Ironia Elementary School has cause to commend its second grade students for their help in caring for New Jersey wildlife. Last December, in keeping with the school's Character Education theme of CARING, the students contributed nearly $300 to the New Jersey Audubon Society's Adopt-a-Critter program to help care for several creatures, some of which are injured and can no longer live in the wild.  The following month, the "adopted" critters visited the students to thank them person.

Tina, a box turtle; Windy, a Screech Owl, Kili, a Red-tailed Hawk; Eclipse, a black rat snake, and Red, a corn snake, which is on the state's threatened species list, reside at the Society's Weis Ecology Center in Ringwood, helping to educate the public about the wonder and significance of creatures great and small. Mike Krug, program director at Weis Ecology Center, brought the animals to the school to teach the students about the importance of respecting the place and function of all living things.

Ironias teachers were especially excited because they understand that hands-on educational programs like this greatly enhance the students' learning experience. As Mary Ann Smallwood, a second-grade teacher at Ironia explains, "Children learn best when they can put what they learn into action. Second graders truly love to learn about nature, and by participating in this activity, they will always remember the lessons about the animals themselves, and our role in caring for all wildlife."

Nature and wildlife have become important teaching tools at the school, ever since the PTA established a wildlife habitat in the school courtyard. A bird feeding station, sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited, of Randolph, invites a variety of birds through the fall and winter seasons. In spring the courtyard blooms with hundreds of native plants and shrubs that were donated by local garden centers and planted by the students and local scouts. "It's our goal to keep nature and wildlife on the students' minds," states Mindy Lynch, a PTA parent who introduced the Adopt-a-Critter program to the school and also co-chairs the schoolyard habitat committee. "In that way," she continues, "we will nurture respect and appreciation for the environment that connects and sustains us all."