SERVICE LEARNING
Learning about the Bay and providing service to help protect it - a great combination! CBF is the perfect place to get resources to accomplish a fantastic service-learning project.
The National Youth Leadership Council defines service-learning as: a method of teaching that enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities, and integrating that service with established curricula or learning objectives.
As more students show interest in environmentally-focused service, we are happy to refer students to resources for service learning that is coordinated by a teacher or a school. Unfortunately CBF does not have the staffing necessary to mentor students through projects or to design individual projects in order to fulfill service-learning requirements. We do offer the following resources to guide students who are in need of service hours that involve the local environment.
Student Action Network | Volunteer Opportunities
Self-Led Student Action Projects | Schoolyard Habitat
Additional programs
CBF Volunteer Opportunities
Please refer to the updated CBF Calendar of volunteer events by clicking here.
CBF Oyster Restoration
The Oyster Corps is a diverse collection of citizens and students dedicated to the common purpose of restoring oysters to the Chesapeake Bay. There are many ways people can help rebuild the Bay’s depleted oyster populations, and participation in any of these activities makes you part of this grassroots movement.
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Self-Led Student Action Projects
Fix Your Schoolyard Bare Spots (12 pages, three-color, Adobe PDF, 1.2M) Bare spots are places where vegetation (such as plants, shrubs, grasses, flowers) no longer exists in the soil. Bare spots come in all shapes and sizes. The outcome of having any type of bare spot is the same: storm water hits the ground and is not able to soak in to the land. Use this step-by-step guide to fix the bare spots in your school or home yard.
Build Your Own Rain Barrel (4 pages, three-color, Adobe PDF, 612K) Capture rain water from downspouts to reduce runoff and have a water source during droughts using this easy step-by-step guide in how to build and install Rain Barrels.
Build Your Own Rain Garden (8 pages, three-color, Adobe PDF, 627K) Add colorful habitat to your school ground while keeping sediment from choking local streams by using this easy step-by step guide in how to create a Rain Garden.
Storm Drain Stenciling - Many people are not aware that most storm drains lead directly to waterways that dump into the Bay. You can help clean up the Bay by stenciling a message that will help members of your community remember that nothing but rain water should enter the storm drains. Storm drains are not trash cans: whatever is dumped into them ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. Learn more about how to participate in this important project.
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Schoolyard Habitat
Download our Schoolyard Habitat Kit (all files are Adobe PDF documents):
The National Wildlife Federation offers a thorough Schoolyard Habitat program. Click to view.
NWF is hosting a free webinar about Schoolyard Habitat on Tuesday August 24th. Register today!
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Additional Programs
Audubon Naturalist Society
Has programming that help with boy scout and girl scout programs
Bay Journal
Subscribe to receive the printed version of the paper with monthly updates on volunteer opportunities within the watershed.
Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education
Has a fantastic Schoolyard Habitat resource page on every project imaginable with helpful guidelines and tips.
Maryland State Department of Education
Has a great resource for teachers and parents about service learning.
Virginia Naturally
Virginia Naturally provides citizens with “one-stop” shopping to programs and information to learn about Virginia’s environment.
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