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We spoke with Jami Zmurko from Chittenden, VT, who’s been volunteering for the Four Winds Nature Program at Barstow Memorial School since 2017.

“I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity,” says Jami. As a former fourth grade teacher, she loves being with a class full of children again.

“Implementing the lessons in the classroom has given me a firsthand view of how the program accesses all learners. Four Winds sees every child as capable. The monthly lessons contain diverse activities that reach all learning styles. There is movement, listening, hands-on and visual/creative activities for each type of learner, and I thoroughly enjoy watching each student connect and learn in their own way. Every student feels like a capable nature scientist who can build upon previous knowledge and record new learnings.”

During lessons, Jami gets the chance to know the students by name and understand their learning styles. Each time, she has a goal to spend 1:1 time listening to and learning with each child in the classroom. She shared how she recently had a very special moment with a second grade student, who is usually quiet and shy. During the lesson Skull Sleuthing, studying animal skulls, this student took a risk and shared an impressive amount of information about animals’ teeth and their purposes. When she had a moment to thank him for his amazing knowledge and participation, his eyes lit up and he reached out for a hug. “From that lesson on, we have seen a more eager and proud student from him. This was an inspiring moment, knowing that as volunteers in a school, we can make a difference.”

Jami also values how the Four Winds curriculum transfers to home. “Taking walks with my kids is now much more enjoyable as we can stop to talk about galls we spot on plants or animal tracks in the snow. We are all more present in nature and more aware of our surroundings. We are listening to the songbirds and owls outside our window and thinking about the lives they live. We now have a lot more appreciation for the beauty and magic happening in nature all around us.”

“I feel very fortunate that I am a Four Winds volunteer.  Not only is it so fun and engaging working with the students and learning about the fascinating world around me, but I have made so many wonderful friends along the way. They are all such a special part of my life now, and I am forever grateful.”

And we at Four Winds are so grateful for all the amazing Nature Program volunteers! If you’re interested in sharing your experiences with The Nature Program, please reach out to Erika at erika@fwni.org.

Here is the perspective of Four Winds board member and University of Vermont lecturer Dr. Joseph A. Henderson:

Children are naturally curious and love to ask questions about how the world works. Like the rest of us, they too can sense that the climate is changing and are looking to the adults for guidance. How we teach climate change will look different depending on the developmental capacities of our students, and as educators we need to be sensitive to those dynamics.

New York State recently passed educational regulations requiring comprehensive K-12 climate change education, and a similar effort is afoot in Vermont. Senator Anne Watson – a former science teacher herself – recently introduced S.175 [PDF] as a response to calls for climate change education in Vermont’s 2025 Climate Action Plan. If enacted, Vermont would then join New York and New Jersey as the only states requiring interdisciplinary K-12 climate change education. This legislation is an opportunity to provide relevant educational experiences for our youth, and age-appropriate climate education already aligns with what great, place-based teaching looks like.

We know from a broad body of scholarship that environmental attitudes form early in life. Young children are innately curious about the natural world and can develop moral concern for the environment at an early age. While most climate change education happens at secondary and tertiary levels in the United States, it is feasible at the elementary level too, although with some important considerations.

Developmentally appropriate climate change education should emphasize joy and connection with nature. Educators can highlight making observations and developing wondering practices around topics like weather versus climate, seasonal changes, and caring for plants, animals, and their community. Older elementary students can engage with higher-order thinking processes around patterns and cause/effect relationships. Why do seasons change? How do humans impact the environment in positive and negative ways? What do all living things need to survive? In the later elementary grades, they can begin exploring systems dynamics by investigating the water cycle, ecosystem relationships, and energy resources, for example. Our region is full of good teaching examples here: changes to the maple syrup season, shifting ice dynamics on Lake Champlain, increasingly intense flooding events and related forms of mitigation, changes to snow quality and the ski season, etc. Research on climate change education shows that the most effective programs utilize interdisciplinary place-based learning and emphasize hope and agency. The North American Association for Environmental Education’s Guidelines for Excellence: Educating for Climate Action and Justice [PDF] is a useful starting point for educators wishing to design developmentally appropriate climate change education experiences for young people.

