Jul 5
Big idea comes to life at Hughes High School
Big ideas and big support can create big change for schools. Starting with the initial vision of a single teacher and bolstered by a donation from the YMCA, Hughes High School and the McMillan Community Garden have developed a successful outdoor learning center. The garden provides hands-on learning opportunities ranging from STEM offerings to sustainability and nutrition. Science classes, intercessions, Career Tech Pathways, after-school clubs and summer programs have all taken advantage of the space, which has grown continuously since its inception. It is currently outfitted with 21 community plots, 5 contour beds, over a dozen fruit trees, a compost…
Apr 20
Green Schoolyard Success Contest Winners
Last month, the Leave No Child Inside Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati held a contest to collect success stories about how local schools are using their outdoor environments as a teaching tool. Entries ranged from school gardens to field studies to playscapes, but all were amazing examples of the effective use of outdoor spaces. Using criteria such as student involvement, enthusiasm and variety of learning opportunities, we have selected two winners: the Academy of Multilingual Immersion Studies (AMIS), a Cincinnati Public Schools magnet school located near Roselawn, and Cincinnati Country Day School in Indian Hill. AMIS has embraced the garden beds…
Sep 20
New!!! Infographics Available
As more and more research emerges confirming the value of spending time outdoors, it’s become a challenge to share the multitude of benefits in the sound-bites that we 21st century humans expect. Newly published infographics do just that! The Children & Nature Network put together a team of nationally recognized experts to vet research on the topic for its new Green Schoolyards for Healthy Communities report and condensed that information in to a series of four infographics on Mental Health, Physical Activity, Value of Play and Academic Performance. These great communication pieces are also available for download in poster size. Wouldn’t…
Apr 14
Nature-Based Education Growing
Green schoolyards provide a sensory-rich environment for learning which is shown to help students focus their attention and increase their engagement, while providing a myriad of physical and mental health benefits. Two recent news stories highlight nature-based learning: The Cincinnati Enquirer reported on a Forest Kindergarten in Yellow Springs, Ohio and the CBS Morning Show featured author Richard Louv at the Chattahoochee Charter School, a nature-based school where test scores are exceeding both the national and regional averages. Leave No Child Inside is working with local schools to encourage outdoor learning and we look forward to announcing progress on that front in the coming months! In…
May 2
Childhood Without Trees?
TREES!!! Filmmaker wants your stories “I remember having a low-branched mulberry tree in our backyard as a child. We would throw sheets over its branches and it was instantly transformed into base camp for the neighborhood “archaeology dig” where we found shards of china that we were certain must have fallen off the wagons as the pioneers travelled west in their wagon trains. By night, it became the site of many a ghost story as we huddled close with our flashlights, wrapped in blankets to stave off the chill. Imaginations ran wild and friendships grew strong in our ‘tree tent’.…
Aug 31
Back to School!
SCHOOL PROGRAM FINDER: Free Resource for Teachers LNCIgc’s new School Program Finder is a one-stop shop for anyone looking for school and after-school nature-based or environmental education outreach programs, field trips and camps. The School Program Finder lists dozens of local programs and allows you to search by topic, grade level, cost and more. We encourage you to conduct your school and after-school programs outside whenever possible! If you’d like help “greening” your school grounds or connecting with nearby nature for outdoor education, please contact us – we would love to help. THREE GREAT IDEAS FOR TEACHERS You Can Get Your Students…
May 20
Retired Teacher Pilots Outdoor Adventure Clubs for Urban High School Students
Denny McFadden is a retired teacher whose dream was to introduce urban youth to the great outdoors. “For many years while teaching in the Cincinnati Public School district, I facilitated annual team building canoe trips for students and fellow teachers. During those outdoor adventures, I witnessed a number of amazing things happen among our students and staff. Lots of kids and adults who had never paddled a canoe struggled mightily. Some became increasingly frustrated and discouraged as they tried to keep their boats upright and pointed downstream. Eventually, however, the skills of each and every paddler improved, and as we…
Dec 13
Re-thinking the traditional playground
In response to the growing body of evidence presented in Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, there is wide-spread recognition that children benefit in a variety of ways from unstructured play in a natural setting – not just physically, but also in terms of cognitive development, mental health and social development. This awareness has led to the development of Nature Playscapes, intended to allow groups of children to experience the natural world, as it has been experienced by generations before them, in a safe, public setting. In Cincinnati, we have what is…
Nov 19
Safe Routes to School Project Connects Kids to Nature
Programs that get kids moving safely through neighborhoods are integral to healthy communities and assist in connecting kids to nearby nature. Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a national program designed to assess conditions and facilitate in improving them so students are able to safely walk and bike to school. The program engages community partners in the process. Here in Cincinnati, we are fortunate that Cincinnati Public Schools has a district-wide SRTS initiative which not only gets kids moving, but also reduces transportation costs and improves neighborhoods…
Jun 27
Fifth Quarter Project a Success
Cincinnati Public Schools Fifth Quarter Program Includes EarthSmart Institute Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents. Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents In an innovative program designed to stem the loss of learning that takes place during the summer for many students, Cincinnati Public Schools offered a Fifth Quarter, targeting grades K-7 at thirteen* schools. The voluntary program included enrichment opportunities intended to close the achievement gap between low-income and more economically advantaged students. A recent Johns Hopkins University study found that 65 percent of the achievement gap between poor and more advantaged…
