Five Hawks Elementary School in Prior Lake is surrounded by 33 acres of prairie, wetlands and forest. Though the land had been used informally by teachers for the past 20 years, recent donations have allowed it to become a formal part of the class day.
This year, Five Hawks classrooms are visited by the new school naturalist, Cara Rieckenberg, who brings students into the Five Hawks Outdoor Learning Center to give them a hands-on approach to learning. The school also has an environmental education coordinator, Jim Hughes.
The two positions are funded by the Jeffers Foundation as part of a grant of $150,000 a year for five years for curriculum. Funded by the estate of Robert W. Jeffers, the foundation aims to teach children about the environment.
Rieckenberg said she and Hughes are creating the curriculum, in line with state education standards. About three classes each day study nature up close in the Outdoor Learning Center.
"Kids learn so much better when they're experiencing than when they're looking at a two-dimensional book," Rieckenberg said.
For example, first-graders can take cotton balls into the prairie and find items in nature that have similar characteristics, she said.
"We can take math classes out there and take measurements of trees instead of sitting at a desk," Hughes said.
The foundation has plans to expand this program to other schools in the Prior Lake-Savage district and around the state, said executive director Margaret Cronin"If we get something that really clicks, we hope to take it as far as we can," she said.
The foundation partners with other environmental organizations to bring in resources, from matching grants to naturalists to maintenance of the nature parks, Cronin said.
The Five Hawks Outdoor Learning Center has come in phases, Hughes said, including buying some land and building trails, a gazebo and an amphitheater. Educating students amongst the trees and prairie grass is the last phase.
"So much of the environment is changing, especially in our area," Rieckenberg said. "It's important for [the students] to know what's out there. I love it when they're recognizing that this is their surrounding world."Minneapolis Star Tribune
