Bees are fun for any age.

I am generally more comfortable with older students. I get a little nervous when I have a lesson for kindergartners, especially if I am doing it myself. I did this bee lesson with a group of little ones and they are just so fun! I couldn't resist posting some photos of their beautiful artwork.

Service Groups.

One of the things I was able to accomplish as an AmeriCorps volunteer was to help the organization develop a way to handle incoming service-learning requests. I made a simple database that they can use to match requests with activities. Since it's inception, the program has had over 100 volunteers perform almost 300 hours of service!

These photos are from an TRiO Upward Bound group that came out to work and learn.

Weeding and cleaning up our pollinator garden.

This driveway is neglected and overgrown. They got it cleared out in no time.

The group poses in front of our signature art piece.

My First Summer Camp!

Truth be told, I went to my first summer camp many many years ago in the 1970's. I spent the day on the beach and got a really bad sunburn. The staff called me "lobster boy" for the rest of the week. It was fitting since my dad was a crab fisherman.

This summer, however, I got to lead my first summer camp. Coordinating outings, buying snacks, and planning for every activity was a lot more time consuming than I thought. Fortunately, my AmeriCorps partner Sheralynn has done this before and had some great suggestions for making things run smoothly. We had two sessions of camp and by the second one, I was feeling like a pro.

The camps were some of the most fun I have had yet. Having the same group for a week gave me a chance to bond with them and learn more about who they were. Although this was camp, we tried to teach when we could and followed a hydrology theme for the week. I am looking forward to more of this type of activity. It's fun to recognize them when you are out other places.

Posing for a group photo at the top of Bogus Basin on day one.

Day two features a loooooong hike down Hull's Gulch. At the bottom we have root beer floats!

Midway down the hike. The group all gets matching bandannas to promote team thinking. They also dunk them in the creek to stay cool.

The first week couldn't float the river because it was too high so we went to the Birds of Prey center and met a falcon.

Float trip on week two was super fun (and wet)!

This sneaky snake was hanging out in a tree along the bank of the river. Crafty!

I was worried that they wouldn't want to go in the water. I think I was worried for nothing.

On Thursday we got to visit the Boise River Wildlife Management Area where biologist Krista Muller talked to them about how animals get food and water, and the importance of good habitat.

Krista took us to the wildlife underpass where we got to pose for the wildlife cameras.

In the afternoon we got our feet wet looking for macroinvertebrates in the Boise River.

Friday we visit the Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve to learn about wetlands and have a photo safari.

The whole thing ends with a big water fight at Ann Morrison park!

Idaho @ Play Day!

This is one of our required service days as part of our AmeriCorps placement. We all met at the Serve Idaho conference and began planning for an event. We identified the Whitney Community Center as the location for our activity since the after-school program is well-attended by a large population of under-served students. Our goal was to provide a fun, active kick-off to summer. The event was a hit with over 80 students and adults participating we had 10 different activities, but the two most popular (by far!!) were the box fort building and bicycle rodeo.

The AmeriCorps team that put the event together. Special thanks to Sheralynn (front, in grey) for being the coordinator.

It was cool to be inside the box fort!

Looking for extra-large Jenga? We had it!

The bike rodeo was a huge success.

Lots of drop-in games were available and everyone got a Frisbee to keep!

I was able to get bikes donated by the Boise Bicycle Project and we had a member of Safe Routes to School from the YMCA come and teach the kids about bike safety. We even had a boy who learned how to ride a bike that day!

Fun With Physics.

One our most popular lessons is our lesson about volcanoes. It is not because people are super interested in sedimentary rocks and liquid hot magma. It is because we blow up a trash can at the end. To be correct, we fill a soda bottle with liquid nitrogen and submerge it in a can full of water. When the bottle ruptures, water and tennis balls fly into the air simulating a volcanic eruption. On this day, we had some extra liquid nitrogen so we poured it in a puddle so the kids could see it boiling and steaming.

Watching LN2 boil on the ground.

I like the exercise because they are a captive audience and the experience brings out a lot of questions. "Why is it bubbling?" "What would happen if....?" "Why doesn't the water freeze?" All of these questions show that you have opened up the learning and curiosity channel of their brains which is difficult to do. I would like to know more about what triggers this openness so I don't have to blow up a trash can every time I need their attention.