Educational Opportunities with Rutland County Audubon
Audubon Adventures, a nationally acclaimed, award-winning program that aims to interest children in exploring, learning about, and enjoying the natural world around them, is available to area teachers, homeschoolers, scout leaders, and others who work with children in grades 3 through 6. Audubon Adventures comes as a kit, which contains everything needed to implement the program, including 4-page glossy “newspapers” with information and fun activities for kids on selected topics, and a resource manual for teachers and group leaders with background material and further ideas for activities that bring science to life for kids. Each kit serves 32 students. A homeschool kit is available serving one student. Rutland County Audubon will fully fund the first year that any group participates in Audubon Adventures. The program meets core elementary curriculum standards for earth science, language arts, and civics. 
The theme for the upcoming 2009-2010 school year is Action for Planet Earth. Each of the individual newspapers will focus on how science helps us understand environmental issues and how individuals and communities are making exciting progress in creating more sustainable communities. The role of citizens in helping protect the environment will be explored and how young people can get involved.
Contact Marsha Booker at mbooker105@hotmail.com or 483-6870 for further information.
Here is what area teachers have to say about Audubon Adventures:
The articles they are reading connect to their world. Third graders love it! They think it's fun to learn about animals, birds, insects, plants and more.
Audubon Adventures gives students exposure to non-fiction quality reading and allows me to teach science and literacy topics at the same time.
Our Bridge-to-Bridge Interpretive Trail, at the West Rutland Marsh, walks visitors through 10 stations set up to bring an awareness and appreciation of the soil, vegetation types, land forms, and birds that constitute a wetland. A teacher’s guide to the Bridge-to-Bridge Interpretive Trail is available for teachers and leaders of groups who may wish to schedule a visit to the marsh as part of their outdoor classroom education program. Contact Marsha Booker for further information or to request a guide. In addition, groups may be eligible for $50 towards the cost of transportation to the marsh.
Pennies for the Planet is about getting kids involved in protecting the environment. The National Audubon Society, thanks to a grant from Toyota, has teamed up with Weekly Reader to get kids involved in conservation around the country and in their own communities. Pennies for the Planet links environmental education with environmental action, helping kids to learn about ways to protect nature at home and in other parts of the country, and encouraging charitable giving by showing kids how their support helps protect the earth. For more information, visit www.penniesfortheplanet.org.