Tree Explorers

Tree Explorers is a College Corps initiative nature walk for Victory Elementary School. Our group focus is to encourage students to learn more about their surroundings and to encourage teachers to enhance outside learning. By providing a dichotomous key, it can help students decipher what type of tree is at their school. In addition to planned nature walk trails, teachers are able to provide a science unit about trees and have students learn fun facts about the trees without the expense of having to commute to a nearby park. Providing this resource to teachers will hopefully encourage them to appreciate nature, have kids de-stress and learn at the same time, and provide a fun activity that teachers can use for their own classrooms. Teachers are encouraged to tailor the activities in their own way and by providing our blueprint it can spark ideas to continue outside learning. At our site, we are specifically partnered with Ampact, a non-profit organization that enhances reading, math and early learning. Our partnership focuses on empowering kids to become even better readers and tutoring them in skills they have not yet mastered. Connecting this nature walk to our service on-site, we have designed bookmarks to highlight students at Victory Elementary School in the importance of learning and to bind the outside activity with something that they can purposely use for their own good. Each bookmark portrays the trees that we have researched at their school and so students can feel more connected to their school community.