act today, shape tomorrow
Audubon, in alliance with Toyota
WHO: Bergen County Audubon Society
WHERE: Saddle Brook, New Jersey
WHEN: Ongoing
If you can’t bring students to nature, bring nature to the students. That was the motto adopted by Saddle Brook School and Bergen County Audubon Society who partnered to create an outdoor “living” classroom to educate and engage budding young student scientists. What started out as an unremarkable open field has been transformed in three years into a thriving ecosystem complete with native plants, feeding stations, a large pond, a heated greenhouse, two composters, and benches and tables that create an appealing environment for both students and wildlife. The new courtyard serves as a hands-on learning station, where students can identify and illustrate plants, birds, insects and fish that they may otherwise have only read about in textbooks. Bergen County Audubon Society donated nest boxes, books and binoculars to the wildlife habitat project, which was spearheaded by life science teacher Gayle Dunlap. Students, senior citizens and Audubon Society volunteers planted birches, dogwoods, blue spruces, boxwoods and buttery bushes, weeded and hauled boulders. The students built compost bins which helped them discover first-hand the secrets of creating rich soil from food remnants – one many have started to do in their own homes. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the student body, its faculty and $55,000 in grants, what used to be an ordinary school courtyard has become a National Wildlife Federation-certified wildlife habitat and experiential learning station. And every year, Saddle Brook students’ engagement with the natural world continues to rise. This past February, 130 seventh graders participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count with members of the Bergen County Audubon Society as their guides. Armed with binoculars, field guides, and knowledge from bird IDing presentations, the students spotted and reported seeing birds from mourning doves and juncos to goldfinches and red-tailed hawks. “This project has not only encouraged the students to enjoy and learn about nature, but it also has been a learning project for our chapter members and has invigorated us as chapter leaders,” said Don Torino, Bergen County Audubon’s Education Chair. By “adopting” the Saddle Brook School, the Bergen County Audubon Society has become mentors and teachers to a whole new generation of naturalists—young people who will carry their love of nature with them into adulthood.
If you can’t bring students to nature, bring nature to the students.
That was the motto adopted by Saddle Brook School and Bergen County Audubon Society who partnered to create an outdoor “living” classroom to educate and engage budding young student scientists.
What started out as an unremarkable open field has been transformed in three years into a thriving ecosystem complete with native plants, feeding stations, a large pond, a heated greenhouse, two composters, and benches and tables that create an appealing environment for both students and wildlife.
The new courtyard serves as a hands-on learning station, where students can identify and illustrate plants, birds, insects and fish that they may otherwise have only read about in textbooks.
Bergen County Audubon Society donated nest boxes, books and binoculars to the wildlife habitat project, which was spearheaded by life science teacher Gayle Dunlap.
Students, senior citizens and Audubon Society volunteers planted birches, dogwoods, blue spruces, boxwoods and buttery bushes, weeded and hauled boulders. The students built compost bins which helped them discover first-hand the secrets of creating rich soil from food remnants – one many have started to do in their own homes.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the student body, its faculty and $55,000 in grants, what used to be an ordinary school courtyard has become a National Wildlife Federation-certified wildlife habitat and experiential learning station.
And every year, Saddle Brook students’ engagement with the natural world continues to rise.
This past February, 130 seventh graders participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count with members of the Bergen County Audubon Society as their guides. Armed with binoculars, field guides, and knowledge from bird IDing presentations, the students spotted and reported seeing birds from mourning doves and juncos to goldfinches and red-tailed hawks.
“This project has not only encouraged the students to enjoy and learn about nature, but it also has been a learning project for our chapter members and has invigorated us as chapter leaders,” said Don Torino, Bergen County Audubon’s Education Chair.
By “adopting” the Saddle Brook School, the Bergen County Audubon Society has become mentors and teachers to a whole new generation of naturalists—young people who will carry their love of nature with them into adulthood.
Part of the transformed habitat
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