River Legacy Foundation

Every child needs nature. Not just the ones with parents who appreciate nature. Not only those of a certain economic class or culture or gender or sexual identity or set of abilities. Every child.
Each year, more than 40,000 North Texas youth and their families learn love and respect for our local wildlife. In collaboration with the Arlington Independent School District (AISD) and other Tarrant County, Texas school districts, our Environmental Science classes offer a range of age- and grade-appropriate curricula for 14,000 students from pre-K through 8th grade. The curricula are aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for their targeted grade levels. For example, our Freshwater Ecology curriculum supports 5th and 6th grade TEKS science objectives. This curriculum explores freshwater habitats and the effects of water quality on aquatic inhabitants. The Science TEKS now place increased emphasis on hands-on investigations and field experiences, making River Legacy programs more important than ever.
As many as 50% of the students who participate in our Field Investigations tell us that they are hearing the message of environmental stewardship for the first time. District science curriculum administrators report that the State's content standards are reinforced by student participation in these grade level field investigations in a "classroom without walls." They also note that not only does this experience make their curricular connections "work" because students have been to the environment, but it also provides all students at that grade level with a common foundation that is a key component of the District's vertical curriculum alignment.

Field Investigation programs include:
Seasonal Ecology – This program for pre-K through second grade explores the impact that seasonal changes have on the plant and animal life of the woodlands.
Forest Detectives --Based on the Seasonal Ecology curriculum, this program is custom-designed for Arlington Independent School District's (AISD) Title I second graders and it is correlated to grade level science objectives. All second graders attending Title I schools in Arlington attend every year.
Let's Explore River Legacy Parks Habitats – Third and fourth graders search a trail system and learn how the forest ecosystem meets the needs of animals and other wildlife.
Young Scientists -- All AISD fourth graders attend field experiences that support a six-week unit of classroom study on Organisms and their Environment as required by TEKS standards. They learn about the forest environment with the hike on the trails, and they learn about the living animals (opossum and snake). They investigate “hands-on" a living organism, the snail.
Freshwater Ecology explores freshwater habitats and the effects of water quality on aquatic inhabitants. It is designed to support fifth and sixth grade science objectives.


Other programs promoting science and environmental stewardship include:
• Nature School is a 30-week preschool program for three and four-year-olds. Children explore the plant and animal life of River Legacy Parks such as the bobcat, lizards and opossum.
• Nature Explorers, Eco Detectives and Junior Naturalists Club are popular after-school clubs designed for kindergarten through sixth grade students that meet once a month.
• Home School programs offer monthly science classes for children ages 5 – 12 years.
• Summer Classes are week-long classes offered for children from preschool to eighth grade.
• Public Programs featuring free or low cost family activities such as story times and guided nature walks, as well as adult education opportunities are offered every Saturday. Several festivals are held throughout the year such as the W.A.T.E.R. Festival (Water Awareness Through Education & Recreation) were the theme of water conservation and protection is presented in a family friendly way. Water saving tips and technologies are presented during our Irrigation 101 workshops. Both of these events are FREE.

RIVER LEGACY PROGRAMS = STEWARDSHIP HABITS FOR A LIFETIME

Starting with our very youngest students, River Legacy offers children, in the words of environmental educator David Sobel, “an opportunity to bond with the natural world, to learn to love it and feel comfortable in it, before being asked to heal its wounds." This early connection, tapping into children's inborn fascination with the plants and animals that they encounter, lays the foundation for a lifetime of environmental stewardship. River Legacy's hands-on learning adventures invite children to connect with their world on a personal level. Building on their sense of wonder, these connections help them to see the natural world's inhabitants through the same lens as they see themselves and their family and friends, with similar needs, and deserving of the same respect and protection.

RIVER LEGACY PROGRAMS = IMPROVED SCIENCE SCORES
Children who experience an outdoor education program show a 27% increase in mastery of science concepts, according to a study cited in Richard Louv's landmark book Last Child in the Woods. Research is now proving what River Legacy Foundation has known all along: first-hand educational experiences in nature help kids learn and improve their test scores, as well as other critical learning and life skills

Living Science Center programs address an increasingly well-documented national crisis: U.S. students are falling far behind their international peers in science, technology, engineering, and math achievement. As a result, U.S. businesses are scrambling to find qualified workers, and many worry that they U.S. will not be competitive in the world market. We believe that investing students today helps to prepare them for the future, and keeps our students competitive in the global economy. We believe that tomorrow's leaders need to be equipped for tomorrow's challenges. Pollution, climate change, fresh water shortages and habitat loss – these complex problems require a commitment to providing youth with an engaging environmental education. To grow the next generation of conservation leaders, River Legacy Foundation works with thousands of students every year, giving them a peer-reviewed, award-winning environmental education curriculum. .
In 2018, River Legacy recreated its innovative Living Science Center with a $2.5 million reinvention of its exhibit halls and classroom space. This project includes enhanced classrooms, high-tech, hands-on learning laboratories and environmental stewardship spaces that provide an extension of the outdoor classroom.
The project is critical to exposing students who live in an urban setting to the environment through meaningful direct contact, an alternative method of teaching to
become versatile learners, and to cultivate teamwork, opportunity, responsibility, and high self-esteem in every student regardless of race or economic status. Additionally, these new multi-use spaces will encourage broad-based citizen participation in environmental stewardship by providing a location for grass-roots community gatherings, viewing of environmental films and family activities. River Legacy will enhance this space by changing it seasonally and is lining up exciting traveling exhibits to further enrich its education platform.
In 2019, the Living Science Center will host its first traveling exhibit: The Nature of Things, from Purdue University. The exhibit has four components: A Salamander Tale, What’s Bugging Belva, BEE-lieve It or Not and Be a Tooth Sleuth. Next year, River Legacy will host the largest exhibit of arachnids in the country.
Also in 2019, River Legacy Living Science Center became a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Certified Field Site for the Texas Waters curriculum. This makes River Legacy a platform for schools wanting to perform the active field investigation part of their curriculum and gives River Legacy another way to support our public school science programs.