PHENOLOGY & ASTRONOMY

A teaching resource for use in the classroom (updated weekly).

Phenology
Third Week of May
The average last day with frost is in mid-May. Numerous broods of Can... Read More

Astronomy
Morning Stars
Mercury is still too close to the Sun to see. Jupiter ente... Read More

Provided by the Freshwater Society

PROGRAMS, PROJECTS & PARTNERS

A brief overview of some of what Jeffers Foundation is doing

The Outdoor Classroom

Team Teaching with Mother Nature

Jeffers Foundation believes children learn better, are healthier, more manageable, and perform better on tests when they learn experientially out of doors. The Outdoor Classroom is a video created by Jeffers to help parents, teachers and administrators come to a realization of how important and how easy team Teaching with Mother Nature can be. [more]

Jeffers Journal

Chairman Paul's Fabulous Idea Takes Root & Blossoms

Early in Jeffers journey, Chairman Paul (Oberg), in support of a Foundation goal to help educate young persons, recognized that a key learning activity is for students to make observations and to systematically record them. Chairman Paul realized that most of these observation / recording exercises were done using single sheets of paper, many of which were easily lost. He envisioned a "science notebook" which could become a permanent part of each student's primary education. The Jeffers Journal is his realization of this dream. [more]

GO Outdoors

Enhance Your Child's School Experience While Having Fun Outdoors

Jeffers director, Sil Pembleton, has for many years been helping teachers and parents enhance children's educational experience by showing them the benefits of going outdoors to discover and learn. The ring bound "Go" cards developed for families suggest convenient and practical outdoor activities for helping children realize their full potential all the while having fun. [more]

FamiliesOutdoors.Org

Connect to an Active Lifestyle

Unplug! Have fun outdoors together!
Jeffers Foundation makes getting outdoors easy: Two or three clicks at FamiliesOutdoors.Org will lead to the perfect outdoor activity! [more]

Jeffers Junior Naturalist Program

Character Development through Service Learning

Jeffers Foundation has observed that the child who goes outdoors to do something meaningful for someone else is a happier, healthier and more sucessful student. The Jeffers Junior Naturalist program has been designed to give children from third grade on opportunities to participate in service learning activities in their schools and communities. For those wishing to make an EE program, this is a great culture builder. [more]

EcoTime

Integrating Environmental Education

Jeffers collaborated with teachers from the Prior Lake/Savage Area school district to develop a series of morning meeting type EE lessons which are standards-based and presented in a ring-bound card format that is easy to manage. Included with the cards is a "how-to" CD which also includes indexes and supporting materials. Teachers across the state are enthusiastically using this program to Integrate Environmental Education into every class day. [more]

Calendar in the Classroom

Learning from Nature's Own Classroom

Recognizing what a great resource the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar is Jeffers partners with Freshwater Society, the publisher of the calendar, to put the calendar and calendar based lessons in elementary classrooms throughout the state. With the help of an instructive video, the lessons are presented to the elementary teacher in such a way that she/he is comfortable teaching their students real science. [more]

McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center

Like Minds + Diverse Means = LEEDS GOLD Facility

A primary Jeffers goal is "productive partnerships" where the synergy of like minds and diverse means produces a result that is more than the sum of the parts. Jeffers' partnership with the City of Savage, MN began with a collaboration in providing EE opportunities for the students in Glendale elementary and developed into a major grant toward the building of McColl Pond environmental learning center, a LEEDS GOLD certified structure. [more]

Jeffers Pond

Nature Preserved a Special Place to Enjoy and Share

Robert (Bob) Jeffers owned very attractive land in Prior Lake. An important element of this land is a hilly, wooded portion which also contains a small, deep lake or pond. Before his death Bob wished that this property be developed such that this beautiful, natural area be preserved for public enjoyment of nature and educational purposes. Such is Jeffers Pond. [more]

See all Programs, Partners and Projects →

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT

On a day in January our staff arrived at school dressed for the outdoor weather... Read More

WORKSHOPS & EVENTS

05/22/2012: Ecotime Workshop

06/14/2012: Teaching Outdoors with Journaling

06/14/2012: "Teaching Outside the Box"

JEFFERS' OUTLANDISH OFFER!

Teachers who attend Jeffers' Team Teaching with Mother Nature workshops on journaling and outdoor instruction will receive Jeffers Journals for each of their students each year they continue to teach outdoors. At these workshops, they will also receive an Outdoor Classroom DVD and a Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar. The calendar is furnished without charge by the Minnesota Freshwater Society.

In addition, if your school sponsors a Jeffers' outdoor workshop for teachers, Jeffers will furnish for your school class sets of "exploration" LooKits!, consisting of a magnifier, a tape measure, a thermometer and a lanyard in a transparent pouch. All workshops and materials will be furnished by Jeffers FREE of charge. Contact Sil Pembleton (651) 429-1228 or edorsil@earthlink.net.

JEFFERS SHARES

Jeffers Foundation makes available programs and products free of charge to teachers and schools.

From its very inception, one of the guiding principles of Jeffers Foundation has been to help teachers share sound principles of environmental stewardship with their students in such a manner as to leverage teacher prep time and effort all the while offering programs and products free of cost to school and teacher.

Consequently, Jeffers provides programs, products and teacher workshops at no cost. In fact if teachers attend one of our workshops, they will receive a number of supporting items (determined by the nature of the workshop). What Jeffers requests is that teachers share with Jeffers and hence with others, their experiences so that other teachers may benefit from what is learned.

JEFFERS BLOG

Nature Play
Cognitive development focuses on developing functions of the brain such as thinking, learning, awareness, judgment, and processing information... Nature play has been shown to increase cognitive development in children of all ages.
Read More