Discovery Hike

Grade Level: Elementary

Objective: Students will become more aware of their senses and attuned to their surroundings.  Students will gain confidence in themselves and respect for their environment

When I worked as a naturalist, I taught a class called "Discovery Hike," that included a modified version of Joseph Cornell's "Silent Solo Hike."  In this version, two adults or teachers need to be present.  One adult (me, the naturalist) gets a head start (usually 3-5 minutes.)  He/she places cards on the trail which give the students instructions on how to interact with their environment (see below.)  The students are instructed to follow the path of cards silently and thoughtfully.  The second adult follows the group, picking up the cards as he or she goes.  The solo hike cards give students the opportunity to move through the forest in a more intentional way.  It's one of my favorite place-based environmental education activities.

September 18: Trees, Trees, Trees

"Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.” ― Wendell Berry

The setting where I work, live, and teach

Tuesday September 18:
tree identification, talking trees, dichotomous keys, leaf color experiment
(Sources: Once There Was a Tree by Natalia Romanova, Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Cornell, Oregon State University Dichotomous Key, PBS Nature: What Plants Talk About (video clip))

Materials:
Once There Was a Tree by Natalia Romanova, lodge pile pine branch/cones, Oregon State University Dichotomous Key, PBS Nature: What Plants Talk About (video clip), backpack, radio, first aid kit, field guides

Objective:  Student will begin to understand more about the shapes, adaptations, life cycle and categorizations of trees, developing a greater sensitivity to the complicated ecosystem they inhabit.

Class introduction/hook:
Blind tree identification activity

September 9th-11th: Mushrooms, Yeast, Bug Traps, and Trees

"Observing expands your world; the more you see, hear, feel smell and taste, the more you will understand. You become attuned to the context of objects you previously thought of as isolated; you find they are connected to other objects and events."- Claire Walker Leslie, author of Keeping a Nature Journal

Observing animal behavior

Mule deer on the playground

Monday, September 9:

mushroom walk, sorting mushrooms, and making spore prints

Sources: The Fungus Files: An Educator's Guide (source: the North American Mycological Institute)

Grade Level: Elementary

Objective: Students will begin to learn about mushrooms/fungi/decomposers through guided exploration of their environment.

Materials: Fungus Files handouts, National Audubon Society Familiar Mushrooms Pocket Guide, Mushrooms of North America, an assortment of preselected wild mushrooms, construction paper, cups

Class introduction/hook: Mary Oliver poem (Mushrooms), mushroom walk