The trail that runs into the woods behind Birchwood Elementary School is overgrown and underused. But in the minds of members of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization, it could be the crossroads between education and nature.
The Birchwood PTO on Friday, Dec. 7, sponsored a Nature Exploration Event and Nature Park Rally at the school. Inside the cafeteria was an array of animals, including snakes, lizards, a large tortoise and barred owl, along with activities connecting children to nature. While kids were entertained, treated to cookies and sipped hot chocolate, parents became aware of the school community’s mission to reconnect with its roots.
The school is competing for a “Power a Bright Future” grant from the Clorox Company that could amount to up to $50,000, which it would apply to a Nature Park Restoration Project. Voting for the competition is ending on Wednesday, Dec. 19, with anyone able to vote daily online or by text message for a project they support.
“We thought we would bring in some experts from different areas to show some wildlife that inhabits school grounds,” Birchwood PTO Co-President Deb Foley said, “and to learn a little bit more about nature and about the dream of what we want to accomplish with our nature park.”
Birchwood is no stranger to nature programming. In fact, the school is something of a trailblazer in that regard. In 1958, then-principal Stephen Israel helped lead the school’s effort to establish the initial nature park, which officially opened in October 1959. The Parent Teacher Association, Kiwanis club, school faculty and students helped start the park, which was even referred to as a “zoo” in a newspaper story announcing the opening.
“We are returning to our roots, so to speak,” Birchwood Principal Debra Berndt said.
The nature park reportedly included a greenhouse and aquarium. During the 1960s, there was a “green schools” movement that administrators now credit the school for helping pioneer.
The mission of environmental education was underway at the recent Nature Exploration Event. Dawn Baldwin, an animal specialist from the Children’s Museum of Science and Technology, discussed the importance of nature education while students interacted with animal artifacts. Reptile Adventure showed off some more exotic animals.
Colleen Castle, master gardener volunteer with Cornell Cooperative Extension, presented information on gardening and composting. Castle said using a red wiggler worm people could turn household waste into a compost pile. The worms are not native to the area, so the worms must be kept in a heated area.
“You can keep it under your sink,” Castle said. “There is no smell. There is no soil. It is just compost … and then you put it in your own home gardens.”
Local Girl Scouts showed how a clear plastic 2-liter bottle could be transformed into a greenhouse using household items.
Despite overcast weather, some kids went out on a tour of the old nature trail.
“It’s a little wet, but they insisted on going,” Foley said.
The nature park initiative has its roots in a list of wants and needs from teachers. Restoring the nature trail was one of the suggestions, along with creating a beautiful garden, enhancing the school’s reading room and introducing more technology to classrooms. Introducing sustainability practices into the school, such as composting, is another focus of the nature initiative.
“We are kind of meshing the old and the new together,” Foley said. “We thought that some of the teachers’ wants and needs could really be packaged together.”
Future grants, Foley said, could target technology upgrades and see children bringing tablets into the outdoor classroom. Even if the school doesn’t get the Clorox grant, she said the PTO is going to keep seeking ways to secure funding.
“We have big dreams and we hope to make them a reality,” Berndt said.
Berndt added the new common core state standards include a stronger push for nonfiction reading and comprehension. She said the nature park would “bring content to life” for students and allow them to explore things hands-on.
Third-grade science students just finished studying the life cycle of a butterfly, Berndt said. Typically, the class would just walk outside and release the butterflies, but the nature park could continue utilizing the insects.
“We used to traditionally have a butterfly garden in the nature trail and that is where they used to take the butterflies to release them out,” Berndt said. “This is something that we could rebuild and use in that way.”
Foley said in addition to restoring the nature trail and “forest classroom,” the school’s project would include installing a solar-powered greenhouse, raised-frame vegetable gardens, butterfly garden, compost station and a rain barrel water harvesting system.
“Learning doesn’t only take place in the four walls of a classroom,” Berndt said. “This is just another avenue we can continue to have real life experiences and just enrich the curriculum in the classroom.”
For more information on Birchwood Elementary School’s Nature Park Restoration Project and instructions on how to vote for the project in the Clorox grant contest, visit the PTO’s website at birchwood.niskypto.org.