Students teaching respect for nature

WATERVILLE — For several years now, a group of Colby College students has taken time out of busy schedules to help the community.

As part of the college’s Environmental Council, the program tries to teach children in first through third grades about the importance of caring for the environment.

Volunteers are assigned to specific classes at the Brookside School, and each day of the week two or three Colby students stop by for an hour or so with stories, games and activities designed to foster a greater respect for nature.

The current coordinators of the Environmental Education program, senior Michelle Mathai and junior Debbie Norris, strongly believe in the importance of getting to children at a young age.

“This generation is certainly getting a lot more exposure to environmental issues,” said Mathai. “It is becoming more and more of a primary concern to them. … For us and our parents, this has only been a recent thing. … But these kids are being taught right from the beginning and that really can help to make a difference.”

Norris hopes that what the children learn from the environmental education will stick with them now and as they get older.

“When the kids go home and remind their parents to recycle or turn off lights to save energy, we know that what we are doing is very worthwhile,” said Norris.

Former coordinator Ashley Weld notes, “We are not trying to make environmentalists out of the children, we are providing an opportunity for them to be exposed to and explore nature. Using creative curriculums, hands-on activities and open-ended questions, we want the children to think for themselves. We want to try to instill in them a sense of responsibility. This will help to encourage a greater respect, concern and appreciation for the environment.”

Projects such as putting together a “web of life” give children a chance to see how plants and animals interact and are dependent on each other. By constructing food chains that connect trees with animals, then link those animals to people, the children see how ecosystems are like giant puzzles. If one piece is destroyed, then the whole puzzle begins to fall apart.

Other activities that have been done in the past include planting trees, making recycling bins, and watching over “litter-free zones” in their neighborhoods.

For an animal report, each student chooses a favorite animal and writes a couple of paragraphs to be shared with the rest of the class.

Janet Morris, a third-grade teacher at the Brookside School, said the reports not only teach the children about animals, but also help them to develop library research skills and give them the chance to use computers in writing reports.

When a report is ready to be printed, with a little help from Morris, the children can place a computer image of their chosen animal at the top of the page. The final product is a snappy-looking fact sheet that can be saved and shown to parents.

Stories are also big hits with the children. Mathai says that books such as “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss and “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein always stimulate discussion.

Kathleen Harvey, assistant principal of the Brookside School, said that the Environmental Education program provides a valuable opportunity for the children to “broaden their horizons, understand how we can make our environment safe, have fun and learn some science along the way.”

Colby Environmental Education volunteers visit eight of the 28 classes at the Brookside School. With more volunteers, Mathai and Norris hope that they will be able to reach out to even more children.

Harvey notes the benefits of the children’s contact with Colby students. She said that when the children talk to college students in a relatively relaxed setting, pursing a higher education is presented in a positive manner.

Mathai said, “Who knows, maybe one of these kids will go on to invent a new energy-saving machine all because they found an interest in the environment at an early age.”