Ogallala Commons would like to announce the First Annual Macro Invertebrate Jar Contest for Playa Festival Teachers. Cash prizes will be awarded to the first and second place winners - $300 for first place and $150 for second place. To enter, you will need to grow, document and photograph a Macro Invertebrate Jar as instructed at our Conservation Education Day Teacher Trainings this spring. Jars will be judged based on three areas - Jar Content, Jar Journal, and Photo documentation of the Jar. A total of 50 points are possible (20 for Content, 15 for Journal and 15 for Photos) Jars will be judged on Sept. 1, 2011.
Criteria: Jar Content - Content of jars will vary widely due to the use of soils from several different playas. Content will be judged based on the content and overall condition of the plants and creatures in the jar.
Jar Journal- Journals should feature weekly documentation of the progress and changes occurring within the jar throughout the spring and summer. Photo Documentation - This is an important part of the documentation of the jar, and will make for a wonderful photo essay to share with students and teachers in the future. Photos should be taken on a regular basis to document the progress and transformation of the jar.
Those of you who would like to participate in the contest should send an email with your name, school and contact information to Julie Hodges, OC Education Coordinator at juliehodges@prairieworkshop.com by April 1.
2010 is winding down…and it has been a banner year for Playa Festivals and playa education!Over 1,500 5th graders in 22 schools were engaged in hands-on learning through 14 Festivals in 2010, as well as teachers, parents, and educators.Ogallala Commons (creator of Playa Festivals) and our partners at Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, and county Soil & Water Conservation Districts…are now gearing up to make 2011 another great year for building natural resource literacy for students and adults.
Ogallala Commons and its partners will conduct 5 Conservation Education Days in early 2011 that will occur on school days.Each of these training days will provide educators with basic information about playas and Playa Festivals, as well as opportunities for teachers to share tools and activities that enhance TEKS-based learning before and after the Festivals.In addition, for a 90-minute lunch period, area landowners will be joining our session to learn with the educators.This interchange is important for three reasons: 1) it will allow landowners to see that there is interest in playa conservation in local schools, with a new generation of students, 2) it will allow teachers to meet landowners who might have an interest in playa conservation, and/or school visits to their playas, and 3) it will enable teachers and landowners to learn some pertinent information about playas, conservation of the Ogallala Aquifer, and natural resources in general.
The five dates and locations for the Conservation Education Days (see attached agenda) are:
-Wednesday, January 12 at Clovis ISD Central Office, Clovis, NM
-Wednesday, January 19 at Oak Grove Elementary School,
Brownfield, TX
-Wednesday, February 2 at Lindsey-Steiner Elementary School
Library,Portales, NM
-Tuesday, March 1 at Amarillo Southwest Library, Amarillo, TX
-Tuesday, March 8 at Friona High School, Friona, TX
(These sessions will be conducted from 9am – 3:30pm…and are limited to 20 teachers/educators each)
We want to let all schools know that demand for Playa Festivals is very high…currently more than we can provide in the fall semester or even the short spring semester.So, any schools selected to host or participate in Playa Festivals will need to assure that their 5th Grade teachers complete a training session before the Festivals take place.Now, here is the good news: the trainings listed above are free of charge, they will be energizing, and those who complete any of these training workshops are eligible to receive 6 hours of GT continuing credit through Region 16 and 17.Those of you
interested in receiving credit from Region 17 need to email me at juliehodges@prairieworkshop.com, and I will send a link to you for online registration.In order to receive credit you must complete this process prior to the session date.Region 16 teachers will need to fill out a form that will be available at the Conservation Education Day.
I would suggest that any school interested in a hosting or participating in a Playa Festival strategize to send a teacher (or maybe two) to each of the scheduled training sessions.Since each session is a bit different with varied presentations, having some of your teachers represented at all the training sessions increases the information and resources that can be brought back to teachers and schools.
At each Playa Festival students are given a Pre and Post assessment to help Ogallala Commons measure our effectiveness. The Pre-Assessment is given a day before the Playa Festival begins and the Post-Assessment is taken 2 to 10 days after the Festival. Both assessments consist of 10 TEKS based questions that relate to material covered during a Playa Festival. As you will see in the chart below, each school showed improvement!
Friona Elementary just completed our best Playa Festival ever. The tradition continues. We are still moving forward and working to make each year more successful than the previous. With the help of the Education and Training classes from our High School and many partners we have improved and made it the best outdoor learning experience possible. This year we had a three day festival and it was great to see the student’s interacting with guest speakers, teachers and peers. The Playa Posse spent the first day of the festival in Nazareth at the outdoor Playa classroom. The students loved being outdoors. They loved learning about journaling, playa plants and animals, erosion, and more. Students loved the owls. What a great opportunity it is to see living things from nature. Thanks to Dr. Birkenfeld, Julie Boatright, Jim Steiert, Bill Johnson and Gail Barnes for making it a wonderful experience. Students examine plants with TPWD Biologist Bill Johnson in Nazareth The next two days were spent at Friona Community Center and Reeves Lake. The students were taught by high school education in training classes about the importance of Playa Lakes, playa habitats, and what we can do to save water. Activities created by high school students included all the curriculum areas and were connected to the fifth grade TEKS. Students used GPS units on a playa geocache, weighed and measured materials discovered in field investigations, and re-created nest from common playa inhabitants. Each student created a playa model with Randall clay and bird and plant specimens. They created nature vocabulary cards, measured the amount of water it takes to brush your teeth if you leave the water on, and created beautiful murals of the playas. Friona 5th Graders (in red shirts) and high school education students (pink shirts) pose for a group photo at Reeves Lake in Friona Friona elementary loves the playa experience and we have plans to inform the community about the importance of playas during our open house in March. Students want to share their new knowledge with others. It is an awesome thing to watch students past and present teaching others about our most valuable natural resources
