My Driving Question for this project was:

How can I support our teachers in providing an equitable NGSS-aligned learning experience for our students when on Laguna walks?

The UELF Laguna de Santa Rosa Resource Kits will support teachers, staff, and volunteers by providing activities, references, and ideas for student inquiry. The UELF team has embraced outdoor education as an important element for students but needs support with specific materials and lessons to enable students to deepen their understanding of nature in their immediate location. These resource kits will support educators to teach children about the Laguna de Santa Rosa Watershed ecosystem in Cotati and Rohnert Park. My initial plan was to create two kits per each grade band (TK-1, 2-3, 4-5). While that is still my longer-term goal, at this time I have only prepared one kit with two activities for grades 4-5.

While working on this project, Christine, my partner with the Laguna Foundation, suggested I consider creating seasonal kits so that students can visit the Laguna 3-4 times a year to experience and study the seasonal changes in the ecosystem. My current goal is to create and implement these kits through the 2022/2023 school year.

The primary goal of the Laguna de Santa Rosa Activity Kits project is to provide our classroom teachers with NGSS-aligned activities that are hands-on, place-based, and will engage students curiosity about nature and the connections between Earth’s systems.

Secondary goals of this project are to empower our teachers to include outdoor education in their main curriculum on a regular basis, support our school’s vision, and inspire our students to share what they learn about our Laguna with their families and our wider community.

If you'd like to read more about this project, you can view my Google Slides here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RBWVmsFr0NqynmwbVrH22gS4OFLn0aLbcm4OoDZ4eZg/edit?usp=sharing