Virtual field trip for Earth Day

Gloria Schmitz’s first grade class at Lincoln Elementary in Mt. Pleasant plans to celebrate Earth Day with a virtual field trip to the Amazon hosted by the National Geographic Society.

Schmitz has been a teacher with the Mt. Pleasant Community School District for the last 21 years, the last 10 of which she has been a first grade teacher.

According to the National Geographic website the 35-minute Amazon field trip will consist of a hike through the cloud forests of Peru, a stop with a marine ecologist in the Mangrove Forests of Brazil, and a bit of bird watching in southern Brazil.

The field trip will be lead by Peruvian Biologist Ruthmery “Ruth” Pillco, marine ecologist in the Brazilian Amazon Angelo Bernardino, and 19-year-old Brazilian Young Explorer Lorena Patrício Silva.

In February, Schmitz’s class took place in a Q&A with a Yellowstone Nation Park Ranger.

“It was an absolutely wonderful experience for the children (I invited the other first grade classroom) and myself!” Schmitz wrote of the Yellowstone Q&A. “The children had great questions for the park ranger and we learned a lot.”

These enriching virtual field trips have given Schmitz a creative addition to the first grade studies of habitats and land forms.

A lesson on recycling is coming up for Schmitz’s class.

The recycling lesson will include, “what the numbers mean on the bottom of plastics, what can be recycled and what cannot. We look at pictures and talk about everyday products (such as benches, shoes, etc) that are made out of recycled materials. We also discuss the use of paper straws instead of the plastic ones,” Schmitz said.

In the past Schmitz has been able to have Iowa Wesleyan students come to her class to create art with recycled materials to engage the students.

Schmitz plans to continue to use these virtual field trips in the future as a means for her classes to explore places they might never have the opportunity to explore otherwise.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com