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!

Memorial Day Camping Part 4: Park Quest 2011 Inauguration & Camping Conclusion

Part 1:  Decompression

Part 2:  Introspection

Part 3:  Transportation

Part 4:  Park Quest Inauguration ~ Camping Conclusion

Maryland Park Quest 2011 is under way!

For this girl and her family (aka "Team Green Gators"), Western Maryland's New Germany State Park was not only the perfect spot to camp, but also a perfect entry spot to this year's Park Quest (http://www.dnr.state.md.us/parkquest/). 

Straight from the intro of New Germany's "Thinking Outside, the (Letter) Box", it reads:

"This quest allows teams to explore the natural features of New Germany Park.  It also allows questers to discover historic aspects created by the Civilian Conservation Corp...Letterboxing is a hobby that combines problem solving with outdoor adventure."

So trekking across the park, we followed the rhyming couplet clues, and successfully found all 8 letterboxes and stamped our sheet.  We also recorded our own "we were here" in the notepad.

We also had an opportunity this Memorial Day weekend to do our 2nd quest ("Get your Bearings at Herrington") at Herrington Manor State Park.  This one, we learned to get comfy with our compass as we counted & paced from one question to the next. 

For some of the 1000 Marylanders who are participating in Park Quest this year, some are already much further knee-deep in questing than we are (one team has even wrapped up all 24 quests in just a mere 3 weeks of it being open)--at least as indicated on the Leader board and also the letterboxing notebook commentary.  For us, we're just at the cusp... the entrance... the starting block.  And that's okay!  Our game plan is for it to definitely take a bulk of the summer, by way of several weekends worth of day trips to tackle with a leisurely approach.  (For reminders as to how our team fared last year, go to http://greenteamgazette.blogspot.com/search/label/Park%20Quest)

For more Park Quest, check out this girl's camp-mate Candus Thompson (aka Baltimore Sun's "Outdoor Girl"):  http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/blog/.  She is currently (as of Wednesday, June 2nd) on her 2nd annual "Park Quest 24-7" where she treks high and low to hit all 24 of Maryland State Park's Park Quests in a mere 7 days.  She's blogging as she goes, and as of the end of day 2, she's already got 8 quests and 8 parks under her belt.  It's a pretty progressive itinerary!!  Quest on, Candy!!  We'll be watching and rooting for you, as you go!

Park Quest #1 & 2 are done,

As is our camping trip--what fun!

Let's give some great cheer,

To Park Quest & the great outdoors this year!

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!

The Pursuit of the Great Outdoors, Part 1

As anyone knows who has paying attention, I've been writing a lot this summer about outdoor adventures and Maryland Park Quests.  Also, if you've really been paying attention, you know that the underlying tie-in relates to the principles of the "No Child Left Inside" Act, "nature deficit disorder," and Richard Louv's book "Last Child in the Woods.  

But no worries if you haven't.  You can learn more about "No Child Left Inside" by clicking the title above or go to http://www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=895).  There you will find the following quote in reference to Richard Louv:  

"Louv links the lack of nature to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.....The "No Child Left Inside Act" would address this by igniting students’ interest in the outdoors and spurring them to take part in outside activities. And learning to explore the natural world and their personal connection to it, inevitably triggers an interest in spending more time in it."

Perhaps my somewhat obsessive interest in this subject this summer is related to the busy worker-bee teacher that I am, that doesn't get "out and about" nearly as often as I should during the school year.  Perhaps it comes from teaching 18 years, having known 1-dimensional "totally tech-y" kids who can't live life unplugged--and seeing my own children fall victim to the gravitational pull of the DS, computer, Playstation, Wii, and the TV.  (But don't you worry, I do my own "tug-of-war" to pull them back!!)  Perhaps it's my dismay at seeing the rates of  obesity in America on the rise (and my own summer fight to shed a bonus 10-15 lbs).  Perhaps too it's a disgust upon reading books such as Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff," and seeing that the accumulation of this stuff isn't leading anyone anywhere closer to happiness or healthier approaches.

