Summer PD: A Walk on the Wild Side

I mentioned in my toe-dipping into back to school ideas that I've been attending a series of one-day summer institute professional development days at school. They're run in-house and on a completely optional basis (though paid!) and cover a variety of subjects. One of the nicest parts is that you can gear it toward your own professional learning and interests. Additionally, it is a great way to meet up with a variety of our preschool to grade 12 colleagues and get to know them better. Classes run from from anywhere to 6-20 "students" (aka other teachers), so a quick connection builds and the discussions can become quite rich--both on topic during class and off topic during lunch.

Like most teachers, I love learning new things. I also often teach a class or two in the summer. This year, I co-taught a class called "Walk on the Wild Side: Integrating Environmental Education in Your Classroom" with an Upper School Science teacher. We taught it in Summer of 2019, and rebooted it this year. One of the fun perks is that we have all of the participants bring their bikes and we bike the 2+ miles between campuses on the community bike trail and picnic and geocache about halfway along the way. 

In addition to discussing  Florence Williams' book Nature Fix and the health benefits of why we need to get outside, we incorporated some tools such as scavenger hunts and nature observations which can help teachers get in touch with the outdoors. 

One of our activities was to inspire our participants to come up with a setting outdoors for a 2 inch Playmobil figurine using only natural items. (My kids loved these when they were little and we have a ton of them. They make the perfect teaching tool!) The neat thing about this activity is the curricular connections: it could serve as inspiration for a story students would then write;it could be to build and showcase a chapter in a book; or it could be a maker activity putting the design process to work solving a problem. Our adult creations and backstories were phenomenal. Plus, it got the juices flowing for other ways teachers could modify these (and other) activities in class.

Along with afternoon work time for teachers to think of their own ways to infuse the outdoors in their classes, we invited participants to add to the growing document of ideas that we started, that grew in 2019, and grew even more this year. The list is housed in a professional development part of our online portal and available to all. Here are some of the inspirational and collective ideas from our teachers to you! We broke them down into time periods so anyone could find something that fits with whatever time block they have available!

5-10 Minute "Walk On The Wild Side" Classroom Activities to get kids outdoors--Many at this time period could be"brain break" events:

• Hide and seek with objects or people -- especially in foreign language classes
• Pato pato ganso (Duck Duck Goose in Spanish) or on hot days, drip drip drop or tie in with new vocabulary (example: noun, noun, adjective)
• Numbers freeze dance on playground using sidewalk chalk and music
• Compare our weather to weather in target country
• Sidewalk chalk recording and illustrating the themes in the book as an anticipation strategy prior to reading
• An inside activity, but daily: tally the number of days or hours you DON’T need to turn on lights due to lights coming into the room.

10-20 Minute Activities

• Scavenger hunt with nature vocabulary, team building, or tie to concepts and bring it outdoors
• Bury magnetic letters in sandbox and have preschoolers dig out and identify letter
• Book Club Activity based on a novel about survival/nature
• How many triangles can you make with 9 sticks?
• Practice writing letters using water and paintbrushes
• Play season detective and scour the schoolyard for all the signs of the given season 
• Use sidewalk chalk to create a grid where kids can count and sort objects
• Build a nature structure using “found nature” items outside for a “character” (Lego or Playmobile figure). Put a time period on it. Photo and share (or annotate), museum walk, etc. Put on parameters about how tall, wide, the perimeter, etc.

20-30 Minute Activities

• Maximizing the exploding can (hydrogen coffee can experiment)
• Bohr Model of the Atom Amphitheater
• Build a Structure for Lego person and calculate “you size” (scale/dimensional analysis?)
• Soccer with language immersion (foreign language)
• Collect flowers and leaves and do leaf rubbings with crayons (younger students)
• Novel read aloud at outdoors- have the kids “act out” different characters and add stage directions to the text 
• Shape walk, followed by sketching and labeling what you saw
• Write math problems on the blacktop with chalk and have students find pinecones, rocks, etc., to represent the answer.
• Build a model of a topographic map with natural items

30-45 Minute Activities

• “Escape Room” that takes place/incorporates outdoor space 
• Have students chalk compass directions onto the blacktop and take note of what they see in each direction. 
• Form adjective list, then go on a walk or on schoolyard nature trail and try to find an object that matches each descriptive word.

