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Pennsylvania State Parks
👻 Educator E-Blast 👻
October 2025 Edition
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It's our most favorite time of the year! Happy Fall Y'all!Hopefully, you were able to celebrate National Pumpkin🎃Spice Day (10/1) & beyond! October is Bat🦇Appreciation Month, Bat🦇Week, and Halloween!!
This time of year is BUSY. Goodness. Take a moment. Try out relaxing fall or Halloween videos with calming music (works great with students too!)
There is so much good stuff below! ⬇️Lots of awesome bat teaching ideas, STEM-based Autumn activities, teacher PD, celebrating Owls 🦉, Rock 🪨 Kits!, the DCNR Fall 🍂 Foliage Report, Glamping 🏕 & more!
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PA State Parks Educator E-Blast Contents -
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Section 1: Bat 🦇& Fall Teaching Ideas + FREE 🦉Poster!
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Section 2: In-Person Educator PD Workshops - Act 48 hours
- Section 3: Trainings, Conferences, & Webinars for Educators
- Section 4: Explore the Outdoors!
- Section 5: Striving Towards Inclusion
- Capstone: PA State Park Info. & Updates
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Section 1:
Teaching About Fall & Nature Activity Ideas
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Who: Formal & non-formal educators, grades 3-8
Open: 10/1/25 - 12/31/25
Cost: $25.75
To Register, go to Conservation Learning Campus
In this 3-hour self-paced, asynchronous course, learn how to implement the Project WILD activity "Bat Blitz." In the activity, students simulate bats feeding on insects & then perform calculations based on the # of insects caught during the activity. Students explore the ecosystem services bats provide, threats to bat populations such as White-Nosed Syndrome, & stewardship actions to help bats. This mini-course also provides resources & background info. on bats & bat conservation.
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Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) has partnered with local artist Melodie Schwarz-Higgins to offer monthly paint-by-number sheets. What a creative way to incorporate the importance Clean Water & Forested Ecosystems through art! Visit PPFF's website to download these beautiful & FREE designs. Be sure to tag PPFF on social media to share your completed paintings 📷
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Pennsylvania Rock 🪨 Sample Kits for Teachers!
DCNR’s Bureau of Geological Survey sells a PA Rock Box. This useful teaching tool contains samples of Pennsylvania rocks. Order your Rock Box now. $4.95 S/H fee for each item.
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Individual Rock Box - $15.00, contains 12 samples of PA rocks + spaces for 6 more.
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Classroom Rock Box Kit - $30.00, contains bags of 30 samples for each of the 12 rock types.
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Has Your School District Created an Environmental Literacy Plan (ELP)?
ELPs emphasizes standards-aligned instruction that incorporates environmental investigations, enabling students to build environmental literacy while engaging with their local communities.
States, regions, & school districts can develop environmental literacy plans to address the
3 pillars of green schools -
- Reduced environmental impacts & costs
- Improved health & wellness
- Effective environmental & sustainability education
Just getting started?
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Fall World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD)
Millions of migratory birds are now on their incredible journeys across plains, seas, mountains, & are crossing multiple international borders along the way. This natural event brings us together to celebrate the 2nd peak date of WMBD on Saturday, October 11th!
🦅 Download posters, educational materials, & toolkits in multiple languages!
🦅 Free WMBD Webinar Series - webinars focused on practical solutions & actions we can all take to make our communities more bird-friendly -- Creating Bird-Friendly Cities, What is Bird-Friendly Coffee?, Understanding Bird Collisions, Native Planting & Bird-friendly Gardens, Keep Cats Away - Responsible Pet Ownership Strategies, Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution, & Dark Skies & Birds
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Bird Teaching Resources from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Learn about the world of Owls 🦉 with this beautiful, FREE, downloadable Owl poster (illustrations by Liz Wahid).
Download the FREE "Explorer's Guidebook for Birds!" Take kids on a habitat scavenger hunt, create a sound map, & test bird ID skills with this adaptable, step-by-step activity book designed. Geared towards 4th graders. The Lab also offers other low-cost resources - K-12 Bird ID Cards, K-12 Scavenger Hunt Cards (in English & Spanish), & more.
