Environmental Initiatives

A key component of Bear Creek Community Charter School's is the cultivation of environmental stewardship, and one of the School's core values is to teach children about their inherent responsibility to respect the environment and use them as a conduit to help others do the same. Environmental education teaches children and adults how to learn about and investigate their environment, and to make intelligent, informed decisions about how they can take care of it.

Learning about the environment involves many subjects—earth science, biology, chemistry, social studies, even math and language arts—because understanding how the environment works, and keeping it healthy, involves knowledge and skills from many disciplines. When taught effectively, Environmental Education not only leads to environmentally literate children, but also helps increase student academic achievement.

Environmentally literate students understand that their daily choices affect the environment, how those choices can help or harm the environment, and what they need to do (individually or as part of a larger community) to keep the environment healthy and sustain its resources, so that people enjoy a good quality of life for themselves and their children.

Environmental literacy also promotes human health. Clean air reduces the incidence of asthma and certain cancers. Clean water prevents infectious diseases. Sustainable farming means nutrient-rich soil and healthier food for everyone.

Environmentally literate people act on their beliefs. This might mean buying "green" products for the household, using natural alternatives to pesticides to protect gardens and homes, attending community meetings to discuss complex issues effecting the environment.

The Bear Creek Experience

One reason why parents choose to send their children to Bear Creek Community Charter School is to ensure their children to get a solid understanding and appreciation for the natural environment in which we all live, and learn how to sustain our environment for future generations. Environmental Education is a key component of Bear Creek Community Charter School's mission. Ecology and Environmental Science are woven into the academic fabric of the school, and each student receives dedicated instructional time specific for environmental education, in addition to the traditional Science coursework. Students engage in hands-on learning opportunities, participate in field-work (work outdoors), and actively participate in school-wide environmental leadership opportunities.

It is important that parents understand that all Bear Creek Community Charter School students will spent a significant amount of time outdoors and be provided with hands-on experiences in the natural world, and are expected to participate fully in the program.

Environmental Initiatives

Links of Interest