45-60 Minute Activities

• Kite flying (and making) for the Breadwinner chapter book unit
• Book-themed party hosted outdoors w outdoor challenges/activities 
• Scavenger hunt from PD Day 
• Solar Ovens/Wind Turbines
• Water Quality in pond or stream
• Carbon sequestration (tree diameters)

An Hour-long + Activities

• Itsy Bitsy spider unit
• Adventure Lab-History and English 
• Sic Semper Tyrannis Adventure Lab (of Abraham Lincoln & John Wilkes Booth)
• The Wind in the Willows Adventure Lab 
• Water quality analysis through precipitation reactions
• Combustion analysis of wood samples to determine empirical formula
• Library hosted day of reading outdoors. Set up blankets/snacks, provide magazines/books
• ecoMUVE virtual world for data collection. Useful for rainy days. 
• Outdoor Backpacks to check out from the library 

Apps & Other Goodies

• Cyanometer -- this is a tool that measures the amount of blue in the sky (which is tied to the amount of dust and water vapor in the sky)--on Apple App ($0.99)
• Merlin Bird App from Cornell Ornithology Lab--on Apple and Google
• Plant Snap App--on Apple and Google
• iNaturalist App--on Apple and Google
• CloudySky App--on Apple ($0.99) and on Google as Field Guide to Clouds App
• Geocaching 
• Geocaching App on Apple and Google
• Cachly App on Apple ($4.99)

Art from my camera or created on canvas.com

A-Park Questing We Did Go

A-questing we will go!

These were the opening words for my first GTG post on MD Park Quest back on June 1, 2010.  It was then that I embarked on sharing some of the Park Quest adventures of "Team Dabrowka" (which during the next 2 seasons morphed into a better-named "Team Green Gators").  Season 3 was our first year of Park Questing. 

That was two years ago, and now yesterday Park Quest wrapped up it's fifth season, bigger and better than ever! Each year, the grand finale--the annual "Rendezvous"--is a special day o'quests for those families who completed at least 10 of the 24 quests. It is a day for the serious outdoorsy folks to shine. 

 

And boy oh boy, did we all shine, as bright and wonderfully as yesterday's sun!  Patapsco State Park hosted the day-long event of 20 mini-quests, including bike riding, fishing-rod casting, leaf rubbing, geo-caching, letter-boxing, tree-identifying, animal sighting, fact-finding, game playing, learning, and laughing.  All of us embracing the PQ motto:  "Where a family becomes a team!"
 

Maryland Park Superintendent Nita Settina, in her opening remarks, quoted the recent study about how "awe-inspiring moments in nature reduce stress."  Park Quest most certainly worked to weave in a multitude of those moments into this year's Rendezvous! Richard Louv, author of "The Last Child in the Woods" and "The Nature Principle" would delight in so many families taking aim against "Nature Deficit Disorder." 

In fact, during the ceremony, we learned some pretty fascinating facts as to just how many people were defying nature deficit disorder!

• Combined this summer, over 4,000 quests were completed;
• This year's Rendezvous was by far the largest of all five years;
• 235 teams qualified for the rendezvous;
• Over 1,100 people joined in the yesterday's fun;
• Of the 1000 teams, approximately 2 dozen qualified as "Super Questers," completing all 24 quests (making our Team Green Gator's 10 quests feel kind of meager!!) 

With the sponsors numerous and well-known (REI, Diamondback Bicycles, and Deep Creek's WISP Resort, just to name a few), everyone was waiting excitedly to see if their lucky raffle ticket would be drawn. The prizes were many--from adventure trips, bikes, camping gear, and more.  It was made even extra exciting as former Baltimore Sun Outdoors writer Candy Thomson was pulling out tickets.  Piped as Park Quest's unofficial sponsor, Candy has written many times in the past about the beauty and glory of Park Quest.  Some of her most-treasured writings occurred during Season 3 and 4 when she wrote about her 24/7 experiences of hitting all 24 quest parks in a 7 day experience!  Candy also has written in the past from various Olympics, but her 24/7 feat alone makes her a true Park Quest Olympian!!