Explore the hoots of 8 owl 🦉 species with a free sound download from Cornell Lab's Macaulay Library. The calls are almost all PA Owls - Great Horned, Eastern Screech, Western Screech, Long-Eared, Short-Eared, Snowy, Barn, & Barred Owls.
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Getting Little Feet WET💦Educator Workshop
Thursday, October 16, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
In-Person at Tyler State Park, 101 Swamp Rd., Newtown, PA 18940
Act 48: 6.5 hrs.
Fee: $25.00; pre-registration is required.
With a focus on all-things water, this award-winning, nationally recognized curriculum gives you hands-on, STEM-focused activities to use with your Pre-K - 2nd grade students. This workshop is open to all formal & non-formal preschool and early elementary educators including pre-service teachers + Head Start staff. All participants will receive the Getting Little Feet Wet Activity Guide. Questions? Contact Bonnie Tobin, EES, at btobin@pa.gov or 215-968-2021.
Aquatic💦WILD Educator Workshop
Saturday, October 18, 9:30 AM - 2:30 PM
In-Person at Lackawanna State Park, 1839 Abington Rd, N. Abington Twp, PA 18414
Act 48: 4.5 hrs.
Fee: $15.00; pre-registration is required.
Aquatic WILD utilizes the successful K-12 format of the Project WILD Guide with 55 lessons emphasizing aquatic wildlife & aquatic ecology. This Professional Development Workshop will include first-hand experiences with a variety of lessons included in the guide to help you address the new PA STEELS standards. Open to classroom teachers & non-formal educators (including, but not limited to, pre-service teachers, homeschool parents, naturalists, & scout leaders), all participants will receive the Aquatic WILD K-12 Curriculum & Activity Guide. Register NOW! Questions? Contact Tony DeSantis, EES at antdesanti@pa.gov or 570-945-7110.
Project Learning Tree: Thinking Outside the Box Educator Workshop 📦🌲
Wednesday, October 22, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM
In-Person at Caledonia State Park, 101 Pine Grove Rd, Fayetteville, PA 17222
Act 48: 3.5 hrs.
Fee: FREE!; pre-registration required
Join Bureau of State Parks Educators at Caledonia State Park as we explore PLT's NEW Thinking Outside the Box K-12 Activity Collection. Participants will experience a morning of hands-on activities & STEM-focused investigations around the corrugated packaging industry. Our group will then travel to International Paper (IP) located in Biglerville, PA for a tour of the corrugated box facility. Staff from IP will guide participants in small groups through their PA flagship box plant & showcase the vast career opportunities in corrugated packaging—shipping logistics, graphic design, electrical engineering, etc. Each participant will receive a PLT Green Careers Resource Kit upon completion on of this workshop. The resource kit will include a copy of PLT's award-winning Green Jobs: Exploring Forest Careers; PLT's Black Faces in Green Spaces: The Journeys of Black Professionals in Green Careers, detailing the career pathways of 22 Black Americans in sustainability-focused forest careers; & PLT's newest activity collection created in partnership with ICPF, Thinking Outside the Box: Exploring Careers in Corrugated Packaging. Register NOW!. Questions? Contact Christine Ticehurst at cticehurst@pa.gov.
Project WET💦Educator Workshop
Wednesday, October 22, 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
In-Person at Jacobsburg EE Center, 400 Belfast Road, Nazareth, PA 18064
Act 48: 4.5 hrs.
Fee: $25.00; pre-registration required
Project WET is a national curriculum that strives to educate, empower, & activate students in grades K-12. This professional development workshop, designed for classroom teachers & non-formal educators alike, will help you teach about water resources through hands-on, investigative, & easy-to-use activities. All participants will receive the Foundations of Water Education Educator’s Guide & access to Project WET's online resources. Register Register NOW! Questions? Contact Andy Fedor, EES, at anfedor@pa.gov or 610-746-2801.
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PA Songbirds🐦Educator Workshop
Thursday, November 6, 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
In-person at Kings Gap EE Center, 500 Kings Gap Road, Carlisle, PA 17015
Act 48: 5 hrs.
