River Rangers: Fourth Graders Take Learning Out into the Field

This spring, nine local classrooms of fourth graders have already taken learning outside through hands-on investigations along familiar streams and rivers. With nature as their classroom, the students and their teachers pulled on waders, seined for aquatic life, performed chemical tests, analyzed ancient artifacts, restored stream banks, and celebrated their place in local watershed with poems. As participants in River Rangers program, the young scientists investigated water quality and took action as environmental citizens. According to fourth grader Julian at Waddell, “I really enjoyed testing Sarah’s Run creek and seeing how clean it was and going in Wood’s Creek wearing boots and catching bugs. Even though I lost my watch,” he admitted, “ I still had a good time.”

Julian and the approximately 150 other students from Waddell, Natural Bridge, and Fairfield have been the first to pull on their waders this season. Another 170 fourth graders from Central, Kling, Enderly Heights, and Mountain View will complete their field study days later in the season. Facilitated by Boxerwood Nature Center, the River Rangers program arises from an ongoing collaboration between Boxerwood, the three local school divisions, and a diverse array of community partners and funders. Project goals are to increase environmental literacy, citizenship, and stewardship among young learners through meaningful engagement in the natural world. The program has grown over the years and this year for the first time involves one hundred percent of all fourth grade classrooms in Buena Vista, Lexington, and Rockbridge County.

“It’s a big, exciting project that gets rave reviews from students, parents, and teachers,” notes Elise Sheffield, who notes preparation for the spring investigations begins back in the fall. As part of the curriculum, fourth grade teachers introduce students to watershed concepts in classwork aligned with state science standards. Each classroom then individually visits Boxerwood Nature Center for a hands-on program that teaches students additional watershed skills. “By spring, the 4th graders have the maturity and knowledge base to really engage in meaningful investigations” notes Sheffield, also explaining the program more than fulfills outdoor learning goals set by the Virginia Department of Education for all public schools. To make this learning as meaningful as possible, the River Ranger sites are school-specific, with the aim of having students actively engaged in landscapes close to their homes. Thus, students from Waddell students investigate Woods Creek, Fairfield and Mountain View students base their learning along South River, Central and the Buena Vista students study the Maury River and Natural Bridge Elementary visit the James.

“These places have natural and sometimes profound meaning for the children,” explains Sheffield, “we once had a child tell us he was glad water quality was good at his site because that’s where he ‘got baptized’!” According to Sheffield, many children have previously fished or played along “their” stream, but some, “believe it or not, it’s their first real connection with flowing water. The great thing about River Rangers is that it opens up these experiences for all kids.” While sites vary, all students engage in the same type of activities during a River Rangers program. Rotating in small groups, the students and their teachers participate in four Boxerwood-led experiences during their five hours at the river. “We tweak activities depending on location and conditions,” explained Sheffield, “but generally we involve kids in two water-focused activities and two land-focused activities plus lunch.”

Sheffield reports students are always excited about the macro-invertebrate sampling, which involves wading into shallow water with boots and nets to assess the diversity of aquatic insects—an indicator of water health. As Brinson, a fourth grader at Waddell put it, “I liked finding the macro-invertebrates because when you first look at the net you can’t see anything, but when you look closer you can see all the amazing creatures.” Brinson’s teacher, Kim Hickman, agrees, “Giving the students the opportunity to investigate the water quality near their school is a memorable experience. The students get to be the scientists. They learn and explore while having fun.”

In addition to being biologists, students rotate through activities in which they investigate the watershed as chemists, archaeologists, and poets. Some school programs also involve direct stewardship projects. Brinson’s classmates, for example complemented their water quality monitoring activities with hands-on stream bank restoration near the former Woods Creek Grocery, in collaboration with the City of Lexington. “The positive energy was incredible,” said Sheffield, “kids really want to be part of the solution and they feel good about themselves and others when engaged in projects like this. “ The Waddell field study on April 8 was the first of four River programs scheduled in the days leading up to spring break.

Although one program was postponed because of thunderstorms, and high water along the James prompted the relocation of another program to Glen Maury Park, Sheffield reported the season is off to a very good start. “The classes without exception have been wonderful to work with: everyone is engaged and eager to be the best learners they can be: the kids know when learning matters and this program puts all that learning into action. Recalling the Fairfield Elementary investigation along South River on April 14, Sheffield recounted a special moment when one group, in noticed an osprey flying directly over head as they were in midst of performing water quality tests. “It was a beautiful bird,” she said, “and we used the opportunity to tell the kids the story of the osprey’s near collapse as a species in the 1970’s [because of DDT in the bird’s aquatic food chain] and then its return, thanks to the work scientists did to identify the source of the problem. It was a great reminder that we always have the opportunity to be problem-solvers—plenty of important work awaits us whether we are scientists or poets or both!”

By the end of its 2011 spring run, the River Rangers program will have involved more than 350 students, 24 teachers, fifteen volunteer instructors, two municipal parks, three private campgrounds, the Rockbridge 4-H educator and two Boxerwood staff. “It’s a definitely a community effort,” says Sheffield, noting funding for this year’s program came from school fees with additional support from the Rockbridge County Schools Foundation, Dominion Power, and from Boxerwood donors. Glen Maury Park, Mallard Duck Campground, and Jellystone Park also make their facilities available for the program without charge and the City of Lexington has provided both staff and plants for various Woods Creek restoration projects over the past several years. “We tell the kids a lot of people are counting on them – and they really take the program seriously --as fun as it also is for all of us.” As fifth graders, all these students and their fifth grade teachers will return to their sites for a second higher-level investigation, but that is another story for another time. Meanwhile, fourth-graders get your waders on!  The Weekender