We all got the opportunity to be Olympians in our own ways, both during this year's Park Quest season and yesterday's Park Quest Rendezvous.  We faced challenges.  We battled the great outdoors.  We sometimes roughed the elements, meaning it wasn't always pretty. But, it always left you with a sense of great accomplishment.  Families came together, tackling a common goal by way of riddling through the quest questions and grabbing hold of new experiences.  Yes indeed:  Park Quest is where a family becomes a team!  That, right there, makes champions of us all!

Squirrel-shaped word cloud from Tagxedo, using text from my GTG 6/1/2010 Park Quest post, pics from the sights and scenes at 9/29/2012's Park Quest Rendezvous.  Park Quest T-shirt from Team Bay Boughey's PQ shirt they designed for this season!

Earth Week Excitement

I'm a little befuddled that Earth Day was a week ago already, and I'm only just getting back here! I think in the aftermath of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (which is what I like to call getting named the private school "Teacher of the Year" in my county) and an amazing Earth Week of daily celebration at Eagle Cove School, that's just how it happens. I have a lot stored up to write about, so it'll probably trickle in here over the next several days in several posts.

Earth Week's excitement this past week included the following:

An article came out in the Bay Weekly (a local weekly gazette), timed specifically for Earth Day, highlighting the eco-side of life, me, Eagle Cove School, and GTG: "Little Actions, Big Effects: Changing the World Begins with Small Steps Even a Third Grader Can Manage.   It is here you'll see me in all my Capri Sun glory from above!

Solar Car Races ~ The Pasadena Patch has a nice article about our day at the races thanks to Solar Energy World and the cars our 5th graders built and each class designed.  The Patch also has a nice video of the sun at work, pushing each vehicle closer and closer to the finish line!

An action-packed outdoor adventure day with visiting 1st--5th graders from Grace Episcopal Day School (from Kensington, MD).  To help enhance their yearlong study of the Chesapeake Bay, Eagle Cove invited them to come and hang out with us for the day for: seining in the Magothy River, cast netting, geocaching with iPads on an eco-QR code quest (complete with an impromptu raccoon sighting), paper making using recycled paper, nature trail hikes, and a visit from local children's author Jennifer Keats Curtis. The grand finale... a student musical production from our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders (written and directed by our science and music teachers) entitled "Jack and the Green Stalk."  Oh yeah, this day alone is a whole other post!!

Songwriting from our annual favorite visiting musician, Linda Richards from New York.  She has a knack for creating amazing songs with each class that are parodies of time-honored songs like "Row Row Row Your Boat."  In a half hour, magic happens as the kids and Linda write an environmentally-based song that we then perform the next day at a fabulous Earth Week culmination concert that has us all moving and grooving in our seats.  Yes, magic in motion, and a great way to end up the week!!

Oh, and we also met the challenge for a completely "trash-free" week, with everything finding its way back home for reuse, the recycling bin, or the classroom compost buckets!!   

So that's the snapshot of our action-packed week, with more to come since everyone should enjoy our "green" week of fun!!

Free Tech 4 Teachers

One of my favorite go-to spots on teaching trends and technology is Richard Byrne's "Free Technology for Teachers."  So, of course, as I was catching up on what Richard has posted lately (as I've been a bit backlogged with storm damage and the start of school), I found a lot of share-worthy goodies.

11 Resources for Teaching and Learning About The Forces of Nature
(Lots of great things here--11, in fact!)

A Great Overview of Web Tools For Teachers--Free eBook
(I LOVE "The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators")

Learn More About Geocaching--A Great Learning Activity

Teaching Library--Lesson Plans for Children's Books

Children's Books Forever--Free Children's eBooks

Lyric Gaps--A Musical Way to Practice Language Skills


Seriously...if you haven't spent any time at FreeTech4Teachers, please jump in.  There are some great finds there that'll transform your teaching and classroom!!

Pic from Richard Byrne's website:  http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

The Art of Chillin' Out and the "Great Outdoors Month"

At halfway into the month of June, it's a good time for a reality check.  Where are you with following up on the Presidential Proclamation of May 31st to make June 2011 the "Great Outdoors" Month? 

