Education
Sharing our passion for the natural world is a role we take to heart. We help learners of all ages connect with our beautiful local lands, using these special places as living, breathing classrooms.
Read on to learn about our offerings for K-12 schools and teachers, and digital resources for individuals and families.
K-12 Programs & Offerings
Aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) frameworks and Transformative Social-Emotional Learning (TSEL) expectations
for integration with classroom learning and/or Outdoor School experiences
Nature journaling Field Trips
SOLC is happy to welcome K-12 students to our protected lands in Ashland (Oredson-Todd Woods), Eagle Point (Rogue River Preserve), and Jacksonville (Jacksonville Woodlands), or other publicly accessible lands in Jackson and Josephine Counties, for hands-on, minds-on learning experiences facilitated by our skilled staff. These field trips use nature journaling to help students develop scientific, ecological, language, and social-emotional literacy skills, and they are flexible to accommodate a wide range of topics, grade levels, and group sizes.
These field trips are offered on a sliding scale from $0 (free!) to $375 per class. See our one-pager for complete information, and fill in our field trip request form to get the registration process started.
Not sure if it’s the right fit? Please email our Education Program Manager Tara Laidlaw to set up a time to chat.
Service Learning Programs
Want your students to give back while they’re learning? We have a long list of land stewardship tasks, and we can always use help! Our service learning programs include outdoor, hands-on tasks such as invasive species management (pulling weeds!), in addition to nature journaling to connect the experience to scientific field study skills.
Want more information? Please email our Education and Engagement Specialist Myco Schroeder to learn more.
Professional Development for Teachers
SOLC facilitates professional development (PD) events in collaboration with Oregon Natural Resources Education Program (ONREP). These PD workshops focus on incorporating natural resources and nature-based learning into formal and informal education programs. See upcoming workshops and register at ONREP’s website.
Interactive map of the rogue river preserve
With Spanish translations!
Our Google Earth map invites students in grades 3-5 to explore the Preserve through videos, photos, interactive tools, and more, all of which are integrated into NGSS-aligned lessons designed for web-based learning.
Resources for Individuals and Families
Digital and print tools to help you connect with your local landscape
Oredson-Todd Woods StoryMap
SOLC worked with the City of Ashland Parks Department to create a StoryMap for Oredson-Todd Woods, a city-owned conserved park south of Ashland. This digital resource guides visitors through a trailside exploration of the ABC’s of Forest Ecology. Pull it up on your phone when you get to the park, or “visit” the park from the comfort of home! The StoryMap is also available en Español!
Outside every day with soreel
SOLC is proud to be an organizing partner in the “Outside Every Day with (SOREEL)” initiative. In the spring and summer of 2020, about 20 regional environmental education providers worked together to share daily videos that invited kids and families to get outside to connect and learn with nature. Follow SOLC on Facebook or YouTube to see our contributions, or visit SOREEL’s website to see the videos from all of the initiative’s partners. Spanish translations of 30 of the videos are also available!
Galleries and Species Lists
Rogue River Preserve plant list (PDF)
Rogue River Preserve bird list (PDF)
Rogue River Preserve characteristic species galleries
Oredson-Todd Woods wildflowers gallery
Oredson-Todd Woods shrub brochure (PDF or look for a print copy at the park kiosk)
Oredson-Todd Woods plant list (PDF)
Oredson-Todd Woods bird list (PDF)
Oredson-Todd Woods winter birds brochure (PDF or look for a print copy at the park kiosk)
Eye on Nature
Student holding magnifying hand lens
Each year, SOLC invites students from the Rogue Valley to explore our lands and participate in nature journaling. Last year, more than 1,800 students participated in our programs!
We provide every student with their own hand lens, and after after they learn how to safely use the tool during their field trip, they get to take it home to continue exploring the magic of the tiny things.
In 2023, we kick-started the Eye On Nature program to help support this effort. Even with the generous wholesale discount we get from Northwest Nature Shop, those hand lenses add up fast when we’re serving so many students!
You can help us keep this tradition afloat. For only $10, you can purchase a hand lens for yourself and sponsor a hand lens for a student!
We want to give a big shout out to Northwest Nature Shop, Aztech Printing, Artist Matt Witt for donating his beautiful photo “Winter Light,” and all who participated in the first Eye on Nature raffle!
If you ever peer into a half-rotted log you might be so lucky to find a slippery pair of eyes staring back at you. If you’re extremely lucky those eyes could belong to a Pacific giant salamander (Dicamptodon tenebrosus). Usually seen wriggling through woody debris or eating a mildly toxic banana slug, these marbled beauties are found throughout western Oregon.