Shannon Churms

Churms' "Back to Nature" project is an interactive outdoor science classroom that gives pre-K through fifth-grade students opportunities to experience nature in hands-on ways. Led by Churms and five others, the project is located on an oak hummock on the school's campus, where students study indigenous animal and plant life. The project includes bat and frog houses, bird and squirrel feeders, butterfly platforms, brush piles to attract insects and burrows, and a greenhouse. In a variety of ways, the project teaches the young students to appreciate the natural diversity of eastern Florida while reinforcing key concepts in the curriculum.