Last Day...

        Well, today was the last day of my internship. It was really fun, and today I mainly put together the rest of my project. I worked on my grant narrative, but because the curriculum has taken priority, the grant narrative is not finished. It was more important that I learned about the process than that I completed the grant itself. I will, however, have a draft of the narrative to display tomorrow.
        Nature Club today was fun, but sad. The kids ambushed me when they realized that today was my last day, and they seemed to have a really great time with the tag game. Rather than doing our life cycle craft, we went on an exploration on the trail near Riverview. We "collected Nature", and I was regaled with tales from the children. Apparently, Cedar is now a ninja because he has taken all his karate classes. These kids, they crack me up!
        Everyone, come to the exhibition tomorrow to see everyone's project!

Sometimes I do have answers!

        Wow. I really cannot believe that tomorrow is the last day of my internship. I feel like I just got into the flow of things! I'm etting to know the kids in nature club better, I feel like I can contribute around the office, and the completion of my projects makes me feel somewhat sad and elated in equal measures. It is immensely gratifying to be able to format the activities on indesign, because until now I have never been the one in a situation who has the technological answers. But I was! I also found some interesting new grants for DNS to look into, so that I feel proud of. But finally, I am learning about this whole world of teaching that I never really explored. It truly makes me feel much more sympathetic to all of the time and effort that my teachers must put into their lessons. It's hard work! So, thanks to all the under appreciated teachers out there, for being teachers! Goodness knows we should value your services more than we do.

InDesign Successes!

        Guess what I did today! It was different than usual; I ended up spending most of the day formatting our activities and lesson plan in InDesign, so that they can go out to be printed for all the contractors. I actually figured out how to use InDesign, which was notoriously elusive when I tried to use it in 9th grade. However, the activities are turning out quite nicely!

        Nature club today was quite entertaining. I attempted to teach the tag game in which the kids model predator-prey relationships in the food chain of the Greenback Cutthroat Trout. The kids didn't all quite get it; we certainly had a few trout chasing otters. But they had a ton of fun, which I think is the important thing. And, to use the farewell of one of the kids:

                              See you later alligator taterator!

Grant proposals for dummies

        Today, despite it being the start of my last week at Durango Nature Studies, was fairly calm. I had assumed that I would be meeting with Sally early on , and so I started out my day pretty prepared for everything and didn't have much to work on. I had found some activities, and the 6th grade curriculum is out of my hands, so I ended up working more on the grant information. this grant application is daunting, but it sounds like an interesting process to go through and that is what I will be working on for the next few days.
        Also, I know I say this every day, but today was legitimately the most chaotic day of nature club yet. I just felt like no matter what we said, we couldn't hold the kids' attention. But it was a great learning experience because we worked out some kinks in the curriculum, and it should run well tomorrow. Also, I will probably teach both the game and maybe the book tomorrow, so I am stepping up and taking a leadership role. It's exciting!

Second Week!

        I had a meeting with Allison and Klancy today about how I think my internship has gone so far. I have been really pleased with what I have gotten to do on my internship, and I think that next week, I might even get to teach the kids a larger portion of the lesson. It's a little nerve-wracking  because kids can be harsh critics, but I think it will be a great experience. And I really have to thank Allison and Klancy, and Rachel as well, for helping me learn teaching tools. I think that even if you are not going to be a teacher, it is important to know how to get people to listen to you.
        In other news, we got the 6th grade curriculum back, and it looks like we have a lot to do. But we are focusing more on the outdoor activities, so if anyone has great activities for kids to learn about weathering, erosion, and general geology, give me a shout.
        I conducted my mentor interview with Sally Shuffield, the executive director of DNS, today. The transcript will be posted on monday, but SPOILER: She used to be a musician! In fact, apparently she toured around for 6 years and was nationally ranked! I was really surprised. She even has her own website! You should check it out, her music is really awesome! Click here to go to her website!
But really, when I post the transcript, you might want to take time to read it. Sally has had a really interesting path to get to where she is today, and I think it can shed some light on our futures as we try to figure out where we are going and how we will get there (to college AND BEYOND!).

Learning. It's a good thing.

        Well, today was another day of working at the library on the grant research. I feel like it is unreasonably difficult to find the contact info, as well as the general information regarding some of these grants. It's silly. But I will talk to sally about it tomorrow. I also plan on doing the mentor interview, and having a meeting with Allison and Klancy about my last week (Geez!).

        In other news, I am sunburned, because I was enjoying the sun at lunch today. I suppose were getting back into that season again. The kids at Nature Club today definitely had spring fever. We tried to get them to meditate in the hallways while everyone else was using the bathrooms (guess how well THAT went). I also tried to lead the stegosaurus tag game today, which was CRAZY! But I think everyone had fun, and many of the kids got to finish their craft today! Success! And, you know, hopefully they learned something too. That's be good.

Completion!!

        Today is a milestone! The lesson plan that Allison, Klancy, and I have been working on has been sent off for revisions! However, we also realized today that there needs to be a field lesson plan, with activities for the kids to do while at the Nature Center, so that is what I am working on now. I'm trying to help find these activities.
        Also, today, while we were researching different options for activities, we came across this lovely youtube video from "make me genius" about tectonic plates. It really is quite wonderful, and worth watching for the full effect. Leave me a comment with your thoughts!
        Finally, the weather today was amazing, so Nature club never even went back inside to do the craft! Instead we played LOTS of turtle tag and went to explore the creek where the stegosauruses might have lived. We even picked up some trash! I am pretty sure that I got sunburned, but the beautiful weather was worth it. I can't imagine doing Nature Club in the winter.
        And, to top it off, there are beautiful flowers blooming next to the smiley building!

