The Mills County conservation Board provides Environmental Education programs for Mills County schools grades K - 6 and other youth groups.

The Mills County conservation Board provides Environmental Education programs for Mills County schools grades K - 6 and other youth groups. Contact us at (712) 527-9685 for more information or click here to send us an e-mail request.

Current Program Offerings include:

	Animal Tracks - (K-5): Beaver, raccoon, coyote, mink. How do we know they are around if we do not see them? By the signs they leave behind. Tracks are the best sign to look for. You will learn how to identify tracks, what type of animal left them and what that animal is doing. Everyone will make a plaster cast of a track to take home.
	Bees & Honey - (K-4): Learn about the social lives of bees as we turn the classroom into a real working beehive. Everyone will have fun as they take on the roles of queen, drones, workers, guards and helpers. We will finish by tasting the product of the bee's hard work, Honey!
	Reducing Our Waste (K-3): Numerous tips on how to REDUCE waste in our daily lives will be shared. We will REUSE materials from our own trash and make bird feeders. The term RECYCLE will be introduced to the students and a game will be played to help enforce the 3 R's.
	Ready to Recycle - (3-6): This program focuses on showing your class how simple it is to recycle and how they can become involved at home & maybe even at school. By the end of the program they will know what can be recycled and where to recycle in Mills County and even how to spot recycled products while at the store.
	How Many Bears can Live in this Forest? - (2-6): An introduction to habitat, with Iowa and prairie life discussed. We will also learn many details of the black bear and it's life in Iowa. The students become black bears and go outside in search of "bear food" (colored squares of paper.) We will see first hand the problems with overpopulation of habitat, only a few will survive.
	Digging for Dinosaurs - (K-3, should be done outside): Let your students become paleontologists on their very own playground! They will dig for dinosaur bones and learn what it is like to be able to piece the critters back together. Other outdoor dinosaur games can be added if time permits.
	Critterology - (K-6):  This activity can be done with almost any critter (spiders, ladybugs, millipedes, pill bugs, etc.) After your class learns about the chosen critter they will break up into groups and watch them move around the "playgrounds" that I bring. How does each creature act? What does it do when it bumps into something? A great program to develop curiosity in nature.
	Seeds & Sprouts - (K-4): Why do we need seeds? Why do we need plants? Learn why as we talk about seeds & how they move around. We will plant our own seeds and even snack on a few.