On October 22-25, 2009, CIB will be in Palm Springs for the California Science Teacher Association’s annual science education conference. We invite you to stop by booths 519 and 521 where you can chat with CIB staff and even purchase some of our products at specially discounted CSTA prices.

Emily Breunig, an associate education director at CIB and will be co-hosting (along with Lorrae Fuentes of Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden) a workshop entitled, “INvestigate the OUTside with Cal Alive!” on Friday, October 23rd from 1:30 – 2:30 PM in the Pueblo room at Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel. This workshop will look at the Cal Alive! habitats study project, which engages students in outdoor field investigations that connect classroom content and inquiry experiences to real-world environmental issues. Also, every participating teacher will receive a free sample packet complete with hands-on activities discussed during the presentation as well as a CD-ROM from the Cal Alive! series. It’s sure to be an exciting and highly educational presentation so we hope to see you there.

During the conference, we’ll be on the look out for teacher reviewers to help us review part of our upcoming educational CD-ROM: The Adventures of Margie & Alex: Riding the Wind. We will be reviewing chapters two and three, which have material on the methods of heat transfer, the properties of air, and the water cycle. If you are interested in giving us feedback, please stop by our booth and ask for Rob Deene or Veronica Kimes.

We hope to see you in Palm Springs!

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Another video with Jack Laws. This time he teaches us how to draw the perfect butterfly in our scientific journals.

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What do you think of when you imagine the Sacramento – San Joaquin delta?  For us, it’s watching a family of ducks navigate their way across a slough or seeing a great egret soar into the skies from behind a clump of tules.  Maybe you think of the same things, or some other delta wildlife experience.

Either way, it’s clear that this is the perfect backdrop to engage your students in the science and natural diversity that is happening all around them.

For this reason we are proud to present, in conjunction with East Bay Regional Park District, California State Parks, and the Oakley Unified School District, the 2009 Coast Alive! Delta Watershed Workshop occurring on October 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th.  Perfect for elementary and middle school teachers, this workshop aims to give you a wide array of hands-on, inquiry-based activities as well as interactive multimedia CD-ROMs while visiting some of the best sites the delta has to offer including Big Break Regional Shore and Delta Meadows River Park.  Activities include our famous Ooey-Gooey Fish Guts lesson plan refocused on common species found in delta waterways as well as a morning Ecotour of surrounding delta waterways aboard the Tule Queen II catamaran.  In fact, all of the activities that will be presented are not just related to delta biodiversity, but are also literacy-linked, based off of California Science Standards, and easy to incorporate into your own curriculum.

And, if you’re looking for some extra college credit, Continuing Education Units are available for participants of this workshop through CSU East Bay.  There may also be a Student Transportation Grant that would set aside up to $500 for you to take your students on a field trip out into the Sacramento – San Joaquin delta so they can see the bountiful biodiversity of the area first hand.

So, really, what do you have to lose…a few days out of the school year?  Well, that seems like a fair trade because you’ll have experienced a beautiful three days out on the delta and have new and exciting enhancements to your curriculum too!

If you’re interested in the 2009 Delta Watershed Workshop please visit our Eureka Series website for more information.  If you would like to register for this institute, please call 1-888-EBPARKS (1-888-327-7275) and choose option 2.  The course number is 22265 and the registration fee is $32 for residents of Alameda/Contra Costa counties, and $36 for non-residents.  We promise, it’s worth every penny.

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Below are videos from the first weekend of our second Sierra Nevada Institute. Enjoy!

Listen to beautiful bird songs of the Sierra Nevadas as naturalist John (Jack) Muir Laws describes how to draw their songs in a journal. You’ll also learn the importance of taking detailed notes in your field journal of all the birds you hear, even if you do not know what type of bird it is.

Watch as a spider wasp drags a paralyzed spider to her nest. In the process, you’ll learn how to spot a spider wasp, how spider wasps get around, and why the spider wasp is dragging a spider into its nest in the first place.