Crunch time!

        I came into the office today with a competed rough draft and background for the 6th grade curriculum. You can see an early version of it under the internship project tab. Keep in mind that it is a rough first draft! There should be a more final draft tomorrow, and the finished draft should appear by Monday!    

        Today was a little chaotic for a while, when we realized that the draft for the lesson plan was due tomorrow morning so that we could get some feedback, but we divided and conquered the different sections so that we could be sure to finish it.
        But this little bird kept me company! Say hi to a friend from Durango Nature Studies!
        Nature club today was fun, as usual. We managed to actually get through all of the tasks today. Also, I got to read the book about stegosauruses to the kids, which was fun!

Stegosauruses?

        Today was a crazy intro into this week! Klancy and Allison are back from their wilderness first aid training, so this morning we had a staff meeting.
        Also, the Nature Club box was not quite ready for the lesson today, so I put the box together, and made a poster about the stegosaurus. We also had to come up with a fun activity about the stegosaurus.
        Nature Club today was fun. The kids were pretty riled up, so I ended up playing leprechaun tag with them for almost 20 minutes. We got through the rest of the activities, but the craft was a bit rushed towards the end.

        Fun Fact! Did you know that the plates on the stegosaurus's back may have had blood pumping through them and could have been intended for temperature control? I didn't!

1 week!

        Today was a very chill day. I was working independently from the library. I managed to get some work done on my curriculum plan in the morning. I was lucky enough to get to eat lunch with Nano and Lacey, which was a nice break. After lunch, I researched a few more grants, then went home for the day. It was a chill end to a great week! Thanks to the wonderful people at Durango Nature Studies for a great internship.

Nature Club Rocks!

        I am now well on my my way to having a completed outline for my 6th grade curriculum! I am struggling with finding a good activity for explaining convection and how it relates to weather. If anyone knows a good hands on demonstration/activity that takes fewer than 10 minutes, give me a shout out!
        Today I also appreciated the wonderful weather. I spent a few hours downtown posting flyers. If you want to become a volunteer naturalist for Durango Nature Studies, there should be no shortage of information on the bulletin boards downtown.
        Finally today was the last day of Nature Club for the week! I got to work with the little people at Riverview today. It was chaos as usual, but most of the kids participated and had a great time. There were a few troublemakers, as there always are. In fact, on of the kids that I have coached with before turned out to be at this Nature Club meeting! She was among the troublemakers. But we got through all the activities, and I am feeling great about what is almost my first week of internship! tomorrow is an independent day, so I won't be seeing anyone from the office. Hopefully I can complete or near completion of my lesson tomorrow, so that I can focus on the grant research.

Grants, Grants, Everywhere...

Today I began my quest to find the perfect grant for Durango nature studies. Despite the fact that there are over 10,000 grants on the Library Grant Database, there seem to be very few that are applicable to Durango Nature Studies. If you are a Russian orphan, or you want to adopt an orca, there is a grant for you! But if you just want to help fund an environmental education program for younger students, you really have to hunt. But I am so glad that there is a database. This search would be immensely complicated without it.

            Nature Club today went really well! There were almost twice as many students as usual, so I naturally assumed that it would be pure chaos. However, all of them already knew Rachel, so they were much more willing to participate. We made some very cool turtle crafts!

            Fun fact! Did you know that the turtle’s egg tooth is called a caruncle? I didn’t! So much you can learn from a 1^st grade curriculum.

            Well, tomorrow, I begin condensing my research into a lesson plan.

            Wish me luck!

        Today was almost as different from yesterday as you could get! I really appreciated it, because the quiet pace gave me time to process the information about the program thatI got yesterday. I finally got to begin searching for information for my 6th grade lesson plan. I am still trying to sort out what exactly someone should be teaching 6th graders about in the field of geology, climate change, and weather. It is difficult to know how much information should be contained in a one hour lesson plan! However, I came up with a bit of an outline today, so I am on my way!
        I also got to work with some of the kids at Animas Valley today! It was very different from the Nature club yesterday; the kids were very engaged, and we managed to get through every activity we had planned! It just goes to show you how the same lesson can change based on the kids, the day, and how much you know. I am finding it really helpful to be a bit more familier with the lesson, so that I can focus on helping the kids out a bit more. It is so rewarding to see these kids pay attention and remember these concepts about the western painted turtle that even I did not know before I taught this lesson.
        This internship is giving me a lot of independence within my project, and I also feel like I am getting a great insight into the workings of a non-profit. Tomorrow, I have yet another nature club with the kids at Needham, and I also will begin working on my grant research at the library.
        Wish me luck!

readysetGO!!

Having an internship is no joke. Today was a boatload of new information, expectations, and project ideas. I met the director of DNS, Sally Shuffield, as well as the current college intern, Rachel. I sat down with Sally in order to flesh out my project plan: I will be researching possible grants for DNS and compiling them into a list with short descriptions of basic info and why I think they would be a good fit. At around the 2 week mark, I will choose one to which to write a grant request. This encompasses the behind the scenes aspect of my internship. I also spoke with Rachel today about what my curriculum plan will look like. It will be a plan for the 6^th grade Children Discovering Nature classroom portion. More to come on that as I research further.

            Finally, today I started into the program aspect of things. I went and helped Rachel teach a Nature club meeting to 7 squirmy little kindergarten and 1^st graders. It was hectic, but we managed to teach them a bit about the State reptile: the western painted turtle (hopefully). And we will be teaching the same lesson to a different group of kids tomorrow!

            Wish me luck!