Year in Review: A Focus of Nature and Science at Big T

What a year we’ve had as our first as Big Thompson Elementary School of Nature and Science! All classrooms continued to bring science into the classroom and take lessons outside whenever possible. We’ve had teacher trainings, community nature and science events, and the creation of our Worm Wranglers and Green Team. We’ve had some great field trips as well, from 3rd graders at High Plains Environmental Center in both fall and spring combining science and history units of plants and Native Americans, to 5th graders at Bobcat Ridge cultivating a deeper understanding of their local area, to 2nd graders learning about all of their science units at Rocky Mountain National Park (and 4th graders too!).

Teachers have had some great opportunities for additional training in our focus. We started the year off with a school-wide Environmental Education Day where all six grades went to natural areas and explored and learned outdoors while teachers had time to prepare and make plans for what being a school of Nature and Science looked like. In January, teachers were trained and certified in Project Learning Tree, bringing more hands-on, well-researched nature and science curriculum to our students. We are even looking into becoming the first Project Learning Tree School in Colorado! In April, teachers and staff walked the school grounds with a retired professor and local natural history expert from Sylvan Dale Ranch, studying the plants, animals, geology and human history of Big T and the surrounding area.

This year has seen a significant reduction of waste in our school as well. Our vermicomposting efforts have got all students excited about feeding the worms, and our daily lunchroom Worm Wranglers have helped all students with sorting their waste, cleaning the recycling so it’s ready to be processed, and even allowed us to have real silverware instead of plastic! Our Green Team is made up of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders who know what can and cannot be recycled at Big T, and collects all of our recycling every Friday. Next year, some incoming 3rd graders will join the team and our new 4th and 5th graders will train them. Nearly all of our current 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are competent Worm Wranglers. We’re hoping someday to get all the students at Big T trained as expert recyclers and composters!

Big T School of Nature and Science hosted two additional community nights this year, featuring nature and science. Starry Nights brought together many astronomical activities and even allowed families to view objects in the night sky through telescopes. Worms, Dirt and More brought new excitement to the open house, featuring our vermicomposting and recycling programs, and our Outdoor Education Center. During school, we had Worm Day in the fall, and our second annual Green Day celebration in the spring!

A big thanks to all the teachers and staff, local nature and science organizations, and the Cultivation Committee (made up of teachers, staff, and parents) for all the amazing opportunities our students have had this year at our Nature and Science focus school. Look for our new mission statements, framed in every classroom, and in the main areas of the school. We truly have had a successful first year of this new adventure!

(The week's Nature and Science Corner)

WORMS AT WORK!

(Reprinted from the Thompson Education Foundation Newsletter, May 2010. Note that when they mention Leslie Hyland, one of our 3rd grade teachers, that they should have included Butterscotch Culhane and Becky Bice, our 5th grade teachers, who have really pioneered the effort that Mrs. Hyland's Creativity Grant has supported. Hooray for our Big T Teachers!!!)

Slimy, squishy, gross, and helpful? Although you may not think about it when you see them lying on the ground after a rainstorm, worms can be extremely helpful. Leslie Hyland from Big Thompson Elementary has developed a program within her 5th grade Nature and Science class that provides a creative way to encourage recycling and teach about the fascinating world of composting and worms. Even more exciting, Leslie's "Worms at Work" project has become a sustainable program that now involves the entire school!

With her Creativity Grant award, Leslie and her team of support staff have created a composting program that has reduced school lunch waste by 41% and continues to educate and support Big Thompson Elementary. Leslie's idea was to build composting centers at her school and use composting worms to help teach her 5th graders about recycling and the science behind composting with worms. With the help of John "The Worm Man" Anderson, a professional local composter, Leslie used her funds to purchase composting containers which reside in a large garden area outside the school.

This year her class has sorted trash, recyclables and composting food scraps every day at lunch. Food scraps of vegetables and fruit go into large buckets that her 5th graders take out to the worms. The students record the weight of the composted food and learn how to care for the composting worms. Leslie's class regularly composts an average of 15 pounds of food scraps every day! As the project progressed, Leslie was able to include 3rd and 4th graders in on helping with the recycling process and she says it will prepare them for taking over the more difficult role of caring for the worms when they reach 5th grade. Through her "Worms at Work" project, everyone at Big Thompson now helps Leslie and her students make a big difference in caring for the environment.