Urban Adventure Squad brings community-based and hands-on outdoor learning programs to families, schools, and communities in the D.C. area through full-day programs when schools are closed and through partnerships with schools and community organizations during the school day and on weekends. We use the #CityAsAClassroom to explore science, history, art, math, reading, and writing during our curriculum-aligned outdoor learning programs. Our mobile, low supplies programs connect students and teachers to their communities in meaningful, memorable ways that foster community building, environmental stewardship, and a life-long love of learning.
Are you a parent, guardian, teacher, or administrator who would like to partner with Urban Adventure Squad? If so, please send us an email.
Are you a parent, guardian, teacher, or administrator who would like to partner with Urban Adventure Squad? If so, please send us an email.
2022-23 School Partnerships
Nature Near Schools
We're proud to have been awarded an additional year of funding from the DC Department of Energy and Environment for the Nature Near Schools grant. This year, we are funded to expand this project, "Reimagining the Field Trip: Meaningful Watershed Education Starts on Your Block," and work with more 4th and 5th grade students across the city. Through this MWEE (Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences) project, students get to explore their school's neighborhood on walking field trips while they examine their sewershed and watershed, observe how green infrastructure works, understand human impacts on the local urban ecosystem, and create a student-led action project to bring awareness to the issues facing the city's waterways.
Our school partners so far for SY2022-23 are the following Title 1 schools in D.C.:
Bancroft Elementary School (Ward 1)
Capital City Public Charter School (Ward 4)
Cleveland Elementary School (Ward 1)
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS, East End campus (Ward 7)
Plummer Elementary School (Ward 7)
Nature Near Schools
We're proud to have been awarded an additional year of funding from the DC Department of Energy and Environment for the Nature Near Schools grant. This year, we are funded to expand this project, "Reimagining the Field Trip: Meaningful Watershed Education Starts on Your Block," and work with more 4th and 5th grade students across the city. Through this MWEE (Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences) project, students get to explore their school's neighborhood on walking field trips while they examine their sewershed and watershed, observe how green infrastructure works, understand human impacts on the local urban ecosystem, and create a student-led action project to bring awareness to the issues facing the city's waterways.
Our school partners so far for SY2022-23 are the following Title 1 schools in D.C.:
Bancroft Elementary School (Ward 1)
Capital City Public Charter School (Ward 4)
Cleveland Elementary School (Ward 1)
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom PCS, East End campus (Ward 7)
Plummer Elementary School (Ward 7)
Community Stormwater Solutions
UAS has been awarded a 2022 Community Stormwater Solutions grant from the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment and Chesapeake Bay Trust. This grant funds our project, "Writing and Advocacy in the Anacostia Watershed: Wheatley Middle Schoolers Investigate Environmental Justice in Trinidad, D.C." This project brings all 7th and 8th grade students into their neighborhood for a series of field investigations focused on pervious and impervious surfaces, green infrastructure, and the urban tree canopy. In May, we'll head to Kingman and Heritage Islands for a Green Boats experience with Living Classrooms.
Wheatley Education Campus (Ward 5)
UAS has been awarded a 2022 Community Stormwater Solutions grant from the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment and Chesapeake Bay Trust. This grant funds our project, "Writing and Advocacy in the Anacostia Watershed: Wheatley Middle Schoolers Investigate Environmental Justice in Trinidad, D.C." This project brings all 7th and 8th grade students into their neighborhood for a series of field investigations focused on pervious and impervious surfaces, green infrastructure, and the urban tree canopy. In May, we'll head to Kingman and Heritage Islands for a Green Boats experience with Living Classrooms.
Wheatley Education Campus (Ward 5)
Adventure Fridays with Friendship PCS
UAS is facilitating a series of outdoor learning programs for 3rd-6th grade students on early release Fridays at two Friendship PCS campuses: Armstrong Academy and Woodridge Campus. Friendship scholars explore their neighborhoods and connect to nature through birding, Geocaching, mapping, and art and design.
Friendship Armstrong Academy (Ward 5)
Friendship Woodridge Campus (Ward 5)
2021-22 School Partnerships
Friendship PCS
Adventure Wednesdays at Friendship PCS are in full swing! UAS is so excited to be working with 2nd- 8th graders across three campuses: Southeast Academy, Armstrong Academy, and Woodridge International Elementary and Middle School. During our adventure UAS connects students to nature through an outdoors, neighborhood-based birding program where students learn to use binoculars, identify local bird species, and sharpen their citizen science skills.
