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Greening Our Schools
The Nebraska
Department of Education says our state has about 1,250 public and private
schools and 24,000 teachers serving 295,000 students. Nebraska schools are
the place where most Nebraska youth learn much of their information about fish,
wildlife, and our natural world.
Our
2011 Wildlife Week educational materials focus on the opportunities to bring
nature to the classroom door through outdoor classrooms; make our public and private schools better models for
sustainable energy, water use, and recycling; improve environmental education
curriculum;
and involve the community in making positive changes.
If you have a creek or pond nearby, Adopt
a Stream may also be a good fit for your school. Throughout these pages are
links to organizations, materials and web sites that focus on ways to
engage students in the natural world and improve your school.
We also invite Nebraska 4th, 5th
and 6th grade students to enter our annual Wildlife Week Poster Contest.
Our poster contest is based on the theme, "Wildlife Moves Me to..."
and
is designed to get students thinking about the actions they are inspired to take
because of wildlife. See the
new 2012 Wildlife Week poster contest information here.
Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center
is an 808-acre tallgrass prairie nature preserve located 20 minutes southwest of
Lincoln. With miles of hiking trails, native prairie, ponds and wetlands, a
diverse assortment of birds and other wildlife, and even historic
nineteenth-century wagon train ruts, the Center provides education programs on
site year-round. More here...
The
Central Platte Natural Resource District
works to protect groundwater and surface water, reduce flood threats and
soil erosion, create and protect wildlife habitat, and educate children and
adults to use natural resources wisely. The District's territory stretches along
the Central Platte River from Gothenburg to Columbus. It provides grants for
outdoor classrooms and environmental education activities, participates in the
Nebraska Children's Groundwater Festival, supports the Adventure Camp about the
Environment, and helps teachers attend training sessions.
More here...
The
Ian Nicholson Center at Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary
is located on the banks of the Platte River, at the heart of the Central Flyway.
Each year in March and early April, the Sanctuary hosts tens of thousands of
Sandhill cranes, ducks and geese migrating north. The Center provides unique,
experienced-based education for school classes as well as families. The Center's
web site also provides programs that help teachers bring outdoor learning to
their classroom. More information here...
The
United States Fish & Wildlife Service
is the federal agency charged with responsibility for the National Wildlife
Refuge System, the federal Endangered Species Act, and in general fish and
wildlife at the federal level. In addition to federal Wildlife Refuges in
Nebraska, the Service operates a Nebraska Ecological Services office in Grand
Island. More here...
The
National Wildlife Federation is now the
United States host organization for Eco-Schools USA. This
international program helps students, teachers and communities green their
school inside, outside and throughout the curriculum. NWF also has a Schoolyard
Habitat Program that helps schools make a place for wildlife in their
schoolyard. More here...
Special thanks to the following for their
support of Wildlife Week 2011:
Kuba Travnicek Jean Henke Dr. Marian Maas
Omaha
Kearney
Omaha
Laura Tegtmeier
Bruce & Marge Kennedy
Lincoln
Malcolm
Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary |
