March–May 2010
108 Creating Interpretive Trails
Prairie Ridge Ecostation, Raleigh, NC
Saturday, April 10, 2010
10 am–5 pm
Cost: $35 (includes bluebird box and resource materials)
Join us at the Museum’s field station, Prairie Ridge, for a day of exploration as we share ideas for creating learning stations and nature trails in outdoor areas on school grounds and nature parks. See techniques for studying animal populations including reptile and amphibian cover boards, treefrog pipes, track boxes and bird houses. Discover how to sample aquatic habitats, monitor bird feeding stations and learn about citizen science stations you can create. Take home ideas for creating outdoor learning areas just in time for Earth Day celebrations.
102 Project Learning Tree: Forests of the World, Secondary Module
Prairie Ridge Ecostation, Raleigh, NC
Saturday, April 17, 2010
9:30 am–4:30 pm
Cost: Free (includes Forests of the World Secondary EE Module)
The world's forests provide many important environmental services as well as a multitude of useful products. The rich diversity of forest ecosystems helps to sustain life all over the planet. This PLT secondary module provides educators with a series of activities which help students explore their connections to the forests of the world. In addition, participants will explore a lowland arboretum which contains representative trees from across North Carolina, and travel to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences for an in-depth tour of the Living Conservatory's dry tropical forest habitat.
109 Butterfly Pinning and Backyard Bug Collecting — Spring
NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC
Monday, April 19, 2010
4–6 p.m.
Cost: $35 (Includes insect resource manual, pinning board and tropical butterfly mount)
Work with Museum staff in the Naturalist Center to prepare, pin and mount a variety of spectacular tropical butterflies. Learn the various techniques used to catch, preserve and mount these and other fascinating arthropods for decades of enjoyment. Explore the possibilities of insect collecting in your very own backyard! Learn from staff how to construct creative and economical traps and devices, along with interesting preservation methods that will open up the world of entomology to you and your students.
110 Nature Walking with Young Children — Piedmont
Prairie Ridge Ecostation, Raleigh, NC
Saturday, April 24, 2010
9 am–3 pm
Cost: $25 (includes a selection of classroom materials)
Day Care Credit: 6 hours
For preschool and elementary school teachers.
Learn easy hands-on approaches to teaching about nature at the Museum’s Prairie Ridge Ecostation. As we explore a native Piedmont prairie, look for small pond creatures and find animal signs on the trails, we’ll emphasize how these experiences can be shared with young children inside and outside the classroom. Educators will receive materials to share this experience with their children.
111 Spring in the Mountains
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Haywood County, NC
Friday, May 7 (depart Raleigh at 3:45 pm)–Sunday, May 9, 2010
Cost: $65* (includes lodging, some meals and transportation to and from Raleigh)
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is world-renowned for its diversity of wildflowers and salamanders. Explore cove forests and stream-side habitats for salamanders as well as the blooms of spring such as trillium, foamflower, mayapple and violets. Learn techniques for studying salamanders and explore the fascinating life histories of the mountain’s spring wildflowers, from pollination to seed dispersal. Moderately strenuous hiking is likely. *The cost of this Trek is reduced due to a generous gift from Toyota through Friends of the Smokies. Due to this reduction of costs, Friends of the Museum discounts are unavailable.
