Grant from SBM Charitable Foundation Supports Outdoor Science Education for 1,800 Students at Connecticut Audubon’s Centers in Glastonbury and Pomfret
November 9, 2016 – Eighteen hundred elementary school students from Hartford and Windham counties will participate in Connecticut Audubon Society’s award-winning Science in Nature outdoor education program in spring 2017 thanks to a generous $38,000 grant from the SBM Charitable Foundation of Manchester.
The students will travel to Connecticut Audubon’s centers in Glastonbury and Pomfret to participate in hands-on curriculum-based science instruction in conservation subjects such as weather and climate, rocks and soils, and the way plants and animals adapt to natural conditions.
Connecticut Audubon established Science in Nature in 2012, to help introduce Connecticut students to basic concepts in outdoor conservation science. It is based on Connecticut state science standards.
More than 25,000 students from across the state have participated at Connecticut Audubon’s centers and at their schools.
The SBM Charitable Foundation’s “We’re Pulling for You” grant will support this full-day science program class for 78 classrooms of second, third and fourth graders.
The school are Putnam Elementary and Killingly Memorial; in East Hartford, Anna E. Norris, Franklin H. Mayberry, Gov. William Pitkin, John A. Langford, Joseph O. Goodwin, Robert J. O’Brien, Silver Lane, and Thomas S. O’Connell elementary schools; and in Manchester, Bowers, Buckley, Highland Park, Keeney, Martin, Robertson, Verplanck, Waddell, and Washington elementary schools.
“The SBMCF is very pleased to continue its support of the Connecticut Audubon Society in benefiting area school systems,” said Executive Director Doreen H. Downham. “Science in Nature is such a successful program, and it provides an opportunity for learning while having fun, via hands-on science education. This program fits nicely with our focus on children and education enrichment.
Led by Connecticut Audubon’s staff of teacher-naturalists, Science in Nature students spend a day in the field taking measurements and recording data, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, and the presence of invertebrates in wetlands.
Using the data they’ve collected, the students continue their analysis through classroom work.
“This generous grant from the SBMCF allows us to continue to meet the growing demand for Science in Nature,” said Connecticut Audubon Executive Director Nelson North. “SBMCF’s commitment to our program allows us to significantly increase the number of students we’re reaching and we are both grateful for and excited by its support.”
Connecticut Audubon Society’s mission is to conserve Connecticut’s environment through science-based education and advocacy focused on the state’s bird populations and their habitats.
The SBM Charitable Foundation, Inc., perpetuating the vision of the former Savings Bank of Manchester, is committed to bettering the lives of those who live and work predominantly East of the River in Hartford, Tolland, and Windham Counties. Priorities established for the Foundation’s giving are Health, Human Services, Education, Housing, and the Arts. For more information contact the foundation at www.sbmfoundation.org
