DEEP CONNECTION TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Environmental Science
Lucy School’s Commitment to the Environment
From observing tadpoles to water quality testing, our students are deeply engaged in learning about their natural world!
Lucy School sits on an historic 17-acre campus with a large pond, waterfall, wetlands, organic garden, rolling hills and wooded nature trails. Our environmental curriculum and tiered student environmental responsibility nurture a love and respect for the environment, integrating the elements and aesthetics of nature into learning and providing opportunities for scientific observation, discoveries, and experimentation.
Placed Based Education: Extended outdoor projects teach the cyclical nature of the natural world. Teachers lead students in yearlong tree studies and spider web and bird nest searches. Lessons include maintenance and use of the compost pile, observation of seasonal changes in color, life cycles of local amphibians and insects, and seed collection, dispersal and germination.
Scientific Exploration: Students raise trout for local streams, conduct water quality testing on local waterways, identify microscopic organisms from local water sources, create projects to reduce campus soil erosion, and compare the germination of seeds in different environments.
LEED Platinum Certified Green Building: Students learn about cutting edge “green” technology through our solar panels, green roof, grey water system, rain gardens, renewable resourced bamboo and cork flooring and cabinets, and environmentally gentle daily habits.
Green Ribbon School: We were recognized by the US Department of Education for our efforts and commitment to environmental education.
Outdoor Classrooms: Our large organic gardens and fruiting trees are tended by the students in the spring and fall.
Extended Outdoor Time: This includes weekly woods play, daily outside free play, and teacher led exploration. Our playgrounds include flowering and fruiting trees, plants that attract butterflies, tree stumps, climbing limbs, a mud kitchen, and large sandbox area for our younger students.
School Wide Green and Clean Days: Students work in mixed age groups engaging in service to the campus and theme based cross grade education.
Daily Practice: We reduce, reuse and recycle, use environmentally friendly cleaning products, and teach and practice healthy lifestyle practices.
Mary Rivkin, author of “The Great Outdoors: Resoring Children’s Rights to Play Outside” remarked when visiting the school, “The natural world is where all science, mathematics, music, poetry, and art begins - how can we ask a child to appreciate a story about a frog, hop like a frog, or draw a frog without ever seeing one? Or sing America the Beautiful?” Children at Lucy School have firsthand knowledge of “spacious skies” and “amber waves of grain.”