Knee High Nature
KNEE HIGH NATURE: professional development workshops for early childhood educators
Knee High Nature helps improve learning opportunities for very young children by providing science-focused professional development for early childhood educators and child care providers. In each of the different workshops offered by Four Winds Nature Institute's professional staff, participants are presented with natural science curriculum appropriate for children ages 3-6.
Knee High Nature is a nature study curriculum designed to increase children's awareness of, curiosity about, and appreciation of the natural world through investigation, creative and interactive play, and direct outdoor experiences. The units draw from children's own experiences outdoors with plenty of hands-on opportunities that encourage children to raise questions, explore objects and materials, spend time outside, make careful observations, share and discuss ideas.
Each professional development workshop includes:
- Seasonally Related Topics
- Natural Science Background Information
- Modeling and Active Participation In Hands-On Age-Appropriate Activities with attention to Early Learning Standards and Core Competencies
- Printed Guidelines and Teaching Materials
Knee High Nature workshops are offered in communities across Vermont and New Hampshire.
Saturday, July 18th at The Putney Family Garden in Putney, Vermont
9:00AM - 12:00PM Wonders of Water (3 hour program). Explore water through a variety of hands-on investigations. Practice making predictions, testing ideas and observing outcomes, while playing with water, both indoors and outside. Using simple tools, games, and a puppet show, discover some of the many wonders of water.
CLICK HERE for a registration form for the July 18th Putney, VT workshop.
Saturday, September 19, 2009 at the Winston Prouty Center, Brattleboro, VT
9AM to 12PM Sensational Spiders (3 hour workshop)
Investigate the amazing life of spiders through interactive play, puppet shows and outdoor observation. Dress up a giant spider to learn the parts of its body, and compare spiders and insects in a puppet show. Meet wandering spiders and web-spinners in an outdoor spider hunt, experience how they capture their prey and learn why they are helpful to us through games, story and song. Fee $40. CLICK HERE for a registration form for the Sept. 19 workshop in Brattleboro.
Fall Workshops
The two fall workshop topics are Insect Hide & Seek and Sensational Spiders. In Insect Hide & Seek, we'll hunt for insects in the wild and learn how protective coloration helps them to survive. In Sensational Spiders we'll investigate the amazing life of spiders through song, interactive play, and outdoor observation of spiders and webs.
Winter Workshops
The three winter workshop topics are Winter
World, Track Detectives, and Owls. In Winter World we'll explore the winter world of plants and animals
through a puppet show, games, imaginative play, and nature discovery walks. In Track Detectives we'll use tracks, patterns, and traces as clues to discover animal
habits and activity in winter. In Owls
we'll discover the unique adaptations of owls by investigating what and how
they
eat, and how they communicate and hunt under the cover of darkness.
Spring Workshops
The three themes for Spring workshops are Honeybees, Wonders of Water and Frolicking Frogs. In Honeybees, we'll examine the unique adaptations of these remarkable insects with a look at their life cycle, how they communicate, and their role as pollinators. Frolicking Frogs let's us look at frogs from eggs to adults through role playing, observation, puppet show, and imitating frog calls. Wonders of Water encourages children to investigate properties of water through hands-on explorations, games, songs and outdoor discovery.
trainings.