Environmental Education and Outdoor Recreation Programming
Winneshiek County Conservation offers a wide array of environmental education and outdoor recreation programming for classrooms, organizations, or anyone! Start by reviewing our program guide, then contact our office at education@winneshiekwild.com or (563) 534-7145 to see how we can help meet your needs!
Explore these Resources to Enhance Your Next Outdoor Adventure
YouTube Channel housing video content made by Winneshiek County. Specific playlists include:
- Noting Nature in Winneshiek County: Track the seasonal changes and natural wonders of Winneshiek County, Iowa with Naturalist Larry Reis
- Not a Stick: Activities for kids and families inspired by Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis
Flickr page of Naturalist Larry Reis
Social Media Accounts: Facebook and Instagram
- Lake Meyer Family Activity Guide
- Lake Meyer Campground Scavenger Hunts
- Lake Meyer Hiking Trails
Below are some of the online resources used in partnership with Decorah Community School district to help 4th graders explore "How Has Dry Run Creek Changed Over Time?"
Listen to Rosalyn Eppens tell her story of experiencing the Dry Run flood of 1941 here. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find Rosalyn's story.
Take the Google Earth Voyager "Tour" of Dry Run Creek here. Click "Present" on the left side of the screen and click through the various slides. Recommended browser is Google Chrome.
Thank you to the many community partners that helped make this project possible: Rosalyn Eppens, Elizabeth Lorentzen, Jon Romelton, Steven McArthur, and the staff at Arlin Falck Assisted Living
Our staff has pulled together various resources and checklists to help you document the arrival of spring and track what birds, butterflies, or other species you can find in Winneshiek County.
- Birds of Winneshiek County (best printed on legal sized paper)
- Butterflies of Winneshiek County (best printed on legal sized paper)
- Signs Of Spring in Winneshiek County - Checklist
- Signs Of Spring in Winneshiek County - Field Guide
WCC Programming in regards to Covid-19
Our educational goal is always to advance understanding and appreciation of our local natural resources in a way that is long-lasting, productive, and meaningful. When it comes to our school-based education, that means continually adapting what we do to meet the needs of students, teachers, schools, and districts. We understand that those needs will be different for the foreseeable future, but we are committed to helping our schools and communities navigate through and succeed in this unusual and stressful educational environment.
We remain committed to helping students connect with our local natural resources and make progress toward CORE requirements. Below are some of the ways we believe we can support students, teachers, and schools as we adapt to new learning modes and environments. This is not an exhaustive list and we are always available and willing to work creatively and collaboratively with teachers, teams, and schools.
Please don't hesitate to contact our office with questions, requests, or suggestions.
Outdoor Learning Environments and General Distance Learning Resources
Effective Outdoor Learning in Schoolyards - Recommendations created by Winneshiek County Conservation (July 2020)
Guidance for Reopening Schools - Issued by the North American Association for Environmental Education (June 2020)
Winneshiek County Conservation is ready and willing to engage with you and your students virtually and through other distance education methods.
We are comfortable with a wide range of virtual platforms, including Flipgrid, Zoom, or Google Hangouts, and are always happy to try new ones.
We have a YouTube channel and are willing to expand and create more videos to meet your needs, including virtual trips, Winneshiek County "Mystery Science" videos, and more. We can add closed captioning to videos and most should be compatible with SafeYouTube, but if not, let us know and we can adjust them.
Please don't hesitate to let us know how we can better serve teachers and students in our area.
We have gathered resources, worksheets, and materials that we hope will help support students, families, and educators navigating online education or homeschooling. If there are additional materials or resources we can provide--particularly if they are applicable or useful to a broad spectrum of students, families, or groups--contact Hanna Schmitt to discuss how we can help.
We suggest you also review the "pre-packaged" options below, in particular the Noting Nature videos and associated worksheets and activities.
- Nature Breaks During Online Education
- Creating and Using Nature Journals
- Nature Scavenger Hunts (Bingo Boards)
Find additional resources related to Winneshiek County's natural resources and our environmental education programs.
Pre-Packaged Virtual and Distance Learning
The Noting Nature in Winneshiek County YouTube playlist offers a frequently updated catalog of short videos (2-3 minutes) featuring 3 photos of seasonal changes and natural wonders (phenomena) of Winneshiek County with voice-over commentary.
These videos could be used for:
- Daily or weekly check-ins / morning meetings.
- Developing science and engineering practices including making observations, asking questions, obtaining and evaluating information.
- Practicing writing and/or drawing skills.
Below are some template worksheets that might fit your needs, but we are happy to tailor them more specifically or create online forms (like a Google form) for individual classes or teachers. We also hereby grant permission to modify these worksheets to meet your needs, including by transforming them into an e-document or other online form.
Permission is hereby granted to upload the YouTube videos described above to SafeYouTube and/or link or upload them into another electronic content delivery service.
The Flickr Feed of naturalist Larry Reis features the same photos used in the Noting Nature YouTube videos, but is far more extensive. Most images include descriptions and explanations; all are are dated, searchable, and available for free educational use by teachers or students.
Individual images and/or the collection could serve your students as:
- Introductory phenomenon for science units.
- A resource for finding, evaluating, and communicating information.
- A database of species information and phenological changes in Winneshiek County and northeast Iowa.
If there are specific tools we can create to help you best utilize this resource, let us know.