Hoosic River Revival Collaborates with the Schools to Offer 'Hoosic River Ranger' Program
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Hoosic River Revival has collaborated with the North Adams Public School System in the creation of an outdoor education curriculum that focuses on the historical and environmental learning opportunities along the Hoosic River levees at Noel Field in North Adams.
This new offering, called "The Hoosic River Ranger" program, is an inter-active, interpretive walking tour for elementary school children.
With the advice of Lindsay Osterhoudt, a K-12 science teacher in the North Adams Schools, the River Revival summer intern, Johanna Wasserman, developed a detailed outline for River Ranger guides that includes facts, figures, pictures, and experiments that will intrigue children as well as adults.
"When students connect their learning to where they live, they feel more attached to the concepts they are studying," Osterhoudt said. "These concepts then become a part of their world rather than an abstract notion."
Among the topics to be discussed during the guided walks will be: characteristics of rivers vs. oceans, the ecology of the Hoosic, its history of flooding, rivers as a source of power for our former mills, and its future potential in the city as a recreational, accessible asset. Noella Carlow, director of the North Adams 21st Century After-School Program, who also served as consultant to the River Revival in the development of this curriculum, introduced her students to this program this summer.
"I am very excited about partnering with the brilliant Hoosic River Revival team. One of the goals of our program is to inspire, motivate and prepare our students to become future leaders in our community. This will be a phenomenal opportunity for the children of North Adams," Carlow said.
Supplementing the River Ranger outdoor education curriculum is a new self-guided brochure from the Hoosic River Revival: the "Hoosic River Family Wildlife Walk" brochure. Created by Johanna Wasserman and the River Revival's social media adviser, Bert Lamb, the brochure highlights a half-mile walk from Joe Wolf Field to Hunter Foundry Road, and is now available in the North Adams Public Library, and at the Colegrove and Brayton schools. The brochure may also be downloaded from the Revival website.
The mission of the Hoosic River Revival is to reconnect the community to a healthy, scenic, accessible, flood-controlled river, which will enhance North Adams' recreational, cultural, and economic vitality. The Board of Directors meets monthly at City Hall on the second Monday of each month at 9 a.m. and welcomes attendance from the public. Comments, questions, or inquiries about the River Revival project or the River Ranger program can be sent to HoosicRiverRevival@gmail.com or by telephone 413-212-2996.
Tags: Hoosic River, Hoosic River Revival,
