Help 75 Students Become Earth Keepers

With the summer camp season coming to a close, we turn our attention to our Earth Keepers program!  We have met with the school staff, put together flyers, and attended a few open houses at the schools to get the students and parents excited.  Many of last year's students came up ready to join us again, and we are excited to have this project allowing others who cannot afford it now participate!   Thank you for supporting us! To give you an idea of what is to come, we thought we would share some highlights from our afterschool program last year:

Most anything having to do with animals was always at hit with the students.  We participated in Cornell University's Great Backyard Bird Count, and spotted several birds, heard lots at others, and continued to look for them as the seasons changed.  The best was seeing baby bluebirds and baby wrens in nests!  We found a few snakes and watched toads lay their eggs.  But the most surprising animal one class got to see was a red fox!  We had heard that there was a family that was spotted in the woods from time to time, but couldn't believe we actually caught a glimpse of it!  Definitely the best animal sighting at Southwest Elementary School. 

We built community by sharing our findings and working in different groups.  This also happened when we played games (a big favorite) so students could practice skills we taught.  One of the most loved was a game called, Keeper of the Fire.  A student was chosen to be the Keeper who sat blindfolded in the center of a circle.  The others circled around at about 10 feet away and were chosen by the teachers to approach the Keeper and try to take one of the sticks that surrounded him or her, and sneak it back to the perimeter of the circle undetected.  If the Keeper heard someone, he or she pointed to where the sound seemed to be coming from.  If the Keeper pointed at a student in the process of acquiring a stick, the person went back to the beginning and returned the stick if in possession.  Stalking, sensing, and hearing skills were practiced during this game. Another game we played was, "Owls and Crows”, which involved hiding, stalking, and catching "prey" and emphasized nocturnal and diurnal animals.  One student, Mycala, exclaimed, "This is the best game ever!"  Another student was most upset when his mom came to pick him up before we had finished.  He began crying and begging to stay at school! 

We also enjoyed tasting edible wild plants, like grape leaves, or making pine needle tea.  This was a great way to get students excited about being able to identify plants and connect with them. Caroline loved the grape leaves.  Every few minutes she would come to me and say, "Ms. Karen, may I eat this one?" We would talk about the ways to identify it and I would try it before deeming it safe for her to eat.

This year we look forward to returning and new students, reporting back to you on how well they are connecting with each other and our natural world.  I cannot wait to hear my favorite question that was asked by 95% of the students no matter if it was pouring down rain and cold out was, "do we get to go outside today?!"

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