Salmon and Trout Education Project

For any of you looking for a great teacher training opportunity, consider the Salmon and Trout Education Project Teacher Workshop on Feb 20-21 in Santa Cruz. Many of our BioSITE teachers have participated in the past and have found it a rewarding workshop. A registration form and more information can be found here and here -- registration is due on January 20.

Reminder for ACE Teachers -- Activity after Day 1 classroom visit

Just a quick reminder for all of you who are involved with ACE -- Please have your students do the "Draw Yourself at the River" page after the Day 1 classroom visit. Have the students imagine themselves at the river site and draw some of the things they expect to see near the river when they come to the museum for their ACE Day 2. This makes a great transition between the two days -- and also reminds them about the program if there is a big time gap between your watershed lesson and your first field trip.

The journal page for this is about the 5th page in to the journal (the page just before the ones we wrote on when I visited the classroom).

Thank you to all!

Kit Showcase: Dissect a Feather

"A Feather is a Letter From a Bird" -- So explore one!! Our feather dissection kit includes feathers, magnifiers, and feather diagrams to help students improve their obervation and diagramming skills. This kit allows an exploration of form and function, and after they've finished their investigation, you can encourage students to explain how it is that a bird can fly.

 

View the kit activity card and list of materials in the kit.

For those of you in the Pioneer and Leland programs, this activity ties in with the bird unit later in the year; for all, it's a great kit to encourage students to make detailed observations of part of our natural world.

Kit Showcase: Satellite Image Watershed Exploration

A new kit for this week -- Exploration of our watershed using satellite images from Google Earth. Students discover what is to be found in our watershed by assembling a giant map of the watershed from 8 1/2" X 11" laminated Google Earth images of the south bay.

Some sample puzzle pieces include:
bottom of the watershed
 
middle of the watershed
 
near the top of the watershed
 

Kids can find the bay, local creeks, roads, schools, their neighborhood, parks, airports, mountains, gravel pits, and much more, and then see how the local water drains through it all.

ACE teachers will know this activity as their Day 1 activity in the classroom; our spare copy is now available as a kit for everyone else to check out for use with their classes. Please give it a try!

View the kit activity card and kit materials card. You can also get the .kml file for download to look at in Google Earth on your computer here.

River Of Words Contest

Are you truly hoping that they learn what it means to be River Guardians this year?

Are you looking for something to spark their creative minds?

Check out the River Of Words Contest details-- and explore the beautiful selection of student poetry and art. You will be amazed!!!

If you decide to participate in this inspiring contest- let us know. We would appreciate the opportunity to showcase your students' work here at Children's Discovery Museum for the 2010 BioSITE Open House in April.

Also, we have invited Pamela Michaels, Travel author and Director of the River of Words Program to lead a workshop here at CDM this February- we will keep you informed as that shapes up.

So are you ready to be amazed by your students creative talents? The contest deadline is December 1st. Check it out!
http://www.riverofwords.org/contest/index.html

BioSITE SEED Restoration Project

Pioneer BioSITE Native Plant Nursery

In the fall of 2008, with help from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the BioSITE program was able to embark on an exciting new project. In cooperation with Pioneer High School, BioSITE has created a Native Plant Nursery on the Pioneer campus.

Throughout the year, students helped propagate a variety of California native plant species while learning about their importance to the health of our watershed. In the spring, they gave away the plants they had grown to local residents at various community events in order to share what they had learned and distribute native plants across the valley. They gave away almost 3000 plants!

Fourth grade BioSITErs also contributed to the restoration of our local environment by planting wildflower seed and Valley Oak acorns. We were able to donate over 200 new oak trees to Our City Forest and the Santa Clara Valley Water District!

This year the Native Plant Nursery is still going strong. We are growing more species, building new partnerships, and finding more opportunities for students to participate in restoration all the time. If you have any questions or would like more information about the BioSITE Restoration Project, please contact Biret Adden, badden@cdm.org .

Kit Showcase: Sorting through Sediments

  

What is down there under your feet? In just one tray of soil you can find a variety of things to test your skills of observation. We will supply sifting trays, magnifiers, and other materials to turn your students into soil scientists; you supply the soil and enthusiasm.
Sorting Sediment Journal Pages

Kit Showcase: Pollution Soup and Santa Clara Valley History

This classroom kit helps students explore how our Santa Clara Valley has changed over the past few hundred years. Students learn how each step along the way has presented unique challenges to our water supply and perform a visual demonstration of what happens to clean water as contaminants are added.

