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Big Learning News 9-28-04

Big Learning News
Karen Cole's Guide to Real-World Learning with Kids
Issue 2:37 September 28, 2004

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Table of Contents


Activity: Find a New Hike
Book Review: The Kids' Guide to Nature Adventures
Web Site: Science News for Kids
Education News on BigLearning.org

 


Activity

Find a New Hike

Autumn is a great time to reconnect with the great outdoors. If you like hiking but aren't sure where to find a good trail, check out these sites. For my area (Maryland, USA) the LocalHikes site was by far the best, with details about most of the great hiking spots in my county. I've also included some links for other countries.

http://www.localhikes.com

http://www.slackpacker.com/map_canada.html : If these photos don't make you want to visit Canada, nothing will.

http://www.trentu.ca/academic/trailstudies/cancool.html Another Canadian page.

http://www.slackpacker.com/map_intl.html : Hiking spots around the world - with photos.

http://www.traildatabase.org/ : More hiking spots around the world.

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Book Review

The Kids' Guide to Nature Adventures: 80 Great Activities for Exploring the Outdoors

Ages 9 and up, but there are plenty of activities an adult could do together with kids 5-9 or older.

One of my favorite Big Learning-type authors, Joe Rhatigan, has created another winner. Rhatigan has an amazing knack for injecting activities with real intellectual substance while keeping them simple and fun. He also has infectious enthusiasm for his subject matter.

Nature Adventures covers a lot of ground - and a lot of science. There are practical tips for camping, wildlife activities observation activities (including at least 5 methods for capturing insects), games to play to practice nature skills, and lots of stuff to make. The great thing is, the stuff to make all has a purpose - like the bird-call whistle you make out of Popsicle sticks and a blade of grass. That activity is part of a series of things to make to attract wildlife so you can observe it.

The book has a catchy, modern design, and the photographs are both gorgeous and helpful. This is a book kids will come back to again and again.

Buying Information for The Kids' Guide to Nature Activities

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Web Site

Science News for Kids

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/

Ages 9 and up.

This site will keep kids up to date on science news. There are also fun little "lab" activities to try in the real world, puzzles, games, and more. The site also has in-depth science news articles for parents and teachers.

 

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This Week's Education Headlines on BigLearning.org

Read about a school that seems to have everything that makes a great school, except great test scores. Too bad the school may be shut down.

An Austin, Texas program encourages kids to run a marathon - a quarter mile at a time.

These and more at http://www.biglearning.org.

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