Center for Learning in Action partnership with Lanesborough Elementary School
2019-2020 school year recap
by Renee Schiek
The partnership with LES was established in the fall of 2015. I am working on expanding the partnership as much as possible. By the end of the school year, most grades will have participated in at least one activity sponsored by CLIA. Below is a description of the activities.
October 1, 2019: Grade 1 (27 students) field trip to Sheep Hill
The primary focus was seeds. Program began with talking about different kinds of seeds and how they travel. Students took a short hike up into the meadow and into the garden next to the pond and observed seeds contained on various plants. Kids made a “seed carrier” using the provided craft materials.
October 10, 2019: Grade 5 (26 students) field trip to Hopkins Forest
Field trip focus was ecosystems, water cycles and food chains. Some of the activities included: Ecosystem Food Web Exploration (one or more habitats), Water Cycle Ramble, Food Web role play and Ecosystem/Food web walk.
October 31, 2019: Grade 4 (22 students) field trip to Hopkins Forest
Field trip focus was landscape formations (glacial valleys, erratics) and rock and soil identification. Some of the activities included: rock identification and basic orienteering with a compass.
Winter Study 2020: BioEYES with Grade 3 elementary school students
January 13-17, Williamstown ES (60 students)
January 21-24, Lanesborough ES (34 students) and Hancock ES (6 students)
Seven Williams College students along with Martha Marvin and Jennifer Swoap spent about 2 hours a day at each school over the course of 2 weeks teaching the students about zebrafish. Lessons included basic information about reproduction, physical features and hereditary traits. Microscopes were also used to view the zebrafish at various stages of development.
Williams student BioEYES participants:
Alexandra Bettez, 2023
Hannah Brown, 2023
Jacob Chen, 2023
Kathryn Conley, 2023
Steve Mejivar, 2021
Chloe Moffitt, 2023
Clarissa Wallin, 2022
January 15,2020: Grade 6 (24 students) field trip to Images Cinema.
Grade 6 saw the documentary film “We Are The Radical Monarchs”, Science Fair”, documentary chronicling the three year journey of a troop of 8 -13 year old girls of color and their two leaders.
March 26, 2019: Berkshire County BreakOut Day at LES.
Eight Williams College students were planning to come to LES for the day and do activities with various groups. Oliver Yang, 2020 group leader, was in the planning stages. Teachers who were planning on participating include Kindergarten teachers Jen Hood and Marian Gennette, Grade 1 teachers Barb Fisher and Brittany Bertelli and Grade 3 teacher Anna Mello. This event was cancelled due to the closure of Williams College and Lanesborough ES amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Annual field trips that typically occur in May and June, but were not scheduled due to school closure:
June: Grade K (28 students) field trip to Sheep Hill
June: Grade 2 (24 students) field trip to Sheep Hill
June: Grade 1 (27 students) field trip to Hopkins Forest
Other Williams College collaborations at Lanesborough ES:
Sarah Willwerth, 2021, participated in BioEYES 2019. She reached out to Anna Mello in fall of 2019 and spent most of January 2020 volunteering in Anna Mello’s Grade 3 classroom. When it came time for BioEYES 2020, Sarah was easily available to help the elementary students with the program. Anna and her students thoroughly enjoyed having Sarah in their classroom.
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