4th graders help collect seeds for prairie work

A new partnership between Citizens for Conservation and Barrington Unit District 220 has prompted an outpouring of offers of involvement and support.

Thanks to a two-year grant from the District 220 Educational Foundation to the elementary school science program, all 770 fourth-graders districtwide had a science unit on Prairie Preservation in their classrooms and a field trip to a prairie nearest their school - Grigsby, Spring Creek or Flint Creek Savanna - where they hiked, created drawings, took plant measurements and did the vital work of collecting seed for Prairie Preservation.

All of this happened in September and early October.

This collaborative effort began in June with two half-days of introduction to the prairie and curriculum writing with Citizens for Conservation, a group of Barrington 220 teachers and their science curriculum consultant.

In early August, fourth-grade teachers studied the new curriculum and hiked Grigsby Prairie. This was followed by a similar session for the remaining fourth-grade teachers in September.

Recruitment for the many volunteers that were needed to carry out the project was time-consuming but gratifying. Many CFC volunteers, as well as Friends of Spring Creek Forest Preserve, the schools' volunteer Nature Ladies. and scores of parent volunteers, helped with this experience.

As described by the foundation, this two-year project is a collaborative effort between District 220 and Citizens for Conservation that provides an opportunity for children to engage in the authentic work of "doing science" in Barrington's distinctive environment of prairie and marshland.

Along with classroom curriculum, students will have the opportunity to be "citizen scientists" and connect more with the natural world.

An advance team from Citizens for Conservation made pre-visits to all eight schools' fourth-graders to help them prepare for their roles as citizen scientists and their day on the prairie.

Then, each morning and afternoon for two weeks, plus rain dates, volunteers welcomed them to the prairie, school by school, under the guidance of CFC Children's Education Chairman Bonnie Gordon.