A ‘Living Classroom’ for Students in East County

The Back Country Land Trust has received a grant award from The San Diego Foundation through their “Opening the Outdoors” program to continue local environmental education opportunities for East County students and teachers during the 2016-2017 school year.

The project will provide 500 elementary and middle school students in East County with knowledge and understanding of nature through environmental education curriculum and hands-on service learning projects. Back Country Land Trust will partner with Alpine Education Foundation to host field trips and in-classroom visits for local students.

We’ve called this our “Living Classroom” program – a title coined by Alpine Historical Society’s long-time president, Carol Morrison, when she told the Alpine Sun, “We are all just astonished at what the BCLT has been able to accomplish for the benefit of the community. I can see this land becoming a ‘living classroom’ just behind the school.”

“Because of the tremendous local support for BCLT’s conservation lands, and engaging students in hands-on environmental education curriculum in these natural settings, we’re now able to partner with two local school districts, teachers at many grade levels, and the dedicated volunteers at Alpine Education Foundation to offer this program to even more students from all over East County,” said BCLT Program Director, Jon Green.

Building on our pilot program in 2015-2016, BCLT will be expanding our program reach to include all grades from K-8, and enriching our program curriculum to increase student access to nature in their local communities. New for this year, we are developing our program curriculum to conform to the new “Next Generation Science Standards,” and with financial support from The San Diego Foundation, BCLT and AEF are pleased to be able to offer these programs at no-cost to teachers in the Alpine Union School District and Mountain Empire Unified School District during the current school year.

BCLT and AEF are currently seeking teachers interested in participating in the “Living Classroom” program to schedule in-classroom visits and field trip dates. Any K-8 classroom in Alpine Union School District or Mountain Empire Unified School District is eligible to participate in this program, and there is no cost for participation. Contact BCLT for more information, or to enroll for the 2016-2017 school year.

Phone: 619.504.8181
Email: backcountrylandtrust@gmail.com