Dear Teacher, Fall 2008The Wakarusa Wetland Learners fieldtrips are back!The WWL project was initiated in Spring 2006 by Jayhawk Audubon Society and implementedin partnership with Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance, its new primary sponsor. Its purpose is toengage 6

grade students in activities designed to increase their awareness, appreciation,knowledge and understanding of natural environments—beginning with wetlands—and toincrease their interest in conservation and preservation. Through activities involving scientificinvestigation, creative self-expression, and learning about the ecological value and historicalcontext of wetlands, students are encouraged to develop a lifelong, mutually-beneficialrelationship with Earth’s ecosystems and the organisms living in them.Trips focus on the area of the Wakarusa wetlands located on the south side of 31

Street, justsouth and east of Broken Arrow Park. To make the Wakarusa Wetland Learners project aseasy as possible for teachers and students to participate in, we provide busing, facilitators* foractivities in the wetlands, coordination of the activities for each trip, and some support forteachers in preparing and following up with students—including a special website atwww.wetlandlearners.org. All sixth grade classes are invited to take advantage of thisopportunity by scheduling a trip for Fall 2008 or Spring 2009.The biggest change this year is with the funding that helped us launch the program. The KawValley Heritage Alliance has taken the lead on continuing to provide the field trips. However,we are entirely bootstrapping to cover project expenses – mostly coordinating volunteers,teacher and intern support, materials and travel expenses. Jayhawk Audubon has madeavailable about $2,250 to help with wetland field trips. Cans for Community has contributed$500 for the 08/09 Wetland Learners project. Finally, a wonderful anonymous donor hascontributed $2,000. We still need to come up with about $5,000 over the course of the next 9months to make this project happen.

To help us bridge this gap we’re asking participatingschools to contribute $125.

.KVHA/SL and project volunteers determine the activities to be offered according to whichfacilitators are available on the day of a trip. Although we can try to accommodate somepreference of activities by individual schools, the focus is as follows for each trip. A minimum of2 activities will be science-oriented, 2 will focus on the value of the ecology, geology or historyof the Wakarusa wetlands, and the remaining 1 will involve writing poetry about nature, creatingdrawings or paintings of the natural setting, dramatizing interpretations of wetlands life, learningenvironmentally themed songs, or other experiences intended to increase students’ sense ofconnection to and appreciation for natural environments. Even if a school has multiple classesinvolved, we will usually schedule only 5 activities because of limited time available at thewetlands and the goal of every student experiencing every activity for which the class has beenprepared.

Only one trip per week is pre-scheduled

, assigned by KVHA/SL on a “first come, first served”basis. Please seehttp://wetlandlearners.orgfor the most up to current listing of available dates.A link to the Registration Form is also on the website. KVHA/SL will assign each group aninclement weather backup date and time. Providing rain dates results in a great deal of addedcomplexity for scheduling facilitators. We’re limited by who is available on the day of therescheduled trip.Continued

All trips for 2008-9 will be scheduled for the afternoon.

In order for students to be at thewetlands long enough for successful field activities, each school must arrive immediately afterlunch. Having a picnic lunch across the street in Broken Arrow Park makes getting to thewetlands on time much easier. Arrival on time is crucial in order to complete all activities beforethe buses have to leave.

Laidlaw bus company’s return time is relatively early in the afternoon,resulting in a very tight schedule. Many schools preferred morning trips in 2007-8, but newconstraints on those coordinating the trips will make morning trips difficult if not impossible.

When ordering buses, teachers

must write on the order form to bill Jayhawk Audubon Society

. JAS has set up this approach with Laidlaw. A limit of 1 bus per school is requiredunless the need for an additional bus is

cleared through Alison Reber ahead of time

. If thereare too many students for one bus, we would appreciate the overflow being taken to thewetlands by other means. This will allow us to have funds available for covering at least 1 busfor all schools wanting to go.

Please remember, when ordering a bus you must note on the order form to bill Jayhawk Audubon Society. Any request for more than 1 bus must be cleared ahead of time in order for both buses to be paid for by JAS

Students will rotate through 5 activities led by facilitators scheduled and oriented by KVHA.Each activity requires approximately 20 minutes for learners to have a worthwhile experience.In addition, we will need 5 minutes for each of the following: orientation, wrap-up, rotationbetween each round of activities, and walking to and from the bus. This totals 2 hours and 25minutes. Allowing for even minor variations in the schedule means classes need to schedule

2½ hours in the wetlands

from arrival to departure. (See

Field Trip Rotation Schedule

)Due to the nature (An unintended pun!) of these trips,

we require 1 school-providedchaperone for every group of 1-7 students, and 2 chaperones for every group of 8 ormore students

. This proved beneficial in previous trips because of the field setting. Whengroups have 8 or more members, we often have 2 facilitators per activity, so they can sharefacilitation responsibilities or break the groups into 2 smaller groups, each with a facilitator andchaperone. The role of facilitators is to engage students in activities, not to supervise them.Chaperones must be able to remove students who are causing disruption of an activity orendangering other students or adults in any way. Therefore, any size group (even 1-7)containing 1 or more students who tend to have difficulty behaving appropriately in an outdoorenvironment and may need to be removed, must have 2 chaperones so one can remain with thegroup at all times. These requirements are to insure a safe, orderly, and activity-focusedlearning environment for all involved. We appreciate your support in this.We hope you will choose to take advantage of this opportunity for all sixth grade students atyour school. Please don’t hesitate to call any of us with questions, suggestions or concerns.We look forward to sharing a trip to the Wakarusa wetlands with you and your students.Sincerely,Alison Reberalison@streamlink.orgor cell 785-218-5106Coordinator 2008-9, Executive Director, Kaw Valley Heritage Alliance/StreamLinkSandy Sanderssandysanders@sunflower.comor 841-4807Coordinator 2006-8, Jayhawk Audubon Society Education Committee

Basic Wetland Learner Teacher Responsibilities

•

Complete Field Trip Registration (See letter regarding booking a date)

•

Request bus (See letter regarding need for more than 1 bus.)

•

Letter to parents

Include information from “Helpful Hints & Suggestions”

Goal of trip

Parent permission forms (See attached required permission form)

•

Recruit Chaperones

Adult-student ratio 1-7 maximum, 2 required for groups of 8 or more

•

Divide students into 5 groups (A, B, C, D, E)

Decide groups before arriving at wetlands.

Chaperones need their group’s field trip schedule.

•

Prepare students for wetland experience. (See “Helpful Hints & Suggestions”)

•

Complete and return Student and Teacher Reflection forms

Teacher Heads-Up

Stuff we know you know but you might have forgotten…..

We’re going to be outside.There are no walls, no carpets, no ceilings.There’s no running water, no bathrooms, and no trash cans.There will be rough terrain, standing water, tall plants, and wild animals.

Plan a Plan a Plan a Plan accordingly.ccordingly.ccordingly.ccordingly.

Don’t hesitate to call Alison or Sandy if you have ANY questions or concerns.Alison 785-218-5106; Sandy 841-4807