Students explore the prairie

Inspired by a trip to Fermilab to hear about the importance of Illinois prairies and learn about prairie restorations, Perry Elementary School students embarked on a fall bus trip from their school in Carpentersville to Snuffy's Prairie in unincorporated Dundee Township.

The prairie is one of Dundee Township Open Space sites open to the public year round. The bus trips are sponsored by Dundee Township as part of an outdoor education program.

JoAnn Fritz's third-grade students toured the prairie led by site stewards June and Steve Keibler. The students looked for animals and insects. They were shown how to gather seed that will be used for other prairie restoration projects. One of the students excitedly exclaimed," Mrs. Fritz, can I spend the whole day here?" The students were thrilled at being able to walk all over the area and touch the flowers and seed pods.

Taking young children outdoors and exposing them to the unstructured environment from time to time helps them do better in school and deal with emotional problems later in life according to "No Child Left Indoors," a back-to-nature movement to reconnect children with the outdoors.