A project of St. Lawrence University
A project of St. Lawrence University
Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!
Northworthy and newsworthy information fron North Country schools
Are you a St. Lawrence County teacher interested in incorporating more nature-based learning into your lessons? Do you want to increase opportunities for integrating outdoor learning with STEM content?
Join the Nature Up North team for our 6th annual summer teacher workshop!
Nature Up North visits Tech Camp!
The Nature Up North team was delighted to be able to present at the annual Tech Camp presented by the Model Schools team.
Sampling macroinvertebrates reflects water quality, as some species are more tolerant of poor water quality than others.
Nature Up North's water monitoring protocol calls for chemical sampling - phosphorus, nitrogen, and pH - as well as biological sampling.
A small crowd assembles with various instruments, test sets and other equipment in preparation for the lab assignment. Carefully they organize ampules, sample nets and data sheets. These citizen scientists are sampling the waters for invertebrate animals, dissolved oxygen levels, pH (acidity) and phosphorus and nitrogen levels. This is not an indoor lab, but right on the Grasse River in Canton. This is not your ordinary teacher training session but a new experience.
7th graders at Norwood-Norfolk Central School walk out of the woods after a lesson on nature observation with Nature Up North this September.
A student shouts— “This one! This one’s ours!” and runs back for a measuring tape. She and her partner have found their assigned maple tree on the school lawn, and are about to record seasonal observations for the first of many weeks this fall. The student, a 7th grader at Norwood-Norfolk Middle School, is participating in Monitor My Maple - one of several citizen science initiatives at Nature Up North.
Colton-Pierrepont Intro to Environment and Society students met with Dr. Timothy Messner from SUNY Potsdam in September to learn about fire-making.
Ever made fire by hand? Students in the Intro the Environment and Society class at Colton-Pierrepont High School met with Dr. Timothy Messner, Archaeology professor at SUNY Potsdam, this September to learn how to make fire by hand using just a simple tool and the energy in their hands and breath. Below, students Summer Scovil and Ariel Garvin provide an insight into the experience:
Teachers learn to monitor water quality
I attended the Nature Up North Summer Workshop to find new ways to incorporate nature and to enhance my Nuts About Nature after school program. After two days of information overload and field experience, I was able to map out an entire school year of nature programs and activities! It was wonderful to not only hear about what Nature Up North is doing but to feel like it could be integrated into an enrichment program in a truly meaningful manner for our students.
Visiting Heritage Park in Canton to take Encounter photos
Let the adventure begin! Once again the NUN crew delivered on their promise to provide relevant and engaging environmental education activities to our area teachers. This year's group of teachers included some veteran's of the NUN program and a couple of newcomers. Participants were engaged throughout the two day workshop in activities such as an Encounter walk at Heritage park, MOWing the Grasse River, Meeting Trees and Monitoring Maples.
Students discuss the parts plants and animals play in the story of pollination. Photo: Maya Williams
It's late spring in the North Country, and the hills are alive with the sounds of birds and bees doing that important job - pollination. Last week Nature Up North joined Colton-Pierreont Central School's Earth Week Celebration, where pollination is the theme of this year's festivities. We challenged 1st-6th grade students to act out the story of pollination through a hands-on relay game, and enjoyed watching the students transform into birds and butterflies as they raced from flower to flower.
Little River Community School students playing in the snow
Stumbling upon a group of grown-ups in the midst of a snowball fight is a seldom sight to see. As we get older, we so easily fall into this concept of “adulthood” where all of a sudden engaging in play is no longer commonplace. There is this idea that you can only play like a kid if in fact you are a child or are in the presence of one.
Proposed road sign
The Robotics Team at McKenney Middle School in Canton has been working on a problem solving assignment as part of the regional robotics competition. Below is their information about porcupines. The image above is the mock-up of the road sign they propose using to reduce the rate at which porcupines are hit by cars.
North American Porcupine
Erethizon dorsatum
Tips and facts.