Since 2012 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Devils Lake Public Schools have partnered to provide a 5th Grade Outdoor Learning Program at White Horse Hill National Game Preserve. Two 5th grade classes and their teachers attend morning classes at the refuge every morning of school year. Facilitators hope that this year long immersion in outdoor learning provides students with a life-long connection to their natural environment.
Over the course of 12-years classroom teachers along with Fish and Wildlife Service Staff have cooperatively adapted and/or developed several favorite lessons that incorporate 5th grade science, math, social studies, and language curriculum. In 2023, Park Ranger Mari Carroll was asked to rewrite these lessons using our recently approved U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lesson Plan Template so they could be made available for other outdoor teachers to adapt to their local setting.
Each lesson is available for you to download and use at our refuge or in your own outdoor learning environment.
- Leave No Trace
- Seton Watch
- Introduction to USFWS - Conservation History & Naturalists
- Introduction to USFWS - North Dakota Refuges and Wetlands
- Nature Photography
- Wetland Invertebrates
- Diversity and Density of Prairie Plants
- Leaf Litter Investigation
- History of Snowshoes and Snowshoe Hike
- Habit Map
