Third-, fourth- and fifth-graders were treated to a variety of outdoor educational activities led by local volunteers as part of the school’s annual environmental extravaganza on June 4.
“For 11 years, Cottage Lane Elementary School has run an annual outdoor education day which we call Earth Day. We invite a team of volunteer experts to teach our students on a variety of topics related to our unique environment here in the northeastern United States,” explained CLE technology teacher Jacob Tanenbaum, who has coordinated the event since its inception. “This year, our students rotated among 11 hands-on stations staffed by volunteers affiliated with Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Riverkeeper, Keep Rockland Beautiful, Orange & Rockland and SUEZ Water.”
The event, typically hosted at Tallman Mountain State Park, was held on the CLE campus this year due to the pandemic. Despite the venue change, the mission remained the same.
“Our goal is to use hands-on, nature-based activities to help our students understand and appreciate their local environment and to learn how to be good stewards of the natural areas that surround us,” Tanenbaum said. “The best way to help our students learn this is to be out in the environment learning from experts who know about it. We are so fortunate to live in a community that generously supports this kind of work.”
Thank you, CLE 2021 Earth Day volunteers!
