Dawn Publications http://www.dawnpub.com Connecting Children with Nature Fri, 17 May 2013 21:22:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Lessons from an Orca Grandmother: Eco-Literacy Pt 4 http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-pt-4/ http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-pt-4/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 21:28:06 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=11400 -- by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 4: Explore & Experience Planet Earth is home whether you’re a plant, an animal or a human. Our Earth is the only place in the universe we know for sure that can support life. So how do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate? Think of this as learning the language of our planet. To be literate in Earth–speak, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act. This month, we’ll add Explore and Experience to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit Explore & Experience I’m sitting on a whale-watching boat surrounded by a group of kids. We’re observing a family of killer whales swim past us. Our boat is stopped, with engines off to give the orcas space and quiet. We all hear the WHOOSH! of each orca breath. These orcas are familiar to us - they are part of Granny’s clan. One young orca leaps out of the water. Another slaps his tail against the surface with a loud crack. Without taking their eyes off the orcas, kids ask rapid-fire questions or sit enthralled by the magic of being so close to these majestic animals. On the return trip, we talk about how orcas live in the sea. Many of the kids draw pictures about their experience meeting this wild orca family. Most have decided to become marine biologists. ]]> – by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 4: Explore & Experience
Planet Earth is home whether you’re a plant, an animal or a human. Our Earth is the only place in the universe we know for sure that can support life. So how do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate?

Think of this as learning the language of our planet. To be literate in Earth–speak, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act.

This month, we’ll add Explore and Experience to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit

Explore & Experience
I’m sitting on a whale-watching boat surrounded by a group of kids. We’re observing a family of killer whales swim past us. Our boat is stopped, with engines off to give the orcas space and quiet. We all hear the WHOOSH! of each orca breath. These orcas are familiar to us – they are part of Granny’s clan. One young orca leaps out of the water. Another slaps his tail against the surface with a loud crack. Without taking their eyes off the orcas, kids ask rapid-fire questions or sit enthralled by the magic of being so close to these majestic animals. On the return trip, we talk about how orcas live in the sea. Many of the kids draw pictures about their experience meeting this wild orca family. Most have decided to become marine biologists.

“In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
Baba Dioum, Senegal environmentalist (1968 speech to the International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Kids learn to love and care for the earth by spending time getting to know the natural world. Most kids know more about a Smart phone, iPad or video game than how a tree breathes or a water drop finds its way to the sea. The lives and habitats of plants and animals are far removed from the everyday experiences of most young people.

How do we change this? Open the classroom door. Take your class outside to experience the natural world in your own neighborhood. No matter where you live, there’s an adventure waiting for you to explore with kids. A local field, pond, woodland, park or seashore can provide a wonderful place to try out lots of great nature activities. Watch a spider spin its web or a follow a bird’s search for seeds and insects. Try different activities that encourage kids to explore the natural world with their minds, senses, imaginations and emotions. As kids observe nature, they begin to ask questions and want to investigate further. The following is one of my favorite activities, adapted from Joseph Cornell’s classic Sharing Nature with Children.

Meet a Tree
A tree is a living being that eats, rests, circulates and breathes.
  1. Choose a large deciduous tree. Spend some time getting to “know “your” tree.
  2. Use all your senses. Look at your tree carefully. Use a hand lens. Describe how it looks. Smell your tree. Touch and feel your tree’s bark.
  3. Close your eyes and hug your tree. Sit quietly with your tree. Imagine how old your tree might be. Talk to your tree. Give your tree a name.
  4. Listen to your tree’s “heartbeat.” Place a stethoscope against tree to listen to sounds of sap flowing up the tree to its branches.
  5. Breathe with your tree. Air that you breathe comes from your tree. People breathe oxygen that trees breathe out. Trees use carbon dioxide that people breathe out. We need each other to live.
  6. Who are your tree’s neighbors? What animals and insects live in your tree? Who visits your tree?
  7. What questions do you have about your tree? (e.g. what species is your tree? how does it make food? survive storms, cold and drought?) How can you find the answers?
  8. Write story about a day in the life of your tree. Draw a picture of your tree.

Use technology to connect kids to places and animals that you can’t visit.
  1. Remote wildlife cameras allow us to watch the lives of animals such as eagles, owls, seals, bats, salmon or whales without disturbing them. Examples:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/about.html and
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/crittercam/
  2. You-tube videos provide great field observations of many species of wildlife taken by scientists and amateur naturalists. Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwiDKi7JqD4&feature=youtu.be
  3. Documentaries provide close-up encounters with wild places and animals throughout the world. Example: Call of the Killer Whale: http://video.pbs.org/video/1095936179
  4. Role-play lets kids use their imaginations to understand and experience the lives of other animals. What’s it like to be an orca who “sees with sounds?” or salmon that smell their way home?