For me, it always takes a little getting used to...going from the teacher-mode of 110% end-of-the-school-year "Busy-ness Blast" to the relaxation brain of "Woo Hoo, Summer Vacation." 

Mentally, I do get there pretty quickly. Even sleep-wise, I can easily fall into that "sleeping-in" mode.  But, logistically, I think there is something about my growing "To Do" list that starts sometimes Mid-March.  From then on, about everything through May winds up in world's biggest dump pile in my garage, basement, closets, scary bedroom corners, etc.  Along the "domestic goddess side," I have so many home-improvement plans ahead, most of which involve the word "organization."  (For me, a degree of of summer structure is good--but I don't want too much; I just want that organized outer world, which ultimately leads to a more organized inner world.)

Then too, I'm faced with the beauty of these 2-3 uninterrupted months, and all these things I want to do, so I become the "Energizer Bunny" on that front, still in "worker bee" mode.

Sunset on a Chesapeake Bay creek.

It's around about here--a week or so into summer--that I drive myself crazy, and try to remember it's summer, for goodness sake!

I forget...or have forgotten...how to chill out.

So enter President Obama and his proclamation for June 2011 to become "Great Outdoors Month."  To see his full proclamation, verbatim, go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/31/presidential-proclamation.  The gist...get outside, get away from the TV, go have fun, and work to continue our national legacy of conserving land for everyone's future.  As a follow up to The First Lady's "Let's Move" program, the new dietary guidelines of the Daily Plate (as opposed to the Food Pyramid), and February's report "America's Great Outdoors: A Promise to Future Generations,"June and the onset of summer is the right time for all of this. 

Check out the "America's Great Outdoors" video: 



Geocaching at MD's
Patapsco Valley
State Park

I know for me, going out for a hike in the neighborhood park or a splash in our li'l above-ground, backyard pool helps me to bask in the glorious weather we've had this week.  It helps get me out of my house, out from in front of my computer (to which I tend to find myself glued). 

Likewise, a jettison out in a friend's boat at sunset to skim across the water on the innertube helps me feel that summer fun freedom. Along those same lines, a trek to a state park (today, to Maryland's Patapsco Valley State Park to partake in our 3rd MD Park Quest) gives me quality time with my kids, the rocks, the salamanders, and the geocaching quest which taps into each of our critical thinking skills. 



Rock Climbing & Crayfish Searching.

 All of these things drag me away from the looming laundry, the daunting dishes, or the compelling urge to clean that garbage heap of a garage.  All of these chores tend to pull at me sometimes when I'm home, making me forget what the lazy, hazy days of summer should be.   

 

So, on behalf of Green Team Gazette, spend a hunk of the rest of the month of June outside.  Do it for your president; but more importantly, do it for you.  June 2011 only will come around once--make the most of it!

For more info on any of the above info, go to:

Salamander Finds.



--The White House Proclamation for June 2011:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/31/presidential-proclamation-great-outdoors-month



--America's Great Outdoors:  http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/ or http://americasgreatoutdoors.gov/2011/02/16/a-promise-to-future-generations/

--USDA's My Plate: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/

--Let's Move:  http://www.letsmove.gov/ or http://www.letsmove.gov/get-active

--Maryland Park Quest:  http://www.dnr.state.md.us/parkquest/index.asp

June calendar pic from http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=june+calendar+2011&view=detail&id=770349CE84F37912072DB1143CA4724E98F12F66&first=91&FORM=IDFRIR

All other images from my camera...outside...this June!





Treasure Hunting: Geocache-Style

If you've ever been curious about geocaching, here's a go-to article, complete with a go-to spot!  "X marks the spot," that is! 

Check out this great article detailing the ins and outs of geocaching by Heather Boughey, reprinted here from The Bay Weekly.  Along the way, you'll learn a little bit about Captain John Smith & the Geotrail that honors him! You also can find some pretty cool geography, history, and environmental facts about the Chesapeake Bay as you are hot on the trail! 

Find the article reprinted here below, or click this link: Treasure Hunting | Bay Weekly, or go to http://bayweekly.com/articles/good-living/article/treasure-hunting.

Treasure Hunting

by Heather Boughey, 6/2/11, The Bay Weekly

X marks the spot on the Captain John Smith Trail.

