Come join us for a lunch time introduction to Geocaching by the Taft Union High School Geocaching Prep Summer School Class and their teacher Wesley Morris at the regular Rotary Meeting at Jo's Restaurant.
Rotary Lunch starts at noon and lunch is $12. You do not have to pay for a lunch to come hang out and learn more about Geocaching, talk to your Geocaching buddies, or just meet some new Geocachers. The program should end by 1:15 PM.
There will be a sign in log and trackables will be traded. See you there!
TUHS Geocaching Summer School Class Syllabus
I was asked by our summer school principal to teach an enrichment Geocaching summer school class in 2014. The class continues to grow in popularity and I continue to make improvements as we go along.
I created a forum discussion to get ideas about this class, but it has received little use to date. In order to help share information about this class, I am going to share some of the information here for further reference on the forums.
In order to help the students learn about advanced search functions and to give them full access to all caches, I have created a class premium member account that I pay the $10 for three months. Everyone gets access to the account and then after the class is over, I change the password and it reverts back to a basic membership in September.
From inside this class account, I create a Geocache named "Class Syllabus" and using HTML post what they are working on for the week there. They click on the unpublished cache, they can see what they need to do, and it is a good way to communicate with them. The only challenge is making sure they switch back to their own account when logging caches and making their own Geocaches. If they accidentally log a cache as tuhswildcats I just delete the log. In theory they could go delete the syllabus or mess it up, but it hasn't been an issue to date and I have started to copy and paste it into my own unpublished cache in my account as a back up. I encourage the students to have two different browsers open (Safari, IE, Chrome, Firefox) and be logged into the class account on one and their account on the other in order to make switching back and forth easy. Some of them have caught on and others like to do it the hard way.
Here is the syllabus. I just use my Dropbox to host the files.
Week 1
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
- Be sure to log all of your finds from today's walk around Taft. You can find a list of the Geocaches we have found here. Week 1 Finds
Thursday
- Continue to log all of your finds from yesterday and today. You can find a list of the Geocaches we have found here. Week 1 Finds
- Complete your Week 1 Test here!
Week 2
Monday
- You made it to Week 2! Today start on the Week 2 Classwork and if you finish that start working on your Topics of Conversation I.
- Be sure to review your grade and turn in any missing assignments and you can make up what you missed on your test to bring your test grade up to a maximum of a 70% (that is 14 out of the 20 points).
- We will be heading to McKittrick and the Chinaman Graves tomorrow, so be ready with proper attire and presentations.
- Start working on the Geocaching Puzzles Extra Credit. Please click HERE for a list of completed puzzles that are no longer eligible for credit/extra credit. Everyone must complete one and then any additional are extra credit.
- Get your presentation materials ready for the Rotary Presentation on Wednesday at lunch.
Tuesday
- Your test this week is to find a partner and make a presentation about Logging Your Own Finds. You need to research the controversy around doing this and be ready to start presenting your findings Thursday morning at the start of class.
- Be sure to log your finds for the Week 2 Finds.
- You will be entering a travel bug race and need to make a travel bug. You need to find something you can attach a travel bug to and bring it to school so we can get your travel bugs ready to release next Tuesday 6/23/15.
- Next Tuesday June 23 we will be going to River Walk Park to cache. There is a good Wherigo cache that would be fun to find, but it takes prior planning. Figure out what it takes to find it and be ready to use team work as a class. Throw me a Rope
Wednesday
- Go to Travel Bug HTML [That link is to an unpublished cache that I have the students copy and paste the HTML code from. Here is a sample of what it looks like] and edit the cache. Find the HTML code in the description and copy it. Then paste it into the "description" of your travel bug. Be sure to hit the "source" button before you paste it or it won't work correctly.
Thursday
- You are presenting your Logging Your Own Finds report this morning.
- You should be working on your travel bugs for the travel bug race. You can download any photos Mr. Morris uploaded for you here.
- You will be completing your Field Trip Five Facts today at the West Kern Oil Museum. Be sure to bring some note paper to take notes so you can make your presentation on Monday.
Week 3
Monday
- Be sure to log your finds for the Week 2 Finds.
- Please finish your travel bugs so we can start releasing them tomorrow. You should have the proper tracking HTML [That link is to an unpublished cache that I have the students copy and paste the HTML code from. Here is a sample of what it looks like] inserted into your description and you should have a photo of your TB (the photos Mr. Morris took are found here).
- Present your Field Trip Five Facts from the West Kern Oil Museum to the class today.
- Start working on your Creating a Geocache HTML. It is due Thursday.
- All work is due this Thursday for grades! If you do not have everything turned in, you only have two days to work on it because we will be out in the field Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
Tuesday
- If you have time after the field trip, start logging your Week 3 Finds.
Wednesday
- If you have time after the field trip, start logging your Week 3 Finds.
- Be sure to collect your Field Trip Five Facts while at Vista Del Lago today. You will be presenting them tomorrow.
