Teacher at Central Park School for Children in Durham Completes the NC Environmental Education Certification Program

Anna Morrison, a first-grade teacher at Central Park School for Children in Durham, recently completed the NC Environmental Education Certification Program.

Central Park is a project-based school and Anna enjoys integrating the environment into the students’ projects. She has completed several projects with students on topics such as trees and forest animals with the help of park rangers from Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, Eno River State Park and from staff at Piedmont Wildlife Center. Students also completed a farm project and visited local farms including Woodcrest Farm in Hillsborough. “I am passionate about taking my students outside five or more times a day to explore, walk, play, learn, observe and garden! I also love to integrate mindfulness into the classroom and outside with my first graders.”

Anna is also passionate about equity and diversity in and out of the classroom and believes environmental education has a huge role to play in it. She was fortunate to partner with Village of Wisdom [villageofwisdom.org] this school year and be a part of a Black Genius [blackgenius.com] pilot program at Central Park School for Children. This program is aimed at elevating and nurturing Black student’s talents, intellect, and creativity instead of negating them. She says, “Learning to see and know my Black students’ interests better and plug into them inside the classroom or outside has been crucial to connecting to and elevating them.”

For her community partnership project Anna organized a farmer's market in front of the school. This was culminating event at the close of her first-grade students’ farm project. She invited local farmers that the students had visited as well as local businesses that could benefit from this partnership. “We asked school families that had gardens to contribute any produce they had, and our class was able to share it with our school's students and families. It was a wonderful event and celebration as we shared our love of farms with our school community and introduced them to local farmers and businesses. My students were overjoyed to stand behind tables and sell produce and help support local farmers. What a beautiful way to support our environment!”

Anna says that the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education stood out for her because she was able to take it with her husband Scott Morrison, an Associate Professor of Education at Elon University who is also working on his certification. They both share an interest in getting kids outdoors.   
                                               

Anna says she wishes more classroom teachers took advantage of this certification as well as the workshops and classes. “I have been inspired in my trainings and try to transfer bits and pieces of what I have learned along the way with this certification with my first graders. This may come out in the way of teaching them to make a nature journal on Instagram during the pandemic or a lesson from Flying Wild during a bird project. The more I learn and spend time in nature, the more I want to share with my students.

Anna says the certification program helped inspire her to start a walking curriculum with her students this past year which got them outdoors every day at 9:00 a.m. for a walk- rain or shine! “My favorite walk was when one of my students noticed a big bird at the top of an oak tree on the big loop. We all gathered under to watch. It was silent as students just took in the sight of a really big bird right up above. We were VERY still as to not disturb the bird. We were all captivated. Turns out it was a hawk. What a discovery! Every day, we felt like explorers!”

Anna hopes that more classroom teachers will pursue their environmental education certification. “Our students need this! Students need to be outside and learning about our environment! The materials from Project Learning Tree, Project Wet, Aquatic Wild, Flying Wild and many others have been incredible resources for me as a classroom teacher. I am so grateful to walk alongside other NC Environmental Educators and share with others my love of nature and care for protecting our environment.”