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Register now for our Winter Workshop!

Winter Workshop 2026

Learn to Love Winter

  • Who: K-12 Classroom Teachers
  • What: Free teacher training
  • When: Saturday, January 10, 2026,  8:30 am – 4:30 pm 
  • Where: Jeffers Lodge, Prior Lake, MN
  • Credit: Earn 8 CEUs

Register today!

Winter Preschool Workshop 2026

Preschool Outdoors Winter Workshop

  • Who: Preschool Teachers (instructors of 3-5 year olds)
  • What: Free teacher training
  • When: Saturday, January 17, 2026,  9:00 am – 3:00 pm 
  • Where: Jeffers Lodge, Prior Lake, MN
  • Credit: Earn 6 CEUs

Register today!

Investigating Winter Landscape 2026

Investigating the Winter Landscape

  • Who: K-12 Educators
  • What: Free teacher training
  • When: Saturday, January 31, 2026,  8:00 am – 3:00 pm 
  • Where: McColl Pond, ELC, Savage, MN
  • Credit: Earn 7 CEUs

Register today!

Discover the benefits of teaching and learning on your school grounds!

Jeffers offers several different workshops

All of our workshops are tailored to the specific school or venue,
All workshop participants receive great ideas and useful tools,

&

All of our workshops are FREE of charge

Invite Jeffers Foundation to lead one of the following workshops at your school for your teaching staff

Team Teaching with Mother Nature

For In-Service & Pre-Service Teachers*

*Make TTw/MN part of your Teaching Methods courses. Click here to check out lessons inspired by participation in this Jeffers Pre-Service Workshop!

Target Audience: K-12 teachers, including: Entire teaching staff at Elementary school, Science teachers in Middle and High School

Resources: Participating teachers receive a Jeffers Journal, a Teacher LooKit, a Good Sense Booklet, a current Freshwater Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar to use during the workshop. Classroom teachers also receive a class set of journals for their students upon completion of the workshop. The School will also receive a set of 30 student LooKits

Optional resources include: a set of EcoTime cards and a Nature Detective bandanna

Cost: No charge, however, a deposit may be required

Length: 4 hours

Team Teaching with Mother Nature workshop objectives:
  • Increase observational skills – Using all your senses
  • Learn skills, strategies & tools for successful outdoor learning
  • Use multidisciplinary journaling activities that encourage “focus” for outdoor learning
  • Recognize your schoolyard (and school garden) as a learning resource
  • Identify lessons in your classroom curriculum that are easily taught outdoors
  • Identify state academic standards that can be attained by outdoor instruction
  • Feel confident about outdoor instruction as a way to spark a student’s sense of wonder while increasing academic knowledge and achievement
  • Incorporate phenology in daily lessons or morning meetings
  • Have fun learning outdoors!
*In-Service workshop: Host a workshop for your entire teaching staff or host a regional workshop at your school. In-Service workshop are available for all grade levels, elementary, middle school, or high school.
*Pre-Service workshops are available for Methods/Pedagogy courses for elementary licensure and 5-12/9-12 licensure.

NEW!

Phenology

Actively studying Phenology requires scientists to develop observation skills and to document biological and physical phenomena in relation to weather and climate patterns.
This workshop will prepare teachers to more effectively engage students as scientists as they notice, question, investigate, document natural patterns, and discover the reason for the seasons and how Minnesota plants, animals, and natural environment adapt to seasonal changes.

Phenology concepts are embedded in over 25 science benchmarks across grades K-12, including:

  • Day length patterns
  • Sun angle changes
  • Night sky monthly and seasonal cycles
  • Animal and plant life cycles and adaptations
  • Cultural/historical understanding of seasonal changes
Jeffers Foundation resources, including Calendar in the Classroom and Journaling through the Seasons, will be modeled. Active participation and learning with these resources will provide participating educators the opportunity to take on the role of a student as they:
  • Collect and organize data
  • Use data to describe and explain seasonal patterns
  • Develop models to represent both Earth and Life Science Core Ideas

Weatherguide calendar data

  • Sunrise/sunset
  • Normal temps
  • Record temps
  • Cloud types
  • Beaufort Scale (wind speed)
  • Wind Chill/Heat Index Charts
  • Monthly Astronomy Phenomena
  • Weekly Phenology Notes

Target Audience: K-12 teachers, including: Entire teaching staff at Elementary school, Science teachers in Middle and High School

Resources: Participating teachers receive a Freshwater Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar and Almanac and a Jeffers Minnesota Phenology Poster. Participating teachers are also eligible to receive a class set of Jeffers Journals to use with their students as they investigate Phenology throughout the school year.

Cost: No charge, however, a deposit may be required

Length: 3 hours (Includes 2+ hours learning outdoors on your school grounds)

*Additional Hour (4th hour): Guided planning time to help with implementation. 4-hour workshops include a 45-60 minute practicum in which Jeffers facilitators will work with grade-level or subject-area teacher teams to dig deeper into Jeffers resources, Core Ideas, and Benchmarks, and plan for outdoor lesson implementation.

