Montessori Tides Upper Elementary students are creative by nature and love solving problems and contributing to the care of our school. Taking their efforts to a worldwide level is the goal of the upper elementary classroom. First comes finding ways to contribute to the community. Ms. Stephanie Doran, Lead Upper Elementary Teacher, adopts the “River Keeper”.
“I was looking for a community service project the children could take into neighborhoods and basically make a connection to. The adolescents really shine as the leaders of our school and are very involved in community service, fundraising events, and acting as models for the younger children. Adopting this worthy cause is one of many interesting and fun learning community service opportunities arising at Montessori Tides School.” Doran said.
Children are learning how to converse water by harvesting rainwater through rain barrels and ultimately protecting the health of the St. Johns River by keeping the waterways clean. Conservation is one of the most important actions we can put into practice to help protect our planet. To help make our students conservation efforts to be as effective as possible, our school has put into habit a “river friendly” lifestyle. We have three rain barrels on campus collecting precious natural water. These rain barrels are preventing storm water runoff from the roof that can quickly carry harmful nutrients into storm drains which lead directly to the river and tributaries.
The best way we have found to teach water conservation is to use the recycled water collected from our rain barrels to shower our gardens and classroom plants. Ms. Doran has also extended this project by including the study of Florida waterways in her curriculum, specifically, how our waterways have helped sustain life through history. In short, our students are grasping how critical a fresh water supply was in history and to our future.
“The St. Johns River Keeper has shown us instead of wasting water we can recycle, save money, and the environment,” said Brad Hatton, Administrator at Montessori Tides School.
To view creative ways to support this worthy project or to learn more about what our students will be doing in the community, visit: StJohnsRiverKeeper.com
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