Green from the Get Go
Wheeler’s Long term Commitment to Environmental Education
While many schools are just
jumping on the green
bandwagon, Wheeler’s
commitment to environmental
education has been long and
deep. Maybe it dates back to
our founder’s vision to create a
city campus and a country
campus, but nature study and
environmental education have
been embedded in the
curriculum long before it was
fashionable.
First Grade Week
at the Wheeler
Farm
Since 1997, the first graders have spent a week in the fall attending class at The
Wheeler Farm. They immerse themselves in nature while learning . The sit quietly in
the woods while writing in a natural history journal, learn to group by 100’s by
collecting and sorting acorns and delve deeply into fantasy play by making fairy
houses with found objects.
Here, first graders build fairy houses after spending time using their
senses and writing in journals.
Fifth Grade trip to the Farm School in Athol, Mass.
Since 1998, our fifth graders have spent a week in the spring
living and working on a real New England dairy farm. They plant
crops, make meals, care for farm animals, cut wood and spend
time outdoors.
Here, fifth graders do afternoon chores such as feeding the pigs and cutting wood for
the stove.
Sixth Grade Farm Program at The Wheeler Farm
In 2004, Wheeler inaugurated a unique program for sixth graders at the Wheeler
Farm. In the Farm Program 6th grade homerooms spend an academic quarter at
the Wheeler Farm. The Farm Program is traditional in the best sense of the word, a
modern building on the outside but a one-room schoolhouse on the inside.
In this one room, two teachers – the homeroom
teacher and the Farm Program director – offer
classes in math, reading, writing, and science but
they also have much more time and flexibility to
instill in the students the Farm Program values of
responsibility, community, stewardship, gratitude,
and joy.
Sixth Grade Science Program
Sixth grade was a good choice as the home for The Farm Program. Sixth grade
has had a special emphasis on nature study since 1981. They explore the
natural history around our city campus and take local field trips, like this one to
the Rhode Island School of Design Nature Lab.
They learn to identify trees and
they make a leaf collection.
The students keep natural
history journals and become
sharp observers of the
natural world.
Ninth Grade Environmental Science
Wheeler may be unique among independent schools in requiring that all
students take Environmental Science before graduating, a requirement that it
has had for almost 30 years. This ensures that all of our graduates are
environmentally literate citizens. It is one of Wheeler’s many distinctive
programs.
AP Environmental Science
“APES” is a college level environmental science course that Wheeler has offered to
selected ninth graders since the test’s inaugural year in 1999. Here are some stats:
•The average score has been 4+ out of 5.
•In 2009, 11/13 students got 5’s.
•Of the 70,000 students in the nation who take APES, only about 1.5% are ninth graders.
• In 2008, Otter Brown received the Seimens Award for RI AP Teacher of the Year.
Envirothon
In addition to the regular curriculum, Wheeler students participate in a number
of other environmental programs. Since its inception in 1998, Wheeler students
have participated in the Envirothon competition where students compete as a
team in five categories – water, soils, forestry, wildlife and a special subject – for a
state title. Wheeler has won the state title in nine of the past twelve years and
have competed in the national competition in six of those years.
Semester Programs
At its inception in 1985, Wheeler signed-on to be a founding member school of
The Mountain School, a semester program for juniors in Vershire, Vermont.
While at the Mountain School, students work on the organic farm, participate in
the outdoor program and take junior year courses. Now, Wheeler students also
participate in environmental semester programs such as the High Mountain
Institute, The Island School and City Term.
And Much More…….
•Environmental issues integrated through-out the science
curriculum
•7th and 8th grade class trips
•AP Biology horseshoe crab research
•English elective, “Nature Writers”
•Seedling project in LS – growing seeds for harvesting
vegetables for the Food Bank