A naturalized area at school provides a variety of educational opportunities. A area covered with a thick layer of wood chips absorbs a lot of rainwater and allows it to slowly soak into the ground. It enriches the soil as it decomposes, increasing the amount of nutrients and soil life. Many insects, essential to the food web, not only overwinter but reproduce in and under the layer of mulch.
And here is another reason for covering some ground with wood chips rather than lawn, one that you can share with your students and the rest of the school community to explain the school grounds project.
As the mulch starts to decompose, it sequesters carbon into the soil. Learn more about it from this short documentary.
The producers of this documentary have created a junior high curriculum to go with it that teaches about healthy soil, the carbon cycle and what role food production and food consumption play in a balanced carbon cycle. So if you teach 6th, 7th or 8th grade, your science lessons are all set for the rest of the year!
As the mulch starts to decompose, it sequesters carbon into the soil. Learn more about it from this short documentary.
The producers of this documentary have created a junior high curriculum to go with it that teaches about healthy soil, the carbon cycle and what role food production and food consumption play in a balanced carbon cycle. So if you teach 6th, 7th or 8th grade, your science lessons are all set for the rest of the year!