JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
Students from Fort Sam Houston Elementary School learned about nature and wildlife during a hands-on, interactive field trip with volunteers from the U.S. Army Environmental Command and Cole High School Junior ROTC April 26 at Salado Creek Park at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston.
The field trip provided 135 kindergartners with the chance to participate in several activities related to the outdoors, science and nature. Through an Adopt-a-School Partnership with Fort Sam Houston Elementary School, the U.S. Army Environmental Command provided support for the field trip with five volunteers.
Since the partnership between USAEC and Fort Sam Houston Elementary began in 2011, an outdoor field trip has been held each year for kindergartners at the school.
Cathy Kropp, USAEC environmental public affairs specialist, said the field trip is part of the command’s efforts to help students learn more about science through nature.
“The point of the field trip is to get them to love science and nature and to get them to understand the different concepts of nature,” Kropp said.
Elizabeth Lee, Fort Sam Houston Elementary School kindergarten teacher and field trip organizer, said students rotated through seven stations of activities, including a nature walk, learning the difference between predator and prey animals, studying the different parts of insects, leaf rubbing and exhibits on animal skulls, antlers, horns and skins, and recycling.
Leaf rubbing is an activity in which students were able to learn about several details of a leaf, including size, shape and texture, and the veins that help collect sunlight to feed a plant.
“It’s an outdoor classroom for students,” Lee said. “It provides real life experiences for them. We want them to be actively involved in their learning. This adds on to what they have learned in the classroom.”
Helping at the stations were nine Fort Sam Houston Elementary faculty members, the USAEC volunteers, including Kropp, and six Junior ROTC program students from Cole High School, who conducted the nature walk.
Chris Leach, USAEC biologist, showed animal skulls to schoolchildren at one of the learning stations to teach them about the different structures between carnivore and herbivore animals.
Leach said the students he interacted with were interested in the animal structures he showed them.
“I think it’s really neat to see the different levels of curiosity and inquisitiveness,” Leach said. “This is an opportunity to foster an appreciation for the natural world. We want them to take care of the environment and get an appreciation for it.”
Tasha Taylor, Fort Sam Houston Elementary kindergarten teacher, said her students like going on field trips.
“It’s fun,” Taylor said. “We love field trips like this. It teaches them new things they didn’t know like animals that live around their area.”
Ethan Merkley, a kindergartner at Fort Sam Houston Elementary, said he enjoyed learning about animal skulls and skins and that the stations were “cool.”