Category: Education
Children Need Nature: Jardín de Español
March 1, 2018
By Eduardo Dueñas, Environmental Educator
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
In the course of my week, I have the opportunity to give a Spanish class to the kindergarten class at the Schuylkill Center. I honestly can’t hide my happiness when I enter the classroom and see children eager to practice and learn new words in Spanish—words that they use every time when they pass by me in the hall. I am amazed at the speed and retention that a child of four or five years has when learning a new language. Ideally,…
Four Black-led Initiatives Nourishing a Greener Philadelphia
February 23, 2018Happy Black History Month! This February, we’ve been honoring Black leaders in the environmental movement.
Here are four of the many Philadelphia-based environmental initiatives led by Black educators, healers, scientists and activists you can support not just this month, but all year round.
(more…)
Children Need Nature: Rainy Day Hike
February 22, 2018
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
Activity: Rainy Day Hike
You will need:
Rain gear
Raincoat
Umbrella
Hat
Rain boots
What to do:
On a rainy day (either during or after the rain stops), go outside and take a walk around your neighborhood. Follow the path of rainwater from your roof, your doorstep, or the sidewalk in front of your house. Where does it lead?
Is the water carrying anything with it? Where do you think these objects end up?
Notice areas where the water puddles. Why do puddles form in some places but…
School District Partnerships Bring Outdoor Education to Classrooms
February 8, 2018
By Damien Ruffner, School Programs Manager
One year ago, the Schuylkill Center entered a partnership with Extended School Day Care Center (ESCC), an organization in the Norristown School District that provides extracurricular programming to families in the Norristown community. This mentorship program connects Schuylkill Center educators with district students, allowing us to bring the wonders of the natural world into an afterschool setting far away from our forest. (more…)
2018 is the Year of Water
December 28, 2017
By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
“When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.”
Ben Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac
Water is essential, both to our planet and to our programming. School groups search for living creatures in our ponds while Nature Preschoolers stomp through puddles and play in the mud kitchen. Summer campers hike along creeks, raft in whitewater, and snorkel in the ocean, while University of Nature adults discuss global water issues.
This will happen even more in the New Year, as 2018 will be the Year of Water across our programming. We’ll begin with the Richard L.…
Children Need Nature: The Art of Tree Climbing
December 21, 2017
By Alyssa Maley, Lead Preschool Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
I remember the moment during my childhood when I developed a bond with my favorite climbing tree on my front lawn—a Japanese maple. This tree was particularly challenging because it did not have lower branches. I had to jump up, grab a branch, and then swing my legs up moving my body like a monkey. Then I used my upper body strength to pull myself to begin the vertical climb. I have so many fond memories of tree climbing—I spoke to fairies,…
Rain Yard through the years
December 7, 2017By Christina Catanese, Director of Environmental Art and Liz Jelsomine, Exhibitions Coordinator
Editor’s note: The Schuylkill Center produced a wall calendar for 2017 in celebration of the environmental art program. Throughout the year, we’ll run a monthly post on our blog highlighting the art works featured in that month of the calendar.
Rain Yard is an interactive artwork by Stacy Levy that has been on display in the Schuylkill Center’s Sensory Garden since October 2013. Rain Yard provides a function of mitigating stormwater runoff from our building, while highlighting the critical role soil and plants play in the water cycle.…
Children Need Nature: Joining State Standards with Natural Learning
November 23, 2017By Nicole Brin, Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
The inaugural Kindergarten class here at Nature Preschool is deep into its third month of school. If you walk into the classroom you will notice the book corner, art studio, block area, science and math manipulatives, and many other learning centers typical to an Early Childhood classroom. More likely however, you will be drawn to the more homey aspects of the room--the number line made from acorns and sticks, the wall of photographed discoveries, or the shelf of beetles, millipedes,…
The Norristown Program: Mentoring the next generation of environmental leaders
October 17, 2017By Damien Ruffner, School Programs Manager
In February of 2017 the Schuylkill Center entered a partnership with ESCC, or the Extended School Day Center. A vital program in Norristown, Pennsylvania that provides before-care and after-care for the youth in eight elementary schools in Norristown. Our partnership allows education staff to work with two of these schools to enrich their education while providing mentorship to students.
This Norristown mentorship program is something that is very near and dear to my heart. Not only is it one of the largest and most ambitious outreaches we have done, but the program brings environmental…
Redefining School
August 17, 2017by Nicole Brin, Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education
Preface: The past 7 years teaching young children have taught me more about myself, our education system, and human nature as a whole than I could ever have imagined when starting out. The most recent 4 years spent teaching with the Schuylkill Center Nature Preschool have broadened my views of what is possible in the world of education and led me to the next step in my professional journey. As I move out of the classroom and into the role of Assistant Director of Early Childhood Education, I hope to learn, share, and…
