Educating Children Outdoors (ECO)

ECO is a standards-based nature immersion program that works in collaboration with public school teachers and their students. ECO’s goal is to help children and their schools to develop a lasting relationship with the natural world and foster a sense of place and stewardship in our local Vermont communities. ECO works with schools on a weekly and biweekly basis to help meet Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards outdoors while introducing children to the natural community right outside their classroom.  We aim to meet each classroom community’s needs for learning outdoors.

By using city parks, public lands, and other local green spaces, ECO helps teachers get their students engaged in natural inquiry-based learning. The surrounding environment becomes a co-teacher as we explore the fields for insects and build bear dens in the forest. ECO capitalizes on the opportunities of learning outdoors that support social and emotional learning such as group dynamics, work projects, learning to take care of others and how to take care of our environment.

Teachers, students, and ECO staff spend two to four hours weekly exploring a forest, wetland or field, playing games, engaging the senses, journaling at sitting spots, sharing in a community circle around a fire, and engaging in cooperative learning through guided discovery. We practice these core routines continuously throughout the school year.