Project Description: Students designed a bioswale to manage the flow of stormwater
from the CA Frost parking lots. The water will now drain into the dry
stream bed and then to the rain garden instead of the playground. They
also added native plants to the meadow in order to reduce non-point
source pollution into Brandywine Creek. Lastly, students added native
pollinating plants to the school vegetable garden in order to increase biodiversity.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship: The students are proud of the work they completed, and have a
greater appreciation for their community and the ecosystem that
surrounds it.
Partners: LGROW, Blandford Nature Center
Teachers: 5
Students: 145
Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the University of Wisconsin-Madison
2nd and 4th graders at CA Frost Elementary read
some stories that sparked a discussion on protecting wildlife and
building more wildlife habitats for plants and animals. The second
graders walked through the neighborhood to do an assessment on what
components of a wildlife habitat were present. The 4th
graders, then, created a flier and survey to see what people in the
neighborhood knew about wildlife habitats, native plants, and to see
who would want to transform part of their lawn into a wildlife habitat.
The students looked at the survey results and decided that two things
needed to happen: they needed to educate the neighborhood on some
environmental topics and to transform someone's lawn into a certified
wildlife habitat.
Based on the survey, the students determined that the neighborhood
needed to learn more about the benefits of native plants, so they made
door hangers for the neighbors to educate them on native plant species
and on how to create wildlife habitats. The 4th graders
created digital field guides of native plants for the neighbors to use.
One lucky house in the neighborhood was chosen to have their lawn
turned into a certified wildlife habitat with the help of students at
CA Frost and our community partners (Roots Wild Ecoscape Design and
Grow Wise Learning). The students did research on native plants and
had to use a budget to plan for the project. The wildlife habitat will
be created on June 3, 2023.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship:
We expect that students will be able to help spark interest in others
for creating more environmentally friendly uses of their yard, as well
as provide a valuable start to help this happen. Students can provide
information to others on what a native plant is and why it is
important to use them both for the plants and animals that may be in
that area. We also hope to spark enough interest that students will
want to increase native plant habitats in their own yards and community.
This year we learned about habitat fragmentation and how building
wildlife corridors can help animals. 2nd and 4th graders built a
certified wildlife habitat on a neighbor’s lawn to act as a model for
the neighborhood. Students then decided that we needed to put on an
event to educate the public about the benefits of building wildlife
corridors and using native plants. Kindergarten, second, and fourth
graders created and ran a Habitat Community Event on May 11th. Each
grade had a station set up that addressed the following: butterfly
gardens, building wildlife habitat, invasive species, and the benefits
of native plants. The students created butterfly guides, invasive
species guides, and native plant field guides that people could take
via a QR code. The students also created games, and crafts, offered
face painting, and snacks. It was a huge success. We had a post survey
and 50% of people said they were planning on building a wildlife
habitat on their lawn and 46% said they were thinking about it.
Instead of building 2 wildlife habitats, we instead build 1 and put on
the event to get more people to build them themselves. CA Frost
Middle/High were also there selling their native plants.
Fostering Lifelong Stewardship:
I think after this project, students will be more aware of the
benefits of native plants and the dangers of invasive species. I think
they will be an advocate for the planet and help encourage their
family members to build butterfly gardens, use native plants, and
build wildlife habitats to help the animals.
Amy Paul, K-2-4, Environmental Education; Laura Kenworthy, 2nd, All
Subject; David Kraff, 9th-12th, Environmental Science; Sarah Kulchar,
K, All Elementary