Click the links to view the kit activity card and materials card.

This activity is based on Unit 3 Activity 3 in the BioSITE curriculum.

Field Guide to BioSITE staff

Ever wonder about your BioSITE field staff? Want to know what your contact person looks like for your field days? Need some light reading? Visit the Field Guide to BioSITE Staff to see pictures and more.

Kit Showcase: Leaf observations

 

All around you- there is something green happening! Our leaf observation kit will help your students become more aware of the nature right outside every door. This kit will give your students the opportunity to practice comparing shapes and patterns, using dichotomous keys, and identifying the trees found in our community and at the river. It's a great beginning-of-the-year activity to practice making and recording observations in your BioSITE journals.

View the activity instructions and the kit materials list

The complete list of kits, kit checkout procedures, and kit feedback form can always be found along the right hand side of the blog below the ACE sign-up links.

For ACE teachers: Day 1 outline

For those of you participating in ACE this year who might be curious about what we will be doing during the Day 1 Watershed classroom visit, I have posted my outline here.

Please remember to sign up for your ACE Days using the links at the right hand side of the blog. We look forward to working with you and your classes!

Kit showcase: Snail Inquiry

Periodically, we will be showcasing one of our supplemental kits that are available for all BioSITE teachers to borrow and use in the classroom. Contact the BioSITE staff member you work with for check-out details and availability.

This week's activity: Open-ended investigation of snails.

In this activity, students learn and use the processes of open-ended exploration and inquiry to investigate snail anatomy and behavior. Questions are formed, observations are recorded, and students learn the fun of acting like a scientist. The kit includes magnifiers, measuring tools, and various materials to explore snail behavior. You will need to supply the snails!

View the Kit Activity Card, including instructions and suggested guided discussion questions.

This is Unit 1, Activity 2 from the BioSITE curriculum.

 
 

NEW BIOSITE TEACHERS: BioSITE Teacher Training 2009-2010

When: October 10, 2009
Where: Children's Discovery Museum
Time: 9 A.M. - 4 P.M.
** special Open House 2 P.M. - 4 P.M.
RSVP: to sderby@cdm.org

Welcome to our amazing world of BioSITE. We hope you are ready to engage your students in some real world, hands on - minds on inquiry! This training will help you prepare for a full year of science education you and your students are going to love.

In the morning, we will be sharing with you all the essential BioSITE Program materials that you will be using. We will work our way through a full BioSITE year, introducing the content of each unit and mapping out every field day. We will also walk you through student field journal pages so that you can begin to plan in class journal time for reflection and extension.

You will also have the opportunity to explore a few of the favorite activities your students will be doing. We will take this opportunity to brainstorm how to make this suit your students here and now. What is the most important content to focus on? What skills do your students need to practice? How can we make this a lasting process for our students?

Next, Anna George will be helping explore the BioSITE teacher Blog so that you know how to easily access important information and resources.

We will provide lunch- so don't forget to RSVP!

Right after lunch we will break into small program groups to make sure you don't have any questions left unanswered!

And last, from 2 - 4 p.m., we will have a BioSITE Open House to share the kit materials available for check out. During this time you can sign up for kits and sign up for ACE field days.

We hope to make this training the kick start that you need to set up your BioSITE year. Our goal is to make sure you are prepared to help your students understand the true meaning of being River Guardians- now and in the future.

RETURNING TEACHERS: BioSITE Teacher Training 2009-2010

When: September 26th, 2009
Where: Children's Discovery Museum
Time: 9 A.M. - 4 P.M.
RSVP: to sderby@cdm.org

It's that time! We will be gathering for a meeting of the minds. We depend upon you, as veteran BioSITE teachers, to let us know how to make this the best BioSITE year yet.

In the morning, we will be working in small program groups to answer any logistical questions and make sure everyone is on the same page for the field days. Then, we will be working together to set goals and objectives for this year. We will start with our basic BioSITE plan, and brainstorm how to make this suit our students here and now. What is most important to focus on? How can we make this a lasting process for our students?

Next, Anna George will be helping explore the BioSITE teacher Blog and other resources on the web. We will even play with come gigapan pictures- very cool!

We will provide lunch- so hope you have RSVP'd...yummy selection of Sonoma Chicken Coop Salads!

