Students at Tice Elementary work on planting and mulching 100 plants. REFUGE/DDWS

Before Easter, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge staff and volunteers spent a day at Tice Elementary — its current target Title I school — to work with students and teachers to get a pollinator garden underway with more than 100 plants put in the ground.

Since 2005, the refuge and “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge have awarded conservation grants to teachers for science projects related to studying the environment. This year’s program created “pocket refuges” at eight Lee County School District schools to teach the students about the importance of pollinators and the habitat that sustains them.

“What a fun day digging in the dirt with students, staff and volunteers,” Wendy Kindig, refuge Education Committee Chair — which oversees grant programs — said. “One highlight was finding a monarch caterpillar on a black-eyed Susan that formed a chrysalis before our very eyes. Such a teachable moment.”

The other schools include Colonial Elementary, Edison Park Creative and Express Arts School, Lee Adolescent Mothers Program and South Fort Myers High in Fort Myers; Hancock Creek Elementary in North Fort Myers; East Lee County High in Lehigh Acres; and Trafalgar Middle in Cape Coral.

“This project is instrumental to provide an opportunity for the applied learning of science concepts in an easily accessible outdoor laboratory,” school district Environmental Education Resource Susan Hassett said. “The pocket refuges have become a source of joy and pride for school communities, who have collaborated and invested time and resources to build a beautiful spot for wildlife and people to find serenity and inspiration.”

East Lee County High students work on their pocket refuge pollinator garden. REFUGE/DDWS

“Transportation to off-campus locations for field trips has become practically impossible, so many teachers are very glad for an on-campus experience that can happen daily, allowing students to study the changes over time and the patterns of the natural world that are beneficial to us all,” she added.

For more information about experiential learning opportunities, contact DDWS Associate Executive Director Sierra Hoisington at shois@dingdarlingsociety.org or 239-472-1100, ext. 4.