School Eco Systems and Habitats

No matter how young the students, School Eco Systems and its implementation partner, Playgrounds Plus helps early childhood education and kindergarten through 12th grade schools plan, design and implement school gardens and wildlife habitats.  In many locations, grants for assistance to provide outdoor classrooms and the creation of school natural habitats are available from a group of foundations. Check with the teams at School Eco Systems for more information regarding grant assistance. Call 214-257-7950 to assist in your school’s plan. School Eco Systems also aids schools and school children in projects to assist children in developing countries have water for their schools and homes through their program:  Healthy Water Kids. 

Here are some simple steps given by the National Wildlife Federation to aid those considering this process.
National Wildlife Federation offers numerous resources to assist you with creating and using a Certified Wildlife Habitat™ in your educational setting.

•Access Nature™– This award-winning curriculum book provides 45 hands-on, habitat-based activities that include adaptations for students with disabilities. This inclusive curriculum helps educators meet the diverse needs of today’s classroom, indoors and out! Access Nature is available from our online catalog for $44.95.

Start a Habitat Team

The Habitat Team is composed of educators, students, parents, maintenance personnel, administrators and community volunteers. Every member of the team brings their own skills. Some will focus on how to garden, others might figure out what parts of the curriculum can be served by the wildlife habitat, or what animal visitors to expect.

Choose A Site
Let’s get students and other team members to study and map out the potential garden. Everyone can participate by either writing or drawing:

•physical elements (soil, topography, water sources, drainage patterns, sun and wind exposure),
•ecological components (plants and animals, including insects),
•human influences (buildings, sidewalks, playing fields, utility right-of-ways and asphalt areas),
•boundaries (including nearby habitats).
It’s also fun to learn about the history of your site. How was the land used before your students arrived? Students might interview long-time community residents and conduct other research.

When you choose your site, make sure it’s great for wildlife and people. All wildlife requires food, water, cover, and places to reproduce and raise their young. Make it accessible for classes to use and for community members to visit.

Create a Work Plan

Careful planning will help your habitat project run smoothly. Elements like goals, task assignment, resource inventory, and tracking progress will divide and organize the workload into manageable steps.

Involve the Community

A creation of a schoolyard habitat is an excellent opportunity to reach out to the community members and invite their participation. To build support for your project, introduce your community to the contributions that the habitat site can make to enrich the school’s educational offerings. The schoolyard habitat can be a benefit to the entire community as a public place for all to visit and enjoy.

You may find assistance in your community from a wide variety of sources:

•landscape professionals such as consultants from School EcoSystems
•local businesses willing to donate plants, landscape materials and expertise
•garden and civic clubs excited to offer their knowledge and hands-on involvement.

These are but a few suggestions for making the link between your project and the community, be creative and don’t be afraid to ask! The material contributions, in-kind support and resource connections will be invaluable to your project and will help strengthen school – community ties.

Notice how the new tones of the earth in this school habitat are renovating the look of an older play environment.