Afterschool at Florence Fuller West

For our third semester project we decided to work with the students in the after-school program of Florence Fuller West. Our group consisted of 16 students in grades 3 through 5. We met with our students for a total of 21 hours between the months of January and March. After spending multiple sessions educating our students about environmental issues and concerns, they voted upon making a butterfly and bird garden as their Earth Force project. Although many sessions were spent working on our garden, we also spent a lot of time doing environmental related art projects and small-scale projects for the students to take home and enjoy.

The students painted large, wood bird houses in groups to be placed in our completed garden. They also constructed a “Butterfly Book” containing pictures of butterflies native to our area which they had researched on the computer. This book was compiled as a way for students to make note and tally butterfly sightings in the garden. While on the computers, students also researched the plants that would attract these certain butterflies and we voted as a group as to which plants we wanted in our garden.

To make our garden, we cleaned up an area on the side of a building near the playground and covered it with fertilized soil. We then planted the butterfly plants that we had previously decided upon and constructed fencing around the border of the garden. We finished by scattering more soil and hanging the wooden bird houses and feeders and placed a birdbath on the side.

Our Earth Force program also included a visit from a guest speaker, Mr. Van-Dyke, an environmental science teacher. Mr. Van-Dyke spoke to the students about constructing a butterfly garden and about our native butterfly populations. Also, our students held an informative session for the other students and staff at Florence Fuller to educate them about the butterfly garden and the projects they had completed.