The connections nation-wide--world wide--abound.  It's in the over-plasticized & polluted oceans that David de Rothschild was highlighting with his 4 month Pacific Ocean voyage on the Plastiki.  It's out in the oil-spilled/filled Gulf of Mexico that is contributing to our petroleum-based, over-consumed, disposable society (especially where the plastic-glutted, "Happy Meal"-treasure-filled toy box is concerned).  It is in the factors such as this which, in turn, lead to maxed-out credit cards, debt, and unhealthy lifestyles.  It's only a short commute from there to the diets filled with far too many calories that are served up in Styrofoam containers and single-use plastics, and eaten in front of the television. 

Maryland's Park Quest for me has been an opportunity to take time to stop and smell the roses, and to experience new venues. It's had me moving at a different pace (whether that be hiking, paddling, or biking).  It has also had me viewing the world differently, and it has worked as a springboard for different types of activities I could include as a teacher to help diminish "nature deficit disorder"...for instance setting up a letterboxing situation on our school campus and incorporating curriculum quests that I could take outdoors just simply to change things up. It has us doing exactly what Michelle Obama is trying to get everyone to with her "Let's Move" campaign to fight childhood obesity (http://www.letsmove.gov/).

Hopefully it's helped you, reader friend, get outside and get moving in a similar sort of way.  The roses and adventures await!

Pictures from my own outdoor adventures.

Park Quest #6: Soldier's Delight

A Sunday afternoon, a Park Quest Passport in hand, and Team Dabrowka is on the move.  A trek to Owings Mills, MD gets us to Maryland's Soldier's Delight State Park.  With numerous reason's out there WHY it's named this, the jury's not quite certain.  But it certainly was delightful!  

We've learned here on our 6th Park Quest that if we have a shortened version/option, it's best we go that route--4 year olds can be rather vocal on the longer quests.  So can 8 year olds.  Especially when mid-day heat and humidity are at play.  But this Quest had a bundle of fun, both outdoors and indoors:  a letterboxing element with some detective work needed to unlock the treasure box, a scavenger hunt, and even a visit with a screech owl at the Scales and Tales program the nature center offers.  We learned on the "Owl-ometer" that barred owls are the most mellow (and saw 2 darling ones) and that Great Horned Owls are "the most tenatious"...and that screech owls (which look a little baby-Great-Horned-Owl-esque) are somewhere in the middle.

Being someone who has never Letterboxed, it was a pretty cool phenomenon.  According to http://www.letterboxing.org/faq/faq.html#001 (where you'll find all the North American letterboxiing hotspots), letterboxing mixes "treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and sometimes remote places."  Hidden somewhere "out there" is a weatherproof box with a logbook, rubber stamp, and perhaps even other treats for the finder.  After following clues or the map and applying keen detective skills, the searcher hopes to find the hidden treasure.  Once found, the clues unlock the box, where notes can be left in the logbook for future finders.  Takes you back to the time of treasure maps!  And with kids, that idea of being a modern-day pirate is golden!

Inside the nature center on the scavenger hunt side of things, my reptile-lovin' kids loved the painted, box, and red-eared slider turtles that they saw.  They were going left, right and then some on the scavenger hunt within their 3-roomed nature center with AMAZING painted walls (which have only been here since early this spring).  It really captured my Dabrowka Duo's interest for two solid hours!!  Job well done, Soldier's Delight & Maryland's Department of Natural Resources!!

For my local friends and followers, click on the title above or go to http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/parkquest/soldiersdelight.asp to take advantage of some Maryland letterboxing at Soldier's Delight.  Friends afar, go to http://www.letterboxing.org/index.php or http://www.atlasquest.com/ to see if you can locate some letterboxing locales near you. 

Pictures à la my Park Quest Cam.