Thank you for your interest in Legacy Educator Excursions.
Below you’ll find information about each event as well as the application and application deadline. Please be sure to read the entire application packet as some of the events may prove strenuous to some people in the summer heat. Educator Excursions are appropriate for most physical abilities!
Birds of a Feather: FLock Together - EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
May 6th -7th, 2023
Wehle Nature Center Midway, AL. – 12 CEU hours
Members $75.00
Non-members $85.00
Join Legacy and our partners at 1,505-acre Wehle Nature Center to learn all about our feathered friends in this two-day bird-intensive workshop. This workshop is filled with a variety of hands-on activities to bring educators closer to our avian neighbors. The Alabama Ornithological Society, our partner organization, will provide bird curriculum, resources, and hands-on engaging activities for participants to understand birds, bird habitats, and the role of birds in the Alabama ecosystem.
The registration fee covers overnight lodging at the Wehle Nature Center, as well as meals during the workshop.
**Teacher Workshops open to formal and informal educators in the state of Alabama**
Alabama Rivers: A Celebration & Challenge - EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
June 30th, 2023
Prattville, AL – 6 CEU hours
Members $45.00
Non-members $55.00
Join Legacy and the 4-H Alabama Water Watch Staff and author of the book, Alabama Rivers: A Celebration & Challenge, Dr Bill Deutsch, in Prattville as we travel down rivers through time to encounter the rich human history and natural wonders that have defined Alabama. Participants will learn to use the Alabama Rivers book and accompanying Educator’s Guide to Alabama Rivers to celebrate Alabama’s magnificent rivers and how they have been shaped by geology over the ages with their students. We will learn about some of the unique plants and animals as well as noteworthy people who have called Alabama home. We will also learn to use resources and activities found in the Guide to challenge their students to restore and protect our rivers for their economic, cultural, and ecological benefits, but most of all because it is the right thing to do. The curriculum is correlated to the AL Course of Study Standards for Social Studies and Science for grades 4-7 but is also adaptable for upper grades and other subjects. Participants who complete the Alabama Rivers Workshop will receive Certification as Alabama Rivers Educator, a copy of the book Alabama Rivers, A Celebration & Challenge, a copy of An Educator’s Guide to Alabama Rivers, access to online digital resources that support activities and lessons, 6 hours of PLDs from Auburn University Office of Outreach and/or PowerSchool.
The registration fee covers lunch, snacks, and workshop materials.
**Teacher Workshops open to formal and informal educators in the state of Alabama**
Non-natives, Exotics, and Invasives: Teaching About Alabama's Plant and Animal Conservation Challenges - EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
July 6-7, 2023
Turtle Point Science Center- Flomaton, AL 12 CEU hours
Members $75.00
Non-members $85.00
Join Legacy & Turtle Point Science Center for a fun and informative workshop on some of our most critical ongoing environmental health struggles. We will be discussing how our local native ecosystems have become imbalanced due to accidental and intentional introductions and invasions. Find out why this matters to our native plants and animals, as well as to our own health. Turtle Point Science Center is part of the Escambia County, Alabama public school system. The center is located on 20 acres with a boardwalk trail to Big Escambia Creek, native plant gardens, an extensive live animal teaching collection, a geology garden, fossil exhibits, natural history displays, a butterfly house and a pitcher plant bog garden. Our workshop will use this backdrop to learn both indoors and out about these important environmental and conservation issues affecting our state. This workshop will include lots of hands-on activities and will prepare educators to take these lessons back to their own classrooms to use in their own lessons. In addition to the scheduled activities, participants will enjoy networking with other educators. We look forward to seeing you at this exciting and educational environmental workshop. Teachers will receive valuable classroom resources and activities, as well as a certificate for 12 hours of PLUs for attending.
The workshop fee covers hotel lodging at Wind Creek Casino Hotel in Atmore, Alabama, (Double Queen) with a roommate. Private rooms King Single $89 plus 8% tax are available at your own expense if preferred. Food included will provide snacks and dinner Thursday, breakfast, lunch and snacks Friday, as well as some workshop materials.
**Teacher Workshops open to formal and informal educators in the state of Alabama**
Mountains to the Gulf - EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
July 9th -16th, 2023 Across the State of Alabama - 50 CEU HOURS
Members $375
Non-members $400.00
Leading scientific experts will guide 20 educators throughout the state of Alabama, sharing their collective knowledge of the Waters, Geology, Flora, and Fauna to show how all things are connected! Your journey will begin in Northwest Alabama at Camp McDowell Environmental Center, then zig-zag in a chartered bus across the state to the Gulf of Mexico for an educational adventure of a lifetime!
