Although we are unable to accept teachers from other school systems or from private schools in Montgomery County at this time, we are working to establish a similar program in other school systems throughout the Washington, DC - Baltimore region. We are also exploring the development of a week-long Potomac River field study course and other special topic courses. If you have an interest in any of these current or planned courses, please contact using this e-mail query form.

Each workshop consists of 3 Thursday afternoon classes (from around 4:15 to 7:15 p.m.) at a local school or the Woodend Sanctuary Site of the Audubon Naturalist Society, as well as one all-day Saturday field trip (9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.), out and about in Montgomery County. Tentative sites for each course are shown below. Note that these are subject to change.

The topics presented in these workshops are matched with MCPS Science Blueprints for elementary and middle schools, giving participants targeted content and hands-on activities for their classes. In these workshops, we'll show you how to use the environment around your school to teach math, English, reading, art and, of course, science. Depending upon the course, all participants will receive workbooks (filled with useful information and activities related to the topic), books or flashcards, other handouts and/or a gift certificate to the Audubon Naturalist Society Bookshop! Each Montgomery County teacher who completes a workshop (including homework!) will receive one MCPS credit.

Where does our water come from and where does it go when it goes down the drain? To understand this, you'll need to know more about your local watershed and the streams that comprise it. You'll also want to incorporate hands-on activities as you teach your students about the water cycle, watershed dynamics and geology, and the chemistry and biology of places, such as Rock Creek. Participants will build and use simple equipment for stream and watershed study as they develop lessons and activities for school-based local field trips.

Neighborhood Science: Habitats and History in Your Own Backyard

November 6, 13, 20 (Thursdays) and November 15 (Saturday), 2008

How do you define a "neighborhood"? What constitutes its boundaries? Learn the secrets of topographic maps, discover some hidden streams under our feet, examine building styles and fences, decode telephone poles, better understand the stories trees tell and identify some neighborhood birds and more in this exciting course. We'll consider the important human needs in neighborhoods, how geography determines neighborhood history and learn about Montgomery County's historical water mills. On our Saturday field trip, we will explore three neighborhoods to discover their stories, practicing outdoor neighborhood activities on the way.

Weather and Air Quality

January 29 and February 5, 12 (Thursdays) and February 7 (Saturday), 2009

What is "weather" and how can we predict it? Why don't snow days always materialize? Is it really hotter in the city? What is global warming / climate change? And how much are humans contributing to it and what can we do to help reverse its effects? Learn about these topics and much more, as we play the ozone game, stir up storms and use the newspaper, internet weather pages and other tools and resources to teach math, language, geography, and science. We'll construct "sky windows", wind vanes, anemometers, and barometers and use them to follow the weather. On our Saturday field trip, we will study air pollution and measure its effects on things around us. The field study may also include a visit to one of our local TV stations for a tour of their weather facility. As always our friendly groundhog joins in these GreenLab activities...

The Potomac: A River Runs Through...

April 23, 30 and May 7 (Thursdays) and May 2 (Saturday), 2009

Learn how the Potomac River and its rocks have shaped the human history of our region and how the people of the region have shaped the river. We will emphasize the ecology, geology and history of this important waterway and its role in the larger Chesapeake Bay watershed as we study landforms, rocks, riverine fauna and flora, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canals. On our field trip we'll explore the river and the canal at Great Falls and Seneca.

GreenLabs Goes To School

May 21, 28 and June 4 (Thursdays) and May 30 (Saturday), 2009

GreenLabs participants who have completed any 2 of the other 4 workshops will be invited to "put it all together" in this workshop; teachers who have never attended a GreenLabs program can also attend to learn about the entire program. As always, we will visit 3 showcased schools, at which participants will practice GreenLabs activities and information with an emphasis on transferring the activities to any school setting. In short, we will revisit watersheds, streams, neighborhoods, and weather and learn how to make any school a GreenLabs school.