Environmental Program

Earhart students study the environment in greater detail than students at most other schools.  We have a full time Environmental Education Teacher on staff who works with students in a lab setting and supports the teachers in teaching environmental studies in the classroom.

Environmental Education at Earhart also makes extensive use of the Earhart Grounds . 

Earhart is proud of its 11 acres available for environmental study.  Our grounds feature some of the following highlights:

• A large pond
• A wooded area with a nature trail
• Native Prairie
• A butterfly garden
• Adjacent to Hellar's Grove, a natural prairie, with access to the Arkansas River.  We will be Arkansas River keepers beginning in the fall of 2001
• O.W.L.S (Outdoor Wildlife Learning Site) grant recipient
• W.H.I.P (Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program) grant recipient

Our beautiful grounds give students an opportunity to use the outdoors as a classroom.

Earhart is pleased to announce that the school district will be building a new school for us at our current site!

Almost daily, Earhart students participate in "mini-units", an environmental area of focus.  The students are combined with students from other classes in their 2-grade "team", and rotate among the 5 teachers who each teach a component of the unit.  The units follow environmental strands based upon the Environmental Education Standards for the State of Kansas.

Currently, we use the following guide to present the units over a two-year period:

Environmental Education Strands:

Camping

Camping is an integral part of our instructional program.  We integrate the regular curriculum into this experience. While this may be perceived as a radical change from traditional instruction, we find that for many Earhart graduates, these experiences become the most memorable of their elementary school education.

Our Sunrise Team (Kindergartners and 1st graders) participate in day camps in the fall and spring.  The fall camp is on campus and the spring camp is held at a local park. Our staff and parent volunteers create a program that is rich in investigation and learning.  Earhart camps are not play days!

For the Lift Team (2nd and 3rd graders), the students enjoy both day camps and overnight trips.  Grade 2 students have a day camp at a local park in the fall, and an overnight camp in cabins at a local campsite in the spring.  Students in the third grade can look forward to two overnight camps.  The first is in tents at school in the fall, and the second is at Camp Wood, a YMCA camp located near Emporia. 

The Superstar Team (4th and 5th graders) participate in 3-day, 2-night camp trips to a variety of places in the fall and spring.  They have two camps in Oklahoma and two in Kansas.  Students pitch their own tents, help cook the meals and clean up.  These overnight camps really help develop responsibility and teamwork in the students.

Parents play a major role in the success of our camp trips.  We require a minimum number of parents to accompany the classes on the trips and have a strict Code of Conduct for adult expectations at camp.

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