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Educator's E-newsletter
| March 9, 2012
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 A Look at the Season's Main Events Virginia Barlow Second Week of March Check your birdhouses: bluebirds, chickadees, and tree swallows will soon be looking for accommodations.
Although awkward on land, the mergansers now arriving are superb divers, gaining crisp underwater vision by means of a third, transparent eyelid.
Woodpecker drumming is on the rise.
Third Week of March
Migrating ducks: mallard, wood, black, buffleheads, and goldeneyes; also the great blue heron, if ponds have lost their icy covers.
Red foxes give birth. They will be weaned in about nine weeks but stay with their mother though the summer.
Look for bobcats sunning on south-facing ledges.
These listing are based on observations and reports in our home territory at about 1,000 feet in elevation in central Vermont and are approximate. Events may occur earlier or later, depending on your latitude, elevation - and the weather. |
Survival of the Fittest
Chuck Wooster
Back in January, taking advantage of the lack of snow, I was out hiking with a friend along a steep hillside not far from my house. Usually this hillside is too slippery for wintertime travel, but on this day, conditions were optimal. A few inches of crunchy, Styrofoam-like snow provided excellent traction...
Full Article TextDownload the Article
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 Sugaring Season
Sandra Murphy
Sugar Content, by Dave Mance III
Maple sugaring offers fabulous (and delicious) educational opportunities. After reading Mance's article on sugar content, have your students conduct their own experiments in maple sap sugar content. If there are sugar maples in the immediate vicinity of your school, tap 4 or 5 of them during sugaring season (you can likely borrow buckets, spiles, covers, and a hand drill from a local sugarmaker). Collect the sap and measure its sugar content, using a refractometer (you can borrow this from a local sugarmaker or from your
county forester). Calculate the average sugar content of the trees you select. Have students taste the various saps and see if they can distinguish the differences in sugar content. Then compare the sugar content of sugar maple sap with that of other maple species. If nearby sugar maples aren't available, make plans to visit a local sugarbush with your class and conduct the experiments with the aid of the sugarmaker.
Boil down the sap you collect from your schoolyard maples (or get a gallon or two from the sugaring operation you visit). If you or your students have a backyard sugaring set-up already, then you're all set for boiling. If not, you can easily build a simple outdoor boiler with the help of Backyard Sugarin' (see below). Or you can boil down a small quantity (a few gallons of sap) on a wood cook stove. Be sure to follow the instructions for tapping and boiling maple syrup by the Maine Cooperative Extension below. As you and your students enjoy eating the fruits of your labors, you can compare the sugar content of raw sap with finished syrup!
Have students create a display that explains the process of creating maple syrup-from the biology of tree sap flow to the art of boiling.
Blog: Read Dave Mance III's sugarmaking blog: Dispatch from the Sugarwoods 2012. It's updated regularly so follow along with your class!
Video: Click here to watch sugarmaker Nate Cardinal demonstrate how to tap a maple tree.
Website: Cornell Maple Program. A website designed for younger audiences interested in learning more about sugar maples trees and maple syrup production.
Download the Teacher's Guide
(This activity is on page 2)
Download the Article:
Sugar Content
Click here for the complete Teacher's Guide archive!
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WHAT IN THE WOODS IS THAT?
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 Our Biweekly Guessing Game!
Northern Woodlands' operations coordinator Emily Rowe, pictured here, is the Queen of our office, but that's no scepter in her hand. What is that tall item you see beside her?
Every other week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you'll be eligible to win a copy of The Outside Story, a paperback collection of our Outside Story newspaper columns. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner's name, will appear in next week's column.
This week's contest deadline is 8:00 AM, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. |
 Congratulations to our winner Tim DeCerbo of New Haven, CT! Tim receives a copy of our book, The Outside Story.
To tell you where this nest was found would give away the answer. So, without knowing this nest's place of origin, do you know which bird built it?
NW Answer: A chimney swift's nest.
This nest was found in a homeowner's fireplace after having fallen from the chimney. Chimney swifts use bits of twig and their own saliva to build nests that secure to the inside of chimneys (or hollow trees, or other structures). You'll notice the flat edge on one side of the nest; that's where the nest was attached to the chimney. Unfortunately, these nests can fall, sometimes with babies still in the nest! Be sure to read more about the rescue of chimney swift babies and the work being done to save this declining bird here.
Visit our What In The Woods Is That? contest archive.
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Project WET and Project WILD Aquatic WorkshopSaturday, March 31, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Lancaster, NH Join NH's Project WILD, Project WET and the Watershed Education Program for this one-day workshop to learn skills and methods for teaching about water, wetlands, and wildlife. You will participate in hands-on, engaging activities from the Project WILD Aquatic Curriculum and Activity Guide and the recently updated Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide. You will walk away prepared to present activities to students and the public. The cost is $100. To register, download the flyer here. Project WET Workshop for K-4 Educators Thursday, April 19, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm Hopkinton, NH Join Project WET, Merrimack County Conservation District and NH Department of Environmental Services for this one-day workshop to learn skills and methods for teaching about water topics to students in Kindergarten through grade 4. You will participate in hands-on, engaging activities from the recently updated Project WET Curriculum and Activity Guide. You will walk away prepared to present activities to students and the public. The cost is $50 for in-service educators and $35 for college students. To register, download the flyer here.
Upcoming EE Week 2012 Webinar
Technology Goes Wild: New Tools for Connecting Classrooms with Nature
Wednesday, March 14, 7:00 pm
EE Week is partnering with National Geographic Education and Project Noah to bring educators the information and tools they need to take technology outside, engaging students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning in their own schoolyard or local public land. Register for EE Week to participate in this free educator webinar.
Do you have news or an event you'd like to share? Let us know!
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If you are an educator who finds Northern Woodlands magazine useful in your classroom, you are eligible for a complimentary subscription. Simply e-mail your completed registration form to the NWGTS coordinator Emily Rowe.
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We Welcome Your Questions and Comments
Postal Address:
Northern Woodlands
1776 Center Road
P.O. Box 471
Corinth, VT 05039
Toll-Free: (800) 290-5232
Phone: (802) 439-6292
Fax: (802) 439-6296
Email: emily@northernwoodlands.org
General inquiries form
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The mission of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education is to advance a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast and to increase understanding of and appreciation for the natural wonders, economic productivity and ecological integrity of the region's forests. Our programs give people the information they need to help build a sustainable future for our region. Through Northern Woodlands magazine, the Northern Woodlands Goes to School program, and special publications, we make a difference in how people care for their land.
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