In the afternoon, we will explore some of the unit materials we have prepared for our field days this year. By performing water quality tests and practicing some of the activities your fourth graders will be doing, we can share insights and ideas as to how we can extend the content through journaling, kits, projects, and evaluation tools.

We hope to make this training the kick start that you need to set up your BioSITE year. Our goal is to make sure you are prepared to help your students understand the true meaning of being River Guardians- now and in the future.

Welcome to the BioSITE 2009-2010 year!

If you are reading this, you made it. Congratulations and hope our BioSITE Teacher Blog makes it easy for you to find information, explore resources and new ideas, and expand your BioSITE year to include additional class activities, projects, and fun!

We will have monthly updates and weekly ideas posted here, so you will be able to try all kinds of new ways to get your students learning about their environment. Whenever we come across some amazing BioSITE extension- we will let you know!

So bookmark this spot- and if you have any suggestions and contributions that will make this Blog more useful to all BioSITE participants- just let us know!

Thanks for being a part of BioSITE!!

June update

Hello and welcome to June! The year has flown by as it always does. Thanks to every single BioSITE teacher, we had a fantastic 2008-2009 school year!!! From the new program changes we implemented in ACE that included in class introductions, and different Day 3 field study sites, to Leland stepping up and completing a second year of Alamitos Creek studies, to the additional Pioneer GPS/GIS projects!! We have been able to further develop our BioSITE Program in so many ways this year. We look forward to continuing with these great additions next year!

As for now- there are just a few last tidbits before you all sail off into the summmer....
1) We have received some great end of the year evaluation pieces from some of you, as well as journal samples from the Pioneer journals. Thank You! If you still can find time (this may be just what you need to break up crazy whorlwind of end of the year)- we suggest a few ways to reflect on the BioSITE year.
-Have your students write advice to next year's BioSITE 4th graders.
-Write a River of Words Poem
-Write a favorite memory of BioSITE
-Draw yourself at the river study site....
Any of this work I will be glad to pick up from you. We will be reviewing and saving samples of all this students work- to share at next year's fall training. Remeber- we will be here during the summer if you need anything--- or want to chat about next year...just email or call.

2) As for next years BioSITE, I will be sending out a request for a letter of intent to be returned by you or your principal. I am hoping that each participating school can contribute $500 for next year's program. Can you please email me and let me know where you stand on participation next year. That will give me a lead on planning. Cross your fingers that our Yahoo grant comes thru!

3) And to end this year properly..I am hoping you will be able to attend our BioSITE Teacher Thank You Tea. YOU ARE INVITED!!! Please attend our Tea, so that we can show you how much we appreciate all that you do! June 22 at 3:30 in the CDM Ampitheater. Please RSVP by June 17.

4) And last- but not least. Please complete the teacher surveys for us. All of your suggestions help us to better serve you-- next year!

STEP

For all of you STEP Teachers out there......I expect the little alevin are burying themselves and you aren't seeing much these days. So now is the time to do some STEP activities.

Remember we have materials for you!
Salmon Survival, Fin Rummy, Fish Printing, Habitat Battleship.......
And look here for more ideas and resources! http://www.salmontrouteducationprogram.com/

And if you have any questions....or need help to plan the release- just let us know.

May Reflection!

June is right around the corner- so before you get too busy here are some end of the year ideas and reminders:
---Posted here in the BioSITE Teacher blog you can find info on activities, kits, and links that will help you do more in your classroom.. Remember the more you do in your classroom- the more you students get out of their field experiences.

---And to help us all know what they actually did take away this year- there are two pages in your student journals that you can use as reflection acitivities. Now is the time! The two pages we have created in your students journals for end of the year reflection are: 1)Draw Yourself at the River (some of you did this at the beginning of the year- this will be a follow up). 2)The second reflection page is found toward the end of the journal, and has two river channel sketches. This is for students to complete the two different drawings by writing (and drawing) comments on each sketch that show their understanding of what makes a healthy river and what might cause a river to be unhealthy. Both of these reflection pages are very open ended- but we hope to get all kinds of insights as the students write, draw, and share what they have learned.

---Please let us get copies of this student work as it is very important to our evaluation and of course ongoing funding search....

Happy May!

If your students want to see the headwaters of Guadalupe Creek

There are many parts of the watershed that we'd like to take students to investigate, but don't always get the chance. As a result, we've been taking large-format digital panoramas of some of them this year so you can bring these places into your classroom or computer lab if you choose. Just as an example, here's a shot of Guadalupe Creek in the fog near where it starts on the slopes of Mt. Umunhum.

