By Gail Abrams | Executive Director
YOU DID IT!!
ALL OF YOU helped us raise $5,730 so far for our afterschool program at Githens Middle School and we are now a permanent partner on GlobvalGiving.org!! That means we can post all of our education and conservation projects on Global Giving to take advantage of their matching funds, special bonus days, mobile apps and more!
We have held 2 days of programs for 37 kids enrolled in Githens regular afterschool to give them a taste of what the program would be like. Survival skills were discussed and we demonstrated flint and steel fire. We touched on learning the plants around us both for wild edible purposes and to learn how to identify them while sharpening our recognition and memory skills by playing Plant Scavenger Hunt. Staff collected leaves from several plants in the area and had them hidden under a scarf. The students were given 15 seconds to study the leaves and then go find as many of the ones they could remember seeing. We called them all back in to review and share some interesting facts about the plants. For energy release and testing knowledge of animals and how quick kids could run, we played a big game of Park Ranger and then wrapped up the day with a little natural history through our live animals, the Barred Owl and King Snake.
The first day of Earth Connectors (that's what we call our nature afterschool program) started last Wednesday with 16 kids attending. We will meet with the same kids every Monday and Wednesday this first 5-week session as it took some time to get everything worked out through the school. They began a new afterschool program this year and the first few weeks of a new school year are always stressful on staff. We decided it would be easier to select kids from the regular afterschool program for our first session and to meet with them twice a week. The next session begins at the end of October and we will open Earth Connectors up to the entire school.
I'll update our first few days of Earth Connectors later this week so you can see the children in action! I have included some photos of the introductory classes on this report.
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