A partnership between Zionsville Parks and Recreation and Zionsville Community Schools provides ZCS students a unique opportunity to get closer to nature.
Nature Connections began in 2022. The yearlong environmental education program is included as part of the curriculum for third-graders at Eagle, Trailside and Pleasant View elementary schools.
Parks and recreation naturalist Rachel Felling gave an update on the program to the Zionsville Board of Parks & Recreation in August. The program is structured with four meetings per school year and classroom outreach efforts in fall and winter. In spring, students participate in a field trip and a service project.
“The whole idea of the program is that we want to help kids understand ecosystems overall,” Felling said. “They are learning about adaptations of plants and animals. They’re understanding ecosystems, native and invasive species, watersheds and how humans are part of these things both positively and negatively, and how they can have a positive impact with the service-learning project to wrap the whole thing up.”
Felling said the program is based on standards as a supplement to the ZCS third-grade curriculum.
“The hope is to expand this to all elementary schools, maybe as early as 2025-26, when we can take everybody out to Carpenter Nature Preserve,” she said. “The hope would be that by spring of 2026, we can get everyone there and there will be plenty of service project work to be done there. There is a creek for the kids to do their watershed study in. We will also be organizing a volunteer naturalist program to help. It’s been very well received by the teachers and the administrators. The kids have had a ton of fun.”
The program is funded by the Zionsville Parks Foundation.
Learn more about parks and recreation activities at zionsvillein.myrec.com.