Bancroft Elementary School
Capital City Public Charter School
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School
We are THRILLED to share with you that Urban Adventure Squad/Urban Learning and Teaching Center has been awarded a $60,000 "Nature Near Schools" grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment for our school year 2021-22 project, "Reimagining the Field Trip: Meaningful Watershed Education Starts on Your Block."
This grant, in partnership with three D.C. Title 1 schools--Bancroft Elementary School (Ward 1), Capital City Public Charter School (Ward 4), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School (Ward 5)--will allow us to offer curriculum-aligned, outdoor learning programs for specific grade levels, and includes a teacher professional development component. The idea is to seed these school- and neighborhood-based outdoor learning programs and create a sustainable model for the future. YES!
2020-21 School Partnerships
Bancroft Elementary School
We spent Wednesday mornings and afternoons in May and June exploring Mount Pleasant and Piney Branch Trail with Bancroft Elementary School students. Thanks to a partnership with Capital Experience Lab, more than 40 students in K-5th grade joined us each week. During our fully masked, all outdoor programs, students:
- investigated arthropods and insects by collecting live samples to study before releasing them back into the wild;
- practiced orienteering using compasses;
- collected soil samples to locate how many decomposers and arthropods could be found in different parts of Rock Creek Park;
- calculated stream width, depth, and velocity;
- identified local trees and calculated the age oft he tree (without needing to count its rings!);
- and learned about raptors by measuring their own "wingspans" and dissecting owl pellets.
Cleveland Elementary School
Lions in the City: Cleveland ES Waterway Guardians in Shaw, DC
Thanks to a 2020 community stormwater solutions grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment and Chesapeake Bay Trust, UAS was able to partner with Cleveland Elementary School for a year of hands-on watershed education. We worked with Malcolm McConner's 4th and 5th grade science classes to complete Urban Adventure Squad's watershed curriculum under a project titled "Lions in the City: Waterway Guardians at Cleveland Elementary in Shaw, DC."
Our watershed education curriculum took place during virtual visits to each science class throughout the 2020-21 schoolyear. Students learned how stormwater runoff affects their local watershed, the difference between pervious and impervious surfaces, what kinds of green infrastructure can be found in our city, about legislation like Foam Free D.C. and the plastic straw ban, and gained an understanding of what environmental justice means.
Even though we wanted to be in-person with these Waterway Guardians, UAS educators were able to keep virtual classroom visits interactive with a virtual field trip looking at backyard gardening and pervious surfaces, interactive Jeopardy! games to reinforce key concepts, and a project where students designed, created, and presented models of rain gardens and other green infrastructure concepts.
This project culminated in 4th and 5th grade Waterway Guardians presenting what they'd learned to 2nd and 3rd grade classes. We're so proud of all the students' hard work and commitment to environmental stewardship starting right in their own communities.
Lions in the City: Cleveland ES Waterway Guardians in Shaw, DC
Thanks to a 2020 community stormwater solutions grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment and Chesapeake Bay Trust, UAS was able to partner with Cleveland Elementary School for a year of hands-on watershed education. We worked with Malcolm McConner's 4th and 5th grade science classes to complete Urban Adventure Squad's watershed curriculum under a project titled "Lions in the City: Waterway Guardians at Cleveland Elementary in Shaw, DC."
Our watershed education curriculum took place during virtual visits to each science class throughout the 2020-21 schoolyear. Students learned how stormwater runoff affects their local watershed, the difference between pervious and impervious surfaces, what kinds of green infrastructure can be found in our city, about legislation like Foam Free D.C. and the plastic straw ban, and gained an understanding of what environmental justice means.
Even though we wanted to be in-person with these Waterway Guardians, UAS educators were able to keep virtual classroom visits interactive with a virtual field trip looking at backyard gardening and pervious surfaces, interactive Jeopardy! games to reinforce key concepts, and a project where students designed, created, and presented models of rain gardens and other green infrastructure concepts.
This project culminated in 4th and 5th grade Waterway Guardians presenting what they'd learned to 2nd and 3rd grade classes. We're so proud of all the students' hard work and commitment to environmental stewardship starting right in their own communities.
