Environmental Education - The Branch School

To see the synthesis of STEAM and environmental education, you need only to wander outside to The Branch School’s Outdoor Classroom. Project work fuses science and math exploration in concrete, hands-on ways, building observational skills, measurement and math acuity, and critical thinking prowess to foster a deeper understanding of ecosystems and the natural world.
From planting bulbs to documenting life cycles to counting birds and butterflies to gauge the effects of climate change on at-risk species, the Outdoor Classroom opens a world of learning to students that just can’t be found in a textbook.

The Branch School is a leader in environmental education in Houston, and we’ve been honored to share our curriculum with many other schools. We hold important and reciprocal relationships with the Houston Audubon Society, Urban Harvest, and the Jane Goodall Institute and have benefited from a series of grants from foundations that recognize our unique and comprehensive approach. The Branch School is certified by Texas Parks & Wildlife as a Texas Wildscapes Wildlife Habitat Demonstration site. The time our students spend in our Outdoor Classroom cultivates respect for the environment and teaches children how they can care for our world.

Outdoor Learning

Students raise caterpillars as they study the butterfly’s life cycle. They research the plants that butterflies eat, present reports to one another, and advocate for particular plants to be added to the garden.

Classes plant vegetables, eventually producing carrots, onions, and lettuce while simultaneously studying how farmers get crops to market and how markets deliver produce to our dinner tables.

Our youngest students head to the garden monthly for hunting expeditions, to count the different colors and varieties of the flowers they see. They study how the garden changes through the year, from bare branch to bud to bloom. They learn to point, not pick, the flowers and study how the garden serves as food for insects and other garden visitors.

PK3 picking carrots — PK3 students picking carrots in Outdoor Classroom

Preschool students investigating Outdoor Classroom plants with teachers; The Branch School; Private School in Houston

Student looking at a green plant; Nature Studies; Environmental Stewardship; The Branch School - Private School in Houston

Elementary students collecting pond sample for science project; The Branch School; Private School in Houston

Nature studies have always been a part of a Branch School education. They provide a hands-on way for students to use their math and science observation skills. They absolutely support book learning.

Our Outdoor Classroom is known in our community. We've presented and shared valuable curriculum with many other schools. Over the years we've developed important and reciprocal relationships with the Houston Audubon Society, Urban Harvest, and the Jane Goodall Institute, as well as foundations, through our conservation efforts.

Brief Facts about the Program
Benefits for Students

Brief Facts about the Program

Goals - to educate students to love and feel at peace with natural systems, to be good earth stewards, and to recognize the value of natural habitats
Students explore a native plant habitat including a pond/bog, host plants for at least 5 species of butterfly, vegetable beds, a spring wildflower meadow, a pocket prairie, citrus trees, and a bulb garden. They regularly visit the wildscape area as a resource for learning, including math and science lessons.
Received Susan Vaughan Foundation, Toyota Tapestry Foundation, and The Joseph and Mary Cacioppo Foundation grants to fund habitat improvements and purchase of equipment including nature surveillance cameras and computer microscopes
Program received the 2005 Lucie Wray Todd Award for environmental education from the Houston Audubon Society. OC teacher, Ann Hightower, has taught over a dozen Outdoor Classroom workshops to other independent schools and at conferences. She also leads students in the yearly Birdathon.
Site is an Affiliated Garden of Urban Harvest, a nonprofit Houston organization dedicated to strengthening communities through gardening. Students plant vegetable and flower seeds, harvest vegetables, and add to the native restoration seasonally.
Students observe, measure, and document plant growth and research plant information. The gardening skills are incorporated into the students' math, science, language arts, and art curriculum.
The Branch School is a certified "Texas Wildscapes Wildlife Habitat Demonstration Site" by Texas Parks & Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation. Certification requires that the designated site contain at least 75% native plant species.
All Branch School students participate annually in the Houston Audubon Society Birdathon. Each class uses school sets of binoculars and bird guides to facilitate birdwatching skills. Some years the birdwatching is extended off-campus to the convenient Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary or the Katie Prairie Conservancy.
2008-2009 school grants purchased two "Sunlighter" indoor plant stands for raising seedlings and propagating plants, and composting equipment for recycling and life cycle studies
Hands-on activities include composting, vegetable gardening, plant propagation, and habitat enhancement.
One class participates each year in Project FeederWatch, a data-collection activity of the Cornell University Institute of Ornithology.
One class participates in Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, an activity of the University of Minnesota, to expand knowledge of insect life cycle and support population of an at-risk species.