Many free downloadable activities are available at this website relating to Dawn books. (Go to the Teacher’s/Librarians tab on the website and select Downloadable Activities from the drop-down menu). Here are a few activities related to Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas that encourage kids to Explore and Experience:
   – Salmon Journey (see Smelly Fishy)
   – Seeing With Sounds (see Echoes Show the Way and Who’s Out There?)

Next month we’ll look at the last installment, Act as a Steward, to involve students in action learning projects in your own community.

Dr. Hodson is a K-12 teacher and a trainer of teachers, and was executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, WA.

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-pt-4/feed/ 0 John Himmelman – Artist of the Month http://www.dawnpub.com/john-himmelman-artist-of-the-month/ http://www.dawnpub.com/john-himmelman-artist-of-the-month/#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:54:08 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=11269

John Himmelman has been “making up stories and scribbling pictures since I could hold a crayon in my hand.” At age 8, he started his first “Bug Club” in a friend’s garage. About the same time, in third grade, he wrote his first book—about bugs, of course. He wanted to be an entomologist and was eager to learn as much as he could about the little crawly things that surround us.

By high school, he planned to be a veterinarian, yet he realized that writing and art were also a very big part of his life. “I wrote stories just for the fun of it, and painting and drawing was something that took up a good amount of my spare time.” What to be, artist or veterinarian? The choice became a crisis when it came time to choose a college.

“One night, after weeks of deliberation, I went for a walk. I told my parents that I wasn’t coming back until I had made a decision. I walked for hours, mulling over my choices. In the end I decided that being a veterinarian would leave me little time for being an artist; however if I pursued art, there would be other avenues open to me in which I could explore my other interests.”

However, by the last half of his fourth and last year at the School is Visual Arts, he still had no idea how he would make a living. “Then, for the fun of it, I took a course in writing and illustrating children’s books. For our last assignment, we were to write and illustrate our own book. I did a story about a lizard named Talester (he was a pet anole that my soon-to-be-wife, Betsy, had bought me before she went off to college). My professor liked it, showed it to an editor at Dial Publishers, and Talester the Lizard became my first published book!”

It took about six years before John could make a full time living in children’s books, but by now he has about 75. And he’s doing what he loves. He’s an avid birder, amateur entomologist and herpetologist, creator of the international bird-a-thon “BIG SIT!”, and co-founder of the Connecticut Butterfly Association.

Even now, on summer nights John is often in his wooded yard in Killingworth, Connecticut, flashlight in hand, searching for little creatures. Some of his most exciting discoveries are found just a few feet from his house!

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/john-himmelman-artist-of-the-month/feed/ 0 Insects as a Portal to the Outdoors http://www.dawnpub.com/insects-as-a-portal-to-the-outdoors/ http://www.dawnpub.com/insects-as-a-portal-to-the-outdoors/#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 22:27:28 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=11250 Here’s the thing about bugs: once you start noticing them, you cannot stop. Once you become aware of the colorful array of moths bonking their heads on your porchlight, you’ll check for them every time you’re at the door. Once your ears hone in on the katydids scratching out a dry rhythm in the treetops, you’ll smile when they return the following summer. Insects can be found 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. They’re in cities, parks, and yards. They are under water and on dry land. They are high in the trees. They are in the soil beneath our feet. They’re in your basement and on your windowsills. To find them, it’s just a matter of adjusting your awareness to include them in your radar. It is the happy “lament” of the naturalist that the most casual observance of some little creature is enough to spur an hours-long, or even a lifetime, adventure. For those of us with curious minds, it is not enough to simply observe and forget. We enjoy learning things we did not know. Learning is not a chore. It is the reward of the experience. Insects are great ambassadors to the outdoors for several reasons. Foremost is their accessibility. Remember, they’re everywhere. Most have forms that we find beautiful, or at the very least, curious. We learn that there are reasons for those forms, and those reasons will open up volumes of new questions. Along your journey, you discover similar creatures that have found unique ways to express their forms and functions in the natural world. You are on a treasure hunt where the prizes continue to shift and multiply, and where the hunt can be all the more sweet when shared with others.
Editor’s note: When John Himmelman was 8 years old, he started his first “Bug Club” in a friend’s garage, and he’s been playing with insects ever since. Even now, on summer nights John is often in his wooded yard in Killingworth, Connecticut, flashlight in hand, searching for little creatures. Some of his most exciting discoveries are found just a few feet from his house! John co-founded the Connecticut Butterfly Association, is past president of the New Haven Bird Club, and gives nature programs both in person and by Skype. He is an author and illustrator of over 75 books for children]]>

Here’s the thing about bugs: once you start noticing them, you cannot stop. Once you become aware of the colorful array of moths bonking their heads on your porchlight, you’ll check for them every time you’re at the door. Once your ears hone in on the katydids scratching out a dry rhythm in the treetops, you’ll smile when they return the following summer.

