Stacie Pollard at Three Island Crossing State Park
This summer, I partnered with the Idaho Stem Action Center and Three Island Crossing State Park to increase community involvement and share resources between the local school district of Glenns Ferry and the park itself.
I spent over 200 hours this summer planning and implementing activities at the park with a background in STEM, as well as writing lesson plans that educators could use as they introduce field trips to the Education Center at the State Park.
These activities included the following:
1. Native plant presentation by BLM expert, followed by a hands-on planting event where participates planted and took home a Lewisia flower
2. Nature walk with a scavenger hunt
3. Birdhouses (participants built small wooden birdhouses while learning about local species of birds
4. STEM structures out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows
5. Hiking a portion of the Oregon Trail while discussing hardships and challenges of Pioneers
6. Presentation on primary resources and journal entries of various Pioneers who made the journey and the hard choice to cross the Snake River at Three Island Crossing (participates were encouraged to write their own journal entry)
Overall, we had more than 60 participants throughout the summer. It was a successful learning experience for myself as I learned many resources the State Park has to offer. As a 3rd Grade teacher, I will be using the lesson plans created to encourage enthusiasm and a deeper understanding before a field trip to Three Island State Park and the Education/Interpretive Center.
A giant thank you goes out to John at Three Island Crossing State Park, Halle at Idaho STEM Action Center, and the generous sponsor, Micron for funding this externship.