Upham Woods "Woods Writings," February 2019

February 2019

User Group Meeting Provides Valuable Insight for Staff and Clients

The annual Upham Woods User Group Meeting provides group leaders, volunteers, and staff members a valuable opportunity to network, share ideas, provide feedback, and learn about what new things are coming to Upham Woods. The 2019 User Group Meeting took place on January 24 and brought in people from local areas such as Sauk and Columbia counties, and even as far away as Outagamie, Oconto, and Dunn Counties. Participants shared perspectives on both challenges facing summer programs and ways to overcome them. In addition, county professionals were given the chance to share ideas for camp programs and schedules with each other, providing a valuable professional development and networking opportunity.

We are extremely grateful for all participants who came out on a tricky travel day to share and learn ways to continue to provide better programming for all Upham Woods participants. We are especially looking forward to seeing everyone again in the coming summer camp season.

Also Featured This Month:

Professional Development at Upham Woods:

DOTS Training

On Thursday February 24 ^th , attendees of the User Group meeting braved the cold weather to practice their observation skills and sharpen their inquiry for a Digital Observations Technology Skills (DOTS) training. Observers noted that the temperature at the tops of trees was colder than at the bottom and speculated that it had something to do with exposure to wind. One scientist described their experience in poetry:

I noticed the wind

The wind shaking the trees.

The wind blew around us

In the Wisconsin freeze.

We danced in the cold

And we measured it too.

The kestrel read 19°F.

But it felt like -2°F.

We observed many things

Trees, lichen, wind and ice

The wind chill was high

But the sunshine was nice.

At the end of the day educators from around Wisconsin created their own knowledge about Upham Woods and learned more about technology in environmental education.

Coming Soon: Camp Counselor Training!

There will be two sessions of camp counselor training this year:

March 9-10^th
April 27-28^th

These sessions will provide youth counselors with valuable skill building time to help them be prepared for successful summers as cabin counselors. For more details on our upcoming counselor trainings, contact our program coordinator team, Jacci Cuff ( [email protected] ) and Caleb Jenks ( [email protected] ).

Ready to register? Check out our new ONLINE registration!

Staff Training for Winter/Spring 2019 Season

We have been investing in our staff these last few weeks of January to make sure we are prepared to deliver great service and quality programming to all of our visitors this winter and spring. Want to learn more about them? Check out our blog for their Naturalist Corner posts!

Thank you to our January 2019 Visitors

Winter weekends seem to be made for our scout groups! It's a great time to practice outdoor survival skills that snow and cold temperatures make more challenging. It's also a great time to play outside or snap on some snowshoes to go exploring!

Thank you to these groups that spent time at Upham Woods this past month:

Boy Scouts Troop 44
Windsor Boy Scout Troop
Girl Scouts 1475 & 9106
Wis Dells Parks & Rec Winter Sports Camp

Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center

N194 County Rd N

Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

(608) 254-6461

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