Insects can be found 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. They’re in cities, parks, and yards. They are under water and on dry land. They are high in the trees. They are in the soil beneath our feet. They’re in your basement and on your windowsills. To find them, it’s just a matter of adjusting your awareness to include them in your radar.

It is the happy “lament” of the naturalist that the most casual observance of some little creature is enough to spur an hours-long, or even a lifetime, adventure. For those of us with curious minds, it is not enough to simply observe and forget. We enjoy learning things we did not know. Learning is not a chore. It is the reward of the experience.

Insects are great ambassadors to the outdoors for several reasons. Foremost is their accessibility. Remember, they’re everywhere. Most have forms that we find beautiful, or at the very least, curious. We learn that there are reasons for those forms, and those reasons will open up volumes of new questions. Along your journey, you discover similar creatures that have found unique ways to express their forms and functions in the natural world.

You are on a treasure hunt where the prizes continue to shift and multiply, and where the hunt can be all the more sweet when shared with others.

Editor’s note: When John Himmelman was 8 years old, he started his first “Bug Club” in a friend’s garage, and he’s been playing with insects ever since. Even now, on summer nights John is often in his wooded yard in Killingworth, Connecticut, flashlight in hand, searching for little creatures. Some of his most exciting discoveries are found just a few feet from his house! John co-founded the Connecticut Butterfly Association, is past president of the New Haven Bird Club, and gives nature programs both in person and by Skype. He is an author and illustrator of over 75 books for children

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/insects-as-a-portal-to-the-outdoors/feed/ 0 Lessons from an Orca Grandmother: Learning Eco-Literacy http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-3/ http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-3/#comments Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:17:16 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=11129 -- by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 3: Tell a Story How do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate? To be literate in the language of our planet, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act. This month, we’ll add Tell a Story to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit Tell a Story ”Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” Native American Proverb We are all storytellers. Stories are part of every human culture. Stories connect us with others across time, place, culture and species. History tells us stories about our past. Science brings us stories about our natural world and the plants and animals who share it with us. Movies, books and TV fill our lives with stories Think of your own life as a story. How do you tell your story to others? When we share and listen to stories, we integrate our left brain’s language with our right brain’s emotions and imagination. A great story helps us understand the world and gives meaning to our lives. ]]> – by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 3: Tell a Story
How do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate?

To be literate in the language of our planet, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act.

This month, we’ll add Tell a Story to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit

Tell a Story
”Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” Native American Proverb

We are all storytellers. Stories are part of every human culture. Stories connect us with others across time, place, culture and species. History tells us stories about our past. Science brings us stories about our natural world and the plants and animals who share it with us. Movies, books and TV fill our lives with stories

Think of your own life as a story. How do you tell your story to others? When we share and listen to stories, we integrate our left brain’s language with our right brain’s emotions and imagination. A great story helps us understand the world and gives meaning to our lives.

Where can we find powerful stories for our Eco-Literacy Toolkit?
  1. Explore natural places where you live. What plants and animals share these places with you? What are their stories?
  2. Read stories about plants (maple tree), animals (prairie dog town), ecosystems (kelp forest), ecological processes (salmon life cycle) and ecological changes (re-introduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park).
  3. Look for stories that inspire hope for the future (saving an endangered species).
  4. Find stories of people who help us learn about the natural world (Jane Goodall, Jacques Cousteau, Wangari Maathai, Rachel Carson).
  5. Watch nature and wildlife documentaries that tell visual stories

How can we use these stories to develop ecological literacy?
  1. Write Stories
    – Write and illustrate a Picture Book that tells a story about nature, a plant or an animal.
    – Write the Autobiography of an animal or plant. Imagine their life story and tell it from their point of view.

  2. Tell Stories
    – Story Circle – Choose a nature topic. With a circle of students, the first student starts the story with a sentence. Each student adds another sentence to the story. Continue until everyone has a turn and the story is completed.
    – Magic Story Box – Fill a shoebox with natural objects (stone, leaf, feather, seashell). Each student picks a different object from the box. Students spend several minutes getting to know their object and then each tells a story about their object.
    – Describe Me – Select a natural object (stone, leaf, feather, etc.) and place in the center of circle of students. Each student offers a different word to describe the object.
    – Story Treasure Hunt – Select a picture book story about an animal or nature. Divide students into two groups. Group 1 writes out each sentence of the story on a different index card, hides the cards out of sequence and draws a treasure map to show where to find the cards. Group 2 uses the treasure map to locate the cards and then assembles them in the correct sequence to tell the story.

  3. Create Visual Stories
    – Design a shoebox Diorama to show plants and animals that live in a natural place.
    – Paint a Mural that tells a story about a natural place.
    – Make a classroom Story Quilt. Select a nature topic and ask each student to design their own story square. Assemble to create story quilt.
    – Create a Comic Strip graphic story about nature.

