School ProgramsEducation Committee Alan Gubanich, Chair education@nevadaaudubon.org |
OUR MISSION
To preserve and improve the remaining habitat of birds and other wildlife, restore historical habitat, and educate the public, with emphasis on children, providing vision to all about our unique Nevada environments. To fulfill our education mission LAS offers several opportunities, for children and adults alike. |
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Our children are the key to the sustainability of our planet – they are our future teachers, leaders, and hopefully conservationists. We need to instill in them a love and appreciation for nature and an understanding of how important healthy environments are for the survival of us all. Our school programs try to stimulate students’ curiosity about nature and encourage them to spend more time outdoors. LAS offers several topics for classroom visits.
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School VisitsThe LAS Education Committee has developed several hands-on activities for classroom visits. Each is geared to a specific grade level, from preschoolers to high school, and includes the use of bird taxidermy mounts along with bird feathers, wings, and museum specimens that students can handle and study in detail. Some of our programs include:
Teachers can request a visit by contacting us. We work with teachers to make sure our visits supplement the Common Core Standards of our local school districts. |
Middle School students playing the “Bird ID” game.
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A beautiful morning looking for birds at Washoe Lake State Park.
It’s not all about just birds — here are microscopes that students use to study aquatic organisms, which are part of the food chain that's important for birds.
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Student Field TripsThe primary goal of our student field trip program is to get kids outside to watch birds. LAS started leading field trips for school kids at Washoe Lake around the year 2000, first at the viewing platform at the southeast corner of the lake, and more recently (due to low water levels) at the picnic area at Washoe Lake State Park.
Trips are held from late April through May, and into early June. Students arrive at 10:00 am and leave around noon. Activities include:
In past years LAS has hosted as many as 15 and 16 trips a season, serving a many as 900 or more school kids a year. The lake was dry during our 2015 field trips due to our continuing drought. But that served as a “teachable moment” for the kids--to learn about where our water supply comes from and to appreciate the unpredictability of nature. |
Volunteers are the backbone
of the Washoe Lake program.
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Be an Education VolunteerVolunteers are the ones who make LAS work, especially our School Visits and the Washoe Lake Field Trips. We’ve had a dedicated, energetic, enthusiastic group of people every year to help with our educational outreach. But we can always use more! If you would like to get involved we would love to have you. You don’t have to be an expert. We can train you on the spot. And you’ll probably have as much, if not more, fun than the kids. At the very least, you will certainly have a feeling of satisfaction as you help kids (and adults) learn about the birds and other wildlife of this area, and the need for protecting and preserving our fragile habitats. Join us and you, too, can make a real difference in a child’s life.
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Education Events
LAS participates in a wide variety of public events to promote its mission of educating the public about birds, wildlife, and conservation. You can find us at tables that display taxidermy mounts, LAS publications, and wildlife-related literature at events such as:
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Rain or shine...we want to teach you about birds!
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