A Schoolyard Habitat consists of three basic elements-shelter for wildlife such as a bird house, water source for wildlife and plants native to the area.  When you visit the school pages, note the unique elements included for each, including seating for students, teacher podium, shelter from sun, walking paths and much more.

This school year, we are working with Garfield Primary School and St Vincent de Paul School in Peoria.  Check out their pages!

1. Promotion of knowledge and concern for the environment so as to elicit stewardship in students.

Ecological psychology: dismisses the notion that the meaning of nature is cognitively construed.  From an environmental standpoint...if Nature is no longer natural, there's no reason anymore to attempt to preserve it.
Environmental gernerational amnesia: People take the natural environment they encounter as normal even when continued degradation has occurred.  With each ensuing generation, the amount of environmental degradation increases, but each generation takes the degraded condition as the non-degraded condition, as the normal experience.  We lose daily, intimate positive affiliations with nature and accept negative experiences (such as pollution) as the norm; we suffer physically and psychologically and hardly know it.

2. Facilitates personal growth.

Problem-solving, reduction of ADHD symptoms along with skills enhancement ascertained through outdoor activity have been recently researched.  gitm NCLI (No Child Left Inside) plans to implement a new study into enhanced child well-being from Place-Based Education (PBE).

3. Enhances traditional subject matter in current curriculums.

Although Environmental-Based Education (EBE) will be utilized in a variety of forms, Place-Based Education (PBE) is more compatible as it encourages educators to move beyond the classroom and into the natural environment by integrating multiple education plans into a current curriculum.  In addition to teaching the sciences, curriculum enrichment can and should include outdoor learning in areas of language arts, mathematics, creative writing, physical education and the arts.  As David Sobel, author of Place-Based Education: Connecting Classrooms and Communities (2004) states, "Place-Based Education (PBE) takes us back to basics, but in a broader and more inclusive fashion."

Research has documented the benefits of a regular dose of Nature in increases in self-esteem, decreased symptoms of attention deficit disorder and elicits positive emotional and physical growth.  It is here, that gitm, llc sees the incredible potential we all have to positively impact others through one of God's greatest gifts to us, Nature.  gitm has formed a local chapter of the national No Child Left Inside (NCLI) Initiative and paired it with the gitm Mentoring program in an effort to promote and sustain Schoolyard Habitats.  In addition, gitm NCLI will conduct research on the connection of on-site schoolyard habitats and the effects on childhood well-being (in cooperation with the University of Illinois School of Social Work).

It is our hope that you will join us in this endeavor.  Contact us to find out how you can become involved.