Join your fellow Brown alumni in giving back to our community over your lunch break at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) to help assemble Nature Journals. This is a rare opportunity to support outdoor education from the comfort of Midpen’s Administration Office. You are welcome to bring along friends, family, or guests to help out! We understand lunch breaks can be tight—while the event runs for two hours, please feel free to drop in for 45 minutes or an hour as your schedule allows. Light refreshments will be provided at the event, but feel free to bring your lunch too.
Background:
Every year, Midpen volunteer docents lead hundreds of 3rd-5th grade students on field trips in the spring and fall. This outdoor moving classroom is a great opportunity for students to deepen their knowledge of, and appreciation for, the natural world.
Nature journaling is a fun and powerful practice that helps students slow down, pay attention, notice more, and get curious about the wonder and beauty of the world around them. This year, each student who attends a field trip will, WITH YOUR GENEROUS HELP, receive a practical quick-start guide to nature journaling that includes directions on why, where, and how to keep a nature journal. They’ll practice journaling while on their field trip with Midpen and be encouraged to continue the practice when they return home. These guides are an incredibly important step in updating our field trip curriculum to be aligned with Next Generation Sciences Standards.
What to expect:
You’ll be assembling Nature Journals, which involves folding and cutting paper and cardstock, and stapling sheets together. Each journal takes about 2 to 6 minutes to complete, depending on your pace. We’ll provide hands-on instructions at the event, but you can also check out this instructional video beforehand.
Jeff Butterworth, Midpen’s Environmental Education Specialist, will join us at some point during the volunteer opportunity, to share a brief history of the organization and highlight additional opportunities to get involved in Midpen’s mission.
Host: Yudi Fu '13