Click here to go to our Calendar in the Classroom page
Click here to go to our Journaling through the Seasons page

EcoTime 2.0

EcoTime 2.0
This workshop will introduce teachers to the redesigned EcoTime lessons which focus on three dimensions of science instruction emphasized in the NEW Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in Science: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core ideas. Lessons written by teachers for teachers.
Workshop objectives:
  • Promote investigation, analysis, and interpretation of data
  • Encourage outdoor learning while incorporating the use of science journals
  • Build community and engagement in science concepts
  • Extend science instruction to language arts, math, art, and engineering

 

Click here to go to our EcoTime page

Target Audience: Elementary Teaching Staff (entire K-5 or K-6 staff)

Resources:  Participating teachers receive a paper set of EcoTime Cards, a Jeffers Journal, and a Freshwater Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar

Cost: No charge, however, a deposit may be required

Length: 3-4 hours

Preschool Outdoors

Target Audience: Preschool Teachers (instructors of 3-5 year-olds)

Resources: Participating teachers receive a  Jeffers Journal, a Good Sense Booklet, a current Freshwater Minnesota Weatherguide Environment™ Calendar, set of GO Cards, a copy of A Parents’ Guide to Nature Play, and a Jeffers Nature Guide

Cost: No charge, however, a deposit may be required

Length: 3 hours

Preschool Outdoors workshop objectives:
  • Recognize your outdoor space as a setting for place-based, seasonal, and authentic nature play and learning experiences
  • Focus on observational skills to use one’s senses alongside curiosity to safely explore nature
  • Learn how to encourage student inquiry and to be co-learners as you explore nature
  • Develop rituals and routines that provide for safe and engaging play and learning experiences
  • Recognize how nature-based play and learning meets expectations of Minnesota’s Early Childhood Indicators of Progress
  • Build a relationship with Jeffers as a partner to help you provide engaging nature-based experiences for your preschoolers

 

Click here to go to our Early Childhood page

Content Institutes

Resources: Depends upon the Institute

Cost: No charge, however, a deposit is required

Length:  Varies, 2-3 Days depends upon the content

Content Institutes
Our outdoor classroom methods used along with investigations focused on pattern, structure/function, and more while working with ecological systems, birds, insects, etc. will help teachers provide meaningful science lessons for students that will address standards as well as connect science to other disciplines with the use of journaling.
Content Institutes Include:
  • Birding Institute (Spring)
  • Ecology Institute (Summer)
  • Patterns in Nature Institute (Summer)
  • Insect Institute (Summer)
  • Environmental Engineering Institute (Winter)
Click here to go to our Content Institutes page
No event found!
I think all of this will be great for kids' health & social well-being. Thank you!
In-Service Workshop Workshop Participant
I love walking away with a journal & all the resources I collected - along with cloud referral and all the quick ideas you tossed at us all day. Thank you so much!!
In-Service Teacher Workshop Participant
I enjoyed being outside & the idea of getting our kids outside.
In-Service Teacher Workshop Participant
Outstanding training with practical tips, excellent modeling of lessons, techniques, etc. Awesome resources!!
In-Service Teacher Workshop Participant
This was such a valuable learning experience and there are so many connections between what I learned a the institute and other curricular areas I teach. It was a great balance between being indoors and learning and then applying what we learned in activities outdoors. Every activity we did from the outdoor activities and nature walks to mapping and the coloring book work were enjoyable and valuable. I went to school on Monday and could put ideas into action right away and without a lot of preparation ahead of time. I shared my learning and ideas for classroom activities with my team and those ideas fit in so nicely with our curriculum so it felt seamless. The coloring book is user friendly for my first and second graders because the color by number gives them a pretty accurate look at what the birds actually look like and it would make
Jan Gytri Teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Owatonna
I cannot say enough positive things about this Birding Institute provided by the Jeffers Foundation. I found myself completely engaged and ready to hone my own skills by becoming a better listener and observer. All of the activities in which we participated can be easily adjusted to work with children of all ages. I cannot wait to use them during summer school as I lead my own birding institute of elementary students. David is amazing! He provided us with many valuable resources. I have perused several of the websites he suggested and cannot get enough of the live webcams. I so appreciate the connection between birding and other subject areas such s literacy, math, and geography. Collaborative learning is a must. I recommend this institute to anyone who has an interest in environmental science. Thanks again for a wonderful experience.
Lisa Thompson Birding Institute Participant
"I have participated in the Team Teaching with Mother Nature workshop and partnered with the presenters on several other teacher workshops. The teachers develop a joy of learning in the outdoors which can inspire their students. They learn how to craft the student experiences toward skills and attitudes that will enrich the lives of the children and make their school learning more relevant."
John Olson Retired Science Content Specialist - Minnesota Department of Education
"My colleagues and I were part of a very fun PD last night. We learned ways to incorporate our outdoor classroom in our daily routines and curriculum. The staff is passionate and knowledgeable. Jeffers Foundation not only provides all of us with ideas, but tools and connections to successfully implement these ideas. They took into consideration multiple grade levels and multiple positions in the staff. I feel everyone walked out excited and curious to try these in their learning space.  ps- dinner was delicious as well. They are the best!!"
Maria Villavicencio Elementary Classroom Teacher - Eden Lake Elementary School, Eden Prairie, MN
"Thank you for your wonderful presentation on team teaching with Mother Nature. There has been a lot of conversation centered around the information you presented and there have already been classes out in the courtyard."
Laurie Sherman Principal St. Jerome School
Dear Tom, Holle, & David, Thank you for an incredible morning of outdoor learning! The elementary EL teachers were impressed and invigorated by the workshop you facilitated. I received a lot of positive feedback about the learning and one veteran teacher emailed me to let me know it was one of the best PD sessions she’s ever attended! We were able to see a lot of ways to integrate the morning's environmental learning into both our summer program and the Units of Study curriculum of each grade level. The resources you provided are incredible and will be very useful to teachers. Despite a windy, cold day we thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and will definitely use our learning this summer and throughout the school year. I greatly appreciate the organization and skill it takes to make professional development opportunities meaningful and enjoyable for teachers. You definitely accomplished this! I will
Jenny Leroux EL Lead Teacher Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan Public Schools Independent School District #196
Sil, David, & the Jeffers Foundation, Thank you so much for providing a great learning experience for the new teachers of Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools. Thank you for the financial donation to the lunch and for being a great collaborative partner! We hope to keep this great tradition going!
Ben Tressel PLSAS Prof. Dev.