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Mission

History

Environmental Education in the City

Positive and Enduring Changes

School Collaboration

Partnerships

Program Recognition

Types of Sites:

School Orchard

Butterfly/Insectary Garden

Educational Garden

Mission
Through the EarthWorks Outdoor Classroom Program children learn to love nature while building their understanding of ecological principles. We help foster children’s sense of stewardship toward their own neighborhoods and schoolyards. We create an environmentally aware citizenship by laying the foundation in childhood for a deep appreciation of the environment. We build a greener city in which all children can live, grow, learn and play.

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History
The EarthWorks Outdoor Classroom Program was a natural outgrowth of our Urban Orchards Program. Beginning in 1990, EarthWorks planted 60 orchards in low-income neighborhoods throughout Greater Boston. 21 orchards were located in public schoolyards and other learning centers. These orchards vary in size and scope, but each provides many learning opportunities. We created programs that use the orchards to teach residents about natural food growing, harvesting, plant life cycles, and ecosystems.

In 1996, at the request of public school principals and classroom teachers, EarthWorks developed a series of informal lessons on tree care and orchard ecology. Collaborating with classroom teachers at the Hennigan Elementary School in Jamaica Plain and the Russell Elementary School in Dorchester, we piloted a series of outdoor environmental lessons focusing on the plant life cycle. These lessons grew into the Outdoor Classroom Curriculum, which was designed to meet the science learning standards of the Boston Public Schools and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Using the expertise and feedback of classroom teachers and horticultural professionals, EarthWorks environmental educators created a dynamic curriculum that connects children to the natural world and builds an enthusiasm for science study. EarthWorks maintains three types of outdoor classrooms: Orchards, insectary gardens, and educational gardens.

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Environmental Education in the City
September in the Outdoor Classroom begins with students amidst the brilliant pink, red, purple and orange flowers of the butterfly-insectary garden. As children watch insects sip nectar and transport pollen from flower to flower, the concepts of pollination and the interdependence of living beings come alive. After the first frost in October, children examine the dead flower heads in the garden and gather the seeds to plant next spring. They dissect seeds and discover the tiny plant embryos inside. Milkweed pods open, and burdock and beggars ticks turn the children’s attention to seed dispersal. They explore how and why seeds move from one place to another. As winter approaches, the children study soil and learn how composting helps keep the orchard soil rich. They begin to develop respect for the worms and other decomposers.

Through fun, study, and play, children learn about ecology, develop critical thinking, literacy and writing skills. The children make observations and predictions and use field study to find answers to their queries. The program is hands-on and exploratory and naturally compliments classroom learning. The lessons relate to the Boston Public School Science Curriculum, and help the children make connections between what they read in the classroom and see, touch, and feel outdoors. Wide, excited eyes often accompany shouts of, “I read about this in science!”

Pruning and planting are activities that focus children's energy and enthusiasm. Children love to use tools, and they thrive when trusted to use something as valuable and potentially dangerous as a pair of pruning sheers. By planting seeds and seedlings, children get to see the direct results of their work.

For many of our urban children, these experiences are their first forays into nature. City children often lack safe, open space in which to explore the environment. Many parents keep their children indoors for safety reasons. And as with children everywhere, TV, computers and video games are replacing real experiences. The schoolyard orchards and gardens provide children with a safe place to grow and explore in their own neighborhoods.

Students gain confidence as they succeed in science, a subject that many children find difficult. A comment we often hear from our students is, “I never knew science could be so fun.” And the value of our program extends beyond teaching science. Our program opens new doors for children - exposing them to new foods, subjects, attitudes, and ideas. Children also come away equipped with practical, basic gardening skills. They are taught how to safely use garden tools, prune tree branches, prepare soil for planting, make compost, map out a garden plot, plant from seeds and seedlings, gather seeds from flower heads, as well as the basics of watering, weeding, and harvesting. Students learn a wealth of valuable information and have fun in the process.

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Positive and Enduring Changes
We see profound changes in our students over the course of the school year. Many of the children start the year fearful or destructive toward the life that they encounter in the orchard. Many children break branches and trees. After two semesters in the EarthWorks Outdoor Classrooms program, they develop a real appreciation of the value of all living creatures and become protectors of the orchard. Caring for the trees is an outlet for many children. Neighborhood youth who once ripped plants out of the garden for fun, now water, weed and protect the garden and orchard crops.

A dramatic incident in April and May of 1999 demonstrates the emotional investment and sense of stewardship students develop for their school yard environment: After discovering that many of the orchard’s trees at one school had been vandalized, our students were extremely upset. They decided to make signs for the orchard’s gates. Within a week, more than 100 colorful, laminated signs covered the fences. The children’s messages were a moving testimony of their growing commitment to the natural world.

The curriculum can support powerful change. For example, EarthWorks taught a 12-week worm-composting unit to four different second grade classes. The children enjoyed the unit so much that the school investigated ways to use worm bins as part of a cafeteria food-recycling program. Following the unit, one teacher wrote that her students calmed down and were more focused when working with their worms. We also taught a unit on nutrition in this classroom, and the children were excited about growing their own sprouts and eating them for snacks instead of junk foods.

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School Collaboration
We work closely with our partner schools and classroom teachers, tailoring lessons to best meet the needs of individual classes. The schools have been extremely supportive of the Outdoor Classroom Program. Due to the pressures placed upon them, classroom teachers are often reluctant to take on extra programs. Because our program directly addresses required material, we support classroom teachers without adding to their workload or taking valuable time away from mandated topics.

Rather than creating a program to meet a short-term need, EarthWorks provides schools with a permanent resource -- the schoolyard orchard and educational gardens. These orchards will grow and thrive for years to come, representing an investment in and commitment to improved science education. We provide schools with a plan to use this resource and an established and tested curriculum that is fully aligned with city- and state-wide learning standards.

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Partnerships
As an organization, EarthWorks has a long history of building partnerships with like-minded organizations. In addition to the Boston Public Schools, two partners have been very important to the Outdoor Classroom program:

City Year is a national service organization for young adults upon which the Americorps program was based. EarthWorks works with City Year’s “Green Team” which focuses on environmental education. EarthWorks educators train City Year corps members in science, horticulture and environmental education teaching techniques, plan the year’s curriculum, and supervise the corps members as they teach the children. In return we get a dynamic, intelligent and diverse group of young people dedicated to changing the world.

The Boston Schoolyard Funders Collaborative is a public/private partnership that designs and builds schoolyards that preserve and foster children's innate sense of curiosity and give them the tools and skills needed to become lifelong learners. EarthWorks and the Boston Schoolyard Funders Collaborative are involved in outdoor learning at many of the same schools.

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Program Recognition
On Earth Day, 2000, students and teachers involved in EarthWorks' program at the James W. Hennigan Elementary School were honored in a ceremony at the State House. EarthWorks Outdoor Classroom Program received an award for Excellence in Environmental Education from Robert Durand, Massachusetts' Secretary for Environmental Affairs. EarthWorks' Hennigan program was one of only a handful of urban school groups to receive an award. Led by a Hennigan third grade teacher and EarthWorks educators, a group of 10 third grade orchard enthusiasts enjoyed exploring the State House, Boston Common, and the many stately trees on Beacon Hill.

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