Connecting Children to Nature

Following guidance from the California Department of Public Health, all Southern California school districts closed in March to support state stay-at-home orders and slow the spread of COVID-19. This sent teachers scrambling to provide continued education in the midst of a pandemic. In response to the new normal of distance learning for students, Inside the Outdoors (ITO) quickly adapted our in-person field trip and Traveling Scientist programs to virtual programming that will accommodate at-home learning for the foreseeable future.

Inside the Outdoors is working with district personnel, teachers and parent leaders to ensure lessons and activities are available to all students and their families for distance learning. When students do return to the classroom the virtual and distance learning resources developed will remain available to teachers and will extend the impact of in-person field trip and Traveling Scientist programs.

Distance learning lessons use the same curriculum and activities K-12^th grade students experience in our in-person programs and include virtual field trips at one of Inside the Outdoors’ outdoor education sites, web-based Traveling Scientist programs, animal studies, student activities such as nearby nature investigations (what can students do right outside their door), professional learning webinars for teachers, providers, and parents, civic engagement activities, and a photography journal.

An example of virtual programming is The Choice Is Yours: 5 R’s. ITO Program Naturalists livestream lessons, activities and present live animals that educate students on the 5 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Rot, Repurpose and Recycle. Additional experiences may include helping students examine the water cycle and environmental issues related to water with distance learning activities that teach about the importance of conservation, and virtually exploring the pristine environment at Inside the Outdoors’ Rancho Sonado site in Silverado Canyon to identify significant features and patterns in the diverse ecosystem.

All Inside the Outdoors programs support the Next Generation Science Standards and the California Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&C’s), which allows students to learn classroom content through the lens of human impact on natural systems. Students do not merely memorize facts, they learn academic concepts and processes that can be applied to solve environmental priorities and real-life problems in their local communities.

We deeply value our community and corporate partners as they continue to support Inside the Outdoors programming during this unprecedented time and make distance learning a priority for Southern California students.

• Student and family activities (PDF)
  

Boeing employees partner with Inside the Outdoors Foundation annually on a number of restoration projects througout the county benefiting schools, students and the community. 

During Boeing's "Spirit of the Holidays" employees are encouraged to volunteer their time on-site and in their community.  Inside the Outdoors Foundation brought projects to Boeing's Huntington Beach offices in December 2019, where employees signed up in shifts to donate their time.  Tree Cookies were created for local students and teachers as name badges, special awards and thank you's for a job well done.

More than 165 local volunteers, including Boeing employees, removed 750 pounds of trash from the Upper Newport Bay estuary on Saturday, January 18, 2020, in honor of MLK Day of Service.  150 bags of trash was collected including golf balls, tennis balls, a basketball, shoes, a gym bag, sofa cushion, bike tire, trunk liner and piles of plastic and Styrofoam debris.

Upper Newport Bay has 13 different habitats and 21 distinct plant communities supporting life at the estuary.  The worst visible threat to Upper Newport Bay is the trash that is carried there through the storm drain system. The trash is not only unsightly, it is also dangerous to the birds and marine life that get tangled in or eat plastic debris. Teams of dedicated volunteers restored the beauty of the Bay by helping to remove the tons of trash displaced there.

On Satruday, January 25, 2020, another group of Beoing employees volunteered with Inside the Outdoors Foundation at Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach.  Trail markers were installed in the Coast Live Oak Grove to keep visitors on trials and preserve the native plants and animals calling this area home.  In addition, Boeing volunteers helped restore the pathways in the Demonstration Garden which is hosts a Butterfly Garden, Hummingbird Garden, Riparian Garden, Color Garden and Waterwise Garden.

Not only do Boeing employees volunteer their time in the community, the Boeing Company also provides grant funding to Inside the Outdoors Foundation for a number of student programs that offer STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) educaiton to Orange County studnets.

We are grateful for this meaningful partnership!