Elachee Nature Center Naturalist Teresa Snipes showing a group of home school students a tadpole caught at the Chicopee Woods Aquatic Studies Center and Chicopee Lake during a field trip for the students in Gainesville, Ga.
(AP Photo/The Times, Scott Rodgers)GAINESVILLE, Ga. – Elachee Nature Science Center is drafting plans for a nature-based preschool that would be the first of its kind in the Southeast.
“We’ve become a culture of indoor people,” said Elachee President and CEO Andrea Timpone. “We truly believe that getting children outdoors at any age, and particularly at an early age, helps to build a greater understanding and hopefully they will mature into environmentally literate citizens.”
Elachee is moving forward with a projected opening date of fall 2012, but Timpone said a lot of pieces need to fall into place before the preschool becomes a reality. The center is running a feasibility study, funded through a $25,000 grant from the Waterfall Family Foundation.
The idea has been discussed at Elachee for quite some time. Two years ago, a group from the center traveled to the nature-based Teton Science Schools in Colorado and three consultants from similar programs have also visited Elachee to share information about their schools.
The concept is based on having an outdoor classroom, with students predominantly outside during the day.