Citizen/Community Science:

• Monarch Larva Monitoring Project

• Project Monarch Health

• Journey North

• Monarch Watch (tagging)

• Southwest Monarch Study

• Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper

• Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count

Pollinator Habitat Guides:

• Xerces

• Pollinator Partnership

• Xerces Milkweed Seed Finder

• MJV Plant Vendor Map

• National Wildlife Federation Native Plant finder

Curriculum Resources:

• Monarch Resource Guide (curriculum)

• Driven to Discover: Facilitators Guide (monarchs)

• Driven to Discover: Investigators Guide (monarchs)

• Driven to Discover: Facilitators Guide (universal)

• Monarchs & More Curriculum (for purchase on MJV store)

• Driven to Discover/UMN Extension Citizen Science YouTube channel

Miles For Monarchs If you are interested in hosting your own event, contact Ella Phillips at ephillips@monarchjointventure.org

Presenter: Anna Dutke & Friends Bring your stories, favorite tips & tricks, top items to have in your backpack/wagon, etc.

Target Grade/Age of Students: Any Grade Level

Description:

During this session we will share some tips & tricks for things that you can work on this summer to start your school year with Outdoor Learning in the Fall. Topics will include these & more: Outdoor seating, transporting materials, favorite resources (learn what's on the Teach Outdoors! MN website), and creating a safety plan.

If you have been teaching outdoors or working to support teachers, bring your favorite Tips & Tricks to share!

Resources:

Presentation Slides

MnECO Outdoor Learning Toolkit (complete form to get access): Comprehensive list of things to consider/prepare for outdoor learning

Be Inspired:

• Learning Blooms in Outdoor Classrooms (article)

• Outdoor Classrooms, Bringing Joy and Connection Back to Students (blog post)

• What Preschools Need Now is a Dose of Nature

• Check out how MN Teachers and Schools are Teaching Outdoors

Research (Help make the case)

• A class in nature helps kids be more attentive and focused once they return indoors (Research)

•