Back to School with Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS): Environmental Education for DC Region's School-Aged Children

With another school year now underway in the DC metro region, Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) reminds the region’s educators to remember the environmental education opportunities with ANS.

“Our naturalists are thrilled the school bell has rang on another year,” said ANS Youth Environmental Education Director Karen Vernon. “We’re fostering lifelong connections to the natural world for our region’s students through afterschool nature clubs, field trips to our sanctuaries or in our nature camps.”

ANS’s school programs enrich classroom experiences and help youngsters connect with their local environment. ANS naturalists go into classrooms or school groups come to ANS sanctuaries at Woodend in Chevy Chase or Rust in Leesburg. The environmental education lessons offered focus on animals, forests or water. The programs are designed for students in preschool through fifth grade. However, ANS will adapt programs for higher grade levels, including middle and high school students.

When school is out in Montgomery and Loudoun counties, ANS runs School’s Out Nature Camps at Woodend and Rust. At Woodend, the first School’s Out Nature Camp of the 2014-15 school year will be Thursday, September 25. Two upcoming School’s Out Nature Camps are planned at Rust this school year, on Mondays, October 13 and January 19.

Audubon Afterschool Nature Clubs encourage students to unplug and play. Clubs typically meet once a week for six weeks for one to two hours right in the region’s elementary schools (Montgomery and Loudoun counties and DC). The clubs are designed around nature play with students spending time outdoors investigating the natural world, playing games and getting hands-on learning and science opportunities.

ANS’s GreenKids program, now in its tenth year, was established in 2005 and is a grant-funded program. GreenKids provides participating Montgomery and Loudoun County Public Schools with two years of free resources and field experiences to foster environmental literacy, while meeting established curriculum. GreenKids has been instrumental in helping area schools earn Maryland Green School and Virginia Naturally certifications. GreenKids welcomes s two new Loudoun County and five new Montgomery County Public Schools to the program this school year.

“We have plenty of opportunities for Loudoun County Public Schools at the Rust Nature Sanctuary in Leesburg,” said Susanne Ortmann, ANS Environmental Education Program Manager for Rust. “We’re looking forward to seeing LCPS students for our school’s out camps, in our afterschool clubs or through our GreenKids program.”

The best of ANS’s school programs are offered through the Rust Nature Sanctuary, 802 Children’s Center Road in Leesburg. Rust runs School’s Out Nature Camps, Unplug and Play Afterschool Nature Clubs and GreenKids.

Learn more about ANS school programs.