School yard habitat allows Nathanael Greene students to observe nature

Students at Nathanael Greene Elementary School are being afforded a unique opportunity to observe nature through observation by creating a schoolyard habitat. Ms. Kate Kraus, the art teacher at NGES, is helping students construct the habitat, which is behind the school. Plans include a small pond, seven mini-habitats, and a tracking box to observe various animal tracks.
Ms. Kraus wrote and received an educational grant from the Virginia Classroom Grants Program. Dale Dudley's company, D & D Lawn Care donated mulch to give the students a nice place to sit while they observe the habitat during art classes. Also assisting Ms. Kraus in developing the grant are Carol Heiser from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; The Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society; Stephanie Denicola of the Culpeper Soil and Water Conservation District; and Geoffrey Brown, a mushroom bioremediation researcher.
The project will address science and art SOLs with 3rd and 5th grade Science classes. Ms. Kraus' Art classes and the ecology club will utilize sketch books to document their observations.
The seven mini-habitats are based on the Kamana Naturalist program. In the Kamana program, nature awareness and observation take place in a circular area 100 paces in diameter. Because it isn't possible to have a wilderness space of this size on school property, the concept has been shrunk to the size of a hula hoop. Students will see what grows and lives as the miniature habitat evolves.
The concept of the tracking box comes from Tom Brown, Jr's Tracking and Awareness School. Students will use this box to see how life forms leave their imprint on the earth. We often walk through an area and are not aware of the abundance of life in existence because we fail to see it. With this habitat perhaps the students will see the awesome grandeur in the tiny things we pass by every day.
Ms. Kraus reports that the habitat should be fully operational in about two weeks. Be sure to keep an eye on Nathanael Greene Elementary School's website for an opening announcement.