East Central Region

Counties: Champaign, Clark, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Livingston, Macon, McClean, Moultrie, Piatt, Shelby, Vemillion

Resources & Upcoming Events:

Project Learning Tree®; PreK-8th Grade Guide
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Time: 9:00 am–3:00 pm
Location: Douglas-Hart Nature Center; Mattoon, IL
Cost: $35.00 includes snacks, lunch, guide and resources
Registration: Contact Jennifer at (217) 235-4644 or enveddhnature@consolidated.net
Facilitator(s): Jennifer Tariq, Douglas-Hart Nature Center

Project Learning Tree®; PreK-8 Guide
Friday, February 10, 2012
Time: 9:00 am–3:00 pm
Location: Heartland Community College; Normal, IL.
Cost: $20.00 includes training, guide, and resources
Registration: Deadline January 15th; Contact Stacey Clementz at (217) 896-2455 or sclementz@ccfpd.org
Facilitator(s): Janet Beach Davis, Heartland Community College and Stacey Clementz, Champaign County Forest Preserve District

Growing UP WILD™ with Project Learning Tree®; Environmental Experiences in Early Childhood Training Option
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Time: Growing Up WILD 9:00 am–12:00 pm / Project Learning Tree 1:00 pm-4:00 pm
Location: Anita Purves Nature Center; Urbana, IL.
Cost: $25.00 for each training includes training, guide, and resources; $50.00 for full day/both trainings
Registration: Deadline March 2nd; Contact Urbana Park District at (217) 367-1544; Information contact emschneider@urbanaparks.org
Facilitator(s): Nadine Schmitz and Erica Schneider, Urbana Park District

Resources:

Champaign County Audubon Society Loan Materials
Are you looking for materials to enhance your lesson plans? The Champaign County Audubon Society offers tapes, videos, and slides. For a list of all available materials visit www.champaigncountyaudubon.org.
NEW! Bird Adaptations Loan Kit
Birds have different types of beaks, eggs and feet to adapt to their unique lifestyles. Our loan kit can enhance your lessons on bird adaptations. Included are replicas of bird skulls, eggs, and tracks, as well as hands-on activities. This kit is appropriate for grades K-12. $25 refundable deposit required.
For more information or to reserve loan materials:
Homer Lake Interpretive Center (formerly Environmental Education Center)
Homer Lake Forest Preserve
2573 S. Homer Lake Rd.
Homer, IL. 61849
Phone: (217) 896-2455
sclementz@ccfpd.org

The Sangamon River: A Sense of Place DVD
For social science teachers of grades six through eight in Cass, Champaign, Ford, Mason, Menard, Logan, McLean, De Witt, Piatt, Macon, Sangamon, Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Tazewell and Shelby counties, The Sangamon River: A Sense of Place is a DVD that can help you teach about a local resource, its culture and history. This DVD (56 minutes, closed captioned) was produced by the University of Illinois at Springfield and has been shown on local PBS stations. If you teach in one of these counties and would like a free copy of this DVD, please send your request on school letterhead to Valerie Keener at the address listed below.
Valerie Keener
Administrator, Division of Education
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
One Natural Resources Way
Springfield, IL 62702-1271
217-785-0973
Cell 217-725-9620
FAX 217-782-9552
valerie.keener@illinois.gov

Illinois' Insects and Spiders Resources Trunks Available for Loan
Students are fascinated by insects and spiders. Help them learn more about these creatures by borrowing one of the new Illinois' Insects and Spiders resources trunks produced by the IDNR Division of Education. Each trunk contains books, field guides, equipment, posters, CD-ROMs, life cycle models, observation containers and much more. There's also an Illinois-specific “Crime-Solving Insects” forensic activity. Targeted to grades K-6.

These trunks are available for loan in our area at the following sites:
Champaign County
Anita Purves Nature Center
1505 N. Broadway
Urbana, IL. 61801
217-384-4062

Coles County
Fox Ridge State Park
Charleston, IL.
217-345-6416

Macon County
Rock Springs Nature Center
Decatur, IL.
217-423-7708

Regional Directors:

Stacey Clementz
Champaign County Forest Preserve District
sclementz@ccfpd.org

Erica Schneider
Urbana Park District
emschneider@urbanaparks.org