The science program at Horace Mann is buzzing with bees, bountiful with gardens, bubbling with fish, and most of all loved by many. Horace Mann was one of the schools that got the ball rolling on outdoor learning, a concept made possible by the fervent support of former principal Liz Whisnant. Mann was one of the first few schools that committed to teaching science by taking the classroom outside and helped many DC schools develop their own outdoor classrooms. The vibrant science program teaches children about the life cycle from flowers they can smell and hives they can tend. Children learn about farming from crops they harvest and about nutrition from leaves they cultivate, dress, and eat. Through the commitment of a handful of key players, and the passionate community committed to Mann’s success, the science program at Horace Mann is bursting with excellence and became a blueprint for other DCPS schools.

When Louise Hill arrived at Horace Mann in 1989, she found there was a limited science curriculum. Martí Goldstone, the existing Mann science teacher at the time hired Louise and the two got to work, Louise taking the younger students and Martí taking the older students. The science instruction was textbook-driven and there weren't very many DCPS school standards. “This will not do,” she said to herself. 

Louise began researching and quickly learned how to write grant applications. Her first grant earned her the funds used to create what is now known as the Peter Rabbit Garden. There, she planted grape vines and apple trees, not for kindergarten snack time, although that was a tasty bonus, but for scientific learning. She wanted her kindergartners to learn about seed pod and leaf anatomy, not from a 2-D image in a textbook, but from nature in 3-D. 

The Peter Rabbit Garden would become the first of many gardens on the Horace Mann campus that bring the classrooms outdoors. To gather more information, Louise and Marti went around the country to observe other teaching methods to develop Horace Mann's science curriculum. After several conventions and workshops they decided to teach engineering in the winter and life cycles in the spring. 

Engineering among children looks a bit different, perhaps more fun. Under Louise’s supervision, children were building playgrounds out of wood with ziplines and swings and catapults. In the spring, they would go to the garden to collect data and draw sketches. 

Louise earned her next grant from Whole Foods, which marked the beginning of bees at Horace Mann. Louise used the bees to teach her kids about the life cycle, an exciting upgrade from silk worms. 

After several years, word got around to other DC schools about the outdoor classroom education at Horace Mann, and Louise gained some new students among her fellow DC teachers. Now, approximately 90 DC schools have outdoor education. Some might say, Louise planted the seed in DC for outdoor education when Mann became a demonstration school providing teachers in DC, Virginia, and Maryland with workshops on how to use their school campus to teach science outdoors. 

Eventually, the science standard took a turn for the technical, and Louise swapped hand puppets for iPads. Despite the update, Louise persisted with outdoor learning. After 27 years of gumption, grit, and generosity Louise retired in 2014.

Whenever Halloween comes around, Louise looks forward to reminiscing. As her old students ring her bell, they recognize her famous monarch butterfly wings and share memories made special by Louise’s passionate teaching. Some of those memories revolved around the bees that arrived at Horace Mann in 2013 after Louise wrote a grant to Whole Foods. The grant brought Mann their first hive. 

 

Teresa was responsible for starting the rooftop apiary, which is where Mann now keeps all its beehives. Teresa, like many at Mann, has worn many hats. Over the years she has run the nature and bee clubs, helped with the garden program, and managed and grown the apiary.

When Mann lost their first hive due to vandalism, they relocated the structure to the roof and waited. As a member of the DC Beekeepers Alliance, Teresa had joined the DC Swarm Squad. Soon, she got a call from them alerting her to pick up a bee swarm from a Georgetown residence. On her first trip to the swarm, she was able to capture the queen bee, along with most of the thousands of worker bees in a box that she brought to the hive at Mann.   She returned the next day to retrieve some stragglers that were clinging to the queen-scented eaves of the residence. Those bees have become the progenitor for all the bees hereafter. 