After finding a geocache & logging names

into its log book, Mackenzie Boughey

puts it back in its hiding spot.



Once upon a time, seeking treasure meant following the dubious guidance of a hand-drawn map through grave dangers. Scurvy, mutiny, greed and confusion — not to mention blood-thirsty competitors and territory-conscious wild animals — were perils treasure hunters faced in seeking the spot on the map marked by X.

The Global Positioning System changed all that.

 

Modern treasure hunters have more in common with Captain Kirk than Captain Sparrow. Where you are — and how you get from there to here — is calculated in seconds by two-dozen satellites orbiting overhead. All you need to plot the path to discovery is a GPS. You’re probably packing one in your smartphone.

It’s so easy a child can do it.

The Boughey family proved that.

Back in 1607, Captain John Smith boldly navigated where no white man had gone before. Four centuries later, eight-year-old Mackenzie Boughey — known as Grumpy since birth by Bay Weekly followers of grandfather Bill Burton — led us in the captain’s wake to preview the Captain John Smith Geotrail, opening to one and all on June 4, 2011.

Modern Day Treasure Hunting

The Captain John Smith Geotrail joins 1.3 million caches hidden around the globe over the last decade in a worldwide treasure hunt enabled by the Internet and the minaturation of GPS.

This geotrail follows Captain John Smith’s 1607 to 1609 exploration of the Chesapeake and its tributaries. It stretches over 40 sites throughout Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. Laid by the National Parks Service, it lies within the greater Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, covering 3,000 miles over land and water in Maryland, D.C., Virginia and Delaware. Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network, Maryland Geocaching Society and Chesapeake Conservancy co-sponsor the Smith Geotrail.

Geocaches come in small as well as large, and anybody can lay one. You hide caches imaginatively — on land, in caves, along shorelines or even under water — and log their location on the Internet. The caches can range from a few ounces to pots of treasure.

To find the prizes, treasure hunters follow hand-held GPS receivers (or GPS-enabled smartphones) to geocache coordinates that are the modern version of a treasure map. Get your map by registering an account on a geocaching website and searching your target area for hidden caches. Membership is free.

Eight-year-old Mackenzie learns how to use a GPS from four-year-old Logan Delawder.

The largest of the geocaching websites, www.geocaching.com, shows over 1,000 caches in each of the Annapolis-area zip codes.

The website details the size and difficulty of the geocache and the terrain you’ll cross. Along with GPS coordinates for your target area, you get clues and a description. Some geocaches, like the Smith Geotrail, are multi-staged, with clues you find in each cache leading you to the next one.

Once you find a target cache, program the coordinates into your GPS and get going. The GPS guides you towards the cache. At the spot, you start hunting. Geocaches can be hidden, partially buried, even attached by magnets.

Some geocaches hold prizes. If you take one, it’s geocaching etiquette to replace it with an interesting item to reward the next finder.

Each geocache also holds a logbook. Sign and date it, with comments if you like. Many geocachers log their finds on the website, where they can see and compare their progress with the successes of other geocachers.

On the Smith Geotrail

We Bougheys get around

[see http://bayweekly.com/articles/good-living/article/park-quest-took-my-family-back-nature]. But we’re new to both the sport of geocaching and the John Smith Geotrail. Susan Kelly, husband Mark and four-year-old grandson Logan Delawder — experienced geocachers who go by the tag Calvertcachers — broke us in.

As the Smith Trail geocaches were still being hidden, we practiced on the Star Spangled Banner Trail, the first geotrail in our region to be connected to a National Park trail. The Smith trail is the second.

At Darnall’s Chance in Upper Marlboro, Logan trained Mackenzie, showing her his GPS unit and geocaching backpack, packed with a magnet and trinkets for refilling discovered caches.
Then we hit the trail. A plaque describing the history of Darnall’s Chance gave us a key to the coordinates to the hidden cache — but only after we correctly answered four questions. We loaded the coordinates, and Mackenzie and Logan led us along the path they mapped into the woods.

There we looked under branches and behind trees to find an 11-by-six-inch plastic box. The kids pounced on it. Inside they found headphones, a flashlight, markers and small toys. Each chose an item — headphones for Logan and a camouflage wristband for Mackenzie — and Mackenzie helped Logan write his geocaching name, Lil’ Crab, into the logbook to mark their discovery.