You will visit Cheaha State Park – Alabama’s highest mountain, Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center – Auburn University research facility, and search for fossils in south Alabama streams. The final destination will be Dauphin Island Sea Lab, where educators will visit the Gulf and Mobile Bay. Participants will walk the shoreline and go out on the DISL research boat.
Uncover the unique geology of Alabama with Jim Lacefield, author of Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks. Wade the streams of Alabama with Bill Deutsch, founder of Alabama Water Watch and author of Alabama Rivers: A Celebration and Challenge. Discover the incredible and sometimes curious diversity of native Alabama flora with botanist Curtis Hansen of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History. Track the reintroduction of the federally threatened Eastern Indigo Snake in the Conecuh Forest with herpetologist, Jimmy Stiles. Visit three of our National Forests with staff from Wild Alabama, Maggie Johnston and Meg Ford, to learn how you too are connected to all the amazing wild places throughout this state! Last, but not least Legacy staff Toni Bruner will show you how to bring all your newfound knowledge back into the classroom making the curriculum work for you.
The workshop fee covers lodging at each location along the route. The rooms will be shared with a roommate. Most meals are provided.
**Teacher Workshops open to formal and informal educators in the state of Alabama**
Down Under in North Alabama - EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
Aug 3rd -6th. 2023 - 23 CEU hours
Members $100.00
Non-members $125.00
Join spelunking experts on an exciting adventure exploring caves and learn about the biodiversity of North Alabama’s karst topography. Find out how caves are formed and what creates the beautiful cave formations. During our cave explorations we will see endangered aquatic cave life and bats. One exciting part of the workshop will be a visit to an Alabama State Park, Cathedral Caverns, where we will see the world’s largest cave opening, one of the world’s largest stalagmites and a frozen waterfall. We will also investigate a few of the wild caves in northeast Alabama. Through classroom and field studies, we will explore content knowledge, teaching techniques, and classroom activities to help your students learn about the wonders of caves.
Teachers receive valuable classroom resources and activities, as well as 23 PLU Hours for attending Legacy Workshops. The workshop fee covers most meals and workshop materials. For more information contact Toni Bruner at Toni@legacyenved.org
**Teacher Workshops open to formal and informal educators in the state of Alabama**
Below you’ll find information about each event as well as the application and application deadline. Please be sure to read the entire application packet as some of the events may prove strenuous to some people in the summer heat. Educator Excursions are appropriate for most physical abilities!
Mountains to the Gulf
In current development as a virtual excursion
Cancelled Alabama Water Watch Summer Workshop
June 25, 2020 – Lee County Historical Society building, Loachapoka, AL
Cancelled Reptiles, Amphibians, and the Classroom
July 20-21, 2020 – Wehle Nature Center, Midway, AL
Cancelled Arts and the Environment
July 27-30, 2020 – Desoto State Park
Cancelled Exploring Central Alabama
June 2-5, 2020 – Birmingham, Alabama
- 1-Day Legacy excursions require a $45.00 non-refundable application fee for Non-Members or a $55.00 non-refundable fee for Legacy Members.
- 2-Day Legacy excursions require a $75.00 non-refundable application fee for Non-Members or a $85.00 non-refundable fee for Legacy Members
- **3 Day excursions require a $100.00 non-refundable application fee for Non-Members or a $125.00 non-refundable fee for Legacy Members.
- **4-Day excursions require a $150 non-refundable application fee for Non-Members or a $175.00 non-refundable fee for Legacy Members
- Participants will receive a certificate of completion, professional development hours, and many FREE classroom materials.
- Lodging, most meals, and materials for the excursions are provided.
- Legacy is NOT able to cover substitute teachers and travel expenses to and from the excursion location.
- Any K-12 educator currently teaching within the State of Alabama, any person about to or who has already graduated with an Education Degree, graduate students with an Education Degree or other formal and informal environmental educators may apply to attend.
- Applications can be downloaded from the Legacy Website at http://legacyenved.org/educator-workshops/.
- For more information, contact Toni Bruner at 334-270-5921 or 1-800-240-5115 or toni@legacyenved.org.
