The Project Team

   "Energy in the Garden" is a collaborative project of three partners:  The Peabody Early Childhood Center, the Discovery Creek Children's Museum, and the National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat Program.  It is funded by International Public Science Day, 2002, sponsored by the Franklin Institute, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the UNISYS Corporation.

Peabody Early Childhood Center

    Peabody Early Childhood Center is a District of Columbia Public School which serves four and five year old children.  It is located on Capitol Hill, four blocks from the United States Capitol.  Within the Center are two programs, the Peabody Early Childhood School and the School Within a School at Peabody (inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy).  There are five pre-kindergarten classes, five kindergarten classes and one kindergarten-first grade combination.  Peabody is the "gateway" to the Capitol Hill Cluster School which is comprised of three schools, Peabody for the youngest learners, Watkins Primary, for the first through fourth graders and Stuart Hobson Middle School, for the fifth through eighth graders. 

    Leadership for this year's project has been provided by librarian Jan MacKinnon, Peabody art teacher Keira Gladstone, and kindergarten teacher Louise Chapman.  The theme of energy in the garden was explored  in library and art classes as well as throughout the building within the classroom curriculum.  Curriculum development is an ongoing part of our schoolyard habitat project.  For the past four years, the school has been engaged in a community based effort to redevelop a major section of the urban, blacktop playground into a natural space where children and experience and become involved in the out-of-doors.

The Discovery Creek Children's Museum

    Discovery Creek Children's Museum of Washington, D. C. offers students and teachers exciting outdoor environmental programs complementing curricula in science, social studies and art.  The Museum is committed to helping all children experience, appreciate, and become stewards of the natural environment.  From topics ranging from pollination to habitats, Discovery Creek brings textbooks to life.  Programs offer children opportunities to peer under decomposing logs, sift through leaves, and immerse themselves in the sights, sounds and  even tastes of an exotic ecosystem.  

    Discovery Creek Children's Museum developed a special educator's workshop for our Peabody Staff entitled, "Energy in the Garden".  Here are some photos of the workshop.    

    The partnership with Peabody ECC highlights one of their newest programs, titled "Ready, Set, Grow!".  This program provides opportunities for students to learn about the importance of gardens and gardening.  Under the IPSD program this year, the Museum developed and implemented a special in-service for Peabody faculty titled "Energy in the Garden".  They also came to the School on December 5th to conduct an interactive game with the children about food webs.  The culmination activity under this project was a visit by the students to the Discovery Creek Childrens Museum, where they participated in the "Ready, Set, Grow!" program.

  National Wildlife Federation
Schoolyard Habitats Project

   The National Wildlife Federation is the community partner for our Energy in the Garden IPSD program.  The NWF mission is to "educate, inspire and assist individuals and organizations of diverse cultures to conserve wildlife and other natural resources and to protect the earth's environment in order to achieve a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future."  The Schoolyard Habitat project promotes the creation of Schoolyard Habitat sites through volunteer school teams.  The philosophy of the NWF SYH program was detailed in an article in Pennsylvania Forests, Fall 1997, by Sara Griffen, then  Coordinator of the SYH project:  "Developing wildlife habitat on school grounds goes beyond wildlife habitat conservation.  It reaches into the school curriculum and the community.  Wildfire, kids, and the entire school community receive the benefits.  Development of a habitat-based learning site takes steps to restore the native plant and animal community , our connection with the natural environment and the school/community ties."  

    As such, representatives of the NWF have provided staff at Peabody School with training, reference materials, and technical support.  Sandra Walter has visited the school to give us specific recommendations regarding plants and layout of our SYH.  We participate in a listserv of newly developing information regarding SYH issues.  The Peabody School is a certified SYH site.  Under construction is a feature on the Peabody SYH as a "place to visit on the NWF web site. 

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