Thursday
Week 4
Monday
First Semester Students
Second Semester Students
- Complete the Topics of Conversation II assignment.
- The Puzzles Extra Credit assignment resets, so start working on the Geocaching Puzzles Extra Credit. Please click HERE for a list of completed puzzles that are no longer eligible for credit/extra credit.
- You will need to create a Historical West Side Geocache, a Puzzle Geocache, and an Event Cache. Please click the rubric links to see what is required. You will not actually go out and plant them unless you want to, but they need to be complete online caches for credit. The Historical West Side Geocache is due Week 1, the Puzzle Geocache is due Week 2, and the Event Cache is due in Week 3.
Tuesday
First Semester Students
- Be sure your work from yesterday is complete.
- You must solve at least one puzzle cache, so start working on the Geocaching Puzzles Assignment. Any additional puzzle caches you solve are extra credit. Please click HERE for a list of completed puzzles that are no longer eligible for credit/extra credit.
- You can start working on your Week 1 Test today. You will need to have it done by tomorrow afternoon.
All Students
- Everyone will need to gather Field Trip Five Facts at the Wind Wolves Preserve tomorrow. Be sure to bring something to take notes on. Most of the facts will be told to you orally (spoken word), so you are going to need to pay attention or ask people to repeat what they said so you can note it down.
- Be sure to complete and turn in your Ten Rules for Dealing with Police assignment.
Wednesday
First Semester Students
- All Week 1 work is due today. Your Week 1 Test is also due today. If you can't get it all done today, you will have next week to try and finish it up
All Students
- Everyone will present one of their Field Trip Five Facts that they gathered from Wind Wolves Preserve today at 12:15 PM.
Thursday
All Students
- We will be at the Have a Hart...CITO! on an all day trip today. Be sure to bring a hat, sunscreen, and extra water because it will be warm.
Week 5
Monday
First Semester Students
- You made it to Week 2 (5)! Today start on the Week 2 Classwork and if you finish that start working on your Topics of Conversation I.
- Be sure to review your grade and turn in any missing assignments and you can make up what you missed on your test to bring your test grade up to a maximum of a 70% (that is 14 out of the 20 points).
- Your test this week is to find a partner and make a presentation about Logging Your Own Finds. You need to research the controversy around doing this and be ready to start presenting your findings Thursday morning at the start of class.
Second Semester Students
All Students
- You need to log your Week 4 Finds. Those are due this morning first thing. If you have any travel bugs, make sure you log your finds in order so they are properly tracked. Also if you picked up anyone else's travel bugs, be sure to log them as well.
Tuesday
First Semester Students
- You are presenting your Logging Your Own Finds report after lunch.
- If you are going to participate in the Travel Bug Race, but sure to bring in a travel bug so we can get you set up. Once you have your TB, activate it and go to Travel Bug HTML [That link is to an unpublished cache that I have the students copy and paste the HTML code from. Here is a sample of what it looks like] and edit the cache. Find the HTML code in the description and copy it. Then paste it into the "description" of your travel bug. Be sure to hit the "source" button before you paste it or it won't work correctly.
All Students
- You will be in Room 141 this morning to complete the media assignment. Be sure to get all of those papers done.
Wednesday
All Students
- You will be collecting Field Trip Five Facts in the Carrizo Plain today. Be ready to present them the morning of Monday July 13th.
Thursday
All Students
- You will be collecting Field Trip Five Facts at the Minter Air Museum today. Be ready to present them the morning of Monday July 13th.
Week 6
Monday
First Semester Students
Second Semester Students
All Students
- Be ready to present your Field Trip Five Facts for both the Carrizo Plain and Minter Field today at 930 AM.
- Start logging your Week 5 Finds. If your travel bug has been traveling with you, be sure to log the caches in order.
- Be prepared to collect Field Trip Five Facts from the Ridge Route Museum tomorrow and the Tule Elk Reserve on Wednesday. Those Field Trip Five Facts will be presented at 8:30 AM on Thursday morning.
Tuesday
All Students
Wednesday
All Students
- Gather Field Trip Five Facts at the Tule Elk Reserve today. Be prepared to present them and the Ridge Route Museum facts tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM.
- All logs are now due. Start working on your Week 6 Finds immediately after lunch.
- All work is due tomorrow morning at 10 AM for all students.
- If you want to swim tomorrow after lunch, bring your swim suit and a towel. Otherwise you will be doing something in another classroom somewhere.
Thursday
First Semester Students
Second Semester Students
All Students
- All of your Geocaching logs are due from the entire time. See your Bookmark Lists in the tuhswildcats account.
- Present your Field Trip Five Facts from the Ridge Route Museum and the Tule Elk Reserve at 8:30 AM this morning.
- If you want me to take your travel bug to New York, have it in my hands by 10 AM.
- All work is due at 10 AM today!