Fall 2006
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Spring 2004 || Fall 2004 || Spring 2005 || Fall 2005 || Spring 2006
Current Newsletter
Over 2000 students a year and many of their parents engage in a wide array of specially designed programs and activities at the RVOEP. Field trip programs are conducted every Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring months. In the winter, the RVOEP staff provides follow-up classroom programs in our local schools. From investigating the countless interrelationships that create healthy soils, forests, and streams, to learning about the unique habits and adaptations of our local wildlife, students have an opportunity to begin developing an important appreciation and understanding of Earth’s life-support systems. Descriptions of our field trip and classroom educational programs are provided in this newsletter and at our website: www.rvoep.org.
In addition to our field trip and classroom programs, RVOEP weekend and evening workshops extend classroom curriculum and provide families with the opportunity to experience and learn about the natural world together. This fall, on a clear September evening, about 75 brave souls participated in Night Camp, a 2 ½ hour evening program that focused on exploring "nature after dark." Most of these students were just beginning a special classroom integrated language arts program called "Moon Journals." Night Camp was a great introduction to their assignment of observing and writing about the night sky every evening for a whole month. Cathy Monroe, pointed out the constellations and told ancient myths about the night sky, Jim Xerogeanes helped students catch night insects; while David Menasian, Dennis Slota, Beb Ware, and Paul Kobitz trained their telescopes on the moon and distant star clusters. You could have heard a pin drop as the group sitting in the forest tried to call in a Great Horned Owl! Look for the 2006-07 schedule of workshops in this newsletter.
On-going habitat improvement projects give students an important opportunity to apply what they have learned as they make a positive contribution to the health of our local ecosystems. Over the past few years, students have planted trees and native bulbs with the help of Chuck Williams from the Native Plant Society. Chuck teaches students about the native uses of plants, proper planting techniques, and the importance of native plants in helping to promote a healthy diversity of plants and animals in an ecosystem. Calpella Waldorf School students have planted native shrubs and constructed and installed birdbaths to improve bird habitat.
Opportunities for teachers to broaden their skills in the area of Environmental Education are also provided by the RVOEP. Last year 12 teachers participated in a special GLOBE teacher-training program. Led by NASA, the National Science Federation and the U.S. Department of State, GLOBE trains teachers to help students improve their achievement in science and math, and in the use of computer and network technology. GLOBE students learn to collect scientific data about their environment, interpret their findings, and share their data and conclusions via the Internet.
Over 2 miles of hiking trails and "The Jerry Cook Trail", a self-guiding nature trail developed by Jerry Cook, are open to the public on weekends. Duane Wells and Bill Smith keep our trails clear and our site operational with their many hours of volunteer work and help from the Parlin Forks inmates.
We are excited about a new program that we are developing and piloting called "Becoming A Naturalist." In September and October, a few selected classes from Redwood Valley and Oak Manor field-tested the program. Armed with their "eagle eyes," "deer ears," and special naturalist notebooks, students visited the meadow, forest, and stream habitats at the RVOEP. In each habitat they were introduced to a different naturalist skill and had to complete a special naturalist task. As the morning progressed they made a habitat map of the meadow, drew a detailed illustration of something special that they noticed in the forest, and wrote about what they saw, felt, smelled, and heard as they sat in a special spot by the river. As it turned out, the staff and teachers had so much fun with this program we are anxious to try the activities with some older students and adults.
Connections Made In A Forest
Last Friday morning I was resting on my perch about half way up an old Douglas fir tree. I had spent a long night hunting Wood Rats and was trying to catch up on a little sleep. All of a sudden, the chatter of little voices right under my tree startled me! Of course, having exceptionally good hearing, I couldn’t help but listen in. I was very surprised and quite pleased by what I heard!
"What do you think is the secret of life out here in the forest?" Poppy, one of the RVOEP instructors, asked the group as they sat down in a circle to rest.
There was a long pause, and then one of the students shyly raised her hand. "Well, we’ve been studying food chains, so that must have something to do with it."
"I know the secret! I know the secret!" a small freckle-faced boy excitedly interrupted. "It’s rocks!"
"How do you figure that rocks are the secret of life?" inquired Poppy with a puzzled look.
"It’s easy to explain," he said and enthusiastically continued, "Last year, when we were here in second grade, we learned that rocks are the parents of soil. Well, the rocks help make the soil, the trees and plants grow in the soil and get their energy from the sun, the plant eaters eat the plants, and the animal eaters eat the plant eaters. It all starts with rocks!"
"Wow!" exclaimed Poppy, "Great job tying it all together! You all go through an awful lot of paper at school and paper comes from trees. What happens if the forest gets cut down?"
"The animals wouldn’t have a home!" said one student. "And there wouldn’t be anything for the plant eaters to eat. If there are no plant eaters then the animal eaters are in trouble."
"They won’t have anything to breath either," chimed in another worried voice.
"What can you do so that we don’t have to cut down so many trees?" Poppy continued. "How could we use less paper?"
"We could just stop using paper and write on Madrone bark or leaves!" someone suggested enthusiastically.
"We could fold our paper and make sections and write in each section. If we write small, the paper might last the whole day," was another ingenious idea.
At this point, the boy with the freckles interjected with exasperation, "Well, it’s obvious that we need to recycle, then our paper gets used again and again and we don’t have to cut down very many trees at all."
Ideas were flying when all of a sudden one of the students looked up. "What’s that?" he shouted as he pointed in my direction. Necks craned up and twenty little eyes all looked toward me.
"It’s an owl!" Poppy cried. "It’s been watching us all this time!"
"Owls live here?" exclaimed a surprised student. "I’ve never seen an owl before!"
"This is a very special owl," explained Poppy in a whisper. "It’s a Spotted Owl and it’s probably here because of all the Wood Rats in this forest."
Well, I was the recipient of a great deal of admiration for the rest of the morning. As the students finally hiked quietly out of the forest for lunch, I was awake just enough to hear one say, "Boy, I really am going to recycle! I had no idea owls really lived here!"
Note: The photo of this Spotted Owl was taken at the RVOEP on November 3, 2006. A group of students participating in the Munch Line Monitor program (a program with a focus on food chains) were able to observe it off and on throughout the morning. Thank you Owl! Teaching an ethic of stewardship and wise use of our resources is an important component of all RVOEP programs. The RVOEP provides students with a place where they can experience the interrelationships that create healthy ecosystems and begin to see how humans depend upon and influence these systems.
Check out these links to Environmental Education Resources and Birds:
California Regional Environmental Education Community
Visit the CREEC Network website at www.creec.orgBirds
www.birds.cornell.edu/schoolyard/T_Resouces/index.html
All kinds of great suggestions and resources to get you started with a bird focus in your classroom.
www.peregrineaudubon.org
Our local Peregrine Audubon site has local bird lists and links to many other interesting sites.
www.birdsource.org/gbbc
This site provides information about THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT. This would be a fun event to promote with your students.Link to Previous Newsletters:
Spring 2004 || Fall 2004 || Spring 2005 || Fall 2005 || Spring 2006
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