Fee: $20.00 refreshments + snacks & Lunch provided; Pre-registration required
PA Songbirds is a hands-on, interdisciplinary K-8 educators’ activity guide with 40+ lessons, pre-made student sheets, & organizers that sort each lesson by topic & grade level. Lessons are designed to introduce & enhance the learners’ knowledge of observing & ID'ing songbirds, bird biology, habitat, migration, & more, while helping teachers address the PA STEELS standards. Formal & non-formal educators welcomed! Participants will receive the newly revised, interdisciplinary Pennsylvania Songbirds K-8 Activity Guide, experience a sampling of hands-on activities from the guide, & become more confident & prepared to engage learners in science & our environment through the wonderful world of birds! Register by 10/30/25. To register, contact kingsgapsp@pa.gov or 717-486-5031.
Climate, Water, and Resilience Educator Workshop
Saturday, November 8, 2025 8:30 am -11:30 AM
In-Person at Kinzua Bridge State Park, 296 Viaduct Rd., Mount Jewett, PA 16740
Act 48: 3 hrs.
Fee: $15; pre-registration required
The Climate, Water, & Resilience curriculum helps educators teach middle & high school students about climate & climate change using interactive, objective, science-based activities that students will enjoy. The workshop is open to all educators who work with students from grades 7-12, including teachers, naturalists, scout leaders, homeschoolers, & more. All participants will receive Project WET's Climate, Water, & Resilience Educator’s Guide. Register by: 11/4/25 by calling the park office at (814) 778-5467.
| | Section 3: Trainings, Webinars, & Grants for Educators | | |
Teach Climate Network Webinar: Understanding Climate Emotions for Personal Resilience
Tuesday, October 21 on Zoom, 6:00-7:00 pm ET
Join Elissa Teles Muñoz, K-12 Education Manager from the Climate Mental Health Network, to explore how our emotions about climate change can impact how we engage with the realities of a changing world on our own, how we show up for our students, & our capacity for resilience. Together, we will ground ourselves in a meditation specifically designed for climate educators. We will then discuss how to tune in one's own emotions, followed by an interactive exercise. We will conclude by sharing practical tools, like the Climate Emotions Toolkit. Register NOW!
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Teacher Professional Development Trainings at Longwood Gardens
The Wonders of Water💦Educator Workshop
Monday, October 20, 9:00 am–12:00 pm
Act 48: 3 hrs.
Fee: $25 includes a boxed lunch & admission to the Gardens on the day of the class
Dive into the wonders of water & its role in ecosystems during this PD opportunity held in the beauty of our Gardens. Learn about meaningful watershed experiences & how to implement PA's STEELS standards in your classroom. Discover ways to incorporate engaging, hands-on, & informative water activities into your classroom. Learn how to find water even if you can’t see it, by exploring our Gardens for evidence of it, how it flows, & how it affects the surrounding habitat. Create a variety of impactful take-home projects to use in your classroom. Recommended for educators in grades K-5. Register NOW!
Phenomenal Fall 🍂Colors Educator Workshop
Tuesday, November 4, 5:00–7:00 pm
Act 48: 2 hrs.
Fee: $25 includes admission to the Gardens on the day of the class
During this PD opportunity held in the beauty of our Gardens, focus on connections in nature & how to implement PA's STEELS standards in your classroom. Fall into the science of autumn leaves in the Gardens & analyze how trees affect their environment, & how they are affected as well. Tour behind the scenes & participate in hands-on, minds-on activities to take back to your classroom to actively engage your students in 3-D learning with a focus on ELS & Life Sciences standards. Recommended for educators in grades 3-5. Register NOW!
In the Garden After Dark: Nighttime Pollinators Educator Workshop🦇
Wednesday, November 12, 5:00–7:00 pm
Act 48: 2 hrs.
Fee: $25 includes admission to the Gardens on the day of the class
During this PD opportunity held in the beauty of our Gardens, focus on connections in nature & how to implement PA's STEELS standards in your classroom. Shine a light on the scientific phenomenon of nighttime pollinators & examine the fascinating secrets hidden in the garden after dark. Tour behind the scenes & participate in hands-on, minds-on activities to take back to your classroom to actively engage your students in 3-D learning with a focus on ELS & Life Sciences standards. Recommended for educators in grades 3-5. Register NOW!
Questions? Email: schoolandyouth@longwoodgardens.org or 610.388.5377.
Longwood Garden's Teacher PD programs are supported by a generous donation from The Wilson Family Foundation.
