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Become a botanist! Deepen your plant knowledge and confidence through hands-on workshops designed for NJ educators of all grade levels.Explore activities and resources to develop students’ knowledge, interest, and empathy of plants to complement climate-based education standards. Enrich your curriculum with NJDEP’s Botanical Literacy Lesson Plans designed to fulfill the 2020 NJ Student Learning Standards and discover ways to create the ideal outdoor classroom setting for budding student botanists.
Teachers will return to school with plant inspired enthusiasm, toolkits and resources to build their own gardens in any size space and a set of innovative new lesson plans!
Tentative Schedule (Rain or shine)
FRIDAY (Optional early arrival to alleviate the stress of morning travel)
4:00 – 5:00pm – Arrive and settle in to cabins
6:00 – 7:00pm – Dinner – please bring your own
7:00 – 7:45pm – Sunset paddle on Lake Wapalanne
8:00pm – Campfire + Discussion: Botanical Sense of Place
SATURDAY
7:00 – 8:00am – Morning walk (optional)
8:00 – 8:45am – Breakfast for Overnighters (provided by NJSOC)
8:30 – 9:00am – Arrival for single day participants
9:00 – 9:15am – Icebreaker
9:15 – 9:45am – Welcome and Introductions
9:45 – 11:45am – “A School Yard Garden: Benefits, Engagements and Outcomes” with Dena Corbin, Natural Ground 1
Discover how a schoolyard garden can transform traditional classroom subjects into hands-on, engaging learning experiences. By aligning gardening activities with curriculum standards, this workshop will show how school gardens promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and holistic student development while building a meaningful connection to the natural world. Educators will gain practical strategies for fostering creativity, teamwork, and academic enrichment.
12:00 – 1:00pm – Lunch in Big Timbers (provided by NJSOC)
1:15 – 1:45pm – “Frog Hollow Pollinator Garden Tour” with Tanya Sulikowski, NJSOC
The NJSOC garden was established in 2018 as a habitat restoration project and learning space. Tour the garden to learn about the building process and how the garden is used as a year-round educational space.
1:45 – 3:30pm – “Plant Evolution Scavenger Hunt” with Doressa Williams OR “Plant and Pollinator Partners” with Eva Popp, NJDEP
Participants choose one of two afternoon sessions. Team up on a scavenger hunt to search for different evolutionary plant groups, learn to identify them based on their unique traits, and discover how these traits provide clues about the climate in which they evolved. Or focus on flowering plants: learn to identify flower traits that specific pollinators prefer and conduct a pollinator survey in the field to explore the co-evolutionary relationships between plants and their pollinator partners.
3:30 – 4:00pm – Workshop close-out discussion & Think Tank
4:00pm – Departure
Workshop Details:
Registration fee for overnighters includes breakfast and lunch, overnight accommodations in cabin-style housing (with a short walk to bathrooms) and all workshop materials. The fee for a single day includes lunch and all workshop materials.
Participating educators will receive a $150 stipend, made possible through grant funding, upon completion of the workshop.
Please contact Tanya Sulikowski, NJSOC Director of Education, with any questions. [email protected]
Refund Policy:
Your event fee, minus Eventbrite Fees, is fully refundable if canceled 7 or more days before the event. While we appreciate being notified if you are unable to attend an event, refunds are not given for cancellations within 7 days of the event.
If we must cancel an event, your registration fee, including Eventbrite fees, will be refunded.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
1 Wapalanne Rd, Branchville, NJ, United States, New Jersey 07826, 1 Wapalanne Rd, Sandyston Twp, NJ 07826-5116, United States,Layton, New Jersey
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