STREAMKEEPERS |
||
Y The Adopt-A-Stream Foundation |
Streamkeepers young and old across Washington and around the world continue to devote their energies, time and experience to protecting streams and educating others about the importance of becoming watershed stewards. Janet Charnley teaches at Evergreen School in Shoreline, Washington. A seasoned Streamkeeper, Charnley has put her training to good use as a fourth and fifth grade science teacher. She and her colleague, Jessica Levine, a sixth-grade environmental studies teacher have created a hands-on restoration program called the Outdoor Classroom Project. The Outdoor Classroom Project embraces meaningful activities and projects that promote exploration, investigation, and critical thinking; guide decision-making and team building; and teach stewardship skills that benefit the immediate environment. The use of the schoolyard and a local park as a setting for curriculum activities connects students to their local place. As a result, they gain an understanding of the natural history, wildlife inhabitants, and the non-living components that form both the natural and human created community. In fac, as more and more studies prove, students learn better in outdoor environments. In Stockholm, Sweden, officials have initiated several outdoor kindergartens in city forests. As a result, young students have both excelled academically and have had fewer days of illness. In addition to building an integrated curriculum, the Outdoor Classroom Project restores wildlife habitat, creates outdoor learning and play spaces for children, and builds community. Charnley and Levine's project has created community partnerships between local, state, and national organizations, including The Thornton Creek Project. Staff, parents, teachers, and students have also participated and helped kick off the Outdoor Classroom Project with a Community Day and participated in activities like removing Himalayan blackberries, building bird feeders, nesting boxes, worm bins and recess equipment boxes, painting a wildlife mural, and planting on campus. Charnley and Levine have secured funding support from King County, Washington Conservation Corps, Washington Department of Ecology, and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) to support their activities. On March 18, 2000, the NWF will hold their annual meeting in Seattle and bring over 100 volunteers to conduct habitat improvement projects on the Evergreen campus. The campus will be certified as a schoolyard habitat site at an official recognition ceremony. For more information about the Outdoor Classroom Project, contact Janet Charnley at The Evergreen School, 15201 Meridian Avenue North, Shoreline WA 98133 or at jcharnley@evergreenschool.org Keep up the good work! |
|
