July 1, 2019 5:30 a.m.
The Cow Creek Umpqua Indian Foundation has awarded $3,000 to Roseburg Public Schools for support of the Nature Days event at Eastwood Elementary School.
A release from RPS said the funding was announced last week at the foundation’s semi-annual giving ceremony where more than $556,000 was awarded to organizations in southwestern Oregon, including $73,400 in Douglas County.
The release said Nature Days provides an outdoor educational opportunity for approximately 450 third-grade students who are invited to learn and explore throughout the natural environments on the Eastwood campus. Activities include Native American storytelling, fish hatchery exploration, a nature trail hike, and other lessons. Teachers are provided with several hand’s on follow-up lessons and materials to use in their classrooms.
Retired Roseburg School District administrator Jeff Plummer, who has helped to re-energize the program in recent years said organizers work to integrate a broad range of presenters from the community, as the district feels its important to give students a vision of the cultural and occupational possibilities they could pursue in the future.
Nature days began approximately two decades ago when community supporters partnered to develop the area around Eastwood into an outdoor science lab.