Students and teachers at Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts spent a school year exploring the Reedy Creek Watershed while actively learning vital components of the curriculum and nurturing creative and communication skills through various art forms.<\/p>\n
In 2013-2014, Partners in the Arts<\/a> supported Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts (PHSSA)’s mission to offer a unique, integrated curriculum through creative instruction with a grant. Led by educators Autumn Nabors, Anne Chamblin, and Eileen Atkinson, the PIA grant resulted in a year-long, school-wide collaboration between 32 teachers, 250 students, 100 community volunteers, and several visiting artists and experts. In this project, students spent Fridays throughout the school year in mixed-age groups studying the river and park system surrounding the school. Local artist and activist Mark Strandquist<\/a> worked with educators to guide students through this creative, arts-based exploration in three phases.<\/p>\n In one phase of the project, students researched and studied native plants. Then, they harvested and dried invasive plant species from Forest Hill Park. Strandquist (bottom right) guided students through the paper-making process by pulping the dried plants with shredded paper from discarded library books. The student-made paper and fact summaries were bound together to create an encyclopedia of native and invasive species in Virginia. The book is included in the Main Branch of the Richmond Public Library\u2019s permanent collection.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\tNative and Invasive Species Study<\/h2>\n