Leadership

Leadership graphic

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Healthy Earth, Healthy Lives, Help Save the Rainforests became the theme for this past year’s EarthMonth at Esek Hopkins Middle School. Both capturing the middle school concept of “Healthy Lives” and exploiting the logical and “real” connection to the environment (e.g., If the earth isn’t healthy, we can’t be healthy!), the issues of the rainforest were the focal point of a month of educational and environmental activities. These activities were school-wide and included: essays, posters, poetry contests, a letter writing campaign about environmental issues, pen pal letters to our adopted school (in the Peruvian Amazon), clean-up-a-thon (to raise money for our adopted school), painting two very large murals of the rainforest, field trips, daily EarthFacts, assemblies, and an EarthMonth dance.

Teachers, parents, students, community, and our Partner in Education all worked together to bring these programs to life. Donations from various businesses provided the prizes and awards for all the activities. Students not only learned about the rainforest, but now have taken an active role in positively influencing their future. In addition, they have become politically aware, and socially responsible.

Santa Iadevaia, Providence, RI

I came home from the Educator’s Workshop with over 1,200 slides. (After all, everything is a photo opportunity.) I found I was spending a great deal of time rearranging my slides for presentations to different groups with different time requirements. I finally numbered all the usable slides and then made lists of the numbers for different purposes such as “Plants and Animals of the Amazon - 1 Hr.” or “Problems in Amazonia, 30 min.” Now I can quickly prepare for slide talks to different types of audiences.

Joan Osburn, Merom, IN

I have continued to do slide presentations to area schools. Each year I start my second grade students out with a unit on the rainforest followed by a program presented to the parents.

Sue Eudaly, Rolla, MO

I put together a school-wide math meet during Earthweek, which in the seventh grade had a math and environmentally related activity for each academic subject.

May Moore, Yaupon Beach, NC

After the Amazon Workshop, I had the chance to lead a group of students through the rainforest. They left their boots, ponchos, bug spray, and collecting nets behind - all they needed was their imagination. We trekked through towering plants while we listened to the sound of birds singing and frogs croaking. We encountered piranhas and snakes, as well as mammals, birds, and insects indigenous to the rainforest. All this took place, not in the depths of the Amazon, but in the library at Jeffrey’s Grove Elementary School. I was interested in translating my rainforest experience to share with as many people as possible. I obtained a grant from the Wake Education Partnership to start the project, then enlisted horticulturalists, experts from the Carnivore Preservation and Trust, the Health Department, the Nature Conservancy, and many others. Willing parents lent a hand building, among other things, a giant Kapok tree for our exhibit. Students made binoculars out of toilet rolls, masks, and music. Plants on loan created biological corridors featuring birds. Classes from art, phys ed, music, and all subjects were involved. The event, covered by local media, focused community attention on the state of our worldwide rainforests, generated enthusiasm among students, and heightened interest in learning.

Mary Ellen Cardenas, Cary, NC)