Help 50 Title 1 Classrooms Meet Wildlife Up-Close!

Every year the conservation staff at PWC work hard to find grants willing to fund visits to Title I schools. We strive to provide valuable nature connections to all members of the Triangle community, and these grants give us the opportunity to reach people who might otherwise be unable to participate in such interactive wildlife experiences. This year we received grants to visit 17 different Title I classrooms. The funding from these grants, combined with the support from GlobalGiving, means that over 20 Title I classrooms will get to have up-close wildlife encounters this school year.

Students that participate in these programs meet their wild neighbors and learn about the ecosystems surrounding their homes. They explore food webs by meeting prey animals such as our elementary school favorite, Parsley the rabbit, and our powerful predator Katara, the red-tailed hawk. They learn facts about reptiles, mammals, and birds, while busting common misconceptions and myths surrounding native wildlife. For instance: Did you know snakes do not unhinge their jaws to eat?

We are proud of the nature connections we forged this year thanks to your support and that of the grants we received, and we look forward to relationships old and new in the future.

Hi Friends!

With September beginning and students returning to the classroom, Piedmont Wildlife Center's programming starts to ramp up. We are so excited to get back into classrooms around the Triangle and share our love of wildlife with our community.

Every fiscal year, we try to add something new to our programs to aid students and teachers in information retention and follow up activities. This year, we've created science activity booklets that are aligned with North Carolina science standards. These booklets are designed for each grade level from kindergarten to fifth grade with specific activities that will allow teachers to go over some information covered during our programs, but also expand on that information to further explore the science standards for their grade level. These booklets include activites such as matching pictures/words, vocabulary, word searches, and ways to help protect North Carolina's natural resources. These booklets were created by Jenna Williams, one of our Conservation Assistants.

After each program, students in class sizes of about 30 or less receive PWC bookmarks that have one of our Ambassador Animals featured on them as well as facts and a conservation message. Each teacher receives Fast Fact Cards of each animal they met (quick notecard-sized printouts that include natural history facts) as well as the opportunity to purchase a discounted Adopt-An-Ambassador sponsorship for their classroom. They will now be receiving a Student Version and Teacher Version (answer key) of their grade-specific activity booklet. Wow - that's alot of resources!

We're so excited to share these new science activity booklets with teachers and we hope to be able to visit even more classrooms this year! Your donation helps ensure we are reaching the students who benefit from our programs the most - those in Title 1 schools. We are receiving more requests for funding for Title 1 programming this year than ever before. However, our Title 1 fund is still in the early stages. If you know someone who is interested in supporting our growth in Title 1 schools, please share our project with them. 

We look forward to sharing out school adventures with you soon!