December BioSITE Update

Holidays are right around the corner!
I am not sure where our fall went, but December and January are going to zoom by just as fast. To make sure you are able to begin the new year with all the important 2013 dates -- here is a list of links for the upcoming workshops in 2013:

December 20th                  Sign Ups for CEEF Teacher Institute
                                                    Best Practices in Environmental Education-- and a $300 stipend!
January 19th and 20th     STEP Training
                                                     Raise Steelhead eggs in your classroom!
January 29th                      Science Chat - Dig Deeper!
                                                     A night especially designed for teachers who love science teaching!
February 9th                      Growing Up Wild Workshop 
                                                     Exploring Nature with young children 3-7!

April 11 - 13                       BioSITE Open House- Showcasing your students' projects!!
  
DECEMBER CAME IN WITH A BANG!!!





This is the view of the Guadalupe River from
the Park Ave bridge downtown during the
early December downpour.
 

 


And where were our Leland + BioSITE students??  
Out at our Alamitos
Creek Site journaling their observations-- of course.
Until it started to
hail on us! Another exciting BioSTE day!



 

4th Grade Share Projects for 2013

Greetings to all,
We are now in the colorful month of November- and that means we are well into our 2012-2013 BioSITE year!  Students are engaged in becoming River Guardians, and our field sites are changing with the seasons.  We look forward to seeing how BioSITE students will express these unique learning experiences through BioSITE projects! 

We hope you have spent some time thinking about what your class would like to contribute this year.  The project guides are linked  on the right sidebar here so that you can reveiw the different ideas we shared with you at the training and in the participation letter.  In each link you will see the overview, materials and logistics, how the project is aligned with State Standards, and the science behind the project including resources and links for digging deeper!

And of course you can follow another idea, as one or our BioSITE teachers shares here, here, and here!!  Kirsten Corpuz at Allen at Steinbeck created this class display by taking photos of the field site and using the artistic technique known as pointilism to then have students recreate beautifully creative expressions of their study area.

So be inspired and creative!!  We look forward to the contributions of every 4th grade class, and of course if other participating BioSITE teachers would like to add to the display- we would love it!

Please use this form and let us know by the deadline of Nov 15th.  Thank you for all that you do to support BioSITE, your students, and our community.

Welcome Letter 2012-2013

The SCI Program (Science, Community, Identity)

A new element of Children’s Discovery Museum’s

BioSITE program

September 20, 2012

Dear BioSITE Teachers,

Welcome back! We’re looking forward to another great year and have some exciting news to share with you!

First, thank you so much for your ongoing interest in and support of Children’s Discovery Museum’s BioSITE program. As we near our 20th year, we are making a couple of positive changes to the program and would like to enlist your help in making these things possible. We call this new program SCI (Science, Community, Identity) and it includes the following:

Evaluation

The first component that we are adding is a comprehensive evaluation of the BioSITE program. While we have conducted smaller evaluations at a couple of points in BioSITE’s history, this evaluation will really help us to document the important elements of the BioSITE program and how they contribute to student’s science learning and attitudes. For this project, we are especially interested in how we can help to promote students’ positive science identity.

We have enlisted The Lawrence Hall of Science Research Group to conduct the professional evaluation of BioSITE, and they are developing tools and protocols to assess BioSITE’s effectiveness. The evaluation process will not impact the regular BioSITE programming, but we will let you know if there is an opportunity for your students to be more involved with this exciting opportunity. The evaluation provides an assessment of the BioSITE program, curriculum and staff, but is in no way an evaluation or assessment of you or your teaching. We hope that the evaluation will provide you with insights that could aid you in your science teaching and professional development and that it will send a strong message to funders and school district personnel about the benefits of this important program.

4th Grade Projects

The second component to the project which is new this year is the opportunity for 4th graders to share their science knowledge with others. We know through past evaluations that part of the success of the BioSITE program for the high school participants is learning themselves by teaching others. They develop confidence, an increased interest in the science content, and often a renewed commitment to environmental stewardship.

We want to provide these same opportunities for the 4th graders in BioSITE to share their science knowledge publically, so we have developed a few different ways for them to do that. As part of your participation in BioSITE this year, we would like for you to choose one of the following ways to have your 4th graders share their science knowledge with others. These will be classroom projects which we can help you to facilitate, if you would like. We will provide curriculum write-ups, information during teacher training, and may also be available to facilitate certain projects in your classroom. When completed, your projects will be prominently displayed at CDM. We are especially looking forward to showcasing an array of student work for our upcoming 20th anniversary year that exemplifies the amazing experiences and science learning of all BioSITE students!

Here are our ideas for the 2012 – 2013 share projects…

BioSITE Journaling: BioSITE field work engages students in practicing the skills of observation and nature study. Students can use their journal work to write and share stories of their unique experiences along the creek bank, expand on the questions that are sparked by their field explorations, or create a class collage of nature notes to show the hidden interconnections of a river habitat.

River Map Project: Students work together to create a river map based on observations made during BioSITE field visits. Maps may include descriptions of animals, plants, data collected, and other features of the river.

Share Your Science Project Poster: Students have the opportunity to create a poster about investigations (not limited to BioSITE) that they have done in class or for a science fair.

