It’s not unusual for Holly Slater to conduct her classes around a large bonfire in the winter or in a lettuce garden in the spring.
Slater teaches students at Soddy-Daisy’s Ivy Academy about the indigenous plants and animals that live on the land and in the North Chickamauga Creek that runs behind them.
At Ivy, she leads students on hikes. She helps them tend beehives, feed chickens and track animals they observe in the wild.
“Being outside is good for people,” said Slater, the environmental programming coordinator at Ivy. “… This is the best way to teach students; it’s more than just textbook learning.”
Ivy Academy, which has 150 high school students, is one of Hamilton County’s three public charter schools, operated for five years from portable trailers on leased land off Dayton Pike. This week the school celebrated its grand opening in a new facility across the street.