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- Brookland Campus
Beginning in April 2021, we kicked off an 8-week series of outdoor learning programs for 1st-5th grade scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- Brookland campus (Stokes School). We saw each French and Spanish class four times during this 8-week period, engaging over 180 students. Scholars came to us during their school day to:
Thanks to a partnership with Capital Experience Lab, we were able to reach more students during this outdoor learning series.
Beginning in April 2021, we kicked off an 8-week series of outdoor learning programs for 1st-5th grade scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- Brookland campus (Stokes School). We saw each French and Spanish class four times during this 8-week period, engaging over 180 students. Scholars came to us during their school day to:
- set up an outdoor geology lab at Fort Bunker Hill Park and test minerals using Mohs scale;
- explore hyperlocal Black history by walking to the former homes of notable Brookland residents featured on Cultural Tourism D.C.'s African American Heritage Trail;
- learn how to identify local bird species while walking around the Franciscan Monastery gardens and playing Birding Bingo;
- and practice survival skills with knot-tying games and relays.
Thanks to a partnership with Capital Experience Lab, we were able to reach more students during this outdoor learning series.
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End Campus
Thanks to grant funding from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Out of School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes (OST), Urban Adventure Squad continued to support scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End campus (Stokes School)- virtually and in person. UAS provided community-based, outdoors-focused programming to families on Friday afternoons, completely free of charge.
During our out-of-school time Friday afternoon programs on Zoom, K-2nd grade scholars:
We spent the last three Friday afternoon programs in-person at Stokes School! These were fully masked, small group, all outdoor programs where scholars went birding, practiced tree identification, and tested minerals using Mohs scale. Students form deeper and more meaningful connections to their communities when they learn in their schoolyards and neighborhoods.
Thanks to grant funding from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Out of School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes (OST), Urban Adventure Squad continued to support scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End campus (Stokes School)- virtually and in person. UAS provided community-based, outdoors-focused programming to families on Friday afternoons, completely free of charge.
During our out-of-school time Friday afternoon programs on Zoom, K-2nd grade scholars:
- explored animal adaptations and food chains that can be found in Rock Creek Park;
- learned about renewable energy and designed their own wind turbines, hydroelectric dams, and solar-powered buildings;
- got physical activity with dance and fitness games;
- practiced parts of speech by playing "Squad Libs," our version of Mad Libs;
- and had social-emotional support with plenty of time for telling jokes and riddles, sharing weekend plans and highlights from their school day, and mindfulness drawing activities.
We spent the last three Friday afternoon programs in-person at Stokes School! These were fully masked, small group, all outdoor programs where scholars went birding, practiced tree identification, and tested minerals using Mohs scale. Students form deeper and more meaningful connections to their communities when they learn in their schoolyards and neighborhoods.
D.C. Public Schools
In fall of 2020, Urban Adventure Squad won TWO mini-grants from D.C. Public Schools! The mini-grants are part of a program called DCPS Family Cornerstones. Family Cornerstones are high-quality learning experiences that strengthen the connection between students, their families, and their schools. UAS was selected to provide two of these experiences for D.C. students, and we did this despite the pandemic. Students and families participated in these projects in the spring of 2021.
DCPS Middle School Family Cornerstone: Celebrate Being Washingtonians
To help students and families explore themes of culture and identity here in D.C., UAS created a project called “Represent Yourself and Your Community Through Public Art.” This project has three parts:
In fall of 2020, Urban Adventure Squad won TWO mini-grants from D.C. Public Schools! The mini-grants are part of a program called DCPS Family Cornerstones. Family Cornerstones are high-quality learning experiences that strengthen the connection between students, their families, and their schools. UAS was selected to provide two of these experiences for D.C. students, and we did this despite the pandemic. Students and families participated in these projects in the spring of 2021.
DCPS Middle School Family Cornerstone: Celebrate Being Washingtonians
To help students and families explore themes of culture and identity here in D.C., UAS created a project called “Represent Yourself and Your Community Through Public Art.” This project has three parts:
- Families watch a short video created by UAS where they learn the purpose and significance of public art and see examples in different wards of our city. You can watch that video here: Represent Yourself and Your Community Through Public Art
- Next, families go out on their own neighborhood adventures to locate public art in their communities. Public art can inspire emotion, make statements about social justice, and so much more. A UAS fave is the Duke Ellington Memorial on the U St. True Reformer Building, done by artist G. Byron Peck.
