Teacher Workshops Day 1

We jumped right into our teacher workshops at Guandu Nature Park today. Sixty teachers and instructors from other nature centers came from all over Taiwan to participate. We began the day by showing a powerpoint of IslandWood in the auditorium, then split into 4 groups: the Cattle Egrets, Herons, Kingfishers, and Bulbuls (all common birds at Guandu). We all did name games (some groups did nature names and we have some 'unique' ideas such as Squid, Sunflower, and Bacteria) and the game "All my Friends". Frogs were hopping and snails slid across the grass as participants incorporated truly biotic items into our Nature's ABCs activity. We modeled a mind map (What is an Ecosystem?) and did the Web of Life. It was fun to see these activities done in such a unique place; children at IslandWood normally don't offer "rice" or "water lily" as a part of their ecosystem!

After breaking the lunch hour, we broke back into our 4 groups. Mike and Erin led groups in team-building activities (as a means to teach ecosystems).





Hillary, Zach and Ali led 2 rousing games of Owls, Mice and Seeds. OMS was a hit - an old man was observed running so fast that his combover flapped in the wind, and some mice chose to divebomb their seeds. The crash of the ecosystem (seeds disappeared first, followed shortly by mice and then owls) made a great debrief.