In keeping with tradition, they added a fresh box of crayons to the box, resealed it and hid it again.

Four more caches were hidden within walking distance. The next one didn’t involve a puzzle; we simply loaded coordinates from the website and headed off.

With the children again leading the way, Susan and Mark described finding over 2,000 caches in seven years.

“It’s a great way to discover new things in areas you thought you already knew,” Susan explained. “One of our first geocaches was within two miles of our house. We found a small pond we never knew existed.”

Caches are now part of their vacations. On a recent trip to Maine, Susan was determined to see a moose. So in researching geocaches, she sought ones that promised moose nearby. They found the geocaches, but Susan didn’t find her moose.

Our second geocache was a bit trickier. When the GPS unit indicated we’d reached the spot, no geocache was in sight. After searching both the water’s edge and forest area, the children determined there was none to be found. Susan hinted that they might try searching very close to the ground. With squeals of delight, both children spotted the geocache at the same time, hidden securely under the base of the dock walkway.

Once again, the children took a small treasure from the box, signed their names in the logbook, added a new prize and returned the cache where they found it.

“Now I know how excited and really happy Captain John Smith must have felt when he finally found something he was looking for,” Mackenzie exclaimed.

“This geotrail is a great way to propel people to care and protect our Chesapeake,” said Cindy Chance of the National Park Service. “We have a lot to learn from the past, especially stewardship and how they took care of the Bay, even back in the 17th century.”

Be the FTF

On June 4, National Trails Day, the Captain John Smith Geotrail officially opens. The coordinates for the 40 geocaches on the trail will be published via www.geocaching.com around 11:30am that day.

Join the hunt by downloading a passport, and track your progress at

On the Captain John Smith Geotrail, one geocache in each of the three states rewards FTF with a replica ceramic smart-buoy, a miniature of the six smart-buoys along the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.

When you near a real smart-buoy, call 1-877-BUOYBAY to hear a description of this point on the Chesapeake in 1608, during Smith’s exploration.

At the official trail opening, 10am to noon June 4 at Accokeek Foundation in Piscataway Park, you can learn to geocache and practice on geocaches hidden for the celebration, some just for kids. One lucky hunter will win a Magellan hand-held GPS.

See You at the Launch

The Boughey family will be following in the wake of Captain John Smith. We set up an account to log our first two caches, and we’ve figured out how to use the GPS app on our smartphone. See you at the launch June 4.

Follow the geocache online at www.smithtrail.net.

"Geocaching" button image from http://www.thegeocachesite.info/.

All pictures from the original online version of Heather Boughey's Bay Weekly article:  http://bayweekly.com/articles/good-living/article/treasure-hunting.

www.smithtrail.net. For each cache, you record a secret word on your passport and upload a photo of the cache. The first 400 geocachers to complete 15 caches on the trail win a collectable, trackable geocoin.
First-to-find, commonly known as FTF, is a badge of honor among geocachers. Often FTF gets a reward. 

Cheers to MD Park Quest 2011!

Much like horses out of the starting gates, I knew about 5 folks (myself included) who were poised and ready this morning, waiting for the proverbial bell to ring. 

Stalking the computer, hitting refresh, ready to go when the moment is right.

On your mark....Get set....Park Quest!

Last year, "Team Dabrowka's" Park Quest antics were shared here, and shared often.  This year, under the new and creatively-improved name "Team Green Gators," more sharing shall continue.

"Park Quest," you ponder, "what is this?" 

Brainchild of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources and a growing MD phenomenon since 2008, Park Quest invites families to come together to come outside and play in their state parks.  Combining the philosophy of Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder with the No Child Left Inside Coalition, Maryland challenges all with "Park Quest:  Where A Family Becomes a Team."  Challenges, outdoor adventures, letterboxing, geocaching, history hikes, biking, canoeing, and more all make up the fun called Maryland Park Quest.  From Mother's Day to the finale in September, summer fun awaits...and for free--but only if you're registered!

So, to be fair, there has to be a uniform start to registration because only 1000 spots (up from last year's 750) are open.  This morning, April 25th, around 9 am, the bell rang and the gates opened up.