- After exploring the art in their communities, students and families choose a place where public art could be added, and design their own artwork. The SY2020-21 families met us online for a virtual community event to chat and show off their creations. We were joined by local painter and muralist Rodrigo Pradel. Rodrigo talked to us about his lifelong passion for art, feeding the creative soul, and the connection between public art and identity.
DCPS Middle School Family Cornerstone: Encourage Community Involvement
Our watershed education project is called “Local Litter: Environmental Stewardship Starts on Your Block”, connects students and their families to their city through environmental community involvement. This project has three parts:
Our watershed education project is called “Local Litter: Environmental Stewardship Starts on Your Block”, connects students and their families to their city through environmental community involvement. This project has three parts:
- Families watch a video to learn what stormwater runoff is and how it carries trash and pollution through our city’s sewer systems and into our local waterways. Did you know D.C. has two different sewer systems? Find out more by watching that video here: Local Litter: Environmental Stewardship Starts on Your Block
- Afterwards, students and families go out into their communities to make a difference by picking up litter, identifying where the majority of litter is located and what could be done to lessen the amount of waste in both their neighborhood and in their own home. Families create action plans to create less waste.
- SY2020-21 families had the opportunity to join us for a virtual event to share their experiences. We were lucky to be joined by stormwater expert Morvarid Ganjalizadeh, a civil engineer from the District Department of Transportation who specializes in green infrastructure. Morvarid showed us the details of how intentional design and construction can help improve the health of our waterways, and what green projects are already happening in D.C. neighborhoods.
2019-20 School Partnerships
During the 2019-20 school year, we partnered with three public charter schools--Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI), DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCB), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School-Brookland campus and East End campus (Stokes School).
Creative Minds Garden Education Program
In fall 2019, Urban Adventure Squad returned to Creative Minds International with 12 weeks of garden education programming. UAS educators developed and led curriculum-aligned environmental education programs during class periods by appointment, recess, and after school. Students in PK-8th grade took care of the pollinator garden and raised garden beds by removing old weeds, tilling existing soil, adding new soil, planting seeds, watering sprouts, and monitoring new growth. Students added fresh coats of paint to the garden boxes, kept the soil hydrated, and dug out weeds every week.
We used the garden as an outdoor classroom, where art, science, and engineering came together. Students made Halloween and fall-themed decorations to hang up in the patio. Students harvested what they’d grown and learned the science of pickling, made fresh garden salsa, and explored essential oils. We examined pollination and the importance of biodiversity, the role of earthworms, parts of a plant, what different plants put into and take out of the soil, and globalization and food movement.
We really enjoyed our time at CMI and look forward to a time when we can be back in the garden with CMI students. Learning how to plan, plant, and maintain a garden is an important life skill that we are grateful we got to share with the CMI community, especially now, when everyone needs to enjoy outdoor learning more than ever.
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End Campus
Thanks to grant funding from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Out of School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes (OST) and the United Way Foundation, Urban Adventure Squad spent Friday afternoons and full days when school was closed with kindergarten and 1st grade scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End campus (Stokes School), completely free of charge.
During out-of-school time, Urban Adventure Squad ensured continuing education, physical activity, and neighborhood exploration for Stokes East End scholars by guiding K and 1st graders in:
Urban Adventure Squad values the time we had to work with these emerging young minds. We were recently awarded a continuation grant through the OST office for SY 2020-2021, which means we get to keep up with our young leaders! This year, we’ll continue working with this cohort (now in 1st and 2nd grade) on Friday afternoons via Zoom.
Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways
Thanks to a 2019 community stormwater solutions grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment, UAS was able to partner with four different public charter schools as part of the Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways Project. Students explored their local watersheds through hands-on environmental education at Creative Minds International (CMI), DC Bilingual (DCB), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- Brookland campus and East End campus (Stokes School). You can read all about that project on our Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways webpage.
2018-19 School Partnerships
During the 2018-19 school year, we partnered with three public charter schools--DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCB), Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School-Brookland campus (Stokes School).
