Four Winds Nature Program volunteers needed

Are you a parent who loves to see your children fully engaged and learning actively? (And don’t you love it when they come to you to report a new discovery they’ve made outdoors?)

Are you a community member who believes that our planet’s future depends on today’s youths developing a connection with the natural world around them? Are you a grandparent who would love to spend a little time with our children once a month teaching them about nature and science?

Four Winds Nature Program at Weathersfield School is looking for parents, grandparents and community members who would be willing to volunteer with the program next academic school year (2018-2019).  

No experience is necessary. Love of our children, curiosity about nature and enthusiasm are the only requirements. Only three or four hours a month volunteering time maximum needed.

All volunteers attend a training the first Wednesday of each month for two hours to learn all the activities for that month’s science and nature topic (complete with a good amount of laughter and camaraderie). Then volunteers go, in pairs, into one K-5 classroom each month to conduct the same group of activities with the students — you would set the regularly scheduled 60- to 90-minute time slot each month with the teacher.

Being a Four Winds volunteer is fun. It’s an important addition to the school’s science program. And, it’s essential. Four Winds is an entirely volunteer-led program, fully and enthusiastically supported by Weathersfield’s teachers and administrators, but reliant upon enough volunteers stepping up to the plate to make it happen.

If you would like to get a little taste of what it would be like before you commit, you have options! You can:

• Find out who your child’s classroom volunteer is this year and ask them about it.

• Attend the last training for this year on Wednesday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Hartland Library — they take turns training at Weathersfield School and the Hartland Library each month.  

• Look for news about a short informational meeting before the end of the school year, where everyone can come and hear about this program from its statewide director, and experience the fun of a Four Winds lesson from a student’s eyes. 

For more information, send an email to Susan Hindinger at [email protected] or call (802)-289-1955 or Amy Hill at [email protected] or (802) 299-7791.