  4. Dramatize Stories
    – Produce a Puppet Show about an animal’s life or a nature story.
    – Create a Reader’s Theatre Script or Play about your favorite animal or nature story.

Many free downloadable activities are available at this website relating to Dawn books (go to the Teacher’s/Librarians tab on the website and select Downloadable Activities from the drop-down menu). Activities related to Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas that show how to use story include: .
 &nbsp – All in the Family (see Family Totem Pole and Family Story Quilt)
 &nbsp – Salmon Journey (see Salmon Life Story)
 &nbsp – Great Grannies (see Granny’s Life Story) and
 &nbsp – Tell Me a Story (Orca Rangers Comic Strip, Story Treasure Hunt and Story Circle).

Next month, we’ll continue the series with inviting students to Explore and Experience the natural world.

Dr. Hodson is a K-12 teacher and a trainer of teachers, and was executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, WA.

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-3/feed/ 0 Lessons from an Orca Grandmother: Learning Eco-Literacy http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-2/ http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-2/#comments Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:52:06 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10650 -- by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 2, Asking Questions How do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate? To be literate in the language of our planet, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act. This month, we’ll add Ask Questions to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit Ask Questions Remember when you were a kid and asked endless questions about everything that interested you? Where do stars go during the day? How do fish breathe? When we became adults, many of us stopped asking questions and focused instead on getting the “right” answers. We learn by asking questions. Questions spark our curiosity, open our minds to new ideas and sharpen our thinking skills. A good question is one of our most powerful Eco-Literacy teaching tools. Students who understand the complexity of the natural world are much better equipped to solve difficult problems and make decisions. While reading Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas, children learn how orcas use sounds to navigate, communicate, find food and stay close to their family. By asking questions, we can help them explore this complex process and examine the impact of noise on the survival of these endangered orcas. ]]> – by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 2, Asking Questions
How do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate?

To be literate in the language of our planet, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act.

This month, we’ll add Ask Questions to our Eco-Literacy Toolkit

Ask Questions
Remember when you were a kid and asked endless questions about everything that interested you? Where do stars go during the day? How do fish breathe? When we became adults, many of us stopped asking questions and focused instead on getting the “right” answers.

We learn by asking questions. Questions spark our curiosity, open our minds to new ideas and sharpen our thinking skills. A good question is one of our most powerful Eco-Literacy teaching tools. Students who understand the complexity of the natural world are much better equipped to solve difficult problems and make decisions.

While reading Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas, children learn how orcas use sounds to navigate, communicate, find food and stay close to their family. By asking questions, we can help them explore this complex process and examine the impact of noise on the survival of these endangered orcas.

Got Questions?
 1. Ask questions that involve different levels of thinking. (See Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy).
  - Remembering questions – What is echolocation?
  - Understanding questions – How do sound echoes help orcas locate fish in a dark underwater environment?
  - Applying questions – How could you find your way across a room if you couldn’t use your eyes to see?
  - Analyzing questions – What are similar and different ways that humans and orcas find their way in the dark?
  - Creating questions – What would happen if boat noise was so loud that orcas couldn’t echolocate or communicate with their family? How would you feel if you couldn’t find your way home? Talk with your family?
  - Evaluating questions – Why is echolocation more effective than orca eyesight in locating fish in dark waters?

 2. Ask open and closed questions. What is echolocation? (closed) What do you think it would be like to “see” with sounds? (open)

 3. Ask questions that develop imagination and empathy. What do you think orcas are communicating to each other? If you could understand orca language, what would you say to them? What do you think they might communicate to you?

 4. Ask questions to clarify answers and encourage discussion. Good questions usually lead to more questions. Can you give some examples of ways humans “see” in the dark? Why do you think that? What else do we need to know?

Ask lots of questions. By modeling questions, you are showing students how to be active thinkers who can create their own questions. Every innovative idea begins with a question.

You’ll find a set of inquiry questions in each of the activities for Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas. Some of the questions presented above can be found in: Echoes Show the Way, Can You Speak Orca? and Danger Ahead! To download the activities for Granny’s Clan or for any other Dawn Publications book, click this link to the downloadable activities or click the Teacher’s/Librarians tab on the website and select Downloadable Activities from the drop-down menu.

The next installment of Lessons from an Orca Grandmother explores how to use the Power of Story to communicate ideas and inspire others. The fourth installment, Explore and Experience, focuses on how to connect kids to the natural environment. The fifth and final installment, Act as a Steward, shows how to involve students in action learning projects in their own community.

Dr. Hodson is a K-12 teacher and a trainer of teachers, and was executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, WA.