DC Bilingual Enrichment with The Hive
Urban Adventure Squad created and facilitated half day programs for 1st-5th grade students in The Hive. These unique programs featured community walks and hands-on learning that aligned with each grade level's curriculum. When students were learning about weather and climate in their earth sciences unit, students in The Hive built anemometers to measure wind speed and tested them during a community walk where they recorded real-time weather data. Students built terrariums while learning about reversible and irreversible changes in the water cycle, saw sound with an oobleck experiment during a unit on vibration and the science of sound, and built bridges and explored urban design during a problem-solving unit. Students in The Hive also organized neighborhood trash cleanups while learning about our local watersheds and participated in The 50 States Project, which is part of a GPS-based scavenger hunt called Geocaching that allows students to practice map skills, puzzle solving, and teamwork.
Creative Minds Garden Education
In fall 2018, Urban Adventure Squad continued garden education programs at Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Students got their hands dirty as they worked alongside UAS program educators, who planned and led garden education programs that were integrated with the school's curriculum. These programs included interactive and imaginative lessons focused on cooking, building, designing, problem-solving, engineering, communicating, and more.
Middle school science students learned about digestive enzymes by harvesting oregano and observing an experiment with apples, explored salt as a preservative while making quick pickles, and learned how farming on the International Space Station compares to our community garden. Students visited throughout their recess periods to help plant, harvest, weed, and winterize the garden with crop covers and mulch. Recess students harvested radishes and made salad dressing, learned about the American Indian method of planting the three sisters--rice, beans, corn--together, and picked lavender for lemonade and scones. Through our work, we engaged over 400 students in grades PK3 through 8th grades.
Stokes School
Stokes School was the partner school on Urban Adventure Squad's DC's Hidden Waterways curriculum, funded by the DC Department of Energy and Environment's 2018 Stormwater Solutions grant. You can read all about that project on our DC's Hidden Waterways webpage.
2017-18 School Partnerships
During the 2017-18 school year, we partnered with two public charter schools--District of Columbia International School (DCI) and Creative Minds International (CMI) to offer enrichment programs.
At DCI, we created programs in three- and four-week units that brought students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades out across the city, meeting guest educators, hiking through trails in Rock Creek, going behind the scenes at local theaters, finding and creating public art, learning around the recycling process, and much, much more:
Electronic Trash Art. During this unit, students learned about current methods of electronics disposal and the effects on the environment. Students learned from a representative of the scrap recycling industry, visited the American Art Museum for a tour and gallery talk that focused on found objects and electronic art, hiked in Rock Creek Park, and created their own electronic trash art projects.
DCI Pop Up. Students prepped for all aspects of an entirely Squad-run pop-up restaurant under the guidance of food industry expert Peter Fox, who has over a decade of experience at Wagshal’s, a Washington, D.C.-based food business. We visited TaKorean for a behind-the-scenes tour of a creative fast casual concept and Timber Pizza Co. to explore a sit-down restaurant that changes its menu with the seasons. Andrew Dana, owner of Timber Pizza Co., offered students lots of memorable advice, including his thoughts on naming a restaurant. He said that a restaurant name should be: 1) easy to spell, 2) not already on Google, and 3) cool. And so “Good Vibes and Empanadas” was born!
D.C. Performing Arts: History and Culture. This unit included team-building activities, a workshop with the Howard University Step Team, a tour of Wooly Mammoth Theater, and a stage combat workshop with Roundhouse Theater.
DCInstallation. DCI students focused on the role of public art by exploring various installations in downtown Silver Spring and by geocaching in their school’s neighborhood. The DCI Squad decided to convert a broken foosball table at the school into a ping-pong table featuring a community mural on the tabletop surface. Squad members used drills to take apart the foosball table, prepped and primed the new table top, created 12-inch by 12-inch designs on paper, and then painted those designs onto the ping-pong tabletop before securing it to the table base with drills.
D.C. Wildlife and Habitat Preservation. During this unit, students learned about wildlife in D.C. and how to preserve their habitats. We spent a day in Rock Creek Park with local guest educators Chris and Nick (aka @TheBirdist) where we learned about hawks, vultures, nuthatches, robins, and more. Discussions during this unit focused on the excitement and challenges that come with being a bustling city that is filled with incredible green spaces and bodies of water.
Creative Minds Garden Education
In spring 2018, Urban Adventure Squad kicked off garden education programs at Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Students got their hands dirty as they worked alongside UAS program educators, who planned and led garden education programs that were integrated with the school's curriculum. These programs included interactive and imaginative lessons focused on cooking, building, designing, problem-solving, engineering, communicating, and more.
