Make a Difference Day

Week 9: Storytelling of an Experience in Nature

 Make a Difference Day is an event that the United Way - Portage County puts on.  Hundreds of volunteers sign up in teams to rake yards.  Participants range in age from the very young to the very old.  It is a great way to get a community together to help a cause.  I participated with my sisters in Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, as well as the family of one of my sisters.

The morning of Saturday October 26th I got up at 7:00 AM and it was incredibly chilly outside.  I bundled up in several layers as well as mittens, a scarf, and a hat.  I was immobilized a little bit, but I was warm. We went out to two different yards. The first was labeled as "very large" on our sheet but our team of 20 people was able to knock out that yard within 45 minutes.  The second yard we went to was a little bit out of the way and was only labeled as "large."  This yard was twice as big as the first with four times as many leaves.  It took us a bit longer, but we managed to get the yard done and have a great time while doing so.  

I want to have students be active in their community.  As a teacher, I plan on advocating for service learning projects for my students to complete.  Many great service activities can take place outside.  Another that I've participated in college was the Labor of Love.  Students would pick up trash in Schmeeckle among other service projects. Personally, I was part of a group that helped to paint a fence for an elderly woman.  I believe that these service projects are great for students and I will advocate for them as a teacher.

Day at CWES

Week 8: Class Content

One of the projects that we do for this course was doing practicum hours at either the Central Wisconsin Environmental Station or at the Boston School Forest.  After this experience, we were to write a three page paper about it.  If I had wrote all of my thoughts about CWES in my paper, it would have well-exceeded three pages. I thought that I would use my blog entries to discuss a few other aspects of my experience that didn't quite fit into my paper, as well as several pictures that I took that I really enjoyed.

One part of the education that I found interesting was that the chaperons were encouraged not to participate very much.  This approach is put in place so that the students learn to problem solve by themselves without their teachers' assistance.  I enjoyed watching the students learn to problem solve themselves while also making sure that everyone was participating fully.

There are no guarantees that my students someday will be able to go to an outdoor facility such as CWES.  This all depends on what the school district has available. As a teacher, I can take some of the ideas and activities from CWES and try to incorporate them into my classroom.  Using a compass could be successful in a class even without an expansive forested area. Also, I could use my experiences here to advocate for more outdoor education for students because I believe that the experiences that the students have at CWES are very beneficial.

Apple Picking



Week 7: Environmental Issue 

On a windy Saturday morning in October, I went to an apple orchard in Milwaukee.  The owners invited people from far and wide to help pick apples so that they could send the apples off to make apple cider.  I personally took a bunch of the apples home to make pies and cakes and cookies with.

When we left, I picked up a half-gallon of apple cider. I know that adding preservatives to food is an issue that can be addressed in environmental education.  I asked the owners of the orchard, and they told me that they only ingredient in their apple cider is apples, and maybe a few pears.  Rather than adding miscellaneous preservatives, they treat their cider with UV Light.  I thought that it was interesting that they don't add chemicals to the cider to treat it.  I had never even heard of using ultraviolet light to treat food, but it seems to be a good alternative to other methods of food processing.

This experience taught me that it's always a good idea to ask about the products that I am consuming.  This is a lesson that I would like to pass on to my students.  I want my students to be inquisitive and ask lots of questions.



Henry David Thoreau

Week 6: Literary Response

"I do not know where to find in any literature, whether ancient or modern, any adequate account of that Nature with which I am acquainted." 

(Henry David Thoreau, Journal, February 1851)

Henry David Thoreau is one of America's most famous writers.  He is known for being an abolitionist, Transcendentalist, and an advocate of civil disobedience. However, he is probably best known for his journey to Walden Pond and the writings that were inspired from his journey. Thoreau made a home for himself alongside Walden Pond and aimed to live a simpler life.  Ralph Waldo Emerson, another famous American writer, was one of Thoreau's mentors and friends.

