2009 Programs for School & Home-School Groups

Teachers and home-school parents, do your fall planning now! Schedule a program with BEEC and extend your science unit with quality environmental education. Situated on 100 acres of classic Vermont, including forest, fields, trails, a classroom, and a fabulous hilltop view, BEEC is a perfect place for your field trip! BEEC staff is also available to visit your school or site.

Download BEEC’s school program brochure here (pdf) or email Joan Carey

Teacher Workshops a Great Success!
This past August, Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center offered teacher trainings to local second and third grade teachers. The trainings were a result of our Henderson funded project in which we are developing science units that incorporate both the content standards and grade level inquiry skill expectations into the curriculum. The trainings were supported by Windham Southeast Supervisory Union.

In both workshops, teachers explored the essential features of classroom inquiry, learning how to utilize both open and guided inquiry studies to best support their students. They performed the hands-on inquiry investigations designed for their students. In the first training, Earth’s Changing Surface, second grade teachers conducted tests on how different types of soil retain water, investigated local land formations, designed stream table experiments and conducted tests for rock hardness. In the second training, Aquatic Environments, third grade teachers investigated local streams and ponds as they learned how to recreate habitats, set up and maintain classroom ponds.

All participants left the trainings with a written curriculum, materials to teach the unit with their students and in-school follow up sessions with a BEEC educator for the 09-10 school year.

Comments from participating teachers:

“I can not say enough about how helpful this is. I believe we learn by doing, so having participated makes it so much more accessible to me. Being the “kid” is the best.”

“Hands-on activities, especially the stream table were invaluable in helping me to envision working on this unit with second graders.”

“We, as participants, generated may questions and theories as we experienced the activities. It has reinforced my understanding of encouraging youngsters to do the same.”

“This was a great way to get a good overview of the GEs and activities to cover them.”

“I’ve taken a number of Science Inquiry classes. This class brought it down to 2nd-3rd grade.”

“This workshop packed a lot into a very short time. Receiving some of the materials to take home will really help with implementing the curriculum.”

“This workshop will change my teaching. It will move beyond appreciation of habitat and exploration at an introductory level. Now more time will be given to this unit to include a broader range of scientific thinking skills: designing single variable experiments, and use of observations and data collecting to draw deeper conclusions.”

For more information about these trainings, along with the curriculum described, contact us at Joan@beec.org

Coming Next Summer
Teacher Trainings the following units of study:

• Life Cycles of Plants
• Life Cycles of Animals
• Adaptations and Habitats

Stay tuned for dates and locations!


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