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Monday Funday Photo of the Week: Ode to Autumn

To celebrate the beginning of a new month and the turning of the season, this week’s Monday Funday Photo of the Week depicts the beauty and joy of fall foliage with an ‘ode to autumn’. The poem below was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar and is entitled Merry Autumn, a selection from his 1896 book of poetry called Lyrics of Lowly Life. Be active this Autumn by observing and recording plant life for Project BudBurst’s Fall Equinox Event: Fall into Phenology. Submissions will be accepted through October 10th; now’s the time to enjoy the great outdoors!

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It’s all a farce,–these tales they tell
About the breezes sighing,
And moans astir o’er field and dell,
Because the year is dying.

Such principles are most absurd,–
I care not who first taught ’em;
There’s nothing known to beast or bird
To make a solemn autumn.

In solemn times, when grief holds sway
With countenance distressing,
You’ll note the more of black and gray
Will then be used in dressing.

Now purple tints are all around;
The sky is blue and mellow;
And e’en the grasses turn the ground
From modest green to yellow.

The seed burs all with laughter crack
On featherweed and jimson;
And leaves that should be dressed in black
Are all decked out in crimson.

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Classroom Ideas, Geography Awareness Week

Five for Friday: Five cool blogging ideas for the 2011 Blog-A-Thon:

Long-time readers of this blog know that each year My Wonderful World hosts a Blog-a-thon during Geography Awareness Week (November 13-19, 2011) inviting contributors around the world to share their geographic voice. This year, we are making the Blog-a-thon bigger and better than ever before, and we need your help! We are accepting submissions of all forms ranging from traditional blogs to digital media (e.g. photos, videos, music) to art work, academic papers or even old geography homework assignments. You can be a special part of GA Week by sending us your best original geographic creations. Teachers: this is a great opportunity to get your classroom involved in thinking critically and writing about geography, and for your students to see their work posted onto the web.
GAW_Logo-A_Color copy.jpgThe 2011 GA Week theme is “Geography: The Adventure in Your Community.”  It is about connections between people and their surrounding environments, local action, and, of course, geography education. Starting now, we will be accepting any geography-related blog posts that honor Geography Awareness Week, the 2011 theme of “Adventure in Your Community,” and geography or geographic education in general. You can e-mail your intention of submission at anytime to NatGeoEd@ngs.org–just let us know what you have in mind, and we will be on the lookout for your work. With the Blog-a-thon in mind, this week’s Five for Friday looks at five cool ideas for ways to participate. Get inspired!

1. The “Classic”: Write a blog. (Duh!) Here are some great ideas to get you started on your brainstorm:

  • Document your daily activities in blog format, showing how place and space play an important role on your route to work, when shopping for food, or while sending a text message to your friends in California. It may surprise you just how much geography is incorporated into your daily life!
  • Write a blog post about the geography of a particular current event topic, or a series of news stories you have followed over the past year. Talk about how major changes in climate, natural disasters, and developing cultures/nations have played a part in your life or your understanding of what it means to be geo-literate.
  •  Describe a representation of your “world.” Include all your favorite things about this Earth and the places you want to see and experience. Do some critical thinking: How would your perspective of your world change if you were born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Beijing, China; or Curepto, Chile?

2. The “Art-star”: Not much for words? Try creating a unique piece of art that represents GA Week. Think painting, sculpting, drawing, jewelry-making, collage, graphic design, and beyond! Scan or photograph what you have crafted and send it to us with your basic information, a description of your art, what it means to you and, how it celebrates the geography of our world.

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Classroom Ideas, Geography In the News

BioBlitz 2011: Saguaro National Park & Electronic Field Trip

Mark your calendars, BioBlitz 2011 is just around the corner and it’s going to be the best yet! The annual celebration of biodiversity takes place this year on October 21-22 in Saguaro National Park, Tuscon, Arizona and online as a free electronic field trip. Information about the live event, how to register for the electronic field trip, schedules, goals, links, and more are provided below thanks to National Geographic Education, and the partners of BioBlitz 2011–Enjoy!

2010-10-29_0000081.JPGSummary of BioBlitz:
BioBlitz is a 24-hour event in which teams of volunteer scientists, families, students, teachers, and other community members work together to find and identify as many species of plants, animals, microbes, fungi, and other organisms as possible. A BioBlitz gives adults, kids, and teens the opportunity to join biologists in the field and participate in bona fide research expeditions. It’s a fun and exciting way to learn about the biological diversity of local parks and to better understand how to protect them. National Geographic is helping conduct a BioBlitz in a different national park each year during the decade leading up to the U.S. National Park Service Centennial in 2016. –www.natgeoed.org

Group and individual registration is now available online. Families, schools, clubs, scout troops and other groups are encouraged to participate. For questions or to receive updates and registration information when available, send an email to bioblitz@ngs.org.

Goals of the Saguaro BioBlitz:

  • Count, map, and learn about the park’s diverse organisms, ranging from microscopic bacteria to migrating birds, elusive mountain lions to 200-year-old cacti.
  • Provide scientists, school kids, and the general public an opportunity to conduct fieldwork together.
  • Add to the park’s official species list.
  • Highlight the importance of protecting the biodiversity of this extraordinary place.

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Wednesday Word of the Week: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: [physical geography] featuring the Plastiki
Noun: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in oceans, seas, and other large bodies of water.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex, lies in a high-pressure area between the U.S. states of Hawaii and California. This area is in the middle of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

An ocean gyre is a circular ocean current formed by the Earth’s wind patterns and the forces created by the rotation of the planet. The area in the center of a gyre tends to be very calm and stable. The circular motion of the gyre draws in debris. Debris eventually makes its way into the center of the gyre, where it becomes trapped and builds up. A similar garbage patch exists in the Atlantic Ocean, in the North Atlantic Gyre. Read more about The Great Pacific Garbage Patch on our website!2011-09-28_0000057.JPG

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New NASA Education website for kids!

New NASA website available for kids: Two award-winning websites for kids have joined forces to further inspire a new generation of explorers. Click here to see for yourself!

NASA’s former science and space websites have now combined to bring users a streamlined version that provides several new web features with interactive graphic design and easy, versatile navigation. The hybrid site includes the extensive and rich science and technology content of the ‘old’ Space Place with over 50 NASA science missions enriched with years of research in science and education. These sites offer the best of NASA material for elementary school students.
home_1920x1080.en.jpgThe site includes over 300 separate modules available in English and Spanish. Modules are sorted into menus for Space, Earth, Sun, Solar System, People and Technology, and Parents and Teachers. Information mirrors the missions of the NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, as well as the agency’s commitment to education and public engagement.

Visitors can filter the menus by subject or type of activity (game, hands-on project, or exploration) and use the search field to produce customized menus. All pages are printer friendly.

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