Students used to meet the bees with bee smocks and veils, but through a Whole Kids Foundation and Bee Cause Project grant, they also now have pants, gloves, and more full bee suits for kids. Now, fifth graders generally go through three classes about bees. The first is a presentation about the role of both honey bee and native bees role in the ecosystem, the second is a hive visit, and the third is a honey harvest.

Watching the kids in their suits with the bees is to see children intensely engaged. They are fully absorbed and their minds are quiet. The trick to keeping kids focused is showing them a path to nature. 

At home Teresa has a collection of honeys, the most exotic one being from Togo, Africa. It’s a two-liter Evian bottle full of wildflower honey with a unique flavor profile and a molasses-like smell. Teresa used her tasting terroir wheel to identify which flavor profile her African honey had, a wheel with flavors including cat urine. Really! That’s not a joke. Although Mann has not experienced this, another beekeeper told her this can happen if a hive collects nectar from boxwood flowers. To run the apiary, Teresa funds the program with their honey sales, herself which has worked with the help of Amy’s farmers’ market.

 

Amy is the garden coordinator at Horace Mann. With the 4th graders, she puts on a famers' market Saturday from 10 am to noon from September 14 to November 23. During the week Amy tends to the many gardens at Mann, including the hydroponic towers. These towers allow for in-house grown salad year round. The third graders help grow the greens, harvest them, wash and prepare them, and make dressing. During lunch Amy goes around with the famous silver salad bowl and she can see how the passion and openness for greens develops among the kids over time. By fifth grade, the kids are challenging each other to who can eat the most bowls. To be clear this isn’t your plain ol’ romaine lettuce salad. At Mann they bring out the big guns, including kale, bok choy, and swiss chard. 

 

Mann is just as committed to fauna as they are flora. Mann has bees on the roof and under them, fish, hermit crabs, turtles, and a bearded dragon. Christa Cooper is responsible for their care. The eye-catching 80-gallon fish tank in the science room was designed by Christa with a wooden platform made by her father-in-law to allow the kids to peer into the tank from the hallway window. 

Christa first became involved with the fish when she noticed the fish tank’s water going down in her son’s pre-k classroom. She offered her help and expertise, as Christa studied marine biology in college and has an affinity for marine life, a passion that culminated in visiting the great barrier reef for an eco dive. 

During the principal’s meeting with the teachers at the start of the school year teachers are able to request a fish tank in their classroom, and then Christa gets to work. Work she doesn't mind doing, as fish have a known impact on a kid's state of mind and can be a useful respite during struggle or stress. 

The newest animal to join Mann is a bearded dragon named Snoop. Snoop’s predecessor was Puff, a beloved bearded dragon that passed last year. When Puff passed his absence was felt deeply among the community. The kids drew pictures of Puff and wrote him letters showing how much an animal can impact a child’s life. 

"You get what you get and you don’t get upset" is a popular slogan taught to kids, but it is also the slogan for Christa. So when she receives a donation of hermit crabs, the more the merrier and she works to give them a great home. 

Christa brings in her old spice containers so that each classroom can have fish food, underlining the commitment to reuse and recycle true to Mann. That commitment rings true as Christa moves around the science classroom before feeding Edna, the turtle, dancing when she needs to get the ecosmart lights to turn back on. 

 

The excellent science program at Horace Mann would not exist without Louise, Amy, Teresa, and Christa and constant and early support from Liz Whisnant. Care bursted from these excellent teachers who tough several decades of children and continues today. When Louise and Martí retired, two new science teachers sprouted. Current science teachers Matt Koh and James Howes continue this legacy supported by current principal Brooks Warnick. All are part of the wonderful community of passionate educators at Horace Mann.

-----

Author Kristina Bush grew up in Spring Valley and is a contributing writer for Stroll Spring Valley. She is working on ramping up a sister Stroll publication for the neighborhood of Westmoreland Hills.

-----

Spring Valley neighbors are invited become green steward volunteers at the school’s numerous gardens as well as to take advantage of fresh food at the farmers’ market every 

Saturday from 10 am to noon from September 14 to November 23.