The Earth Is Their Classroom
by Sheila Stroup

Imagine a sun-dappled classroom with no walls and a ceiling as big as the universe. A classroom full of wonder.

That is Sunship Earth.

Tricia Ruf's class from Robert M. Lusher School arrived there Friday. It is not too much to say they left Tuesday afternoon forever changed.

"Last night, one of the girls called this experience 'a memory-sticker,' " Tricia said. "It's something they'll remember the rest of their lives."

Sunship Earth is a five-day, four-night science class for fifth-graders. It's held from October through April at a 22-acre camp near Covington.

"This is a jewel," said Liz Yager, one of five parents who participated in Sunship Earth over the weekend. "The kids love it because there's no homework and no tests. But they learn everything. They know it by doing it and living it."

Great Outdoors

The focus of Sunship Earth, a curriculum-based environmental science program developed by the nonprofit Institute for Earth Education, is to teach major environmental concepts to kids in the great outdoors.

Sue Brown heard about it at a conference 24 years ago, when she was teaching science at John Dibert School in New Orleans.

"I thought, 'This is how I learn, and this is how my kids learn,' " she said.

Sue incorporated Sunship Earth into her fifth-grade science curriculum, and it was so effective she eventually quit her job and formed the local nonprofit group Teaching Responsible Earth Education so she could bring Sunship Earth to lots of fifth-graders.

"I decided I liked my classroom out here better," she said.

Natural Wonders

Sunship Earth is one of four different TREE programs students from schools in the New Orleans area can take part in. There is also Lost Treasures for third-graders, Earthkeepers for fourth-graders and Sunship III for seventh-graders.

Each one helps children and adults understand and appreciate the natural world. Each one inspires them to protect it.

"You've learned the secrets of life, and now you must live them," Sue told the Lusher fifth-graders when their adventure was almost over.

The amazing thing is that in five days students cover a third of the fifth-grade science curriculum. They step inside a giant leaf to learn about photosynthesis. They design "practice planets" to figure out how everything is connected. They discover that whatever we do has consequences for the Earth.

"They retain so much because it's so active and hands-on and fun," Tricia said. "And then we go home, and it carries through into their lives."

. . . . . . .

TREE is in need of sponsorships and volunteers. For information about TREE programs and to see how you can help, call 504.525.9020 or go to www.treetalk.org.