Schoolyard Naturalist

Students will be able to explore their own school habitat thru one of three different designs: Ask a Question, Design an Experiment: Students work individually or in pairs to figure out something they would like to know about the plant/wildlife on campus and then design an experiment that could help answer their question. Schoolyard Field Guide: Students work together to create a field guide specific to their school, including plant and animal life found directly outside the classroom. Individual Study Spot: Each student will record observations of their own chosen study spot several times throughout the year to discover what is going on there.

River of Words: Facilitated by CDM staff, this project encourages students to use art and prose to celebrate their local watershed. Students are introduced to the international art work and poetry from the River of Words yearly program, and then guided through the process of creating their own watercolors for a display.

Buddy Project: 4th grader students facilitate the Watershed Mapmaking activity for a younger buddy class. CDM staff will help to facilitate this sharing project and photos documenting the experience will be put on display at CDM.

Starting with the BioSITE Teacher Training on September 22, we will be providing more detailed examples and information on each of these projects to help you get started. All participating BioSITE 4th grade teachers will receive a complete packet of detailed write-ups by October 1st. This packet will include suggestions about how to introduce and conduct these activities with your class and specific information about how to create the displays for CDM. Please, as you look ahead to your year, choose one of the above projects that best suits your plans, and sign up for your special share project so that we can proudly display their work at Children’s Discovery Museum.

By November 15th, we will be asking you to commit to the specific project you are planning to complete with your class, and to identify a completion date (for example; April 1 for BioSITE Open House or June 1 for the summer showcase) that fits with your teaching plan. This will allow us to prepare for classroom visits and plan for available space within the Museum for display.

As we proceed in this new endeavor together, please feel free to contact the BioSITE team. We will be keeping you up to date on this project and our progress thru the BioSITE teacher blog. As always, feel free to talk with us to share your suggestions, concerns, or questions.

Thanks again for your participation and all of your support of BioSITE!

Sandy Derby             Biret Adden            Megan Lee            Patti Workover            Jenni Martin

BioSITE                      BioSITE                    SCI BioSITE              Leland                           Director of

Director                     Coordinator           Coordinator            Coordinator                  Education

BioSITE Open House 2012

Spring is right around the corner- and that means two more months to get ready for our BioSITE Open House.
When: April 12th, 13th, and 14th.
Where: At Children's Discovery Museum
Who: BioSITE students and their families are admitted free of charge!
Some great ideas from past BioSITE classes:
Scrap Books of pictures, data pages, collective reflections.
Classroom quilts showing BioSITE students, nature, leaves, writings.
Photo journals of your BioSITE days.
Student journal pages sharing new knowledge, science questions, and stewardship visions.
And of course-- Art and Poetry showing students expressing their connection to nature. **We will visit your classroom to facilitate this activity! Using the River of Words Curriculum we can guide your students thru an art or poetry exploration-- BioSITE style:-)

And check out this additional opportunity to be inspired by children connecting to nature!!


Children’s Art Exhibition—

A Special Showing of the Winning Artwork from the 2012 River of Words Contest
April 15, 2012—June 10, 2012
Sunday-Wednesday, 11am—4:30pm
Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art
Moraga, California
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/saint-marys-college-museum-of-art

An astounding exhibit of children’s art from around the world, from the environmentally-themed contest, which was created by River of Words, the newest member of the Saint Mary’s family, and a program of the newly-founded Center for Environmental Literacy at SMC’s Kalmanovitz School of Education.

BioSITE as Research!!

Calling all Teachers, Students, Stewards!! We are making some exciting plans for our future!!

First of all, we are hoping that our vision of engaged and enthusiastic students working together to build a community based on critical thinking, creative work, and collective voice is part of why you joined our BioSITE team.
As part of this shared goal, we are hoping that you will help us research and showcase the best of the BioSITE experience!!

Starting this year we will be working with a research group from Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science to learn more about what truly makes BioSITE a great program. As we do this, we hope you will support us and become an active part of our learning process. Of course our ultimate goal is to learn how to better serve you and to encourage your students to be activated science learners.

Starting this year, you will be learning more about our program research, how we plan to review our best practices, and how you can help support this work.

Then for next year we will be inviting BioSITE teachers to take a more active role in our learning. Building a better BioSITE and a better world!

Stay tuned for more details to follow...

STEP Season and More!

Salmon and Trout Education Program
It's time!! Get out your STEP equipment and start preparing for your STEP teaching units. If you need any help- just let us know. We also have STEP activities available for check out!

Speaking of Check Out--
Remember to check out the list of classroom kits available for you as a BioSITE teacher. Enrich your science studies, expand on BioSITE lessons, engage your students. We want to help you do more- without working harder!

Updates on CREEC
More information is coming your way- ON Teacher Trainings, Science Teaching and Best Practices, and the EEI curriculum and workshops. Check out the news on the CREEC website for all the details @ www.creec.org.

Mammoth Discovery! Free field trips for 3rd grade Teachers!

Two field trips in one-- and both FREE!

We have entered into a partnership with Gaudalupe River Park and Garden Conservancy, where they can provide free transportation for 3rd grade classes interested in a Mammoth Discovery! Extended Exploration. This MD! EE field trip would include transportation funds for you to leave from your school, to CDM and have time to explore through the MD! Exhibit, then a short bus ride over to GRPC for extension activities like a river walk to imagine what it was like when Lupe was alive, and a geo-caching activity that teaches about geologic time…….and more! Then of course the bus trip back to your school! The conservancy has received a grant for transportation scholarships and we have provided you with free field trips—so what are you waiting for? 