Each year the King County Noxious Weed Control Program sponsors the Right Plant, Right Place program for students in King County. In the 2015-2016 school year, 36 classrooms of 965 students from 9 schools participated in the program. Through interactive games and group activities, students become aware of the impact of invasive plants on native plants in ecosystems. Students learn how to identify invasive plants, how these plants spread, and how to control and remove them in their own backyards and the community.
The objectives are for students to become aware of the problem and to want to do something about it. Over time, we hope to see students removing invasive plants themselves and choosing native plants for their own neighborhoods. These students also can become peer educators in their own communities, volunteer for stewardship activities, and alert us of problem areas.
Teachers participating in the program this year shared positive feedback about its value to their students:
I think it was a great addition to our plant unit in science and we can extend our invasive and native plant studies on our end of the year field trip to our local Marine View Park where English Ivy is pervasive. Thank you for bringing this program to our school.
–Marvista Elementary
I want to encourage the sponsors to sponsor this program again next year. My students never have had exposure to invasive plants and this lesson was invaluable to them. Not only is it good for them but it will help everyone in our community.
Thank you,
– White Center Heights Elementary
AWESOME program! The presentation generated a LOT of in-class questions. My kiddos bugged me for days to remember to bring in Stinky Bob and Cleaver (I think that’s what it’s called). And, the best part, some of them talked with their parents about what they’d learned and even had parents walk around the neighborhood to look at plants. That’s success!
Thanks for this wonderful program. Our kids need this information if they’re going to be making smart, intelligent decisions about the future of our earth.
-Tiffany Park Elementary
Nature Vision, an environmental education nonprofit organization serving over 65,000 King County students each year, offers the Right Plant, Right Place program through King County Noxious Weed Control Program sponsorship. For more information about the program, please visit our school resources web page. Teachers can register for this and many other excellent school programs at http://naturevision.org/program-registration. Many sponsored programs are available free of charge to schools in King County. For more information about this program, contact us or the staff at Nature Vision.