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy-2/feed/ 0 Ann Jones: Painting a Pod http://www.dawnpub.com/ann-jones-painting-a-pod/ http://www.dawnpub.com/ann-jones-painting-a-pod/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:43:06 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10575

One remarkable day in the mid-1970s Ann Jones found herself surrounded by an orca (killer whale) superpod—the occasional coming together of several orca families for a “family reunion” of perhaps a hundred whales. She and her husband Keith happened to be on a ferry in the Puget Sound. “The ferry stopped completely while they surrounded the boat, breaching, splashing, flopping on their backs, spyhopping, playing, she says.” It was an exhilarating experience. The incident began a love affair with orcas, and with the Salish Sea, the Northwest inland waterways that include the Puget Sound.

Ann has been an artist and naturalist since she received her first color-filled box of crayons. That began a life with art and nature at the core. She earned a degree in Life Science and taught elementary school for many years in California. But she began seriously painting when she retired from teaching and moved to Orcas Island, Washington, in 1992. It was a dream come true for Ann to illustrate a children’s picture book about orca whales, Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas.

“Whenever I see or hear the orcas, the joy is still so fresh and new,” she says. “With years of observing them in the wild from a boat, ferry, or shoreline, I know how they move through the water as they breach, porpoise, spyhop, fish and play. I know how the water moves to make room for them as they dive down or come to the surface. I know how the sea and the islands look in different lighting and weather conditions. How the mist tucks in next to the islands in the distance. I have a great sense of respect and commitment to do whatever I can to help keep their home safe.

“In the summer of 2009 the entire J pod (the pod of which Granny is the matriarch) came by our shoreline very slowly and very spread out, well over a quarter mile. It took them over a half hour to go by. Some groups were very close to the rocky shore, 20 feet, and others were out to almost a quarter mile. One of the female orcas spyhopped right near us. As we looked at each other’s eyes, I kept thinking how incredibly lucky I am. Locking eyes with her is something I will always cherish and remember.”

Ann’s studio is very near to the ocean. She was just getting ready to start painting Granny’s Clan when she heard the distinctive sound of orcas exhaling. She ran to the shore and there was part of the clan, only about 20 feet away. What an auspicious start!

“Here on Orcas Island the pleasure of watching the sunrise, hearing the birds and other wildlife is immeasurable,” she says. “Sitting on the rocks down by the water or walking through the woods is such a life affirming time and allows me to paint from the feeling and heart.”

Ann likes to work with soft, colorful pastels, using her hands and fingers to apply the paint—a very tactile experience. Because individual orcas are identified by their fins, color patches and other markings, Ann made a point of painting the individual IDs so readers can identify the main characters in the story visually. You can learn more about Ann and her career at www.annjonesstudio.com.

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/ann-jones-painting-a-pod/feed/ 0 Lessons from an Orca Grandmother: Learning Eco-Literacy http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy/ http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2012 18:02:35 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10539 -- by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 1, Thinking in Webs

Planet Earth is home whether you’re a plant, an animal or a human. Our Earth is the only place in the universe we know for sure that can support life. So how do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate?

What is eco-literacy? Skills, knowledge and attitudes that prepare us to understand and make decisions that will sustain the complex web of life on earth. WOW! Sounds intimidating, but you’re already teaching eco-literacy skills to your students. Eco-literacy is is not just another special program to squeeze into an already crowded educational curriculum. Think of eco-literacy as the language of our planet. To be literate in Earth–speak, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act. What are some tools we need to include in our Eco-Literacy Tool Kit? In this series of articles I will explore each of these eco-literacy tools and how you can use them into your everyday teaching. For each tool, I’ll share specific free downloadable activities based on my children’s book, Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas, which is a real-life story about a one-hundred year old great-grandmother orca and her wild family. Here is a link to the book and here is a link to the downloadable activities. Let’s start building our Eco-Literacy Toolkit. Think in Webs To explain a complex processes like how a body functions or how an ecosystem operates, we use systems thinking. Everything is connected. John Muir gave us one of the best definitions of systems thinking. “When we try to pick out anything by itself,” he said, “we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” ]]> – by Sally Hodson, Ed.D.

Part 1, Thinking in Webs
Planet Earth is home whether you’re a plant, an animal or a human. Our Earth is the only place in the universe we know for sure that can support life. So how do we prepare young people for the 21st century challenge of caring for our planet so that it can sustain future generations of plants, animals and humans? In short, how do we educate our kids to be eco-literate?

What is eco-literacy? Skills, knowledge and attitudes that prepare us to understand and make decisions that will sustain the complex web of life on earth. WOW! Sounds intimidating, but you’re already teaching eco-literacy skills to your students. Eco-literacy is is not just another special program to squeeze into an already crowded educational curriculum.

Think of eco-literacy as the language of our planet. To be literate in Earth–speak, we need to understand how life on Earth functions and how we interact with it. And we need tools to help our heads to think, our hearts to feel, and our hands to act.

What are some tools we need to include in our Eco-Literacy Tool Kit?

