ELF is an award-winning environmental education program designed as a school-wide theme for Kindergarten to 5th Grade with activities adapted and taught by parents and other community volunteers.
ELF encourages students to interpret what they learn by asking "Why?" and "How?" and to answer questions by making observations in nature. It also is designed to encourage students to care about nature and to be environmentally responsible.
ELF encompasses four ecological concepts and each year is dedicated to one of those concepts, cycling every four years.
Shelton’s ELF program will be offered twice this spring. We are hoping to offer it several times in the 2019/20 school year. It is a 2 hour time commitment for Volunteers. Each class will need a Class Coordinator and at least 4 additional volunteers. More volunteers make for an even better experience for the students!
Keep track of time. Rotate centers every 15 min.
Return all materials to the storage area for the next class to use.
WHO CAN HELP? We are looking for enthusiastic parents, grandparents, family friends, and community volunteers (Mines Students!) who would enjoy going into a classroom for hands-on teaching. Training and materials will be provided.
You do not have to go to the training to volunteer for ELF.
Designs are everywhere in nature. They are beautiful to behold, and many of them have specific purposes. We’ll be discovering how the beautiful web of an orb weaver is also a deadly trap created by the spider to ensnare unwary insects. We’ll be learning how spiders differ from insects, by observing live spiders and insects. We’ll learn how spiders catch and eat their prey. We’ll hunt for spiders that call Shelton home. And, we’ll get crafty by making a spider that actually climbs its silk.
Materials are all labeled and stored on one of the upper shelves in the Science Lab.
Tracks and traces can provide insightful glimpses into the lives of animals whose actions are otherwise hidden from us. We’ll examine and identify tracks and traces of animals that live right here in our neighborhood. We’ll learn how track patterns can help us identify the animals that made them. We’ll practice interpreting tracks to discover the stories they tell, and we’ll invent our own stories. We’ll even get outside and look for evidence that animals wander the Shelton grounds, even if we don’t see them.