Bringing nature into the classroom at the Euclid Cooperative Preschool
Nature is all part of a day’s work for the children at the Euclid Cooperative Preschool. During the spring term, three year-old, four year-old and pre-K students focused on the wonders of our natural environment. Children have a keen interest in the natural world, often noticing the little things that adults miss. Marching ants, spider webs and flower petals keep youngster’s interest, honing the skills of patience and focus.
The children began the term by learning about winter and polar animals – building a life-size igloo out of empty plastic milk containers. Donna Sudar, director of the Euclid Cooperative Preschool and pre-K teacher, notes, “We spend a great deal of time learning about polar animals. The children in the pre-K class chose a polar animal they are interested in and present a book report to their classmates sharing important facts about their animal. The igloo allows us to learn about how people adapt to their arctic environment. We read books about building an igloo and extend our learning as we build our own.” One parent commented, “All of a sudden my daughter was acutely interested in hibernation – wanting to understand why animals were different in that respect. We took out many books on animal life during our frequent trips to the Euclid Public Library.”
In February, they moved on to natural wonders of our Paleolithic world, learning about dinosaurs with an optional field trip to the Natural History Museum. Yvonne Debelak, teacher for the three year olds, explains how the field trip supports the curriculum. “The Natural History Museum trip was the culminating activity that supported and extended our classroom learning about dinosaurs. The museum staff provides young learners hands on opportunities as well as real experiences that make such a positive impression. Haplocanthosaurus sure is huge!”
As spring dawned, the curriculum focused on weather – something that Clevelanders have in abundance in March! The kids tracked weather patterns, learned about types of clouds and explored how our ecosystem is connected to the weather. Sudar notes, “the Ohio Early Learning Content Standards guide our instruction in all content areas. Studying the weather provides us with an opportunity to explore and compare changes in our environment overtime. We gather information about our weather over time and then use graphs to organize our data according to attributes (cloudy days, sunny days, rainy days).”
With the sun finally shining its light in Northeast Ohio skies, students turned their focus to birds, learning about the life cycle of an egg becoming a bird. Debbie Wachter, teacher for the four year olds, commented, “We find that young children are very interested in learning about birds and their young. We always start by determining what we know and then extend our learning through literature, classroom activities, field trips and special visitors.” The culmination of this unit included a visit from naturalist, Carol Ward, of the Cleveland Lakefront State Park, who taught the children about bird watching. Ward provides our students the opportunity to do some indoors bird watching. Sudar explains, “The children learn to quietly bring attention to the bird they observe, use binoculars to learn more about the appearance of the bird and through the use of a field guide, identify the bird and listen to its call. They just love this activity.”
The year ended with units on habitats and insects. Each classroom welcomed a butterfly habitat, where caterpillars formed chrysalis from which painted lady butterflies emerged! Visits from the Euclid librarian, Mrs. Wilson, reinforced this lesson with stories like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle.
As another successful year winds down, the students at the Euclid Cooperative Preschool have learned more than their ABCs and 123s. They have been enriched by the world around us and developed a love of learning about nature – that can be further developed during the summer months. In the words of a Euclid Cooperative preschool student, “I love birds. I love butterflies. I love animals. I love nature!”
The Euclid Cooperative Preschool is a not-for-profit organization providing educational opportunities for three year olds, four year olds, and pre-K students, and welcomes all children and parents regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin or religious belief. Please contact Donna at (216) 731-1316 for more information.
Anne Murphy Brown
Donna Sudar is the Director and Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at the Euclid Cooperative Preschool. She is also an active member of the Euclid Board of Education.
Anne Murphy Brown is a Euclid Cooperative Preschool Parent and an Assistant Professor and Director of Legal Studies at Ursuline College.