Ed Season
Education season is in full swing here in Manchester! Our nine teaching teams are spending their days in various Manchester and Allenstown fourth and fifth grade classrooms incorporating environmental education into the existing science curriculum. By the end of the 10 week education program, our corps members will have developed and implemented environmental education curriculum for over 800 students! Our goal is to create lifelong learners and we try to do that by utilizing inquiry-based learning. By creating lessons that require the students to answer questions, create hypotheses and theories, and test their questions we help the students become owners of the questions and the knowledge they gain from answering those questions. Another part of our programming is to integrate as much place-based learning into our lessons as possible. Our corps members have created lessons focused on topics such as New Hampshire geology, native flora and fauna, and habitats of New England. Our education season culminates in a series of Service Learning Projects (SLP), with at least one being completed at each school we are stationed in. The SLP’s are a chance for the students to practice Earth Stewardship by applying what they have learned into a project that benefits their school or community. These projects oftentimes have long-lasting impact in the school and become a beacon and reminder for the students, teachers, and staff that being an Earth Steward is as rewarding as it is beneficial for everyone.