Finally, it is important to acknowledge that climate change is a distressing topic. Be aware of how you are presenting climate issues to young people, for they are always watching, always listening, and always learning from the adults in their lives. We know that kids are already picking up on climate stress in the broader culture, and they deserve to understand the world they are inheriting in ways that promote flourishing. You don’t need to be an expert to teach climate change, and Vermont’s own educational landscape already provides ample opportunities for professional learning. Vermont’s educators are well positioned to lead given the long history of effective environmental education in the Green Mountain State. 

Joe’s full essay is available here.

In this time between the beginnings of meteorological spring (March 1) and astronomical spring (March 20) we can smell the change of seasons.

As the snow melt begins to reveal the soil, we get our first whiffs of the earthy dirt scent. This smell comes from the compound geosmin (Greek for “earth smell”) produced by Streptomyces soil bacteria. We are extremely sensitive to the smell of geosmin and able to detect it better than sharks can detect blood! Geosmin attracts springtails to eat the bacteria, and in return the springtails disperse the Streptomyces spores that stick to their bodies as well as the spores that are pooped out. Taking a sniff of geosmin tunes into this chemical communication between bacteria and springtail that has endured for 450 million years.

There is also the pungent skunk smell. The scent was described by author and wildlife artist Ernest Thompson Seton as “essence of garlic, burning sulfur and sewer gas magnified a thousand times.” March is peak striped skunk breeding season. Skunks travel as far as two-and-a-half miles a night in search of a mate so car collisions are more common at this time of year. Also female skunks are spraying male skunks more frequently at this time of year. While females only mate with one male, males attempt to mate with every female on their territory. After mating, the female skunk will aggressively attack any subsequent suitors.

More subtly, red fox urine takes on a skunky smell (the fresher, the stronger) during their breeding season (Jan-March). Red foxes leave scent marks on strategic elevated locations like rocks and stumps to announce territorial boundaries and breeding potential to other foxes.

Even if the landscape doesn’t look like spring yet, your nose can tell you it’s coming!

Just who is this tree growing along a roadside and still holding onto its seeds in late winter?

Box elder! Also known as ash-leaved maple, box elder is a unique maple. It has the greatest range of all the North American maples. It is the only North American maple species that doesn’t germinate in the shade and is more likely to be found beside a road or river than in the forest. It’s the only North American maple that’s dioecious (every tree produces only male or female flowers) and the only maple (female trees) that holds many samaras (winged maple seeds) through winter. 

Box elder’s lingering samaras make the tree easily recognizable in winter and also provide an important winter food source for birds. Evening grosbeaks (who have had a population loss of 92% since 1970) are especially fond of box elder seeds, and it’s thought evening grosbeaks’ range is tied with the range of the tree. 

Because box elder can thrive in poor soil and grow quickly, it was widely planted throughout the East and Midwest for street shade, erosion control, and wind breaks until the early 20th century. In the 1800s evening grosbeaks were uncommon east of the Rockies, but it may be that the expanded planting of box elders, with their steady food supply, allowed for evening grosbeaks’ eastward expansion. Since the 1920s evening grosbeaks have been considered a regular winter visitor to New England, their bright yellow feathers adding a surprising splash of color to the snowy landscape. Look for them in your neighborhood enjoying some box elder seeds.

Four Winds has been offering mini grants for nearly 20 years to help make schools better places to study nature year-round. Our hope is that funded projects promote school-community interaction and enhance the outdoor learning opportunities provided through the Four Winds Nature Program. 

Here are examples of previous projects: 

If you are interested in applying for a mini grant for your Nature Program-enrolled school, please check out our application guidelines online. You can submit your completed proposal through this google form (preferred method), email it to erika@fwni.org, or mail it to Four Winds Nature Institute, 4 Casey Road, Chittenden, VT 05737. Applications must be received by March 31, 2026.

We look forward to reading your applications!

Snow and sunshine = the perfect day for a winter picnic with friends!

Moving children and supplies over snow and ice can be a challenge, but much easier with the right equipment. That is where a good pulk comes in handy! A pulk is basically a sled rigged with a harness and rigid poles for more stability and control. Pulks are used across the north to carry equipment and supplies.

