Published: October 02, 2009 11:35 pm      

Students learning through nature

MOUNT SAVAGE — Boy, do Jordan Fletcher and Myla Lee know their shapes.

Fletcher, 3, likes rectangles best. She pointed to the rectangular sign with the words Evergreen Heritage Center.

Lee prefers circles. She had a red circle hanging on a makeshift necklace around her neck.

Fletcher and Lee are Head Start students from Cumberland and, along with 18 of their fellow classmates, were at the center near Mount Savage on Friday morning learning about the natural environment.

After learning shapes in the classroom, the students went on a hike where they found triangles in the form of evergreen trees and rectangles in the form of fallen logs when viewed from the side. The idea, according to Frostburg State University student teachers such as Hannah Byler of Grantsville and Stephanie Wharran of Beans Cove, Pa., is to have the students associate the shapes with the natural world.

“I saw a circle behind the building,” Lee said, though she was referring to the satellite dish. But, since some people call the dish the West Virginia state flower, perhaps it was natural after all.

Byler and Wharran were joined at the 2,000-foot classroom by four other student teachers.

“These students volunteered to be here,” said Barbara Ornstein, a professor of education at FSU. “They also have student teaching responsibilities in the school system.”

Center owner Janice Keene saw the interaction between the student teachers and the Head Start kids and declared it to be one more step in the effort to make the center a community spot where all can revel in and learn about the natural environment and history of Western Maryland.

Additional information about the center, including directions, is available at www.evergreenheritagecenter.org. A public tour is scheduled Oct. 18.

“A different group of student teachers came here in September and taught kids from the Salvation Army,” Keene said.

Keene appreciates as well the relationship with FSU that is developing.

“Students from there will map our eight-tenths of a mile coal haul trail and make design suggestions for our green greenhouse, which is called that because it will be constructed with timber and stone that comes from right here on the property,” she said.

FSU students who volunteer will return in the spring for additional programs.

Head Start instructor Jessica Cole watched the youngsters and saw that they were having fun. “They go with the flow,” she said.

Later Friday, the kids were to become a tree.

“Some will be the roots. They get to make gurgling noises like they are sucking up water,” Byler said. “Some will be the bark and others will be the leaves. Should be interesting.”

Contact Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.