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The Fungus Among Us

Name: The Fungus Among Us
Start: 2015-05-05T13:00:00-05:00
End: 2015-05-05T15:00:00-05:00
Location: Aldo Leopold Nature Center | Monona Campus

May 5, 2015 @ 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

$10

From puffballs to morels, fungus is all around us! We’ll learn some common types of fungus, some that are edible and some to avoid, dissect a mushroom, learn how to make spore print and much, much more!

Registration ends at midnight the night prior to the session. Register using the link below or call 608-221-0404×0.

Cost: $10/child (ALNC members receive 10% off)

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Details

Date:: May 5, 2015
Time:: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Cost:: $10
Event Categories:: Homeschool Programs, Youth Programs

Organizer

: Aldo Leopold Nature Center

Venue

Aldo Leopold Nature Center | Monona Campus; 330 Femrite Drive
Monona, 53716 United States + Google Map
Phone:: (608) 221-0404

Aldo Leopold Nature Center

2 hours ago

Did you hear!?! We are CLIMATE CHAMPIONS!Last week, Aldo Leopold Nature Center was recognized by the Office of Energy and Climate Change (OECC) as a leading entity taking action through Dane County’s Climate Champions program.We are thrilled to receive this recognition and thank our community for supporting us in engaging and educating current and future generations, empowering them to protect, respect, and enjoy the natural world. To accomplish this, we actively incorporate goals aligned with our mission into every aspect of our work… From how we engage our community, educate our students, and empower our staff, to how our building is designed and how we maintain our forests, prairie, and wetlands. When engaging and educating students in the natural world, we underscore the interconnectedness of all living and nonliving things and do not shy away from climate change and its impacts. For us, this work takes place ‘on the land’, in conjunction with learning about individual species and connecting with each other and the natural world that provides so much for us. For example, in addition to funny anecdotes about painted turtles’ adaptations for winter and their ability to breathe through their butts, we encourage our Educators to share facts about nest temperatures affecting the sex of hatchlings and how warmer nests mean more female turtles are likely to be born. We recognize that children and people do not learn about climate change separate from the land, rather they learn about it best in tandem with something that they know, they love, and or that they wonder about.Over the last 25+ years, we have worked hard to restore the land on which the nature center sits. Land that was once developed into farmland, we have returned to tallgrass prairie, oak savanna, basswood forest, tamarack forest, and wetland ecosystems. In addition to our land, our building has many features that could qualify us as Climate Champions. We are a hybrid/multi-use building, housing a nature preschool, a public visitor center, office spaces, large event spaces, and indoor and outdoor learning labs that are used by a variety of audiences for a variety of uses throughout the year. We have incorporated sustainability in our footprint, and many of the design elements of the original nature center, as well as the subsequent remodels, are repurposed. We also have solar panels on our roof, which feed power back into the grid, offsetting our facility’s energy use.Last, and certainly not least, we have made advancing internal and external equity a major goal for our organization. We recognize that we cannot be climate champions without overcoming the inequities of the history of environmental education and the nonprofit sector. By offering tuition assistance, weighted lottery enrollment, payment plans, transportation, programs offsite, and programs in multiple languages and abilities, we are beginning to bridge these gaps in access. We have more work to do and, through strategic planning, we are exploring how to best achieve these goals, ensuring we provide quality, welcoming programming with equitable tuition while fairly compensating our staff.It’s impossible to estimate the climate impact of our educational programs over 29 years without in-depth longitudinal studies. Last year, we hosted tens of thousands of children and their families, as well as members of the Dane County community and beyond. Some children might come only one time, on a field trip, while others may come all day, every day, for nature preschool. And, while one can argue that the impact of many touches over time is more impactful, it's impossible to negate the power a single experience can have on one’s being. We know that many children who come to the nature center have a story to tell. When we are out in the community, we often hear anecdotes about what they learned at Maple Syrup Fest or how they visited the nature center for someone’s birthday. We hear about the frogs they saw, the birds they heard, and the games they played. What’s more, many of these children return, year after year, for summer camps and other programs. Eventually, some even return as summer camp assistants and environmental educators, eager to teach our mission. At the end of the day, none of what we do would be possible without the support of our community, without the support of individuals like you, who care about connecting children with each other and the natural world for a brighter, more sustainable future for us all. Thank you. #ThankfulThursday #WIEnviroEd #NatureIsEverywhere #NatureIsForEveryone #EveryBodyOutside #ClimateChampions Dane County Office of Energy & Climate Change ...

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