There are lots of pulk designs online for a wide variety of uses. Here’s a simple and relatively inexpensive do-it-yourself pulk set up, just right for hauling kids, tarp, food, and hot cocoa to your favorite snowy picnic spot.

What you’ll need:

A sturdy 5’ plastic sled – this one has two nice reinforced eyelets for attaching the carabiner;  

A 10’ piece of ¾” PVC – you’ll cut this in half and sand the inside of all the ends so no sharp edges slice the paracord line you’ll run through them;

A spool of paracord (rated for 500 lbs) – for this one we doubled the cord through the PVC (here’s a learn knot tying resource); 

4 carabiners – these have “SAFE WORKING LOAD 150 lbs” stamped on the side;

A 2”-wide webbed-canvas belt with reinforced eyelets and buckle  – this one was $20 from the local Army Navy store.

Children love to have their own pulk so they can invite their friends to the picnic, too!

As hearts pop up all around us at this time of year, wonder what is going on with our animal neighbors’ hearts? 

Try to put these animals in order from the fastest heartbeats to the slowest heartbeats in winter. Check your answers below. 

Shrews are active in winter and have a heart rate of over 700 beats per minute. If a shrew does not eat within a few hours, they will likely die.

A hibernating black bear’s heart rate drops from an average of 55 beats per minute down to about 14 beats per minute.

A hibernating woodchuck’s heart rate drops from around 80 beats per minute to as low as 4 beats per minute.

A painted turtle’s heart beats about 40 beats per minute when they’re basking in the sun in the summer. But during the winter, when they’re buried in the mud at the bottom of a pond, their heartbeat drops to as low as 8 beats per hour.

Wood Frogs have NO heartbeat in their frozen winter state.

What is this hollow brown capsule attached to a twig? 

An empty sawfly cocoon! Sawflies are wasp-like insects who get their name from the saw-like female ovipositor (egg-laying structure) they use to cut into plant tissue and lay eggs. Many sawflies lay eggs in the spring from which caterpillar-like larvae emerge (sawfly larvae have six or more pairs of prolegs, while caterpillars have up to five pairs). 

Elm sawfly larva and adult

Many sawfly larvae spin a cocoon and overwinter as pupae. The cocoons can be in soil or attached to branches. The cocoons are important winter food for small mammals. Tracks & Signs of Insects and other Invertebrates notes, “It has been estimated that a single short-tailed shrew consumes twenty-three thousand pine sawfly cocoons in a year.”

In the spring, the new adult sawflies chew a circle at one end of their cocoon to create a flip-top lid (which often stays attached) and emerge as adults to continue the cycle.

If the exit hole is smaller, circular, and off-center near one end, it’s likely a sign the sawfly pupa was parasitized by an ichneumonid wasp.

Four Winds Nature Institute was founded in 2006 by a dedicated group of naturalist-educators striving to provide people of all ages with meaningful opportunities to explore the natural world. Writing curricula, drawing puppets, collecting hundreds of pinecones and galls and birds’ nests – with a deep love for children and the environment, and through countless creative hours, the group has offered beloved programs like The Nature Program, Knee High Nature, and Linkages for Environmental Literacy that continue to this day. 

Four Winds proudly carries out community-based natural science education and research with the support of a cherished network of volunteers, parents, teachers, principals, and benefactors. We couldn’t do this important work without you!

Ten years ago we celebrated our 10th birthday with music, games, and cupcakes at Silver Lake State Park. This year in June, we plan to continue the tradition in the same location. Please keep an eye out for a ‘save the date’ coming soon, and mark June 27th (with a rain date of the 28th) on your calendar. 

Do you have favorite memories to share of Four Winds? We’d love to hear from you. If you have any stories from your time as a volunteer with The Nature Program, or experience in other programs, please reach out to erika@fwni.org to be featured on our blog. 

Brush up your outdoor play materials with a variety of brooms and brushes this winter!

Small brushes could be used for dusting off trees, making intricate patterns in the snow, or painting.

Hand brushes could be used for clearing off snow, and a dust pan could be used for transporting snow.

Brooms could be used for sweeping entrances, clearing snow off cars, and making large patterns in the snow. 

Provisioning your winter outdoor space with a variety of brushes and brooms provides opportunities for fine and gross motor skills, creative play, and meaningful work.