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Students Reach 'New Heights' in Environmental Connections Magnet Theme
Children discover that the natural world is an open-ended laboratory for learning in the Environmental Connections theme at Lincoln Heights Magnet Elementary in Fuquay-Varina. This theme empowers students to collaborate, communicate, create, think critically, make hypotheses and solve problems – while experiencing the outdoors.
In Partnership with Wake County Public School System
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Making deliberate environmental connections
Lincoln Heights delivers nature-based learning across all content areas through the lens of environmental and life sciences. Science and social studies core subjects make explicit connections to environmental experiences. Classroom teachers integrate environmental topics aligned with science and social studies standards.
Opportunities abound for students to make environmental connections during classroom activities. For example, students investigate and connect with life outside the classroom walls in the Outdoor Learning Laboratory. This outdoor space on the school’s campus supports authentic, hands-on opportunities to investigate the natural world.
Students at Lincoln Heights Magnet Elementary will:
* Become environmentally literate citizens.
* Understand how natural systems and human social systems work and interrelate.
* Practice personal and civic responsibility.
* Take classes in the Outdoor Learning Laboratory on the school’s grounds.
* Engage in project-based learning through Environmental Challenge Inquiry Units (E-Inquiry Units).
* Have access to a host of environmental and scientific equipment and technologies.
Environmental Challenge Inquiry Units (E-Inquiry Units)
Unique to the Environmental Connections theme is the program’s project-based Environmental Challenge Inquiry Units. Known as E-Inquiry Units, these unique classes are led by designated E-Inquiry teachers and focus on four broad themes including:
* Living Things.
* Earth Science & Solar System.
* Environmental & Community Connections.
* Weather & Climate.
Environmental Expedition Electives
Students may choose Expeditions electives they find appealing and interesting in the Environmental Connections magnet theme. Taught by classroom teachers, these Expeditions classes include wide-ranging topics that focus on science and the environment such as:
* Coastal Ecology.
* Garden Design.
* Insect Study.
* My Wonderful Body Machine.
* Reptiles, Amphibians, Fishes.
* Rocks and Minerals.
* Weather Watchers.
How can you and your child make environmental connections at home?
* Plant the Seed: Develop a love of nature in your child by taking daily nature inquiry walks. Ask each other questions about what you see and why it is important to the environment. Count the leaves on your sidewalk or run like your favorite animal.
* Grow Environmental Stewards: Walk the neighborhood with your child and pick up trash on the sidewalk, street, or outside your house. Talk about how trash affects our water and animals. Organize a neighborhood clean-up day where other families join in the effort to reduce trash where you live.
* Cultivate Curiosity: In this digital age, it’s important to build time outside into our days. Create a nature scavenger hunt for your child where finding sticks and acorns is a fun game. Try starting a small garden in your yard or picking apples at a nearby orchard.
Lincoln Heights Environmental Connections Magnet Elementary School
307 Bridge Street
Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526
919-557-2587
Visit www.wcpss.net/lincolnheightses to schedule a tour!
