TEACHING THROUGH THE SEASONS

This series of after school workshops will expose early childhood educators to tried and true nature-related activities that enhance the seasonal curriculum.  Sign up for one workshop or all three!  All run from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Each workshop is $20 - includes instruction, copies of activities and other related resources.

BEYOND SCIENCE EDUCATION*
Grades 6—12

Place-based, interdisciplinary, ecosystem education is a proven method for engaging students in relevant experiential learning.  Use the natural and built environment as the basis for building an integrated community-oriented unit of instruction.

· Jan. 24, 2006, 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. @ Essex County Environmental Center, Essex County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, supplemental materials

THE ROLE OF ROCKS*
Grades 6-12

The location of our communities in northeastern NJ and the quality of life that exists within these communities can be traced, in part, back to their underlying geology.  Field experience, map work and small group work and discussion will provide the focus for this workshop.

· Feb. 16, 2006, 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.@ Essex County Environmental Center, Essex County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, supplemental materials

NJ W.A.T.E.R.S.:  Watershed Approach to Teaching the Ecology of Regional Systems
Grades 6-12

Each and every person lives, works & plays in a watershed.  The Passaic Watershed covers most of northeastern New Jersey, the state’s most populous area, and like most watersheds is complex in form,

function and quality. Learn how to use comparison studies to broaden students understanding of this complex system.

· March 15, 2006*, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. @ Essex County Environmental Center

· March 16, 2006*, 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. @ NJAS Scherman/Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, Somerset County

· November 3, 2006, 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. @ Jacques Cousteau Environmental Education Center, Atlantic County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, supplemental materials

THE GHOST FOREST*
Grades 6-12

The ecology of urban parks, forested open space acres, greenways and urban riparian corridors is being altered by a variety of stressors including invasive plant and animal species, deer browse and fragmentation.  Teachers will participate in practical field experiences that focus on the effects of these different stressors.

• April 18, 2006  9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. @ NJAS Scherman/Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary, Somerset County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, lunch, supplemental materials, 10% discount in bookstores on day of workshop

FISHING FOR ANSWERS IN AN URBAN ESTUARY
Grades 5 - 8

The Newark Bay Complex includes some of the most impacted urban estuaries in the country, yet it provides countless opportunities for teachers and students to learn about its unique natural systems.  This newly released set of lessons for middle school educators teaches about these natural systems, the human history of the region and the Fish Consumption advisories for the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers.

· May 3, 2006,  8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. @ Essex County Environmental Center, Essex County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, copy of Fishing for Answers in an Urban Estuary

NJ AT THE CROSSROADS OF SHOREBIRD MIGRATION
Grades 6 – 12

During May shorebirds migrate thousands of miles from Central and South America to their breeding grounds in the Arctic Tundra.  Many of them only make one stop - the Delaware Bay and while they are here, they feed on horseshoe crab eggs to fatten up so that they can continue their journey north.  This incredibly complex and intricate process has been going on for eons and provides a great opportunity for hands-on study using science, geography, language arts and art. 

· May 24, 2006,  8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. @ NJAS Center for Research and Education, Cape May County

COST - $50/person includes instruction, morning snacks, supplemental materials, 10% discount in bookstores on day of workshop

ECOSYSTEMS EDUCATION – A Summer Institute in the Passaic Watershed* (Limit 20 teachers)

August 21 to 25, 2006
 

This week of classes will provide teachers with in-depth experiences including team-building activities, field studies, modeling lessons for classroom use, and an opportunity to develop methods for integrating natural system studies into their existing curriculum on their school grounds.  As part of the week’s agenda teachers will investigate the forested regions of the Highlands/Pequannock Watershed at NJAS’s Weis Ecology Center and environs.  They will visit various sites along the Passaic River as it winds its way from the southern Highlands through our NJAS Scherman/Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary and the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, past the new Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland, over the Great Falls in Paterson, and onto its mouth at Newark Bay. Specific objectives for the summer institute are to:

· Provide teachers with New Jersey-specific content information that focuses on the natural systems that unite urban, suburban and rural communities. 
· Provide teachers with practice using the same skills and tools that they will use with their students so that content information can be effectively integrated into existing curricula.
· Introduce teachers to printed, technological, and organizational resources that will enhance classroom investigations and field trips.
· Model lessons and field trip techniques used in outdoor experiential learning situations.

Cost:  $350/person includes instruction, morning snacks, lunch and supplemental materials and resources.  Teachers from Abbott Districts receive scholarship money to cover institute costs.

Click here for more detailed information about this program.