On your mark....Get set....Park Quest!

[Woo hoo...We were the triumphant Team #330!]

Clearly, more than just my 5 friends were ready and raring with their teams.  The Park Quest Facebook page had equally-ready stalkers and victorious announcements all day long about team names and the number they ranked on the sign up!  By 9:40 pm sign up day (aka, as I write), latest Facebook ranking placed teams up to #896.  Not too shabby for a 12-hour stint.  My guess, if we were to place bets, team #1000 will happen prior to midnight, perhaps with a few beads of sweat on their brow.  My #330 feels like a pretty comfy spot! 

So, mid-May, let the games begin, and the Park Quest stories to follow!  Hats off to Maryland State Parks and another year of fun ahead!

To learn more about Park Quest, check out http://www.dnr.state.md.us/parkquest/.

PQ Image from http://www.dnr.state.md.us/parkquest/
Horses at gate image from http://onwingsofpigs.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html
MD 330 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Route_330

Park Quest 2010 Grand Finale

Maryland Park Quest's 2010 motto was: "Where family becomes a team."  After taking part in yesterday's Park Quest Grand Finale (which, to take part in, you had to complete a minimum of 10 of the 24 Maryland State Park Quests from Memorial Day to Labor Day 2010 to qualify), there could be some other mottos as well. "MD State Parks:  Where a family finds fun!" or "Maryland:  Where a State Builds Outdoor Adventures & A Community!"  On virtually no budget, Maryland Department of Natural Resources did an amazing job! Not only did "Team Dabrowka" (who was decked out in our FL Gator Gear yesterday) have a good time with the 13 Quests we nailed out...but we found the Grand Finale to be totally top notch!!  Add to it, Park Quest 2010 filled our summer with some great local getaways, and some super summer memories and unique outdoor adventures that we wouldn't have had without the guidance of the Park Quest.  Double thumbs up from us!!

It probably didn't hurt that yesterday at Maryland's Gunpowder Falls State Park  we had idyllic weather.  You couldn't ask for anything better!!  But to have a 4-hour window of time in the great outdoors with 20 mini-quests ahead of us, our day was filled...and fun-filled, at that!!  

We geocached...we identified photos of the Maryland Parks and also flora and fauna....we had an adventure in letterboxing...we investigated our carbon footprint...we determined what was wrong with a camping area given the "Leave No Trace" philosophy....we played frisbee disk golf (not necessarily well, I might add)....we saw birds of prey and reptiles at the Scales & Tales table....we bungled along with orienteering while trying to figure out how to read a compass....we awkwardly & unsuccessfully crab walked during the Crab Trap Relay (well, okay, the over 30 set had trouble with that!)....we practiced casting a fishing rod.... we used an Indian tank to put out campfires (yes, pretend ones!)....we played Colonial games & learned some Maryland History along the way....we met and chatted with both park rangers and the Volunteer Mounted Patrol....and we conquered the Outdoor Team Challenge and got our team to the otherside of a rope spider web.  WE HAD FUN FUN FUN...as a family, as a team, in the great outdoors!

Yes...Thank you Governor Martin O'Malley for your support in this activity and for your Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights (from http://www.governor.maryland.gov/documents/OutdoorBillOfRights.pdf):

NOW, THEREFORE, I MARTIN O’MALLEY GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF MARYLAND BY VIRTUE OF THE AUTHORITY VESTED IN ME BY THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS OF MARYLAND, HEREBY PROCLAIM THAT EVERY MARYLAND CHILD SHALL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO…

• Discover & connect with their natural world.
• Play & learn outdoors.
• Splash & swim in the water.
• Camp under the stars.
• Follow a trail.
• Catch a fish.
• Watch wildlife.
• Explore wild places close to home.
• Celebrate their culture & heritage.
• Share nature with a great mentor or teacher.

Candus Thomson looking on with pride.

