Help 75 Students Become Earth Keepers

Hello GlobalGiving Community!

Our Earth Keepers programs are in full swing for spring! We are continuing the program at Forest View Elementary in Durham, NC and have added the program to Carrboro Elementary and Southwest Elementary. At Carrboro and Southwest teachers at those schools have joined us to learn from our programming to employ it in their work. In total we are now working with a total of 88 children between all three schools! Thanks to your support, we are able to provide valuable nature connection to more children.

At Forest View our group recently worked ‘in the field’ with microscopes and learned the importance of observations. In nature journals, some kids chose to draw bugs up-close (example in Image 1). One of our staff members asked Audrey what the coolest thing she learned in Earth Keepers and she replied, “That mulch… well let me say soil [referencing the leaf litter] is made out of dead animals, broken up rocks, and plants. That’s really cool to me (Image 2).”

At Southwest Elementary the kids there have befriended a native azalea bush and have named it Jeff. Jeff’s pink blooms were so beautiful! But now they are beginning to fall off! “Why?” “Is Jeff dying?” By allowing the flow of our curriculum to follow the interest of the kids they are actually excited and want to learn that Jeff the Azalea is not dead, but is done with pollination and is now ready to make more leaves to do more photosynthesis (turning light into food) for the rest of the growing season. At the end of each day we all shout “Good night,” and “I love you” to Jeff.

At Carrboro Elementary, we have two groups divided by age that normally take turns participating in our program in the woods. Last week we combined the two groups for a huge game, of a Piedmont Wildlife center classic: 7 Sticks. This variation of capture the flag teaches teamwork and healthy competition. Elliot, Graham, and Walter, all came up and said, “THANK YOU for bringing this game to us today. It is SO fun!” This week, we practiced listening for bird calls in the forest and learning some common bird calls from Grace’s bird app and speaker. We learned the call for the Towhee (drink-your-tea) and implemented it in a fun game based on bird behavior and called, Towhee. We also were able to correctly guess the call of the American Crow. One staff member, Grace, brought one of our Animal Ambassadors:  a live albino white-ringed dove.. Kids loved hearing the calls it made, seeing it up close and asking questions. Collin asked, “how does it fly down and not up?” Seeing live animals up close is a favorite activity.

Your donations help facilitate these inquisitive young minds! Thank you! With your support we can continue this program into the next school year with more possibilities!

Links:

• Piedmont Wildlife Center homepage