Week 1 : Gear up for your site launch - What do you already know about berries? What do you wonder? Record videos of youth sharing their prior knowledge and post them on the Winterberry Map or record them on a KWL chart. Play "Winterberry Bingo" or do the berry sorting activity "How are your berries?" as a training exercise for Winterberry Citizen Science!
Week 2: Launch your site - Visit with a Winterberry scientist, establish your site, and collect your first data on your adopted plants. Pick some berries on other plants and freeze for later.
Week 3: Monitor your berries. Activity: Get to know your species inside and out! Use this 4-H lesson but replace trees with your berry species. Not advisable if you are studying rosehips!
Week 4: Monitor your berries. Activity: Berries and culture. Adapt the first lesson in this link which includes traditional introductions, a reading of the book Berry Magic, and a dramatic play of the story.
Week 5: Monitor your berries. Activity: Local wild foods... how good is it for the environment to eat local? Use this 4-H lesson an look at fruit products imported to Alaska
Week 6: Monitor your berries. Activity: Continue the Local wild foods... how good is it for the environment to eat local? Use this 4-H lesson and look at fruit products imported to Alaska
November - Measure snow depth. We're DOING science! Youth write reflections on the Winterberry science experience and send it to the Winterberry scientists or a pen pal group also studying the same species of berries in another part of Alaska.
December - Measure snow depth. Indoor nature hunt to hone observation skills. The youth will need to look carefully at their sites to find signs of animals. Try this 4-H lesson to hone their observation skills.
January - Measure snow depth. Invite an Elder to your club to talk about their experiences picking berries. Talk with them about changes they have noticed in berries throughout the years. Here are some resources for respectfully working with elders in your youth group.
February - Measure snow depth. Pull out the berries from the freezer and make a berry treat (berry yogurt popsicles, berry bread, etc.)
March - Measure snow depth. What evidence of animals have you seen at the site? Research the animals and the role berries play in their diets throughout the year.
April - Measure snow depth. Make a dichotomous key of Alaskan berries. Try this REACH lesson.
May - Final count of your berries. Connect with a Winterberry Scientist to look at your data. What does it mean for your community? How does it compare with what other communities found?