Wow! November was SO busy that it just zoomed by! We are only now sitting down to write about it.
We kicked off the month with our favorite community program: Family Science. This time the focus was AZ Wildlife, celebrating our State’s magnificent animals. The event was scheduled for November 4th but a huge snowstorm forced us to postpone it to November 5th. Even with last minute changes we had a full house and the event was a HUGE success! The event, held in partnership with AZ Game and Fish and Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center, featured live animals including a Red Tailed Hawk, A Great Horned Owl, a Desert Tortoise, and a Snake. Our young participants asked great questions, and at the end, everyone had an opportunity to see the animals up close and take pictures with the owl.
During the first week of November we also partnered with an NAU freshmen class exploring the natural world through a different perspective. The students (and the instructor) practiced observing, and “being”, different things in the natural world, from plants to rocks to mighty Ponderosa trees.
The month continued with an exclusive behind the scenes recycling tour for our staff followed by our free monthly First Friday tours for the public. It’s always great to have community members, who want to learn more about the journey of waste and recyclables, join the tour.
Science Saturday, held at our Center every first Saturday of the month was focused on “Frances Short Pond”. Center environmental educator Val and intern Helena Van Winkle facilitated pond inspired art activities, and had pond water under a microscope for visitors to see.
We stayed
late at the Center on November 13th for the 4th Grade Water Ethics Contest deadline. We still had entries coming in at 5:30pm! Over 10 Coconino County schools participated, including schools as far as the Grand Canyon! Judging took place right before Thanksgiving and was very tough, since all the entries were beautiful and inspiring. 
After Thanksgiving we hosted Girl Scout troops at the Center, mostly focusing again, on the theme of the month: Frances Short Pond. They made beautiful art pieces.
Our ongoing programs continued throughout the month including our Boys and Girls Club afterschool program. Each week we did something different, including weather measurements, learning about bugs, and of course… the theme of the month: Frances Short Pond.
For our school programs the highlights were paper making with students at Kinsey, plastic bag discussion and activities with 6th graders at Alpine and tagging along with MEMS 6TH grade teacher Curt Craig and his class during their…you got it…Frances Short Pond visit.
Here is to another great month!