Kuentz Elementary School

Fifth grade students at Kuentz Elementary will become citizen scientists by conducting biodiversity audits using GLOBE, iNaturalist and Map of Life apps to track data and observations. Biodiversity sets the stage for sustainable thinking and introduces students to make observations of their surroundings. By looking at things from a different perspective and using the tools provided, students can conceptualize that living things, including themselves, benefit from diverse ecosystems.

Kuentz Elementary has an outdoor garden that consists of Texas Native pollinator beds and an organic vegetable garden. Eco-Friends, our after school program consisting of 5th grade students who dedicate an hour after school plus weekends to learn about the importance of caring for our environment. EcoFriends also helps to maintain our garden and promotes the recycling program for our school all while having FUN!

Community members also play an active part in helping to maintain the garden. This is the school’s 4th year serving as a Monarch Heroes School with the National Wildlife Federation EcoSchools USA program, as well as participating in the Symbolic Migration through Journey North. The grant will fund materials to raise Monarch Butterflies and an automated weather station to provide measurements of local conditions that can be examined for their effects on the butterflies and the school gardens. Students will devise research projects using their observations.

Grant Amount: $1,300