Double-click on a part of the panorama to zoom, drag it to move around, or click on one of the snapshots at the bottom to see where it is located in the bigger picture.


You can use the controls to zoom in and examine quite a bit of detail -- one fun activity on this particular panorama is to see how many different spiderwebs students can find. We've taken snapshots of a few of them, but are sure you can find others!

More photos of places in our watershed are available for exploration at gigapan.org -- search on "biosite" to find them. Specific activities using the panoramas will be developed for next year, but we wanted you to have the chance to explore them sooner if you would like.

Macroinvertebrate web games

As many of you are learning about creek macroinvertebrates at BioSITE this month, you might find the following web games/activities useful and fun for your students:

Build-a-Bug game: Students can piece together different bug body parts and learn about useful adaptations in the process.

Virtual Pond Dip: Students can click on critters in the photograph to learn more about them. They also have a simple identification key and habitat activity here.

Macroinvertebrate match game: simple matching of names with critters

Enjoy!

April is here!

April is always a busy month for BioSITErs, and of course as Spring blooms- it makes all of us happy to be outside! So get ready!!

BioSITE Open House

BioSITE Open House is just around the corner! Open house at CDM is a great time to showcase student work, introduce our program to the community, and invite visitors to try some hands-on BioSITE activities. BioSITE families are invited to visit the museum for free during the week of open house, giving BioSITErs the chance to share their unique program with the rest of their family. This year will be particularly exciting as we celebrate BioSITE's 15th anniversary!

• Saturday April 11 - Sunday April 19... Free CDM Admission to BioSITE families, student work and BioSITE posters on display all week



• Monday April 13 - Wednesday April 15... Special BioSITE activity tables facilitated by high school mentors

To get kids excited about this upcoming event, we have created a simple classroom activity for you. Students can make "Save the Date" invitations for their families to let them know that BioSITE open house is on its way! Inside the card you'll find details about open house, but the outside is blank for BioSITErs to decorate themselves! We will be emailing the project to everyone as a Word file attachment, so keep your eyes peeled.

Lastly, be thinking about class projects that you might like to have on display during open house. It will be a great source of pride for students to see their work on display in the museum!

Green Vision/Green Schools Conference

Have you heard yet about the upcoming Green Vision/Green Schools Conference hosted by the City of San Jose? The conference will be held Saturday, April 4, 2009, from 8AM to 5PM at the San José Fairmont Hotel, 170 South Market Street, San José. Teachers, parents, principals, students, counselors, and other community members from throughout the South Bay Area are invited to attend. School district superintendents, administrators, and school board members are especially encouraged to participate. The conference links the City’s Green Vision with the greening of San José’s schools and will showcase ways that schools and school districts can save money while protecting natural resources and fostering the next generation of environmental stewards. Sounds a lot like BioSITE, doesn't it? We will actually be there as part of a panel presentation!

Here are some of the themes the conference will be addressing...

· Gold from Green: Green School Facilities Saving Energy, Water, Waste and School Budgets – for school district superintendents, administrators, school board members
· Green Schools 101: Basic How tos for Beginners (recycling, composting, gardens, funding)
· Green Schools Beyond the Basics: Next Steps for Intermediate Green Schoolers
· Connecting Children with Nature: Environmental Education / Local Nature Field Trips

Best of all, participation fees have been drastically reduced for early registrants. Find out more at http://www.sjrecycles.org/gogreen/GoGreenSchoolConference.asp and spread the word if you know anyone else who might be interested!

BioSITE Feb Update

BioSITE Field Programs are going great! Pioneer, Leland, and ACE Programs are well into the year- and spring is right around the corner. February and March are full for all programs- Pioneer and Leland field days focusing on birds and fish and also macroinvertebrates! A great way to teach food webs in the riparian community. For ACE- we have completed our Day 1s. Now we are facilitating Day 2s here at CDM. And we are beginning to schedule Day 3s. For our Day 3s we are venturing out to many different locations in our Watershed: Guadalupe Creek at Pioneer, Alamitos Creek at Leland, Guadalupe River at Guadalupe River Park and Gardens, Almaden Lake Park, Ulistac Nature Preserve, or Shoreline Park. As ACE Teachers finish their Day 2s- we are planning the last day of their Watershed Tour together.
Thanks for all of your efforts- BioSITE Teachers are the best! Let us know if you are ready for any in class activity kits!