In this series of articles I will explore each of these eco-literacy tools and how you can use them into your everyday teaching. For each tool, I’ll share specific free downloadable activities based on my children’s book, Granny’s Clan: A Tale of Wild Orcas, which is a real-life story about a one-hundred year old great-grandmother orca and her wild family. Here is a link to the book and here is a link to the downloadable activities. Let’s start building our Eco-Literacy Toolkit.

Think in Webs


To explain a complex processes like how a body functions or how an ecosystem operates, we use systems thinking. Everything is connected. John Muir gave us one of the best definitions of systems thinking. “When we try to pick out anything by itself,” he said, “we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

In simpler terms, everywhere we look, we see “spider webs.” Using a web metaphor is an easy way for kids to visualize and understand this concept. Systems thinking sees connections, relationships, patterns and interactions.

Environmental scientists describe Earth is one great big community made up of many smaller communities called ecosystems. Each ecosystem is a complex, integrated life-support system for all the plants, animals and humans within it—soil, water, space, air and food for all living beings. Each interdependent part of an ecosystem affects all the other parts and cannot be understood separately from the whole.

To understand systems thinking on a personal level, stop for a moment and close your eyes. Place your hand on your chest. Feel you breath and your heart beating. These are two complex systems that keep you alive. Think about all the interactions involved.

Granny’s Clan explores an orca family’s marine ecosystem, their neighbors who share it, their role in a food web, how they affect and are affected by others in their habitat, and relationships between members of the family. Three activities for the book that promote systems thinking include: Tangled in a Web (food web), Dinner at the Killer Whale Café (food chain), both in the What’s for Dinner? PDF, and How Many Fish? (math & science), which is in the Home Sweet Home PDF.

Here is what Web Thinking looks in your elementary classroom:

  - Environmental science that teaches how ecosystems, habitats and food webs operate
  - Graphic organizers such as Venn diagrams, concept mapping, connection circles (see above)
  - Asking kids to be web hunters – to look for webs (connections between people, events, places and natural environments)
  - Interdisciplinary learning that uses multiple subjects to teach concepts
  - Looking at relationships – how each part of a whole affects the other
  - Collaborative learning – cooperative activities and teamwork
  - Be a camera – zoom in for details, zoom out for the big picture

In the next two installments, we’ll explore other tools to include in your Eco-Literacy Toolkit.

Dr. Hodson is a K-12 teacher and a trainer of teachers, and was executive director of The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, WA.

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/lessons-from-an-orca-grandmother-learning-eco-literacy/feed/ 0 Gardens Grow Minds: The School as Green Educator http://www.dawnpub.com/gardens-grow-minds-the-school-as-green-educator/ http://www.dawnpub.com/gardens-grow-minds-the-school-as-green-educator/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 16:53:25 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10234 -- by Mary Quattlebaum

“We have a garden! With flowers and butterflies!” The third graders beam as they describe their wildlife garden during my author visit to St. John the Baptist (SJB) School in Maryland. I thought about their enthusiasm and the dedicated teachers and parent volunteer, Mary Phillips, I met that day as I researched and wrote Jo MacDonald Had a Garden. How best to convey a child’s joy in digging and planting while offering teachers and parents helpful information on starting and/or teaching with a school or backyard garden? These days, schools, such as SJB, can be the venues best positioned for nurturing a child’s wonder in the natural world. I grew up with a dad who shared his curiosity about nature with his seven kids and umpteen grandkids and showed us how to garden. (He’s the model for Old MacDonald, Jo's grandfather, in my book, which is an eco-friendly riff on the popular song "Old MacDonald Had a Farm.") But in today’s fast-paced, busy world and with diminishing green spaces, these “growing experiences” and "life lessons" may be missing from childhood. Happily, SJB seems to be part of a national trend, with an increasing number of schools adding an “outdoor classroom” to the traditional learning environment. At the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Senior Coordinator Nicole Rousmaniere, who manages school programs, shared recent statistics. More than 4200 schools have started schoolyard habitats that help sustain regional wildlife, she says, with an additional 300 to 400 being added yearly. Rousmaniere emphasizes that commitment rather than size is the key to an effective “green education” from school gardens. Small can be powerful. Having children plant and care for native plants in containers or in a little patch beside a school can foster lessons in biology and stewardship. . . ]]> – by Mary Quattlebaum

“We have a garden! With flowers and butterflies!” The third graders beam as they describe their wildlife garden during my author visit to St. John the Baptist (SJB) School in Maryland.

I thought about their enthusiasm and the dedicated teachers and parent volunteer, Mary Phillips, I met that day as I researched and wrote Jo MacDonald Had a Garden. How best to convey a child’s joy in digging and planting while offering teachers and parents helpful information on starting and/or teaching with a school or backyard garden?

