Subject: [Tweeters] Children and Nature
Date: Feb 5 15:19:00 2005
From: Mark Ahlness - mahlness at comcast.net


On kids and birds,
I'm a third grade teacher in Seattle, and a VERY amateur birder, whose only
real contribution to the tweeters community was the photographing of a
wintering-over rufous hummer at our West Seattle home in 2001-02. I just
have to jump in here. Yes, kids are out of touch with nature, compared to a
few years ago. Yes, the public school system is not doing much to change
that. But - there are efforts afoot to reverse that trend. Many come from
the private, sometimes nonprofit, sector.

But first, don't give up on your schools. My classroom had the honor of
naming the first peregrine falcon hatched on a web cam (Smoke, son of Mae,
hatched in 1998 in MN). Those kids, and the classes I have had ever since
that glorious year, come out of third grade knowing a LOT about peregrine
falcons. Eyes opened at that early age never close to the beauty and wonder
of what they have seen. A bit more and a slideshow:
http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/falcon/ Our story has been told in the
press and in a book coming out this fall.

Now, the nonprofit sector. I run one of the oldest and largest educational
projects on the Internet, The Earth Day Groceries Project
(http://www.earthdaybags.org/). Hundreds of thousands of school children
worldwide have participated for over ten years. As it's coordinated entirely
online, one of the offerings on the project web site is computer
wallpaper/background. This year I asked Marv Breece if he'd be willing to
donate some of his bird photos to the project. I was delighted he said yes.
So, this year, on hundreds/thousands of computers in classrooms across the
world, there will be absolutely stunning photographs of Washington state
birds, taken by someone many on this list know quite well. In my classroom,
the initial reaction was gasping... what's that bird? how big is it? where
does it live?

Humble Marv is probably reading this and going "oh geez..." - but many
thanks, Marv! Actions from you and others can make a difference and reverse
the way things seem to be going with our kids. Oh yeah, Marv's pictures are
on the wallpaper page, at http://www.earthdaybags.org/gswallpaper.htm
Enjoy!

ps - if you scroll down, you will probably recognize pictures I've taken
over the years from lots of places most on this list have been to; Spencer
Island, Samish flats, Juanita Bay, Discovery Park, Reifel, etc.

Mark Ahlness
mahlness at comcast.net
Arbor Heights Elementary
http://www.arborheights.com