What does a 'green' curriculum mean?

When it comes to learning, Garlough Environmental Magnet School is all about getting outdoors.

GEMS, as it's known, has a curriculum that links classroom work with OWLS, or "outdoor wonder learning stations," and frequent visits to neighboring Dodge Nature Center.

"Our primary mode of instruction is inquiry-based," said principal Sue Powell. "We ask our kindergartners for 'evidence' of their thinking. Students talk openly about their observations."

The rain garden, for instance, features native plants and is a magnet for monarch butterflies, the state butterfly of Minnesota.

Children observe native plants as they emerge in the spring at the rain garden. When it rains, they measure how much runoff collects there.

Students can record the arrival date and count the monarch butterflies that congregate. They study the life cycle of the monarch, which migrates each year between Minnesota and Mexico.

In the fall, they can collect seeds.

GEMS has a bird sanctuary outside its third-grade classrooms and animals throughout the school, from the unusual (hissing cockroaches and snakes) to the tame (fish and therapy dogs.)

"When you walk into our school you know something is different, because you hear the water in the pond and the birds in the office and see the fish," Powell said.

It's not unusual for a GEMS child to come home damp, with dirty knees or muddy shoes.

Every other Friday, regardless of the weather, the children walk through Dodge Nature Center on the way to their afternoon bus. They note what they find along the way - poop is big, said Powell, as are dead things.

It's an approach in which the changing of the seasons opens a door to all facets of instruction.