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Spring
2000 Vol.
11 No. 1
Nature
Center Home Page
Cecil County Arts Council Helps Bring "A Winter's Tale" to Kindergartens
Thanks to a grant from the Cecil County Arts Council, Fair Hill Nature Center staff was able to visit with 21 county kindergarten classes this winter with its Outreach program, "A Winter's Tale." The program combines theater and science as the children explore how native animals cope with the winter season in our region. Student volunteers dress in costume and the whole class participates in the play.
Afterwards, the children rotate among interactive learning stations that reinforce the lesson presented in the play. Contact the Nature Center for more information on having "A Winter's Tale" come to your child's classroom next January or February.
In keeping with its goal to provide environmental education experiences that complement the Cecil County Public School System's science curriculum, the Nature Center has undertaken a big project to review and update its curriculum offerings. Several of these new programs will ready for the fall 2000 season.
Cecil County has recently initiated a new science curriculum that is being introduced in stages to elementary and middle grades over a three year period. Education Director Holly Hannum, consultant Karen Aspinwall, and members of the teaching staff are working closely with Marsha Lauck, K-8 Science Resource Teacher for CCPS (and Nature Center board member), in the revision process. Marsha sees this effort as a "true partnership" between the Nature Center and school system. "We are working hand in hand to develop programs which complement and enrich our inquiry-based science program in the schools."
The role of the Center is to bring the classroom investigations into a "real world" setting so students studying life in a terrarium or aquarium can make connections about life in the woods and streams of local environments like Fair Hill. Nature Center programs have always been designed to reinforce what students are being taught in the classroom as well as expand their learning with the unique resources and expertise we have at Fair Hill. A special article featuring the new programs will appear in the fall issue of Habitats.
