An educational resource
for the students and families that are part of Sycamore Community Schools
Monday, March 05, 2018
Winter-to-Spring project
If all goes well, the students at Symmes Elementary will on the trail during the months of March and April 2018, documenting through observations and photos the changes that occur on the Nature Trail as it transitions from winter to spring.
Monday, January 01, 2018
5 years of changes
Things have changed on the trail in the past 5 years. With the help of students, teachers, and volunteers, areas overgrown with invasive plants have been reclaimed. Where there used to be dense thickets, now we actually have distant site lines!
Watch some short time-lapses here.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Catch the peak!
It's predicted that the peak of the fall colors on the Nature Trail will happen on or around Sunday, October 22nd (click the picture to the left to see the interactive map).
Don't miss out! Check out the weather forecast to the right and plan visit when you can best enjoy it. And take along this full color Fall Leaf Identification Guide to help you along the way.
Friday, May 19, 2017
Welcome, Blue Ash!
Glad to see all the Blue Ash 1st graders enjoying the Nature Trail today! Head over to Media > Video and you might see yourself on one of the clips.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Earth Week at the Nature Trail
The Nature Trail celebrates Earth Week (Monday, April 24th to Friday, April 28th) with activities focused on the environmental issues.
While all the schools in Sycamore will have their own projects, to see what's going on at Symmes Elementary, head on over to the calendar.
Thursday, April 06, 2017
Wecome to our new website!
The website for the Sycamore Nature Trail at Symmes has actually been up for a month or so. Today, however, marks our grand unveiling!
Right now, we've kept it small, mostly reflecting work the Symmes students have done collecting observational data using 30 tablets funded by an Ohio Environmental Education Fund grant.
Going forward, however, we hope to use this site to share what Sycamore K-12 students, teachers, parents, and community members have done and are planning to do on the trail.
Tell us what you think. Go to Contact us and share an idea!
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
More than just a map
Look at our new interactive map of all the identified sites on the Nature Trail! It shows the exact location, photos, and characteristics of the sites.
Now that it's set up, the students will be able to add more features in the future.
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Check out our data visualizations!
During fall and winter of last year, 100s of Symmes Elementary students conducted observations on the Nature Trail using tablet computers that were part of an Ohio Environmental Education grant.
Those observations are now available! But they are not just rows of words and numbers. Rather, we're trying out some new ways to show these observations using data visualizations - putting them into attractive pictures, graphs, and charts.
The best part is that most of them are interactive. The students can move the date sliders back and forth, for example, and see how the observations change depending on when they took place.
We'll be adding 100s more observations this spring and in the years to come. Ask your own child if they were part of this ongoing Citizen Science project!