5 Tips for Using Olympic National Park in the Classroom

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Are you studying the western region of the United States? Looking to engage your students with the national parks? Look no further than Olympic National Park! This amazing park is one of the most unique in the country because it is essentially three parks in one: shoreline, mountains, and rain forest. Here are 5 tips for teaching with Olympic National Park!

1.) Become a Remote Junior Ranger

Most of you reading this don’t live within field trip range to Olympic National Park. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have your students become Junior Rangers. While they don’t have their packet online, you can reach out to them (via “Contact Us” on their website or social media) and may email or mail you the packets. However, they do have the Ocean Stewards Jr. Ranger packet online. I also like to pair my students’ learning with a video from Rock the Park or the Arts and Culture project that Google and the NPS paired up for.

2.) Read about the Park

Having books about the park available for your students is a great way to have them learn about the park. Below is a list of a few of my favorite books to use with the park.

3.) Lessons from the Park

Looking for top notch lessons from the park? From weather patterns to FDR’s New Deal, there are lessons for all grade levels and topics! Lessons include essential questions, outline, printable materials, and assessments. This is a fun, simple way to incorporate the parks into your classroom (and the planning is already done for you)! Check out the lessons here.

4.) Teach More than the Park

There is so much history around Olympic National Park that you can tie it into so many different subjects. I’ve listed a few below, with clickable links for you to easily find more information.

5.) Make it Simple

Looking to easily add the national parks into your lessons? Grab my Olympic National Park Reading Comprehension activities. In this week-long reading unit students will learn about the park using both fiction and non-fiction, new vocabulary words, text connections, park brochure and pennant, and MORE! AND I have both a printable and digital version.

The national parks are truly magical! I hope you and your students enjoy the adventure!

And if you are really getting into the national parks, be sure to grab my FREE history of the national parks activities here!

*This post includes affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you purchase using the links.

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