Welcome to the Conservation Education newsletter from the Nebraska Forest Service! Each month receive CE tips, updates on new opportunities, and see what workshops we have coming up around the state.

New: Project Learning Tree BioBlitz! PD Workshop 

Cold weather? Environmental education is snow problem with Project Learning Tree! Join us as we continue our CE in A Winter Wonderland MiniWorkshop Series and learn how to engage learners in environmental education utilizing a new unit of activities, Biodiversity Blitz, from Project Learning Tree. 

Biodiversity Blitz consists of three PLT activities for educators of students in grades 3-5 that invite learners to investigate the variety of species in an ecosystem, and how this variety – or biodiversity – helps sustain life on Earth. Designed to be flexible, the activities can be used as individual, stand-alone lessons, or all together as a cohesive unit of instruction using a storyline technique.

We will focus our time in this workshop on connecting each of the three lessons to the winter season and spend some time discussing tips and tricks for continuing environmental education during the cold winter months. 

Professional Development Workshop Details:

- Cost is $5 per person

- February 24, 2021; 6:30-8:00 PM CST via Zoom

- Each participant will be given a certificate for 1.5 in-service hours, a digital copy of the curricula, and the background knowledge needed to implement these hands-on, heads-on activities in your classroom or program right away

- Must be registered by February 23rd

Celebrate World Wetlands Day with Resources from Project WET!

Water for You and Me Children's Book: This storybook is designed for anyone who wants to help young children understand the importance of water to life as well as water’s use in keeping people healthy. Discuss how Wetlands help keep us healthy and safe before or after reading the story. Free download here.
Clean and Conserve Your Water Activity Book: This full-color, 12-page children’s activity booklet introduces water conservation topics to elementary and middle-school-aged children through fun learning activities that kids can do in a classroom or on their own at home. Use this booklet to introduce ways students can take individual actions to help conserve water resources, including wetlands, in their daily lives. Free download here.

From Seeds to Trees—Activities in Your Pocket from PLT!

Project Learning Tree's New Pocket-size Guide of Activities is now available! 
Trees start small but pack a big wallop—and so does PLT’s new offering, Pocket Guide: Seeds to Trees. Through hands-on experiences, Seeds to Trees introduces nature to kids ages 3–6 by encouraging exploration and discovery through the lens of trees and forests.

At just 4 by 6 inches, the Guide is small enough, as the name suggests, to fit into a pocket or backpack. 

This easy-to-use, on-the-go guide includes:

• Shape Hike This is like a game of “I Spy” with a mission. Children explore how natural objects, such as leaves, rocks, or acorns, have different shapes.

• Nature Sounds By listening carefully, a whole new world of sounds is revealed.
• Tree Parts Through their sense of touch, children explore different parts of a tree.
• Trees in Our Lives Children consider the many products from trees around them, from the places they live to toys to apples.

Based on solid PLT learning concepts, the Guide is set up so you can do all the activities or just one or a few, in convenient settings and with the materials you have at hand. PLT ensures that kids find the activities fun to do, while you can feel confident that are you are providing factual,
age-appropriate information.
 
Find out more information about this new offering and purchase your copy at plt.org!

NFS ELSEWHERE