Celebrate Nature! - powered by www.3dissue.com <meta name="Keywords" content="Integrate nature into your classroom"> <meta name="Description" content="Activity book to help children connect with nature and promote their creativity."> <style type="text/css">  </style> <Style> body {overflow-y:hidden;} </style> </head> <body bgcolor="#333333" onresize="window.location=window.location;"> <div id="flashcontent" class="flashcontent"> <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="100%" height="100%" id="Celebrate_Nature Celebrate_Nature" align="middle"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="movie" value="3dissue.swf?myURL=4" /> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <param name="bgcolor" value="#333333" /> <embed src="3dissue.swf?myURL=4" quality="high" bgcolor="#333333" width="100%" height="100%" name="Celebrate_Nature Celebrate_Nature" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" /> </object></div> <div id="content" class="content">1 Introduction Raking in the Beauty One year on the first day of spring, I gave my teenage son a rake to gather the old winter debris on our front lawn and my eight-year- old daughter a brown paper bag to pick up blown-down branches to use for kindling. While I pulled dead leaves from a flower bed and my son raked nearby, my daughter paused. Her eight-year-old mind turned profound, and she simply said, “This is a nice home.” I looked at our home from my flower bed–level view, and I saw what she saw. Wow! Nature had done it again. It had brought the moment at hand to our eyes, to our fingertips, to all of our senses. As brief as this moment was, it touched my heart deeply. “This is the start of a new season—again,” I thought to myself. “How per- fect to work with my children in nature!” And I knew deep within that I wanted to share how powerfully nature has worked for me. I want to share it with you, and you can take what you like and apply it to your own life, your own classroom, your own philosophy. Message from Nature I started writing this book during a vacation to Ireland in the ear- liest part of spring. While sitting in a sunroom overlooking the sparkling bay of the western Dingle Peninsula, I noticed all the shades of green and recognized how nature alone can refresh my spirit. I looked at daffodils as though I were seeing them for the first time. I went for walks and took in the awesome beauty of the Cliffs of Moher, which towered more than six hundred feet above the bay. And I spent time looking at plants that exist only in this place. The word miraculous kept going through my mind. I found there were many answers and sometimes hidden and mysterious life messages within nature itself: “There is hope!” “Nothing is impossible!” “Keep growing!” I want to offer my proactive approach to our fast-paced world, children’s lack of time within nature, and their deficient personal connection with others. We need to continue to bring nature to children and to take children to nature. Doing so again and again is a fine antidote for our overstimulated children trying to make sense of our unbalanced world. My strategy includes developing Celebrate Nature_4th pages.indd 1 2/18/11 6:23:59 PM</div>  <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); //]]> </script><script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("†{∂t"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} //]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ function testFunction(str) { alert(str); } // testFunction("ready"); //]]> </script>  </body> </html>