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Looking to get that special someone an Earth Day gift? Looking for that bargain deal during these tough times? Well look no further than our special Earth Day pricing on Habitats Alive! An Ecological Guide to California’s Diverse Habitats.

Starting today, March 27th, 2009 and going through Earth Day, April, 22nd 2009, our new Habitats Alive! guide will be only $48. That’s $22 off the normal list price of $70 in honor of April 22nd being Earth Day. At this special price you’ll receive the complete guide along with our Cal Alive! Habitats CD-ROM

With these two things you’ll have the information you need for any question on any of the 53 diverse habitats in California. You’ll be able to learn how animals and plants adapt to their surroundings. You’ll even view the habitats in action with lively videos and animations presented to you in the CD-ROM. Most importantly, you will understand the threats to many of the state’s ecosystems, and how people can act to reduce those threats. So, it’s a perfect gift for that naturalist or California enthusiast in your Earth Day gift-giving circle.

On top of all the information the guide contains, each habitat also has a resource section that allows you to go to outside sources for more detailed information about each habitat. These can range from books and periodicals to websites to places within the habitat to visit. For example, the “Cactus Scrub” section has links to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park as well as a reference for publications on the Anza-Borrego region.

It’s a perfect resource for the classroom as well. The CD-ROM can be projected for the whole class to learn the intricacies of a specific habitat, while the guide itself can be used out in the field as your students gain valuable insight into the biodiversity that’s in their backyard.

To learn more about this product just click on the “Products” link to be taken to the store. There click on the Habitats Alive! banner and you’ll be all set to purchase a great guide for your inner naturalist or naturalist friend. And if you’re still not convinced, why not at least download the PDFs of the “Cactus Scrub” and “Desert Wash” chapters to get a feel for the book.

So, give the gift of learning about the biodiversity that surrounds us with the Habitats Alive! guide.

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Getting your students out of the classroom is always hard, especially when so much curricula focuses on testing and indoor activities. That’s why the Coast Alive! Teacher Institute: Land-Sea Interface in the East Bay Regional and State Park system is such a good idea. Hands-on activities, interactive multimedia, and experimental design form the basis for this program, all of which are easy-to-incorporate into your own curricula.

Now on top of that we also offer a generous stipend to anyone who participates in our East Bay program. I know what you’re thinking, “what’s the catch?” Well, we promise that there isn’t a catch to be found. The stipend comes from the grants that we receive as a non-profit company. Because of that the money basically goes straight to you, and you can use it for whatever you want. All we ask is that you come to the institute and work towards making it a positive experience for yourself and the others who are there with you, since at the end of the day this really is about improving even more everyone’s teaching quality for their students.

Along with the stipend, participants may also be eligible for transportation scholarships so that they can bring their students back to the bay when the general school year begins. This is a great opportunity then to ensure that you get your classroom outside to where all the action is. You can even take them to the same parks you visited during our six-day institute, so they can get the most out of the instruction you already received.

We understand that August 2-7, 2009 may be a hard time for some teachers to make it out to a professional development program since they will be gearing back up for the school year. However, the program strives toward enriching your own curricula and your students’ knowledge of the habitats around them. Plus, with a generous stipend and the possibility of a transportation grant, this institute really has too many good things going for it to just be overlooked because the dates may not be absolutely perfect.

So, if you’re at all interested, please think it over. Check out www.eurekaseries.org. There you can find detailed information on this Coast Alive! program as well as teacher testimonials, sample syllabi from previous years, and answers to most if not all of your questions. We hope to leave no teacher inside with this institute and because of that we hope to see you there.

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Join us for an evening with artist and naturalist John Muir Laws:
“Finding Connections in Nature—The Sierra Nevada and the State of California”

Thursday, February 5th, 2009
6:30pm–8:30pm

The Moraga Library
1500 St. Mary’s Rd
Moraga CA

John Muir Laws
Naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws  delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  For six years, Jack backpacked the Sierra Nevada to research and illustrate The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, a richly illustrated (2,710 original watercolor paintings), pocket-size field guide to over 1,700 species found in the Sierra Nevada. He has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska. Jack teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences.

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