Story by Ainsley Hall
HEDGESVILLE — Back Creek Valley Elementary School invited the Potomac Valley Audubon Society (PVAS) to teach students about pollinators and their impact on the environment.
Students played games, listened to a story and learned more about how important pollinators are to the ecosystem.
Will O’Boyle and Sam Ellis are Enviromental Education AmeriCorps service members at PVAS. O’Boyle joined PVAS after doing a research paper on environmental education organizations in the area. He started volunteering and decided to join the team when a position opened up.
Ellis got involved with PVAS after visiting some of its nature preserves and wanted to help others learn about and enjoy nature. They visit different schools and other organizations to share lessons with kids throughout the area. They talk about the importance of the watershed and have a lesson called “Scientific Senses: Nature Explorers,” which they shared with the kindergartners at Back Creek Valley Elementary School.
“The big thing for me is that there are so many kids who love being outdoors,” O’Boyle said. “Kids are naturally very empathetic, so we want to show them how to care for the outdoors. We want them to have a greater appreciation for nature.”
“Encouraging them to interact with the outdoors is really important,” Ellis added. “It’s important not just for the world itself but for people. Hopefully, they will get to enjoy that forever.”
O’Boyle and Ellis talked with the first- and second-grade classes about pollinators. They taught them about the different parts of insects and asked the kids questions about the different types of pollinators they know. Then, the class went outside and played a game, where the kids pretended to be pollinators by using a straw to move colored cotton balls to different cups decorated as flowers.
They also made seed bombs full of milkweed seeds for the kids to plant. Monarch butterflies can only live on milkweed plants, where they lay their eggs, so they are an important plant for pollinators. They finished the lesson by reading a story called “On Meadowview Street” by Henry Cole.
With many schools focusing on learning inside the classroom, O’Boyle and Ellis hope to encourage kids to spend more time outdoors and enjoy nature. They enjoy getting kids outside and bringing learning opportunities to students in schools throughout the Eastern Panhandle.
“It’s fun to bring our own excitement to this,” Ellis said. “That’s what really gets us motivated. Whenever Will and I take walks, we end up stopping to look at some moss on a rock or some other stuff. It’s a lot of fun.”