Specific activities included harvesting garden grown oregano to make fresh oregano pesto, which was highlighted as part of a profile on our work on the Green Schoolyards America website. Sixth grade science students experimented with different trellises for growing cucumbers and squash, and seventh grade science students spent time researching and designing a system to catch runoff rainwater. Young children learned about the lifecycle of plants and the importance of bees, and all students learning about preserving precious natural resources, and reusing materials instead of discarding them.
Through our work with CMI, we engaged over 400 students in grades PK3 through 7th grades.
Contact Us
If your school is interested in a UAS partnership, you can reach out to us at [email protected].
During the 2019-20 school year, we partnered with three public charter schools--Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI), DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCB), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School-Brookland campus and East End campus (Stokes School).
Creative Minds Garden Education Program
In fall 2019, Urban Adventure Squad returned to Creative Minds International with 12 weeks of garden education programming. UAS educators developed and led curriculum-aligned environmental education programs during class periods by appointment, recess, and after school. Students in PK-8th grade took care of the pollinator garden and raised garden beds by removing old weeds, tilling existing soil, adding new soil, planting seeds, watering sprouts, and monitoring new growth. Students added fresh coats of paint to the garden boxes, kept the soil hydrated, and dug out weeds every week.
We used the garden as an outdoor classroom, where art, science, and engineering came together. Students made Halloween and fall-themed decorations to hang up in the patio. Students harvested what they’d grown and learned the science of pickling, made fresh garden salsa, and explored essential oils. We examined pollination and the importance of biodiversity, the role of earthworms, parts of a plant, what different plants put into and take out of the soil, and globalization and food movement.
We really enjoyed our time at CMI and look forward to a time when we can be back in the garden with CMI students. Learning how to plan, plant, and maintain a garden is an important life skill that we are grateful we got to share with the CMI community, especially now, when everyone needs to enjoy outdoor learning more than ever.
Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End Campus
Thanks to grant funding from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Out of School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes (OST) and the United Way Foundation, Urban Adventure Squad spent Friday afternoons and full days when school was closed with kindergarten and 1st grade scholars at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- East End campus (Stokes School), completely free of charge.
During out-of-school time, Urban Adventure Squad ensured continuing education, physical activity, and neighborhood exploration for Stokes East End scholars by guiding K and 1st graders in:
- building models of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which includes the District and parts of six states! ;
- learning about types of clouds and creating a rainfall simulation using water, shaving cream, and food dye;
- identifying the roles of plants and animals in food chains and food webs of the Anacostia River ecosystem;
- and spending plenty of time outside of the classroom on neighborhood hikes to collect acorns and play at nearby Marvin Gaye Recreation Center. Students used recycled materials and these neighborhood treasures to create their own projects and designs.
Urban Adventure Squad values the time we had to work with these emerging young minds. We were recently awarded a continuation grant through the OST office for SY 2020-2021, which means we get to keep up with our young leaders! This year, we’ll continue working with this cohort (now in 1st and 2nd grade) on Friday afternoons via Zoom.
Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways
Thanks to a 2019 community stormwater solutions grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment, UAS was able to partner with four different public charter schools as part of the Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways Project. Students explored their local watersheds through hands-on environmental education at Creative Minds International (CMI), DC Bilingual (DCB), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School- Brookland campus and East End campus (Stokes School). You can read all about that project on our Geocaching D.C.'s Waterways webpage.
2018-19 School Partnerships
During the 2018-19 school year, we partnered with three public charter schools--DC Bilingual Public Charter School (DCB), Creative Minds International Public Charter School (CMI), and Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School-Brookland campus (Stokes School).
DC Bilingual Enrichment with The Hive
Urban Adventure Squad created and facilitated half day programs for 1st-5th grade students in The Hive. These unique programs featured community walks and hands-on learning that aligned with each grade level's curriculum. When students were learning about weather and climate in their earth sciences unit, students in The Hive built anemometers to measure wind speed and tested them during a community walk where they recorded real-time weather data. Students built terrariums while learning about reversible and irreversible changes in the water cycle, saw sound with an oobleck experiment during a unit on vibration and the science of sound, and built bridges and explored urban design during a problem-solving unit. Students in The Hive also organized neighborhood trash cleanups while learning about our local watersheds and participated in The 50 States Project, which is part of a GPS-based scavenger hunt called Geocaching that allows students to practice map skills, puzzle solving, and teamwork.
