Sample School Wide Creek Action Program At Stege School In Richmond:

Baxter Creek used to be an ugly drainage ditch, culverted in concrete, which local people avoided. Thanks to the efforts of Stege School, KIDS for the BAY and the Urban Creeks Council, it is now a beautiful, meandering creek, with many different types of native plants and wildflowers and a thriving population of Pacific Chorus Frogs. Even more significantly, it is a living laboratory for outdoor education for every student and teacher in Stege School. Many of the creek side plants were planted by Stege School students, and the frogs were introduced to this habitat by the second grade children who raised them from eggs in their classrooms and released them into the creek. The Pacific Chorus Frog population in Baxter Creek is there because of the love and care that Stege School students gave to their tadpoles and frogs before giving them a new home. All the children named their frogs (one was called "Sweetheart Darling Baby"!) and are thrilled every time they visit their creek and see them hopping around or hear them singing.

At Stege School 100% of the children are low-income, children of color on free and reduced school lunch and fewer than 1% of their parents had the opportunity to attend college. KIDS for the BAY works with all 24 classes of teachers and children in the school, the principal Ginny Green and the parents. We are having a wonderful experience working with Stege School where there is a lot of excitement about and commitment to the creek program. Using the creek as an educational resource, KftB is cultivating the children's love of learning, helping them achieve higher standards and empowering them to become stewards of their local environment.

At Stege School this past school year we:

• taught our kindergarten through fifth grade creek curriculum to all twenty four classes in the school, including spring and fall units
• engaged every grade level in a different creek action project to clean-up and restore the creek, including planting creek side trees and wildflowers, raising and releasing Pacific Chorus Frogs, water quality testing and pollution reduction initiatives
• set up and maintained a creek education resource center in the school
• coordinated an Earth Day Creek Fair, in collaboration with Urban Creeks Council
• coordinated a school wide creek poetry writing project and reading assembly.

Creek Program Vision Plan From Stege School Faculty
In March 2002, KftB staff met with the faculty of Stege School to ask teachers about their vision and plans for expanding and deepening the Schoolwide Creek Program with KIDS for the BAY. The teacher's ideas are being used to develop the program for the current school year. This planning process ensures that we design a program that best meets the needs of Stege School.

The Teachers asked for:

1. an increased number of creek lessons and creek action projects for their school
2. some lessons inside their classrooms in the winter
3. a tie in to the school science fair, with small group projects
4. field trip visits to other creeks or to other sections of Baxter Creek
5. school wide involvement in the mapping project for Baxter Creek and children's family members telling their stories about Baxter Creek and its history
6. a school wide creek focus leading up to Earth Day (before testing begins) with each class working on a grade level specific creek project for Earth Day
7. a kick-off school wide Creek Day celebration at Baxter Creek
8. a faculty meeting to train teachers to use the creek resource center in the winter.