School Program Guides
Seasonal Training – Spring
Five Rivers MetroParks offers a wealth of onsite educational programs for area school groups. These programs are adaptable to a multidisciplinary curriculum and meet Ohio Academic Content Standards Benchmarks. To see the full lineup of educational field trips we offer: visit our community resource page on our website.
We are welcoming back current volunteers, and recruiting new volunteers, to support our efforts with the educational field trips. Training for our school programs is seasonal with sessions in the Spring and Fall. This Annual training will focus on the Naturalist’s Spring offerings and updates in program details. The 2nd and 3rd-day offerings will allow volunteers to get better acquainted with the unique features of MetroParks, as well as, specific skills, and activities for volunteers to build their abilities.
School programs with Naturalists this season will mainly be focused at Cox Arboretum MetroParks. This Annual spring 2023 training will focus on a general welcome session to new and returning tour guides focusing on resources and best practices for working with students in nature and then the following sessions will concentrate on two of our most popular guided offerings for spring, Habitat Safari and Bees and Butterflies. There will be three dates, Wednesdays, March 22, March 29, and April 5 from 9 am-Noon, and volunteers should try to attend all dates. Sessions will be at Cox Arboretum MetroPark, starting in the Learning Lab.
Itinerary for the training:
March 22:Welcome back guides! We will start in the Learning Lab and explore some of the tools available to get students excited about nature and actively involved in tours, talk about utilizing Get Connected, share new ideas for exploration and engagement when conducting tours, and have time to get out on the grounds to explore and orient with a team activity.
March 29: Our second session will focus on the Habitat Safari program. We will work through the stations of the tour, exploring the pond, forest, and prairie habitat in the same way that students would experience the tour and discuss best practices at each of the stations.
April 5: Our third session will focus on the Butterflies and Bees program and we will go more in-depth learning about pollinators as we explore the stations of the tour. Beth Burke, Five Rivers MetroParks Interpretive Coordinator, will help us grow our pollinator knowledge during the training.
Please RSVP to all 3 sessions, dress for the weather, and spending time outside for each of the sessions.
Volunteers should enjoy working with youth, be comfortable in nature, and be excited by new discoveries!
Additional Notes
- This is a Long-Term Volunteer Opportunity. Learn more about our types of service here.
- Standing, walking, bending over, reaching.
- COVID UPDATES: Please review Five Rivers MetroParks' latest COVID-19 Updates.
See the Programming Volunteer Position Description for more detailed information.
The staff Lead, and content expert, for training dates, is Shawna Balog.