I enjoy this quote from Thoreau's journal because I find it a little bit paradoxical.  Reading has always been very powerful for me.  I've never traveled much, so I've done most of my traveling via the pages of fantastical books.  It has always been my belief that if one cannot travel and get to a particular place, reading about it can be the next best thing.  This quote argues that even the most artful and skilled writer cannot completely recreate the feeling of going outside for oneself.

It is important for children to learn about nature via journals, textbooks, and picture books.  However, it is arguably much more important for children to go out and experience nature for themselves. I will keep this quote in mind while I am teaching so I remember to get my students into the great outdoors. 

Scavenger Hunts

Week 5: Art-Based Entry

On my walk home, I went on a personal scavenger hunt to try to find all of the colors of the rainbow occurring naturally in nature. Within a few minutes I had found them all.  I found red, orange, and yellow leaves, green grass, blue tones in the sky, and indigo and violet flowers. Having students go for scavenger hunts outside can be a great way to break up the class day and can be integrated into what you are working on in class.  For example, depending on the age of the students, students could look for colors like I did, shapes, items that start with certain letters of the alphabet.  The possibilities are endless. 

Thoughts from the Back of a Motorcycle

Week 4: Mapping

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On a whim, Mike took me on 100 mile long motorcycle ride up to Wausau and back.  After we got back, Mike helped me map out the long route we took and embed the map on my blog (as I am not the most technologically-literate person in the world).   I've made a short list of some of the natural areas and other interesting places that we passed on our ride:

Wisconsin River/Wisconsin River Flowage
DuBay Park/Lake DuBay
Wisconsin River
Mosinee Dam
Nine Mile Recreation Area
Wausau School Forest
Doepke Recreation Area
Rookery Park
Marathon County Fairgrounds
Pike Lake
Wadley Lake

I know that some people wouldn't think that a motorcycle ride belongs on a nature journal.  However, I would beg to differ.  Even though you see the same sights while riding in a car or a truck, I always feel so much closer to nature while on a motorcycle.  There's just something about being able to feel the wind move past you, that feeling of almost-flight, that makes you feel connected to your surroundings.  Also, I know that personally when I am riding in any other vehicle, I will sit and play games on my phone and not pay too much attention to my surroundings.  Motorcycles take those distractions away and force you to pay more attention to what's going on outside. I absolutely loved the route we went on and hopefully will get to go on another ride soon before winter starts to set in.

I believe that it is important for students to observe what is going on around them.  Having students make maps is a good way for students to practice this skill. When I plan my lessons, I will include tasks such as making maps in order for students to demonstrate their observance, as well as spatial skills and success in other academic areas. Mapping is truly an activity that crosses subjects and would be highly beneficial to my students. 

New Friends, New Foes



Week 3: Storytelling of an Experience in Nature

One fine August afternoon I was training for the 5K race that I would run in nearly a month. I had been sticking to mostly indoor running at the Allen Center, but it was such a lovely day that I decided to take my training outside. Since I knew that the loop around Lake Joanis in Schmeeckle Reserve was about a mile, that was the route I chose to take. I barely got a quarter of a mile around the lake before I nearly ran into a young buck.  I know that the deer in Schmeeckle are very tame, but it still felt peaceful to be so close to a wild animal and have neither of us terrified.

Unfortunately, we couldn't get to know each other very well because he had to go make new friends himself. 

I had almost finished my lap around the lake when I came upon a stretch of geese. Even though I was approaching on the trail at a moderate jogging pace, they didn't seem to want to let me pass. Suddenly, one of them started violently hissing at me, and the rest of the flock soon followed suit.  That was all of the motivation I needed to high-tail it out of the nature reserve as fast as humanly possible  Because of the nature of our meeting, I wasn't able to take a picture of them...which I feel is pretty understandable.

I thought that it was quite ironic that in my short run through Schmeeckle I was able to have both a very peaceful and very scary experience with nature.  My good experiences, such as my one with the deer, far outweigh my negative experiences with evil, territorial geese.  Therefore, I doubt I will stay away from Schmeeckle Reserve for long. I want my students to have many experiences in nature, so that their judgement of nature won't be just from one possible bad experience they might have had.  For this reason, I will try to incorporate outdoor experiences often into my lessons.