Field Work in The Cemetery: Become Nature Explorers

This program runs approximately 80 minutes and is divided into three parts:

Introduction to the Cemetery and Activity Overview: 15 minutes

Nature Journaling Activity: Approximately 45 minutes

Each journal-spot visit lasts about 10 minutes, with a built-in 5-minute buffer to allow for travel time between sites and smooth transitions.

Structure of a Journal-Spot Visit:

Priming and Prompting: ~2 minutes

Exploring and documenting: ~6 minutes

Regroup: ~2 minutes

Wrap-Up Activity: Approximately 25 minutes

Introduction includes getting students into ‘expedition groups’ with their classmates, using a chaperone supervised buddy system to allow for roaming during the activity, explaining the mechanics of the nature journal and what to expect from the activity. (For example, marking down the current weather, writing observations, and drawing what they see.) It also includes priming the group on what a cemetery is and what safety rules to follow. At the first journal-spot, there will be a smaller introduction where we model using nature journals and magnifying glasses.
Students will then be allowed to explore the immediate area to make observations. Educators will wander to provide encouragement and thought-prompting questions. At the end of ten minutes, regroup and have a brief discussion, eliciting what they saw. Students will be encouraged to share their observations with their expedition team on the walk to the second spot.

The conclusion will be collaborative, working in expedition groups to categorize what they saw, and did not see, in each station. They will be asked to consider the differences and similarities between the journaling spots, and whether that influenced what they saw!