To enlist the help of the students at John Adams Elementary School to become "Stewards of their environment." First, by teaching the students which animals, insects, trees, and plants live in their community they can better understand their need to take care of their school campus and the surrounding community. Once the students are more knowledgable they may become more invested.
The project will start by showing each class BrainPOP-Jane Goodall, then Segway into relevant questions about their community/environment. Questions such as; What is erosion, what is the difference between a spider and an insect, why do some plants have thorns, name 4 animals or insects indigenous to our environment in Alexandria, name 5 things you can do to help the environment, Google 3 parks within 10 miles of our school, etc. Each class will go on a nature walk on the Buddy Ford Nature Trail directly behind the school. The children will observe the environment surrounding their campus and complete the "scavenger hunt-questions" as they go. At the end of the walk there will be a follow up discussion about how they can be sure to do the 5 things they named which they can do daily for the environment (which they listed previously) and how they can help others by gently sharing this experience and their new "job" as environmental stewards at John Adams.
