Kids for the Earth
In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will only understand what we are taught.
Baba Dioum
The Friends developed Kids for the Earth (KFTE) because we believe that children who learn the value of their environment will become tomorrow's stewards of the earth.
Its mission is to provide teachers and youth group leaders with hands-on activities that help children understand the interaction of environmental
and human forces in the Pheasant Branch Watershed. KFTE established a unique partnership with the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District.
Each month, KFTE sponsors Conservancy Education Day programs at the conservancy.
During KFTE's first year, our advisory committee also worked the Middleton Alternative High School (MASH) to develop a video about our program.
Field Trips and Stewardship Activities
We
offer a wide variety of field trip topics for children in grades K-5. Topics include trees, shapes and colors hunt, Magic Bus trip into the soil, plants, water, web of life, and landforms.
We coordinate community service opportunities in the conservancy throughout the year. This fall and spring, we are looking for classes to help with collecting and sowing priairie seeds and removing garlic mustard. Friends volunteers are available to work with on these and other restoration activities.
Contact Colleen
to lean more about the field trips
Kids for the Earth Educators' Guides
During the 2002-2003 school year, a KFTE advisory committee of nine area educators developed a set of lesson plans tied to
Pheasant Branch Conservancy resources.
The Branch Out! Educator's Guide was created in part by teachers to help other teachers plan classroom and field trip activities.
Its topics include glacial geology, Dane County watersheds, water quality, wildlife diversity, prairie and restoration projects,
urban development and environmental art. The guide is especially relevant to educational opportunities in the
Pheasant Branch Conservancy, but can be applied to other natural areas, as well
Lesson Kits Available
The Branch Out! Educator's Guide has been the core of a twelve-hour staff development program for interested teachers and community members in the past. As a result of these programs, lesson kits were created to complement the activities in Branch Out! and provide teachers with most of the materials needed to lead those activities. Now its easier than ever to get out and learn in the Conservancy!
Pheasant Branch Conservancy Brochure
Another informative brochure is the 32-page full-color The Geological, Cultural History and Ecology of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy and Watershed.
Download Conservancy Brochure PDF