Hailey Fuchs Photo
David Weinreb’s sixth-grade class sings about joys of nature.
When David Weinreb asked his sixth graders to sing one last time before the end of the school day, the class groaned. But Weinreb insisted, and begrudgingly, a few students stood up from their seats as the intro to “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz played on the room’s speakers.
“Listen to the music of the wind, and the birdies sing. We’re just one big family, and all of nature deserves to be loved, loved, loved, loved, loved,” the students sang. By the second verse, every student was dancing on their feet. Though tired from a full day of school, the classroom was soon filled with smiles and energy.
Students sing about nature to the tune of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and High School Musical’s “We’re All in This Together.”
Excitement was in the air at Fair Haven School Friday — as were butterflies and bees. The occasion: a bilingual unveiling ceremony for a new schoolyard habitat.
Over the past year, the school community, along with the help of Audubon Connecticut, Common Ground High School, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, turned barren land near the playground into a dynamic learning space. Wwith outdoor classrooms and indigenous wildlife, the space is fit for observation, year-long research projects, reading, writing, and unstructured play. With birdfeeders and filtered rainwater, the habitat will serve as a safe space for pollinators and other animals to collect food and water.
Fair Haven joined eight other schools in New Haven with schoolyard habitats as well as 11 others in the state of Connecticut (Read about other schoolyard habitats in New Haven here, here, and here).
Teachers can attend a development workshop to learn how to lead classes outdoors with Audubon Connecticut, and Common Ground will offer field trips for students.
The project supplements new soccer field and vegetable and berry gardens outside the school. As part of a three-year sustainability plan, the community plans to add more diverse plant species to the habitat’s collection as well as more local plant species in front of the school.
Principal Heriberto Cordero and students cut the green ribbon.
The “achievement gap is really an equity gap: not having access to experiential experiences,” explained principal Heriberto Cordero. He added that the new space will give students important knowledge to be active problem solvers in the future, especially given the uncertain future of the planet’s environment.
Ivette Lopez, a representative from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, underscored the importance of outreach to underrepresented minorities in environmental education. She later elaborated that as the demographics of America change, the service force should diversify as well. Lopez said that speaking Spanish to students and being as inclusive as possible in environmental education will encourage people to protect the earth. She added that Fair Haven is one of the Service’s first schools serving majority Latino and African American communities.
Teacher reads aloud in one of the outdoor learning spaces.
Many of the students are new immigrants to the United States, many of whom come from rural places. Weinreb’s bilingual classroom is composed entirely of students who have come to the U.S. from Hispanic regions within the past three years. He added that many of these students have “special connections” to the environment and deserve the opportunity to connect with nature outside of field trips.
Jillian Bell from Audubon Connecticut chocked up at the thought of how far the project, a collaborative effort between teachers, families, and organizations, had come over the past year. She added that the habitat was a “win, win, win for birds, insects, and people.”
And when Weinreb asked his sixth-grade class what they were most excited to do in the new habitat, hands shot up around the class. Lisbeth Gonzalez shared that students were “excited to see what we’re going to find and to be able to observe how things live.”
At the unveiling ceremony, student speakers urged their peers to protect the environment and shared why they looked forward to the new learning space.
“No solo los humanos tienen sentimientos: las plantas y los animals,” read Fabrizio Sangurima Matute from a poem entitled El Medio Ambiente. Not only do humans have feelings — the plants and the animals, he recited in a heartfelt ode to the environment, urging his fellow students to take care of mother nature.
A butterfly surprises a student and lands on his chest.
After the ceremony, students were given time to explore the habitat. A butterfly floating above startled a few students, while others froze after teachers informed them that the butterfly would only land on a student if he or she were still.
Over time, students flocked to the area, as they slowly adjusted to what was once a daunting creature.