These days, schools, such as SJB, can be the venues best positioned for nurturing a child’s wonder in the natural world. I grew up with a dad who shared his curiosity about nature with his seven kids and umpteen grandkids and showed us how to garden. (He’s the model for Old MacDonald, Jo’s grandfather, in my book, which is an eco-friendly riff on the popular song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”)

But in today’s fast-paced, busy world and with diminishing green spaces, these “growing experiences” and “life lessons” may be missing from childhood.


Happily, SJB seems to be part of a national trend, with an increasing number of schools adding an “outdoor classroom” to the traditional learning environment. At the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), Senior Coordinator Nicole Rousmaniere, who manages school programs, shared recent statistics. More than 4200 schools have started schoolyard habitats that help sustain regional wildlife, she says, with an additional 300 to 400 being added yearly.

Rousmaniere emphasizes that commitment rather than size is the key to an effective “green education” from school gardens. Small can be powerful. Having children plant and care for native plants in containers or in a little patch beside a school can foster lessons in biology and stewardship. Indoor “green” activities pique youngsters’ interest in learning and doing even more. (Dawn Publications has such activities in the Downloadable Activities section of their website and in the back of all their children’s books, including Jo MacDonald Had a Garden.)

“Kids love a garden, but you’ve got to start them young,” says William Moss, a master gardener and horticultural educator. Advocating for school and small-space gardening, Moss writes the popular Moss in the City blog for the National Gardening Association, hosts HGTV’s Dig In and is a greening contributor to The Early Show on CBS.

Just about any subject can be taught through a garden, says Moss, including science, math, natural history, geography, nutrition, reading and writing.

A garden offers hands-on and experiential learning, says Phillips, the parent volunteer who helped SJB’s science teacher to create the school garden three years ago. Phillips has seen teachers use the garden to teach units on pollination, history, the food chain and the ozone. Her blog www.theabundantbackyard.com showcases student art inspired by the garden and by the art teacher’s lessons on Georgia O’Keefe’s flower paintings. An added bonus, says Phillips, is that the garden, in addition to enriching academic studies and creative expression, also stimulates the brain, enhances sensory awareness and gets kids outdoors for some exercise.

I thought of all these points so beautifully articulated by Moss, Phillips and Rousmaniere as I researched and wrote Jo MacDonald Had a Garden. My hope, along with illustrator Laura Bryant’s, was not only to playfully introduce youngsters to wiggling worms, fluttering birds and growing plants but to make it easy for teachers and parents to build on basic lessons.

School gardens can be the start of a learning experience that grows over a lifetime. As NWF’s Rousmaniere points out, just as schools teach the 3 R’s, so, too, they might provide a setting that connects children with and increases their knowledge about the natural world. One of the most important lessons to learn young is stewardship, says Rousmaniere, the idea that we are all caretakers of the earth and its wild inhabitants.

Resources for Starting and Learning from a School Garden

William Moss, horticultural educator: www.wemoss.org
National Gardening Association: www.kidsgardening.org
National Wildlife Federation: www.nwf.org
Mary Phillips, school garden advocate: www.theabundantbackyard.com

Mary Quattlebaum is the author of Jo MacDonald Had a Garden and numerous other children’s books. She and her family enjoy watching the birds, bugs and other wild creatures that visit their urban backyard habitat. www.maryquattlebaum.com

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/gardens-grow-minds-the-school-as-green-educator/feed/ 1 Educators Agree: Our First-Ever “Book App” is Friendly to Your Child’s Brain! http://www.dawnpub.com/educators-agree-our-first-ever-book-app-is-friendly-to-your-childs-brain/ http://www.dawnpub.com/educators-agree-our-first-ever-book-app-is-friendly-to-your-childs-brain/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:48:13 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10131 -- by Glenn Hovemann

After making books that connect children and nature for 33 years—Sharing Nature with Children was published in 1979—Dawn is on the cusp of a huge advance as we publish our first-ever app. Based on the book Over in the Ocean, this is a "book-app" that teachers and parents in particular, are going to love. "Dawn has entered a brave new era!" my wife and co-publisher, Muffy Weaver, exclaimed when the app made its debut on Apple’s App Store. But perhaps the most encouraging thing of all is the response of teachers when they actually saw it on the iPad. "As a mother and educator, this App is a treasure!" exclaimed Mrs. MJ Broker in an App Store comment, citing "teachable moments" in reading, math, and science. I previewed the app with two particularly experienced educators, Sandy McDivitt and Carol Malnor. Sandy, now retired, was until recently the Executive Director of the 650-student Forest Charter School in Nevada City, California, a school that features "personalized learning." Carol is the former Director of Online Learning at Performance Learning Systems, as well as a long-time teacher and an author. "The great thing about this app is that it uses multiple senses," Sandy said. "For decades there was an almost-exclusive focus on visual skills, but this app stimulates auditory learning skills as children listen to the author either reading or singing. And it has an important tactile, physical movement as well as students play the counting game." Studies show that more learning occurs when more senses are involved. Carol pointed out that the app provides “focused engagement,” an especially good thing for “squirmers”—children who just can’t sit still to read, or even when they are being read to. . . .]]> – by Glenn Hovemann

After making books that connect children and nature for 33 years—Sharing Nature with Children was published in 1979—Dawn is on the cusp of a huge advance as we publish our first-ever app. Based on the book Over in the Ocean, this is a “book-app” that teachers and parents in particular, are going to love.

