Four Winds Nature Institute - Hands-on learning for elementary school children

Four Winds is a volunteer-based nature education program that currently serves grades K-6 in Lakeview Elementary School. Four Winds provides monthly training workshops for adult volunteers for each month's lesson, then volunteers coordinate with the classroom teacher to deliver the lessons to the class. Lessons are hands-on and incorporate both indoor and outdoor activities. Recently, students learned about the insect life cycle, explored through a student-produced puppet show, and through outdoor stream exploration, a short hike from the Lakeview campus.

Volunteering

The Four WInds Nature Program offers monthly natural science workshops in communities in Vermont and neighboring states for adult volunteers eager to share nearby nature with school children. Each workshop includes natural science information, a variety of hands-on learning activities, plus plenty of joy and wonder. With over 40 lessons, we divide our program into five year-long courses of study, each focusing on a different key science standard.

Four Winds programs are designed to get kids and adults outdoors connecting and learning about nature. Four Winds educators meet volunteers outdoors (mostly) for training workshops and then teams of two or more volunteers meet classrooms of children outside each month to look, discover, and learn.