Wild for Schools

Wild for Schools seeks to  create natural spaces on school campuses in order to immerse children/young people/students in the nature of California utilizing CA native plants. To paraphrase the Superintendent of Los Angeles School District, Alberto Carvalho, who is on a "Green Campaign": "When are we going to release children on campuses from their concrete jungles?" To that end, as many people as necessary, with different skills and availability, can "get their hands dirty" installing native plants for the "greening up" of both campuses in particular, and the urban environment in general. If this involves the removal of blacktop and other hardscape, so be it. Volunteers of all kinds, and paid, outside labor can contribute. Donations and grants will pay for the professional labor, tools, materials, and ongoing maintenance. 

Teachers may design lessons that complete immersion in nature can provide: special educational benefits that can't be replicated in traditional, indoor classrooms. For one thing among money, observations by students are sharpened and made memorable. There is both historical and scientific evidence for students/anybody! experiencing total immersion in nature: the Japanese have had a long tradition of "Forest Bathing" (a real term!), letting the inherent benefits of a walk in the forest "wash" over you; and the British employing "Forest Schools," after which they find students, calmer, more cooperative(!), and more eager to learn. Recent scientific studies at Universities bare this out. People immediately grasp intuitively that nature all around them is a wonderful thing!

And these are the academic lessons that may spring from a natural space on a campus (And can be taught on any level depending on the student audience): 

1. Life sciences (biology, botany, zoology, aquatic studies, etc.)

2. Ethnobotany (the uses of native plants for food, medicines, clothing, dwellings, weapons, etc., by native California tribes)

3. Taxonomy

5. Minerology 

6. Geology (Bioswales, Bluffs, Coastal dunes, desert washes, etc. 

7. Art and photography