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.

admin CIB News, Education, Institutes, Science

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.

admin Science