Summary
The Elms Environmental Education Center strives to educate and to model good environmental practices to the students, teachers, chaperons and the general public.
Elms History:
As we continue to meet former Elms students who come back as parent chaperones, we are reminded of the place that the Elms holds in the community. Since 1978 when the first 6th grade students arrived to study on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, the Center has continued to adapt to the needs of a community and a world once again aware of its need to understand our interdependence with the natural world.
Who Visits:
Part of the St. Mary’s County Public School system, The Elms provides meaningful watershed experiences for approximately 10,000 public and parochial students in St. Mary’s County annually. We provide a sequentially-developed field study program to every elementary school (K-5), 7th grade, and High School Environmental Science student. We offer several Student Service Learning programs, and custom-designed programs to meet the needs of the individual teacher.
Elms Programs:
Over half of our students participate in an optional Pre-K program as their introduction to environmental education: a short 2 hour study of the Atlantic Blue Crab in its Chesapeake Bay habitat. In subsequent years, elementary programs are habitat-centered: Kindergarten focuses on the shoreline; 1st on woodlands; 2nd on fields and meadows; 3rd on wetlands; 4th on the Bay and associated marshes; and 5th on creeks and rivers.
The Elms-based elementary programs also incorporate a water quality measurement: 1st grade – temperature, 3rd grade – pH, and 4th grade – salinity. At the secondary level, 7th grade students in the Native Plant Nursery Student Service Learning program add measurements of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and nitrogen as they monitor the growth of oyster spat, and High School students at the Elms and Sotterley add conductivity, water clarity, and additional tests as specified by their classroom teacher as they conduct biological surveys. Some middle and high school classes collect data for NOAA’s Phytoplankton Monitoring Network. When wireless internet access is available, students will use National Geographic’s Fieldscope to log and compare their data with that collected by other students along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Elms Student Service Learning:
We have several Student Service Learning programs associated with the Elms Native Plant Nursery, including nursery plant care, seed collection, transplanting and facility construction (grow-out boxes, etc.), and of course restoration projects using the natives at the Elms, in schoolyard habitats, and at community sites such as St. Mary's College of Maryland, Greenwell State Park, the Lexington Park Library and Myrtle Point State Park. Many secondary students enjoy the challenge of trail work, and young elementary students enjoy weeding nursery plants.
In Closing:
The Center models sustainable operations of its building, grounds and programs, and continues to support many local schools in the process of certifying or recertifying as Maryland Green Schools with professional development, technical support, lesson modeling, and schoolyard habitat assessment and planning.
The Elms Environmental Education Center provides hands-on meaningful opportunities for students to grow in their understanding of the processes which govern the natural world.
Elms History:
As we continue to meet former Elms students who come back as parent chaperones, we are reminded of the place that the Elms holds in the community. Since 1978 when the first 6th grade students arrived to study on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, the Center has continued to adapt to the needs of a community and a world once again aware of its need to understand our interdependence with the natural world.
Who Visits:
Part of the St. Mary’s County Public School system, The Elms provides meaningful watershed experiences for approximately 10,000 public and parochial students in St. Mary’s County annually. We provide a sequentially-developed field study program to every elementary school (K-5), 7th grade, and High School Environmental Science student. We offer several Student Service Learning programs, and custom-designed programs to meet the needs of the individual teacher.
Elms Programs:
Over half of our students participate in an optional Pre-K program as their introduction to environmental education: a short 2 hour study of the Atlantic Blue Crab in its Chesapeake Bay habitat. In subsequent years, elementary programs are habitat-centered: Kindergarten focuses on the shoreline; 1st on woodlands; 2nd on fields and meadows; 3rd on wetlands; 4th on the Bay and associated marshes; and 5th on creeks and rivers.
The Elms-based elementary programs also incorporate a water quality measurement: 1st grade – temperature, 3rd grade – pH, and 4th grade – salinity. At the secondary level, 7th grade students in the Native Plant Nursery Student Service Learning program add measurements of dissolved oxygen, phosphorus and nitrogen as they monitor the growth of oyster spat, and High School students at the Elms and Sotterley add conductivity, water clarity, and additional tests as specified by their classroom teacher as they conduct biological surveys. Some middle and high school classes collect data for NOAA’s Phytoplankton Monitoring Network. When wireless internet access is available, students will use National Geographic’s Fieldscope to log and compare their data with that collected by other students along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Elms Student Service Learning:
We have several Student Service Learning programs associated with the Elms Native Plant Nursery, including nursery plant care, seed collection, transplanting and facility construction (grow-out boxes, etc.), and of course restoration projects using the natives at the Elms, in schoolyard habitats, and at community sites such as St. Mary's College of Maryland, Greenwell State Park, the Lexington Park Library and Myrtle Point State Park. Many secondary students enjoy the challenge of trail work, and young elementary students enjoy weeding nursery plants.
In Closing:
The Center models sustainable operations of its building, grounds and programs, and continues to support many local schools in the process of certifying or recertifying as Maryland Green Schools with professional development, technical support, lesson modeling, and schoolyard habitat assessment and planning.
The Elms Environmental Education Center provides hands-on meaningful opportunities for students to grow in their understanding of the processes which govern the natural world.