Janet Hooks
Hampton, VA
I am a sixth grade science teacher in Hampton Virginia. Our city is located near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The middle school I teach at is located on a tidal river that feeds into the Bay.
This is my 8th year of teaching, but my 3rd year teaching 6th grade. The first two years I taught at Benjamin Syms Middle School, I probably did as much learning as I did teaching! Because the 6th grade curriculum addresses the environment and our role in protecting it quite a bit, I have become so much more aware of it, and am trying to teach my students to be better stewards of it. The first year at this school I began taking my kids in the river and letting them see the life there and the impact we have on it. They are always so amazed. This year I have begun an Ecology Club at the school and my kids have begun an oyster restroation program on-site in the river behind our school. At the end of the school year, we will return our oysters to a safe location in the Bay in hopes that they will continue to grow and reproduce, and help to make the Chesapeake Bay a little cleaner. : ) We know it is a very long process...but we are so thrilled to be a part of it! The club has also started a recycling program at the school -- the first middle school in our city to do so, and we are trying to create an outdoor classroom with mulitple sites where kids can learn and imagine.
Anyhow, we just wanted to share our story with you.
God Bless,
Janet Hooks- Benjamnin Syms Middle School (Hampton, VA)