At the wrap up ceremony, as trips, camping equipment, and even a family-foursome of bikes were given away to 10 of the 100-ish qualifying families (from the 750 families that originally started up), Candus Thomson looked on.  For those of you who remember,  Candus (of the Baltimore Sun's Outdoor Section's fame,) did the Park Quest 24/7 personal quest to do all 24 Park Quests in 7 days.  To see her final story of both the Park Quest Grand Finale and Maryland's "Diamond Jim" fishing tournament, go to http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/bs-sp-thomson-column-0912-20100907,0,4780654.story?track=rss

To learn more about 2010's Maryland Park Quest Grand Finale, click the title above, or go to  http://www.dnr.state.md.us/parkquest/finale.asp. And for those of you who are local, be on the lookout come spring for the sign up for Park Quest 2011.  Team Dabrowka, for one, will be there!

Geocaching for the Classroom

'Tis the season to get back geared up for school!  

For those of you interested in thinking outside the box, and more importantly, outside of the classroom, here is a great resource for some in-class geocaching ideas & resources for the classroom.

Be sure to check out the blog at www.geocaching.com, and click "education" on the tag cloud.  You'll be sure to find some inspiration to your regular classroom!  Click the title above, or go to http://blog.geocaching.com/tag/education/.

Picture a la my camera on a MD Park Quest Adventure.

The Techie Outdoorsman

About 2 weeks ago I upgraded my Palm Centro Phone for a Droid.  Did I mention I'm in love??? 

Now that I have about 200 x more ....okay, more "everything",,,, than I had with my Palm (and I was a major fan of the Palm operating system).  Yes, I'm in love, I'm starting to see the joy of "apps."  Much like the visions of sugar plums I see dancing over head, I see some great classroom uses this fall with my Droid and my classroom document camera.  But even before that, I see some great outdoor adventures.  Here are some goodies I've already found in these few weeks:

Cool App #1.  Now that I'm all newly keen on geocaching, there are several geocaching apps available for all the major smart phones.  Through research, two popular ones are "Geobeagle" and "Groundspeak." I went with the free "c:geo" and am pretty excited about.  It's affiliated with the www.geocaching.com site....pretty much your "big daddy" of geocaching.  Can't wait to try it out.  Of course, it's web-based, which is part of what I love about the Droid, but which also can be a mega-bummer if your are trying to catch a signal out in the middle of the boon-docks!

Cool App #2.   Even before my geocaching app, I came upon one of the many compass apps.  There are a ton of free ones out there, so you just need to find the one that suits your needs, wants, desires.  Not only will you always know which way is north, but you'll also be able to make your own orienteering adventure with your own youngsters.

Cool App #3.  Let's imagine you are out in the great wild woods, hiking about.  Odds are you'll find some animal tracks.  If only you knew what they were!  Well, worry no more.   http://www.mynaturesite.com/ is a great place to go to download My Nature Animal Tracks app just for that.  For a minimal fee for both iPhone or android, an animal tracking app is yours..  Next time you're out in the woods and you encounter some tracks, you'll definitely know what you've got in front of you!

 

Cool App #4.  Another cool find from http://www.mynaturesite.com/ for iPhone users is a My Nature Tree Guide app.  (No android app for this yet, darn and drat!)   By answering some questions about bark, leaves, location and more, photos and info are pulled up from the database.  Sounds pretty cool, at a very slight price.

Cool App #5.  If night time is more your thing, then you probably are a bit of a stargazer.  Sounds like you need a star map app! It's pretty darn cool--hold it up to the sky and it will help you locate all of your constellations, planets, and more.  Among others that are out there, it would seem that these are the two biggies:  Google Sky Map for the Droid (http://www.google.com/mobile/skymap/) and then there's Starmap for iPhone and the iPod Touch (http://www.star-map.fr/).  Where was this when I took Astronomy in college??

For even more cool apps....why reinvent the wheel over here at the Green Team Gazette?  For iPhone owners out there, here's a slew of goodies.  Check out:  http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/10/top-ten-green-apps/  Then load up your phone and head outside!


Photos from:  intro: http://www.nineteenfortyone.com/tag/zoomers/
1. Geocaching:  http://mobileappamerica.com/blog/2010/geocaching-for-android/
2. Compass:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikewelchcom/3642269683/
3.  My Nature Animal Tracks:  http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.mynature.tracks
4. My Nature Tree Guide:   http://www.goodcleantech.com/apps_and_websites/
5. Google Sky Map:   http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7570770&page=1