Category: Education
Naturaleza por dentro
July 20, 2017Por: Eduardo Dueñas, Lead Environmental Educator | For an English version of this blog post, see here.
Siempre me encantaron los olores, colores y sabores de los dias. Yo era un nino inquieto que le gustaba levantar piedras en el patio de mi casa para ver que sorpresa me esperaba. Ese mismo nino que corria afuera cada vez que llovia para poder oler la tierra mojada.
Un nino que durante los partido de futbol le gustaba chupar pedazos de cesped y tirar piedras al rio.
Desde muy temprana edad me interesaron las plantas y los animales, gustos que me llevaron a…
Nature from Within | Naturaleza por dentro
July 20, 2017By Eduardo Dueñas, Lead Environmental Educator | Para una versión en Español de este post, por favor ver aquí.
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved the scents, colors, and surprises of each day. I was a curious child who always liked to pick up rocks in the yard of my house to see what surprise awaited me underneath- a colorful beetle, a squirmy worm, or a family of ants. That same curiosity drove me to run outside everytime it rained to feel the rain and smell wet earth. I was the curious kid who would suck…
Prescribing Nature in Philadelphia
June 28, 2017By Aaliyah Green Ross, Director of Education
Dr. Chris Renjilian, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) pediatrician, sees nature and play as essential parts of his primary care practice. But he worries that his guidance isn’t always enough. NaturePHL is about to change that. With NaturePHL, pediatricians like Dr. Renjilian will be prescribing nature to children across the city.
This summer marks the official launch of NaturePHL, a collaborative program that helps Philadelphia children and families achieve better health through outdoor activity. It’s a collaborative involving four core partners - the Schuylkill Center, CHOP, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, and the United…
Nature: Fostering children’s social interactions
May 26, 2017By Rachel Baltuch, Nature Preschool Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our nature preschool program. Read more posts here.
While researching the effects of unstructured play time in nature for young children, I discovered that the benefits are vast and encompass most aspects of children’s development. Play time in nature tends to affect children’s cognitive development, which includes intellectual learning, problem solving skills, and creative inquiry, and can lead to increased concentration, greater attention capacities and higher academic performance.[1] These children also demonstrate “more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility, and they are sick less often.[2]
Additionally,…
My Path to Nature Education
March 16, 2017By Nicole Brin, Sycamore Classroom Lead Teacher
Editor's Note: This post was originally published by Pennsylvania Land Trust Association for their series on conserved lands, like the Schuylkill Center, in communities around the state.
Rows of stuffed animals- bears, bunnies, dogs, lions- all lined up in the grass of my suburban Connecticut backyard as they got ready to start their school day. Their teacher, eight-year-old me, prepared to teach them all the things that I already knew in the wisdom of my few childhood years. I made attendance sheets, created lesson, and planned field trips to the garden behind our…
Book Review: The Hidden Life of a Toad
March 15, 2017By Claire Morgan, Volunteer Coordinator
Doug Wechsler’s children’s book The Hidden Life of a Toad (Charlesbridge, hardcover, 2017), released just this week, explores what happens in this mysterious process called metamorphosis - from eggs to tadpoles, tadpoles to toads. Amazing photos and descriptions walk you through this phenomenon day-by-day. Doug has witnessed the annual event of toad migration that takes place each spring at the Upper Roxborough Reservoir Preserve, across the street from the Schuylkill Center, where they spend the winter in the forest. Each year volunteers gather for Toad Detour, a citizen scientists program to help the toads to safety cross…
Put that phone away!
February 16, 2017By Damien Ruffner, School Programs Manager
June 29th, 2007 changed the world forever: This is not the date of a presidential election, or the start or end of a military conflict. It’s not the day humans first traveled into space, or discovered some profound scientific theory. Think smaller, about 4 inches to be exact. It’s the date the first iPhone was released. And here we are, one decade into the smartphone generation.
The aspect of my position at the Schuylkill Center that takes up the most time every year is the Adventure Treks summer camp program, and specifically the 10-12…
On The Circuit: 6th annual Richard L. James lecture
February 7, 2017By Elisabeth Zafiris, Acting Director of Education
On February 23rd the Schuylkill Center will welcome Robert Thomas, a founder and principal of Campbell Thomas & Co. Architects and Planners, as our 6th Annual Richard L. James Lecturer. This year we’ll be talking about The Circuit – a remarkable network spanning the region and connecting urban, suburban, and rural communities.
Thomas dedicated over 40 years advocating for parks, trails, and greenways, planning and building the green infrastructure that Philadelphians and visitors are fortunate enough to call their own. Thomas served on the original committee that created the Schuylkill River Trail, and…
Children Need Nature: An Emergent Curriculum Study
January 30, 2017By Kristina Eaddy, Sweet Gum Classroom Lead Teacher
Children Need Nature is a monthly blog column from our Nature Preschool program. Read more posts here.
Why do leaves change colors? What is under the frozen ice? And where do birds go during the winter? These are questions we hear every day, as Nature Preschool teachers. Young children’s minds are full of wonders and questions, trying to learn about, connect with, and understand the world they are surrounded by.
At Nature Preschool, we nurture this natural curiosity in young children by following the emergent curriculum approach. The goal of an emergent curriculum is…
Bringing Nature into the Classroom
January 17, 2017By Damien Ruffner, School Programs Manager
Here at the Schuylkill Center, we set yearly themes. It doesn’t necessarily dictate all of our goals and events throughout the year. Rather it is an ongoing conversation that the staff members have that consequently is reflected in our programming. In 2015 we marked our 50th anniversary, working these celebrations into many aspects of our work. In 2016 our theme was climate change. For 2017 the conversation around the Center is “What does environmental education look like in the 21st century?” It’s a simple enough question, but the answer is not so simple. We’re so…