Creative Minds Garden Education
In fall 2018, Urban Adventure Squad continued garden education programs at Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Students got their hands dirty as they worked alongside UAS program educators, who planned and led garden education programs that were integrated with the school's curriculum. These programs included interactive and imaginative lessons focused on cooking, building, designing, problem-solving, engineering, communicating, and more.
Middle school science students learned about digestive enzymes by harvesting oregano and observing an experiment with apples, explored salt as a preservative while making quick pickles, and learned how farming on the International Space Station compares to our community garden. Students visited throughout their recess periods to help plant, harvest, weed, and winterize the garden with crop covers and mulch. Recess students harvested radishes and made salad dressing, learned about the American Indian method of planting the three sisters--rice, beans, corn--together, and picked lavender for lemonade and scones. Through our work, we engaged over 400 students in grades PK3 through 8th grades.
Stokes School
Stokes School was the partner school on Urban Adventure Squad's DC's Hidden Waterways curriculum, funded by the DC Department of Energy and Environment's 2018 Stormwater Solutions grant. You can read all about that project on our DC's Hidden Waterways webpage.
2017-18 School Partnerships
During the 2017-18 school year, we partnered with two public charter schools--District of Columbia International School (DCI) and Creative Minds International (CMI) to offer enrichment programs.
At DCI, we created programs in three- and four-week units that brought students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades out across the city, meeting guest educators, hiking through trails in Rock Creek, going behind the scenes at local theaters, finding and creating public art, learning around the recycling process, and much, much more:
Electronic Trash Art. During this unit, students learned about current methods of electronics disposal and the effects on the environment. Students learned from a representative of the scrap recycling industry, visited the American Art Museum for a tour and gallery talk that focused on found objects and electronic art, hiked in Rock Creek Park, and created their own electronic trash art projects.
DCI Pop Up. Students prepped for all aspects of an entirely Squad-run pop-up restaurant under the guidance of food industry expert Peter Fox, who has over a decade of experience at Wagshal’s, a Washington, D.C.-based food business. We visited TaKorean for a behind-the-scenes tour of a creative fast casual concept and Timber Pizza Co. to explore a sit-down restaurant that changes its menu with the seasons. Andrew Dana, owner of Timber Pizza Co., offered students lots of memorable advice, including his thoughts on naming a restaurant. He said that a restaurant name should be: 1) easy to spell, 2) not already on Google, and 3) cool. And so “Good Vibes and Empanadas” was born!
D.C. Performing Arts: History and Culture. This unit included team-building activities, a workshop with the Howard University Step Team, a tour of Wooly Mammoth Theater, and a stage combat workshop with Roundhouse Theater.
DCInstallation. DCI students focused on the role of public art by exploring various installations in downtown Silver Spring and by geocaching in their school’s neighborhood. The DCI Squad decided to convert a broken foosball table at the school into a ping-pong table featuring a community mural on the tabletop surface. Squad members used drills to take apart the foosball table, prepped and primed the new table top, created 12-inch by 12-inch designs on paper, and then painted those designs onto the ping-pong tabletop before securing it to the table base with drills.
D.C. Wildlife and Habitat Preservation. During this unit, students learned about wildlife in D.C. and how to preserve their habitats. We spent a day in Rock Creek Park with local guest educators Chris and Nick (aka @TheBirdist) where we learned about hawks, vultures, nuthatches, robins, and more. Discussions during this unit focused on the excitement and challenges that come with being a bustling city that is filled with incredible green spaces and bodies of water.
Creative Minds Garden Education
In spring 2018, Urban Adventure Squad kicked off garden education programs at Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Students got their hands dirty as they worked alongside UAS program educators, who planned and led garden education programs that were integrated with the school's curriculum. These programs included interactive and imaginative lessons focused on cooking, building, designing, problem-solving, engineering, communicating, and more.
Specific activities included harvesting garden grown oregano to make fresh oregano pesto, which was highlighted as part of a profile on our work on the Green Schoolyards America website. Sixth grade science students experimented with different trellises for growing cucumbers and squash, and seventh grade science students spent time researching and designing a system to catch runoff rainwater. Young children learned about the lifecycle of plants and the importance of bees, and all students learning about preserving precious natural resources, and reusing materials instead of discarding them.
Through our work with CMI, we engaged over 400 students in grades PK3 through 7th grades.
Contact Us
If your school is interested in a UAS partnership, you can reach out to us at [email protected].
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