K-12 Program

March 27, 1998

Dear Distinguished Schools Site Visitation Committee:

For the past four years the University of California's Natural Reserve System has worked in partnership with Mammoth Elementary School to provide more science education opportunities for the local school children. The Natural Reserve System is a unit within the University that maintains a network of reserves around the state managed expressly for teaching and research. Two reserves, administered by UC Santa Barbara, are located in the Mammoth Lakes area. The following is a list of this year's accomplishments:

Mammoth Elementary School's kindergarten through fifth grade students each visited (or will visit by the end of the school year) one of the University's local reserves for a hands-on science lesson. This program hosted every student at Mammoth Elementary (584 students), each spending approximately 3 hours at one reserve actively participating in a science lesson, collecting data and hiking through the natural area. This project is funded by a $17,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to the University of CA, Santa Barbara in partnership with the Inyo National Forest.

The reserve teaching staff went into the classrooms for pre-field trip or post-field trip lessons, to prepare students for the upcoming field trip, or extend the lesson presented during the field trip in K,1,2,4,5^th grades. The in-classroom science lessons are funded by a $4,800 grant from the Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association (ESIA), to the University of CA, Santa Barbara, in partnership with the Inyo National Forest.

Fourth grade students designed posters to educate the community on bear safety. This project was co sponsored by the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, the University of California, and Steve Searles of Bear Affairs. The "Be Bear Aware" posters will be put in windows of town businesses this summer. The winning poster will be reproduced and sent to police departments throughout the State of California, who face wildlife problems similar to Mammoth.

ESIA and the Inyo National Forest, through the University of California, are donating a natural history library to the Mammoth Elementary School. The library is made up of 124 books, videos and cassette tapes that match science and social studies curriculum units taught at MES. The value of the library is $1,500.

The University staff arranged a donation of 18 aquaria to Mammoth Elementary School. The fish tanks were made available by Marineland Aquarium Products at the end of a laboratory experiment. The tanks came with filters, filter cartridges and lids. Mammoth U Haul donated a trailer to transport the aquaria from Moorpark to Mammoth. The approximate value of this donation is $2,000.

The reserve is proud to be a part of the Mammoth Elementary science program. We feel a great sense of accomplishment with the work that has been completed, and a desire to continue and expand our program in the future. Recently, the President of the University of California, Dr. Richard Atkinson, announced a major initiative, the Outreach Action plan, and has made it his highest priority. The plan calls on the University community to redouble it outreach efforts and work with K-12 schools to prepare more students for admission to UC. We hope to gain additional University support from this initiative. We are fortunate to live in a school district with excellent leadership, dedicated teachers, and a strong monetary and volunteer commitment from the community.

Sincerely,

Leslie Dawson
Education Coordinator

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