School to create outdoor garden for studying animal, plant life cycles

Third-grade science classes at Crestview Elementary in New Boston recently received a $2,000 grant from Collins Academy in Jefferson, Texas, for a "Little Lions Habitat." The grant includes funding to create an outdoor butterfly and pollination garden for the students to study plant and animal life cycles.
Third-grade science classes at Crestview Elementary in New Boston recently received a $2,000 grant from Collins Academy in Jefferson, Texas, for a "Little Lions Habitat." The grant includes funding to create an outdoor butterfly and pollination garden for the students to study plant and animal life cycles.

Third-grade science students at New Boston Independent School District's Crestview Elementary will soon learn the life cycles of animals and plants from a hands-on perspective.

The science classes recently received a $2,067 "Little Lions Habitat" grant from the Collins Academy in Jefferson, Texas, for the design and use of a garden for the students to observe not only life cycles, but also pollination and the availability of land and water in the area.

Science Teacher Connie Pritchett said children will plant goldenrod, aster, bloodflower, milkweed, zinnia and marigold seeds, all butterfly-attractors, indoors this winter to get a head start on spring flowering.

"They're going to get to see the product of what that's going to do," she said, giving the example of that day's lesson. "We just learned today that a butterfly will visit 500 flowers per day to get nectar. They're going to get to see that in the real."

Pritchett said Crestview Principal Angela Hastings brought her attention to the grant, which is also affiliated with the Today Foundation of Dallas, earlier this year.

"She had some information that had to do with about the paddlefish reintroduction education initiative. When we started reading it we thought 'This is just fabulous,'" she said. "It included ways to be able to preserve our environment. So we sat down with the other science teacher and put this into effect at Crestview."

Pritchett and Science Teacher Lora Doss said the garden will illustrate aspects of butterfly and plant life cycles to their 75 students, and will incorporate hands-on activities with lesson-plan modules. Last year, an edible garden was planted at the school and at the end of the year, students harvested and prepared the food. With this garden, Pritchett said the goal is for the children to understand the concept of pollination for both bees and butterflies.

"We want them to be able to think critically, outside of the box," she said. "We want them to understand that we are preserving our habitat and teaching them about animals that are possibly being eliminated completely."

The garden will also draw small animals including squirrels, which will also be welcome.

"They're going to be able to see the whole life cycle, and hopefully be able to follow it through its entire life cycle," Pritchett said.

Concrete benches, a fountain and an archway will also be included, along with climbing roses to cover the archway with blossoms. The garden is expected to be completed by August 2017.

"The vision is beautiful in my mind, she said. "We certainly want the community to come out and enjoy it. Our students are just really excited about this. They can't wait to get started."

Upcoming Events