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Department of Transportation's 9th Annual Innovations Challenge
The Innovation Challenge encourages students to use their problem-solving, creative, & strategic-thinking abilities to solve real-world transportation challenges in a competition among their peers (grades 9-12).
For this year’s challenge, students are asked to develop a concept for the use of AI in work zones to dramatically improve safety for work crews & road users. The concept should also take into consideration cost-benefit information, statewide deployment implications, as well as public outreach.
Learn more - www.penndot.pa.gov/innovation - Submission deadline 1/30/26.
Questions? Email PennDOT’s Bureau of Strategic Business Operations at DOTInnovations@pa.gov.
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DEP Environmental Education (EE) Grants
Calling 📣 educators, small businesses, universities, conservation districts, and community leaders! 📚
Need funding for a project?
Small, medium or large, you should apply for an Environmental Education Grant. But don’t wait...the deadline’s getting closer!
Applications Due: Nov. 14, 2025
Details here → dep.pa.gov/eegrants
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Section 4:
Explore the Outdoors!
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Glamping at PA State Parks 🏕️
BIG news for your 2026 adventures! Glamping is coming to 8 Pennsylvania State Parks! Safari-style tents with hotel-style beds. AC/heat, coffee stations, and more!
Reservations are now open!
🗓️Book up to 11-months in advance, just like other state park stays.
Reserve now --> www.timberlineglamping.com/pastateparks
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Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Columbus Day) -- Monday, October 13th
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It’s a day to celebrate and honor Indigenous Peoples in the Americas, while reflecting on the Native land where you reside, & the ways that you can uphold Indigenous rights, history, culture, & sovereignty.
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The Outdoor Learning School created an Indigenous Learning resource page in support of Indigenous Peoples' Day (10/13) & Native American Heritage Month (Nov). Discover upcoming webinars, podcasts, introductory language learning for adults. & more!
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PA Disability Inclusive Curriculum Program in SAS 🆓
The new Disability Inclusive Curriculum Toolkit from the PA Department of Education (PDE) can be found in the Standards-Aligned Portal (SAS).
- This curriculum aims to educate all K-12 students about the political, economic, & social contributions of individuals with disabilities by promoting the accurate & regular representation of disability in all aspects of school life.
- The program teaches students that disability is a natural part of the human condition.
- The toolkit is inclusive of all age/grade levels. It includes sample lesson plans, PD offerings/opportunities, disability-led organizational contacts, & more.
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PA State Parks are YOURS!
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Book your virtual, in-person programs, and field experiences with PA State Park Educators! Find a PA State Park. Need help connecting to a PA State Park with an Educator on staff? Reach out to Carissa Longo at calongo@pa.gov.
DCNR facilities and Programs are OPEN to ALL👐
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Many Environmental Education programs require pre-registration. Explore the DCNR events calendar for details & to register.
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Plan your outing before you leave. Learn about facilities, download a park map on your phone or print it, & review regulations here: Find A Park
- Take care of & respect the resource. Park, hike, hunt, explore, & more only in designated areas.
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Check the weather before you depart, dress in layers, wear proper footwear, & bring water. Wear orange if hiking in designated hunting areas. Please clean up after pets 🐕.
- Do not litter 🚮.
- Alcohol is not allowed in PA State Parks.
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Make a Reservation (up to 11-months in advance) at a PA State Park Campground, Camping Cottage, Cabin, Yurt, or Pavilion.
You can help keep state parks safe for all by following these practices:
- Use the restroom before you leave your house 🏡 Take hand sanitizer with you & use it
- LNT! Bring a bag & either carry out your trash or dispose of it properly
- If you are sick or have been exposed to someone who is sick, stay home
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👻🦇🎃 Happy Halloween! 👻🦇🎃
Carissa Longo, Natural Resource Program Specialist
(Coordinating Project WILD & Pennsylvania Songbirds Curricula for all of PA)
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Christine Ticehurst, Natural Resource Program Specialist
(Coordinating PLT & DCNR's GO Teach Curricula for PA State Parks)
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Kim Lott, Natural Resource Program Specialist
(Coordinating DCNR's Watershed Education, PA Land Choices, & Project WET curricula for PA State Parks)
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