“Dawn has entered a brave new era!” my wife and co-publisher, Muffy Weaver, exclaimed when the app made its debut on Apple’s App Store. But perhaps the most encouraging thing of all is the response of teachers when they actually saw it on the iPad. “As a mother and educator, this App is a treasure!” exclaimed Mrs. MJ Broker in an App Store comment, citing “teachable moments” in reading, math, and science.

I previewed the app with two particularly experienced educators, Sandy McDivitt and Carol Malnor. Sandy, now retired, was until recently the Executive Director of the 650-student Forest Charter School in Nevada City, California, a school that features “personalized learning.” Carol is the former Director of Online Learning at Performance Learning Systems, as well as a long-time teacher and an author.

“The great thing about this app is that it uses multiple senses,” Sandy said. “For decades there was an almost-exclusive focus on visual skills, but this app stimulates auditory learning skills as children listen to the author either reading or singing. And it has an important tactile, physical movement as well as students play the counting game.” Studies show that more learning occurs when more senses are involved.

Carol pointed out that the app provides “focused engagement,” an especially good thing for “squirmers”—children who just can’t sit still to read, or even when they are being read to.

“Brain-compatible activities,” Carol said, “are those that are (a) meaningful, (b) useful, (c) fun, and (d) either interesting or something with which there is an emotional connection. It’s meaningful because the fishy facts are informative, presented interestingly, and are visually appealing. It’s useful because after children count and learn about the animals, they use what they have learned at the end, in the counting game. It’s fun—that’s for sure!—having the pufferfish puff or the octopus squirt ink when the screen is touched. And there’s an emotional connection because the app is all about mothers and babies, which is something that kids really care about. This app pretty much has it all.”

“In addition,” Carol said, “the app provides variety and choice—two more important components in successful learning—when the child selects among three options, read to me, read to myself, or sing to me.

“I personally think, as an educator, that apps are going to revolutionize the way that we think and learn,” she said. “With iPads and similar devices we can find avenues for children to explore whatever interest they have. I’m excited for learners!”

Many of Dawn’s books lend themselves to fun, educational apps or ebooks. This is just the beginning. Of course, we picked an outstanding book by an outstanding author and illustrator to be the first project. Marianne Berkes’ talents as an author really shine, and Jeanette Canyon’s polymer clay art is just outrageous. And fortunately, our developer, Malachi Bazan (see Artist of the Month at right) has just the right aptitude and attitude for the job. He’s the one who made it all happen.

See more about the features included in Over in the Ocean App

Buy the Over in the Ocean App from the iTunes Store
 

]]> http://www.dawnpub.com/educators-agree-our-first-ever-book-app-is-friendly-to-your-childs-brain/feed/ 0 Malachi Bazan: Technology and Nature Can Work Together http://www.dawnpub.com/malachi-bazan-technology-and-nature-can-work-together/ http://www.dawnpub.com/malachi-bazan-technology-and-nature-can-work-together/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:52:26 +0000 dawnpub http://www.dawnpub.com/?p=10127

Malachi Bazan believes that technology and nature can work together, and through Simply Nature Media he has joined forces with Dawn to make it happen for children, parents, and teachers. “Some folks will hide out on a hill and eschew technology, but there doesn’t have to be a fight between nature and technology,” he says. “We’re coming into an age where the digital world can help us appreciate and protect the natural world.”

Malachi calls himself a “digital sculptor.” What’s that? “I make 3-D characters for movies and video games,” he says. “I can take people, or animals, or maybe even a monster, and make them come alive.”

He started his career working on web site development, including animated web sites. As an artist by nature, he found animation to be such fun that he enrolled at the Vancouver (B.C.) Film School, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2002. His first major work as a character modeler was for Hollywood’s animated film “The Barnyard” (2006). He then turned his talents to video games, working on “Shadowrun” at FASA and then on “The Agency” for Sony Online Entertainment.

With Dawn Publications, Malachi moves away from video games to helping children become more aware of their community, their surroundings, their Earth. “Kids will be moving onto digital platforms anyway,” he says. “Let’s help them connect with nature that way, too.”

His first project for Dawn was to create an app for Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef. Future projects include creating apps or ebooks for Dawn’s entire catalog. As available reading devices gain functionality, “enhanced” ebooks will be quite like apps, including animation and interactivity.

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