The Fourth Year of Kids Discover the Trail! Is Underway!
Although the program began in 2005 as a once-a-year field trip by Ithaca elementary classrooms to their assigned Discovery Trail (DT) sites, KDT has grown into a creative and collaborative academic experience for teachers, students, and DT educators alike.
Find out more about KDT's Program Goals and Grade to Discovery Trail partnerships.
Program Update
The core of the program includes student visits to a Discovery Trail museum or the library where they receive instruction from the museum or library educator. In addition to the curricular programming, these visits are made by two classrooms from different elementary schools at the same time with the goal that teachers and students get to know those from different geographic and cultural parts of our system so when they meet in middle school there is more understanding, respect and connection. In the first year of the program, 550 students or 20% of the students participated. Participation has been growing each year as funding becomes available and as teachers hear about the program and sign up for it. We anticipate just over 2600 students or 90% participation this year.
Teachers and Educators Recognized
A reception was held at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology on November 29, 2007, to recognize and thank the Ithaca City School District teachers and the Discovery Trail educators who conduct the program. Special thanks was also given to all the generous donors who are making this program possible. Adam Bauchner, a fifth-grade teacher from Beverly J. Martin School, gave a first-hand account of the impact KDT visits have on students.
The evening concluded with two special announcements. First, the Ian Alberta Memorial Fund, established last year, will make its first gift this spring to support the KDT fifth-grade partnership with Cayuga Nature Center. Second, June and Leon Holt of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, have made a gift of $100,000 to the Johnson Museum of Art to establish an endowment to support the KDT pre-kindergarten partnership with the Museum.
Program Enhancements
Each year, the core curricular program has been enhanced by the creativity of our teachers and DT educators and last year by a newly established collaboration with the Family Reading Partnership.
- First, teachers and educators have developed a variety of pre and post visit classroom activities (some of which include a DT educator coming to the classroom) to both prepare students for the visit and to reinforce the visit once back in the classroom.
- Second, teachers have been pressing for more follow up activities between their partnered classrooms to increase the opportunities to build friendships between newly formed "student buddies".
- Third, teachers wanted to add a literacy component to the program, so KDT piloted the "KDT Books" project last year with the Pre-K and Johnson Art Museum. This year we have received funding to continue the Pre-K book and to add three more Discovery Trail sites and their students: Sciencenter, Lab of Ornithology, and Cornell Plantations. The Family Reading Partnership is collaborating with us on the book selection, goals setting, purchasing, and distribution logistics--another good example of IPEI connecting community resources and know-how to improve our schools.
KDT Books Pilot
The vision being tested is to have a site specific and grade level appropriate book given to each child as part of the experience. It will be used in the classroom and then taken home to keep. These books will bring the KDT experience into the home, support the importance of book ownership especially for students who have few books, provide a shared experience for all students that over the seven years of PreK-5th grades will reinforce the bonds established during the visits, and be a keepsake and reminder about the KDT program and the Discovery Trail sites.
This pilot program has been made possible by generous funding from the Johnson Museum, an anonymous individual donor, the Tompkins Charitable Gift Fund and the Howland Foundation.
Evaluation and Improvements
Each year an independent evaluator evaluates the program to see how well the goals are being met and makes suggestions for improvements. Content continues to get strong marks from students and teachers. The partnering of classrooms has had a very positive impact and is worth the logistical hassles to make it happen. Adding the books will increase the program's impact both at school and at home.
Future of the Program
To date funding has been provided through cash donations and grants from individuals, businesses and foundations and inkind time from the school district. The challenge is to provide for the long term sustainability of this program so that future generations of students can count on the learning experience that comes from collaboration with our Discovery Trail partners.
Our dream is to have an endowment both at IPEI and at the individual Discovery Trail sites. The Alberta Fund and the Johnson Museum endowment are fabulously exciting first steps and hopefully models others will follow!