We Need Pollinators–Lessons & More!
Who doesn’t love spotting butterflies?! But we NEED butterflies and other pollinators, and their habitat is decreasing. But we can help! Find out how by downloading the Pollinator Lesson Pack for FREE!
Launching #99Parks!
How much of Iowa have you really seen? The Iowa Department of Tourism is challenging Iowa families to visit 99 Iowa Counties & 99 Iowa Parks! Download the checklist and take the challenge!
Chalk Art
Watch your kids’ faces light up as they reveal their first horizon line–priceless! Chalk Mountains is a unique way to create a design and experiment with color. It helps with focus and flow. #aSTEaMactivity
Bright Spots
What requires no preparation, gets kids moving and giggling, and inspires a discussion of the power of listening and focus? Why, STOP WALK WIGGLE SIT of course!
Last Stop on Market Street
Use this award-winning picture book to help young kids talk about the serious issues we face in our communities. “Sometimes when you’re surrounded by dirt, CJ, you’re a better witness for what is beautiful.”
Teacher Perspectives|Settle Down
“Breathing exercises get them back on track,” she says. She decided to try teaching her students controlled breathing techniques and now uses a breathing exercise for a few minutes after recess each day.
Teacher Perspectives|Take a Break
“I have 25 kiddos. I just feel like, as a teacher, I have to help all of them – including that one child whose struggles with focus or emotional regulation result in classroom behaviors. When they are stressed, their behaviors can escalate quickly.”
Summer Days
School has started now, and I’m reflecting on our summer together–trying to decipher what made it so special. Although our calendar looked wide open, never once did I hear the words, “I’m bored.”
Glitter Jar
Glitter is not my favorite. I try to keep it out of our home, but it’s getting more difficult. Not only do my kids bring it home on art projects, but I didn’t realize how glittery it would be to have a daughter! Glitter on shoes, shirts, pants, backpacks, notebooks, and toys. Glitter that finds its way into every corner of every room of our house. I can count on glitter in the dustpan when I sweep the floors.
As much as I complain about glitter, I do appreciate Glitter Jars. They are simple to make – add water and food coloring to an upcycled water bottle. Add glitter and shake. Glitter swirls around in every direction, like a sparkly, colorful snow globe, it’s mesmerizing.
Sometimes my mind feels like that snow globe–thoughts dart in every direction. To-do lists, work requests, full mail boxes, and I do mean plural with voicemails, emails and paper mail. Family commitments on top of it all make me forget why I walked into a room, and wonder what I meant with a calendar entry.
From well-intentioned extra-curricular activities to technology distractions, I know kids feel it too. When I’m teaching, I wonder why I need to repeat directions times or explain concepts yet again. But then I remember that their young minds are distracted just like mine. And they’ve learned fewer tools to cope.
Life doesn’t have to be so jumbled up. Though swirling glitter is fun to watch, it eventually settles. Just so, as I sit mesmerized by the Glitter Jar, my mind focuses and my thoughts slow.
The education team at Next Step is developing a variety of Mindfulness & Movement resources for educators. In the next month we’ll roll out–
- A collection of cards outlining 5-minute activities to help kids in classrooms and at home focus their thoughts and balance their emotions.
- We’ll offer workshops and coaching to help you integrate these and other strategies into your classroom or family life.
- And we have a trained team that’s ready to bring Mindfulness and Movement to the kids you work with, in or out of school. Urbandale’s Adventuretime program is the first to schedule this program.
Like the Glitter Jar that settles with just a few minutes of stillness, some mindful moments can turn an overwhelming classroom or household into a refuge of calm. Sometimes a small change is all we need to make for a big impact.
Devastation in Puerto Rico
Shelly Johnson, Martha McCormick and I planned to travel to Puerto Rico this Tuesday. Next Step was chosen to present at the North American Association of Environmental Educators’ (NAAEE) Annual Conference in San Juan this week. Our presentations were planned, and we were looking forward to learning about a place we had never visited.
Instead, we have anxiously followed the news as two storms approached and hit the island, and through the weeks since. Here are some of the things we learned–
- Eighty-four percent of the population in Puerto Rico is still without power nearly one month after Hurricane Maria.
- According to the Washington Post, only 63 percent of the islanders have access to clean water.
- Just 60 percent of wastewater treatment plants are working. Food supplies and medical systems are inadequate.
People are dying. Three weeks of recovery, yet so many US citizens continue to live in devastation. This is unacceptable.
If 3 million people were suffering in a different part of the country, perhaps even Iowa, I can’t help but think the response would be different. Constant media coverage would put a spotlight on the slow recovery. A stream of politicians would visit. Certainly, the president of the United States would not be threatening to abandon relief efforts.
Obviously, our conference was cancelled. The organizers have scrambled to make some of the conference topics available online. We’ve been invited to submit the materials we would have presented to a virtual conference site.
Here are some of our plans. Focusing on these projects has been difficult because my mind dwells on the families living in such desperate circumstances in Puerto Rico.
SESSION TITLE: Keeping Environmental Education Programs Fresh: Aligning with Next Generation Science Standards
SUMMARY: Naturalists’ interactions with school groups have a major impact on the next generation. By tweaking programs as school curriculum evolves, naturalists can expand their outreach.
- Participate in an interactive online NGSS scavenger hunt to learn about Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
- Align your own programs to NGSS with a template. An example is provided as well.
- A description of Next Generation Science Standards, tips for aligning programs with the standards, and sample before/after lesson tweaks are in our slides. Contact us for a copy.
SESSION TITLE: Teaching with Mini Wind Turbines and Solar Panels: Opportunities and Challenges
SUMMARY: Renewable energy production is on the rise, offering both benefits and challenges for our next generation. Learn about these technologies as well as strategies for incorporating them into STEM learning experiences for students.
- Experience a sample activity from our middle school renewable energy curriculum: VIP interviews.
- To explore opportunities and challenges in renewable energy, take on various perspectives from the assertion jar. Find the Assertion Jar lesson in our middle school service learning curriculum. This renewable energy add-on provides specific statements.
- Build mini circuits using materials from the Teachers Going Green teaching kit. Then search for energy lessons on the website.
- If you would like a copy of our slides, please contact us.
Even though we don’t get to travel to Puerto Rico this year, our hearts are with the people of that small island. If you’d like to donate to the recovery efforts, here’s a link that may help you decide the best route to do so.