Local students educated about desert by local volunteers
By Lynne Hoss | March 3, 2010
Kids in grades 3-5 in local schools are educated about the desert and preservation by volunteers of the local Desert Awareness Committee.
In 2003, a program called Desert Reach was set up and it is still going on! This link will take you to a video about it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR9L_XP2-Bg.
The program consists of a 2-hour classroom experience taught by our trained volunteers. Training is done by the curriculum designer, Diane Vaszily, who owns the Science Eye environmental education company.
The children’s 2-hour classroom experience includes 6 learning stations: Stalwart Skeletons in which children examine the remains of plants, trees and shrubs and determine which are the most stalwart; Scrubby Skins, in which the protective structures and outer skin of dried desert plants inside plastic containers are observed, and arranged in order from toughest to gentlest; Desert Soils, in which soils are measured and screened to determine percentage of small, medium and large grains; Navajo Sandpainting in which rocks are rubbed together to create sand and a painting; Ancient Civilizations in which adobe bricks are used to reconstruct ancient dwellings and walls; and Desert Predators in which preserved insects are carefully observed and discussed.
New volunteers are welcome!