BioSITE/STEP Workshop March 4, 2009

Yes! With all this rain... the Salmon should be coming up! To add to the excitment, we will have our third BioSITE Training of the year to help you prepare for spring! You are invited!!
Come explore ideas on teaching and incubating Salmon in the Classroom- check out some favorite STEP activities, make the most of the BioSITE spring field days by bringing kits into your classroom, and brainstorming ideas on what special projects we will be able to display for our BioSITE Open House (April 11-15th).
The BioSITE/STEP Workshop will be March 4th here at CDM. The evening workshop will be from 4-8pm and we will provide dinner. This workshop is open to BioSITE Teachers and STEP TEachers- hope we can make it a fun night sharing acitvities and ideas for spring.
RSVP to sderby@cdm.org by Feb 25th so we can order dinners.

Some Online Fish Activites

As many of you are heading into your salmon units, your class might find the following online fish game fun/useful.

Salmon Challenge from King County, Washington is a game to help you see how your decisions help or harm our environment and our salmon. Students get to name their fish and then answer a series of questions about human activities that affect the creek health as the fish works its way down to Puget Sound. If you play, be sure to click the "Checkup button" as you go to map out the salmon's growth and health.

Teacher Training March 4th

Greeetings,
We are having our 3rd and last Teacher Training of the year. Hope you can make it! It will be Wednesday, March 4th, here at CDM, from 4-8pm and dinner will be provided. This training will be focused on the STEP (Salmon and Trout Education) Program, sharing STEP activities, projects, and demonstrations on how to set up and care for a STEP Aquarium. We will also be working on activities and project ideas that could be completed for the 2009 BioSITE Open House- April 11th - April 14th. And last, we will be covering some macroinvertebrate activities to enhance the last field days for your students. This training will include BioSITE teachers as well as STEP teachers- so let me know ASAP is you are planning on attending. RSVP to my email, sderby@cdm.org. Thanks all!

Reflection Activities

We need you! And your students' creative efforts!!
I am hoping that we can gather some student work to be displayed here at Children's Discovery Museum-- show visitors what BioSITE is all about!
We have a couple different opportunities to showcase BioSITE student work: First, we have a new exhibit opening in February titled "Out On A Limb". This exhibit is a celebration of trees...just our kind of celebration! So help us!!
We need poetry, creative writing, and just descriptive impressions of how your students think and feel about our precious green giants of field and forest! You can use the River of Words page in your journals or design your own page. Let me know if you can help!
Second- we need collections...nature collections. Also to be on display in "Out On A Limb". At our last teacher training we introduced this idea, by sharing treasures in a shoebox, letting individuals choose something special, and allowing time to draw in detail. This would also add so much to our upcoming exhibit- how our students are connecting to nature!!
And of course- in the spring we will be displaying BioSITE student work of all different kinds- so think about what your students or what your class as a whole might like to showcase.
We are looking forward to making a great showing of our 2009 BioSITE River Guardians.

January Update

January is moving right along. Upcoming field units for Pioneer and Leland will be Birds and then Fish. That means S.T.E.P. season is right around the corner! In fact, last weekend was the 2009 STEP Training, so if you are a STEP Teacher it is time to get ready. If you need any help or want to check out any of our several STEP activities- just let us know.
We will be having our 3rd Teacher Training for this school year late February or first week of March- and part of that training is a STEP refresher course- so look out for more info on that. Also, please be on the snail mail lookout this week -I was finally able to send out stipends to your schools, for those of you that attended our December Teacher Training. Thank-You!
As far as our ACE Program, we are moving thru to Day 2's- and looking forward to it! For the next few months the ACE students will be monitoring the Guadalupe river and adding to our water quality data. They will be learning how we determine a water quality index and how we use macroinvertebrates to determine a pollution tolerance index! Look for all of our data to be posted soon- use the BioSITE online link found here, on the Teacher Blog!
Thank you to all of our BioSITE Teachers-- hope 2009 is a great year for all of you!

Online activity for bird unit

BioSITE programs at Pioneer and Leland are heading into the Birds unit soon -- the link below is a fun online owl pellet dissection activity that can be done to support the activities we do in the field. Click on the link below and then select "NEW Beta Version: Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection v.4" Enjoy!
http://www.kidwings.com/index.htm#