{"id":11823,"date":"2017-07-15T14:42:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T18:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/?p=11823"},"modified":"2018-03-23T12:35:39","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T16:35:39","slug":"outdoor-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/2017\/07\/15\/outdoor-education\/","title":{"rendered":"Outdoor Education: Inspiring Tomorrow&#8217;s Environmental Changemakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"669\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cFLXU4CGdIM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bringing Students Outside the School Walls<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_11855\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11855\" class=\"wp-image-11855 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Girl-Planting_bright-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"Sixth grade student planting a tree\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Girl-Planting_bright-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Girl-Planting_bright-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11855\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>A sixth grade student plants a tree to support the stormwater drain system in a local AAC community.<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Outdoor education is an important part of every AACPS\u00a0student&#8217;s education. Recognizing the importance of getting students outside of the classroom, the Office of Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education creates unique opportunities for students to get\u00a0down and dirty as they explore the world around them. With\u00a0overnight camps at Arlington Echo, neighborhood plantings at Chesapeake Connections, and nature walks at Camp Woodlands, each experiences asks students to apply what they&#8217;ve learned in their core subjects (math, science, etc.)\u00a0while also expanding what students know\u00a0about the\u00a0ecosystem and environmental preservation.<\/p>\n<p>At the\u00a0backbone of these programs\u00a0is the dedicated Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education\u00a0team. From\u00a0coordinators to\u00a0Outdoor Education specialists to the custodians at Arlington Echo, every member of this team uses their passion for the environment to create meaningful experiences for our students.\u00a0Ted Hall, a member of Arlington Echo&#8217;s 4th Grade development team, might capture it best when he says, &#8220;We run these [programs]\u00a0to connect kids to nature. That&#8217;s why we do this&#8211;not to watch something, but to do something.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most notable about the Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education team is their commitment to inspiring\u00a0students at any age\u00a0to make a different. This is because the heart of the program is not about teaching students facts.\u00a0Instead, it is about helping students explore their relationship with the environment so they can understand how their actions&#8211;and the actions of those around them&#8211;can impact the environment.\u00a0Every outdoor education experience represents a call to action.\u00a0Whether planting grasses in the Chesapeake Bay to creating recycling programs at their school, students\u00a0are empowered to become the changemakers our world needs to preserve the environment.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Bringing the Outdoors Into the Curriculum<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_11826\" style=\"width: 184px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11826\" class=\"wp-image-11826 \" src=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Butterfly-Garden-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"174\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Butterfly-Garden-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Butterfly-Garden-66x66.jpg 66w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 174px) 100vw, 174px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11826\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>First grade students learn about the life cycles and\u00a0habitat\u00a0of Monarch butterflies. <\/em><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p>While\u00a0the Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education office is best known for the experiences they provide in the field, their in-school curricular units are equally important at ensuring that students are exposed to environmental literacy at every grade level. Connected to units in science and social studies, students investigate real problems that are threatening the environment in our backyard and\u00a0learn\u00a0how they can make a different today so that they can protect tomorrow&#8217;s environment. Some of\u00a0the investigation topics include:\u00a0<em>What&#8217;s the Trouble with Trash?<\/em> (PreKindergarten),\u00a0<em>How Cool is Composting?<\/em> (Grade 3), <em>How are Humans Affecting Global Climate?<\/em> (Grade 8), and\u00a0<em>How should governments collaborate to create policies to project ecosystems like the Chesapeake Bay<\/em> (High School Government).<\/p>\n<p>Want to learn more? Watch our video to go behind the scenes\u00a0with students and teachers to learn how Outdoor Education experiences are inspiring students to become tomorrow&#8217;s environmental changemakers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-11677\" src=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Arlington-Echo-header.png\" alt=\"What do you love about Arlington Echo?\" width=\"800\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Arlington-Echo-header.png 800w, https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Arlington-Echo-header-300x94.png 300w, https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Arlington-Echo-header-768x240.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Do you have a story about Arlington Echo or Outdoor Education that you want to share?<a href=\"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/arlington-echo\/\">\u00a0Click here to share your story.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Outdoor education is an important part of every AACPS student&#8217;s education. Recognizing the importance of getting students outside of the classroom, the Office of Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education creates unique opportunities for students to get down and dirty as they explore the world around them. At the backbone of these programs is the dedicated Environmental Literacy and Outdoor Education team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001013,"featured_media":11858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behindthescenes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11823"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11860,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11823\/revisions\/11860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aacpsschools.org\/development\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}