Archived Story

ECOS: No child left indoors: Pairing of UM, K-12 schools gets students outside and into environmental science

Insect eyes. ANGELINA ALEXANDRE, multiage 1/2, Lewis and Clark School
No child left indoors. This is the goal of the Ecologists, Educators, and Schools (ECOS) program that has paired University of Montana scientists with local K-12 teachers and their students. With a grant from the National Science Foundation, ECOS teams have helped kids in western Montana explore their schoolyards and beyond as they studied environmental science. You can learn more about our local environment, find ecological investigations, and use the ECOS Guide to the Ecology of the Northern Rockies at www.BioEd.ora/ecos. Today, local first- through fourth-graders tell you about their schoolyard discoveries and the ECOS program at their school. Stay tuned <> in two weeks fifth- and sixth-graders will share their schoolyard science experiences.

Dave Oberbillig, Hellgate High School science teacher

My favorite project in ECOS was ...

Clinton School

Grade 4

Kathy Kaiser, teacher

Going on a field trip to the river and going on a scavenger hunt. NATHANIEL CHARLES

The science fair. I really enjoyed my project on oil. CONNER FOST

The science fair. My project was fun when I saw the color of the burning leafs. MARINA CHINIKAILO

The science fair. I liked doing my project on mold. ZACH NORDUS

The science fair because I participated in a new activity this year. It was fun to see mold grow on cheese. DALTON THICK

The science fair. My project was on water evaporation. ECOS made science one of my favorite subjects. ECOS rules! GRACE LOUDEN

The science fair and my project was Does Hot Water Freeze Faster than Cold Water. MORGAN TUCKER

The science fair. I really liked doing my project on Floating Paperclips. LEXIUS RENFRO

The science fair. My project was dissolving and creating crystals. ECOS made science my favorite subject. ECOS is so cool! ANNA ROSKE

Trying to find a plant that had the same colors in it as a color chip. It was very hard to find some of the colors. BRITTANY PORTER

The science fair. It was really exciting to find out that a toilet seat has fewer bacteria than a foot and a hand. I received Best in Category. JACK CAMPANELLA

The most amazing thing I discovered while investigating my schoolyard was ...

Target Range School

Grade 3

Tara Barba, teacher

Everything is pretty.
Colorful the flowers are.
Outside in the garden is very pretty.
Sing flowers sing.
NICOLE NIMLOS

They are nestled together.
Resting quietly outdoors.
Every child watch.
Enjoys the shade.
Some birdpis home.
SHELBY MEADER

Birds are in the sky!
I like birds!
Riding bikes to school.
Dirt patches in the garden.
Seeing the beautiful birds.
ALEAH LORAN

Everything science!
Cool science grade!
Oh! My what a beautiful
Sky!
1CLAIRE BOHNSACK


Favorite project: Trying to find a plant that had the same colors in it as a color chip. BRITTANY PORTER, grade 4, Clinton School

How much there is to see and learn about in our own backyard. How much fun we can have learning about science. How much fun I have with my students teaching science in the great outdoors. How smart my students are when I let them explore. MS. BARBA

When we looked for pipe cleaners, we were learning about camouflage. MADISON KECK

I discovered the cottonwood grove and the native garden. CLAIRE SHINN

Working in our native gardens. DANNY PROVO

Is where we first got to see how the native garden is improving. ALENA PITT

Improving how we work together. MAC LOWDER

Pulling out the weeds and having so much fun. It was great! MELISSA HINIKER

Going to the native garden. ERIC DAUGHERTY

Finding a rock that had crystals in it. TYLER BURT

The most amazing thing I have discovered outside in my schoolyard ...

Lewis and Clark Elementary School

Grades 1/2 multiage

Betsy Sharkey, teacher

All sorts of insects! I love going out to the Outdoor Discovery Core and discovering insects. SERENA ADAMS

Cabbage butterfly caterpillars on our cabbage. We have watched them hatch from eggs and grow for three weeks. SAVANNAH ALEXANDRE

Is bees! It has been very fun studying bees. (And other insects!) I love insects! But the most amazing thing I saw was a bee collecting nectar from a flower. A bee has a very special mouth part that helps him get the nectar. CALEB BOLIK

Are the butterflies! I love watching them fly around and loop through the air! (Their beautiful colored wings.) They are choosy! The butterfly looks for particular flowers to drink its nectar from. AVERY BOYD




Science fair project: A toilet seat has fewer bacteria than a foot and a hand. JACK CAMPANELLA, grade 4, Clinton School



Investigating the cottonwood grove and the native garden. CLAIRE SHINN, grade 3, Target Range School



Walking in our native gardens. DANNY PROVO, grade 3, Target Range School
Are bees and butterflies! I drew a picture of bees and butterflies around a flower because I love watching butterflies suck nectar from long tube flowers using their mouth part. Bees also suck nectar but from shorter tubed flowers. I drew the flower a different color from what I see, because I wanted to show what I think the butterfly and bee see. EMMA CALDWELL

Insects! I love looking at insects in our Outdoor Discovery Core (and at home)! It is so nice to look at ladybugs, beetles, strange looking bugs, caterpillars and all the different kinds of insects! They are very interesting. One day I found this strange bug. It was green, with a triangle head, oval body, with a line that separated its wings. I have found all kinds of insects (ladybugs, beetles, even a dead beetle in our garage, but it was too dry)! LAUREN DpiANGELO

My bug dug a hole on top of a log that was floating in the water. The log washed up on the shore. My bug danced away along the shore. ARIEL GALARNEAU

The porcupine like blue grass in my grouppis plot in the ODC! It is so cool. (It kind of looks like a porcupinepis quills!) Another cool thing, but itpis inside, is my mealworm! EVAN GRIFFITHS

Are insect eggs! All insects start as eggs. As the eggs grow into adult insects their eyes have hundreds of facets in them. Insects all eventually have six legs too. Water bugs live around ponds and lakes and right in our Outdoor Discovery Core too! Dragonflies are predators and eat other insects (dead and alive). There are ladybugs all over in the ODC and ants too. The ladybugs like to eat aphids. The ants like to find our crumbs that are left outside. THEA KEENE

Is science! My teacher gave me and my classmates an absolutely awesome, spectacular mealworm. My mealworm turned into a pupa and then a beetle with three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen)! I bet you know what a head is, but a thorax and abdomen? The thorax is his middle body part. And the abdomen is the last body part. I loved learning about its lifecycle. Now we are observing other insects and learning about their lifecycles too. HUNTER PAULSON

Is actually inside our classroom! We have been learning about mealworms and how they grow up. I hope we can do this next year! After watching mealworms this spring, we are finding all kinds of caterpillars in our schoolyard. We are waiting for the caterpillars on our cabbage plants to make a cocoon and turn into butterflies. SYDNIE RACINE



I love watching butterflies suck nectar from long tube flowers using their mouth part. EMMA CALDWELL, multiage 1/2, Lewis and Clark School



All insects start as eggs. THEA KEENE, multiage 1/2, Lewis and Clark School
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