TOCCOA EDUCATOR AWARDED DNR CONSERVATION TEACHER OF YEAR GRANT
PHOTO_DNR-Conservation-Teacher-of-Year-grant-recipient-Jina-Harris-and-third-graders-at-The-Learning-Tree-Academy-Linda-May_
A Toccoa teacher has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the Department of Natural Resources 2023-24 Conservation Teacher of the Year grant.
Jina Harris, a third-grade teacher at The Learning Tree Academy’s Outdoor Learning School has been awarded the grant for her proposal to design and install a native pollinator garden.
The annual award goes to a kindergarten through fifth-grade public or private school teacher in Georgia who demonstrates exceptional energy and innovation in teaching life sciences.
Funding is provided by The Environmental Resources Network, or TERN, a friends group of the DNR Wildlife Conservation Section.
Linda May, outreach coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Section, said Harris was selected for her proposal Project Pollination: Buzzing and Humming.
“Cross-curricular creativity, hands-on outdoor activities, peer-to-peer teaching, sustainability, and community engagement made her proposal rise to the top,“ May said.
For the project, the school’s third and fourth graders will research plants native to Georgia’s Piedmont ecoregion, then plan, install, and manage a garden to attract a variety of pollinators.
The garden will be used as an outdoor classroom, where older students will teach younger students about pollinators, native plants, and biodiversity.
Summer campers will work in the garden when school is out of session, and proceeds from a farmer’s market next fall will fund future garden projects.
Current funding will be used to buy native plants, trellises, interpretive signs, hummingbird feeders, and a shade canopy. Local businesses will donate mulch and worktables.
“Thank you Georgia DNR for this amazing opportunity to create a native pollinator garden at Learning Tree Academy: Outdoor Learning School,” she said. “This will provide countless possibilities for our students to explore, discover, observe and ponder the many wonders nature offers!”
To learn more about the Conservation Teacher of the Year grant you can go online to georgiawildlife.com/TeachingConservationGrant.