For South Sound GREEN, April has historically been one of our busiest times, with lots of Nearshore field trips to Puget Sound scheduled to take advantage of the longer days and nicer weather. This year, with the new normal of self-isolation and home-based schooling, we had to cancel all of our field trips and outdoor experiences and find new ways to reach our students and teachers. We tried to make the best of this unusual situation to create unique, engaging environmental experiences for students to do from their home or local green spaces. We partnered with Thurston Talk to distribute multiple Home Science Activities every week, ranging from running through Salmon Obstacle Courses to building rain gauges for Rainy Day Research to even becoming a Time Traveling Nature Journalist (or at least pretending to time travel)! We also have compiled and organize dozens of educational resources on our website for teachers and students, and even put together a Virtual Spring Break from Home with videos from some of the most beautiful places on Earth.
We have been regularly checking in with teachers to hear about the challenges they face from teaching at home and to figure out how we can help. This includes building relevant curricula and online lesson plans for students of all grade levels, and we’re hoping to take the next step into video lessons and webcasts in the near future. Self-isolating doesn’t mean that you can’t learn about the natural world!
We’re eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get back outside with students, but are doing our part to make the most of the circumstances and stay safe in the process. Remember to get outdoors and get some fresh air during the beautiful spring weather!
