Teachers' Lounge

Plan a Waterbody Cleanup

2012-10-05T14:48:58Z

Your school is located near some body of water, whether its a neighborhood creek where the local kids splash around on a summer day, a trout stream, a pond or lake at a local park. Start planning a water body clean up day with your kids. Good chance you can get members of the community involved. Make the conservation of habitat an important lesson for the kids in your program.

Getting TIC kids involved in hands-on conservation projects

2011-03-03T12:49:15Z

Not sure where to place this topic, but for any of our TIC teachers interested in getting your students involved directly with hands-on conservation projects, I work extensively within the Musconetcong watershed (parts of Sussex, Morris, Warren, and Hunterdon Counties in northwest NJ) and often have need for volunteers. I fully realize the constraints of today’s budgetary issues with busing students pretty much anywhere, but they can come out on weekends on their own if so motivated. I love to plan one day projects where kids plant and cage native trees and shrubs along the Musconetcong River and its tributaries. One day we had 85 students from Holland Township School’s 8th grade class out to plant more than 400 trees and shrubs in Finesville above the obsolete dam we are about to remove in that area.

Connecting youth to their natural environment is not only lacking in today’s society, but it is what TIC is all about! Getting them to understand the importance of clean, cold water by planting a tree along a river bank is a simple and effective way to reach young hearts and minds….

If any teachers or administrators are interested, I can be contacted here: BCowden at tu dot org

TIC reference in book

2010-07-21T11:51:18Z

Hi everyone,

I just finished reading a fascinating book called “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder”. It’s a clever title for a wonderful and informative book. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the interaction between children and nature. (I guess that’s anyone reading this.)

There is a chapter in the book on the Nature Education Movement. This movement highlights the urgent need to incorporate nature-based knowledge into the curriculum. Suddenly, I was reading about the genesis of the TIC program!

Back then (1999), one school tried to recreate a trout stream in the classroom, complete with chiller, plants and macroinvertebrates. Has anyone else tried to add plants or other fauna? Have you been successful?

Sheryl Bergman, St. Rose High School, Belmar