Next Step AdventureMartha helps you do, what you do, better then you did it before…

Keep Iowa Beautiful

Posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010

I’m working with Keep Iowa Beautiful and the Waste Commission of Scott County to provide educators with a program guide and resources for teaching…

Service learning
Litter free schools
Character
Environmental education

…all organized around the Iowa Core and the [...]

Tack It

Posted on Sunday, March 28th, 2010

The Tack-E-Wall will help you facilitate brainstorming and priority setting activities with large and small groups. It is a large sheet of ripstop nylon with non-permanent adhesive on the outside. Hang it on the wall [...]

Join the Movement

Posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Go outside! It’s spring, and Iowa is joining a broad based movement to renew a close, personal relationship with the out of doors.

April 10-11–As part of Iowa’s “Reconnecting Children with Nature” effort, the Department of [...]

Ride a Bike

Posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010

I remember the first time I rode down the hill toward the city park after my dad took my training wheels off. Such a feeling of exhilaration and freedom! I still like to ride my [...]

Learn about Money

Posted on Saturday, February 20th, 2010

I’m STILL learning about money! During the last nine months, I’ve written checks bigger than I thought possible for remodeling my house, putting in a new driveway and front porch. It’s really exciting to be [...]

Learn through Service

Posted on Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Service learning is more than picking up litter and cutting down trees. Kids and adults can have fun and learn a lot from doing such activities together. But to have a bigger impact, service learning [...]

Map Your Mind

Posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009

I’ve filled about one sketchbook each year with notes since I learned to mind map in the early 1990s. Several years before that I had simply stopped taking notes. In those pre-mind map days, I [...]

Learn about Relationships

Posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Several years ago we were brainstorming about different approaches to adolescent pregnancy prevention, and came up with the idea of an adventure education program framed around healthy relationships. Part of the rationale is that it [...]

Explore the Teen Brain

Posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

I became fascinated with brain research more than 20 years ago when science began to really get inside the human brain and explore it. I’ve done my best to keep up over the years as [...]

Start Your After-School Group

Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

It’s so exciting to be able to get a jump start on starting Chrysalis After-School groups for the next two years, knowing that the funding is there for your established groups. The program is going [...]