Earth Partnership workshop puts teachers in touch with nature
With seriously cold weather coupled with even more serious feet of snow, it might be pleasant to look back to how some local teachers spent a portion of their summer vacation.
- Participants toured the high school forest
- Workshop participants also took to the water
With seriously cold weather coupled with even more serious feet of snow, it might be pleasant to look back to how some local teachers spent a portion of their summer vacation.
Last July several Hudson teachers participated in the Earth Partnership for Schools Institute. This program, founded by the UW-Madison Arboretum, was hosted by Hudson School District and St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development (SCISCD) of UW-River Falls. The workshop was organized by Hudson Middle School science teacher Cindy Landers who wrote and was awarded a $30,000 grant from WEEB (Wisconsin Environmental Education Board) to support the district’s school forest program.
Landers and teacher Heather Bohland wrote and were awarded another a grant from the Hudson Education Foundation to fund the week-long Earth Partnership class.
The institute was designed to give participants a rich understanding of the ecological systems in their area as well as provide them with a variety of lessons to bring back into their classrooms.
The program also included guest speakers who presented in-depth perspectives on sustainability, current status of local waters and prairie ecosystems, as well as an artistic approach to teaching. Speakers included Clarence “Buck” Malick with the St. Croix River Association, Kelly Cain from St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development (SCICD) at UW-River Falls, Rick Hall of UW-Madison Arboretum, Liz Malanaphy a local artist, Troy Meacham with LandCraft Seed and Services, and Tammy Whittmer and Aleisha Miller with the St. Croix Land and Water Conservation.
The inquiry-based workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to form teams and collaborate on potential ecological restoration projects at their school sites and learn of additional community connections.
The class and the grant have triggered many projects such as last fall’s revitalization of the Hudson High School forest where the entire sophomore class helped remove brush, dead wood and buckthorn. Other projects planned for the school year and the summer include HMS seventh-grade science students assisting elementary students in growing prairie seeds to plant in the school prairie along with trees for the forest.
Institute alumnus Wendi Draper from Willow River Elementary has taken students down to the St. Croix River several times and is looking to plant an outdoor learning area in the lot adjacent to the school.
Fifteen to 20 teachers meet on Saturdays to write environmental lessons they hope to begin teaching this spring.
Also as a result of the grant, Hudson Middle School teacher Aaron Walczak and Boy Scout Jacob Maline built kiosks and benches for the middle school forest. Maline earned his Eagle Scout designation as a result of the project.
Lander said a class similar to the institute has been funded by the Education Foundation of Hudson and will be held this summer.
For further information, contact Cindy Landers at (715) 381-5956 or landercl@hudson.k12.wi.us or Kelly Cain at (715) 425-3479 or kelly.d.cain@uwrf.edu.
Tags: education, environment
RSS Feeds