Virginia classroom grant funds successful school project
June 2, 2010; Jennifer Underwood and Kris Jarvis, DEQ Central Office
 Students use a net to bring aquatic bugs and other stream life to the field study table. The group observed the number and variety of the aquatic life to determine the health of the South Fork of the Rockfish River. (Photo/Bonnie Holliday, North Branch School)
A student observes an amoeba in science class as students study wetland organisms. (Photo/Bonnie Holliday, North Branch School)
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The Virginia Classroom Grant is a competitive grant program that provides Virginia K-12 school teachers and home school programs with $500, $750 or $1,000 in funding for environmental education activities. Activities are defined as meaningful outdoor experiences for students including:
- Restoration projects
- Enhancement projects
- Protection projects
- Monitoring projects
- Investigative or experimental design activities
A recent experimental design activity was conducted by teachers at North Branch School through the classroom grant and support provided by Dominion Power and several local natural resource agencies. The school is located just south of Afton Mountain on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge. The goal of the activity was to increase the students’ understanding of what it takes to keep the local watershed healthy and thriving. Forty fifth- through eighth-graders participated in the Trout in the Classroom program. They were actively involved in all aspects of raising the trout, from assembling the tank last fall, to the day of the release in South Fork of the Piney River on April 29, 2010.
The year-long study was launched with students examining the geography of the local watershed, tracing major Virginia waterways and learning to read topographic maps. Specific water quality parameters were covered through the processes of monitoring the trout tank and applying Virginia Save Our Streams protocol in the field. North Branch’s remaining 70 kindergarten through fourth-grade students also participated in the project by regularly visiting the trout tank to sketch the trout in various stages of the life cycle, conducting demonstrations and experiments, and recording data with the older students.
This project was successful at meeting grant requirements of fostering academic success, reinforcing stewardship, and giving children the tools they need to help protect and improve the environment now and for future generations.
The grant program is sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Virginia Environmental Endowment and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. It is administered by DEQ. The program began in 2003 and to date, 602 proposals have been funded totaling $437,550.
For more information, visit the Virginia Naturally web page.