ROCKPORT — What do a baby snapper turtle, an owl and a deer have in common?

They've each been spotted in their natural environment by Rockport Elementary School students this month as the children were busy exploring the forested parcel of land behind the school together with naturalists from Kestrel Educational Adventures.

The school and the Gloucester-based nonprofit have teamed up to bring ecology workshops to all elementary students throughout the school year.

The partnership is partially funded through a grant from the Rockport Education Foundation, and partly through private donations to Kestrel.

"Every single child at the elementary school will spend two days — one fall day and one spring day — with this local environmental agency that's really pushing science," said Principal Shawn Maguire, who has worked to bolster science education in the school since assuming the post in 2007. "The Rockport Education Foundation has been extremely generous in their funding."

Kestrel instructors Jessica Kagle and Amber Espar consulted with teachers and designed outdoor workshops for each grade level to go along with what students are studying in the classroom. Each class spends half a day each season in the public woodlands adjacent to the school, exploring and studying in small groups with Kestrel naturalists.

"It is great to see students so deeply engaged in learning more about their local woods," Kagle said. "It is not only a way to open them up to nature, but also a method for teaching academic science topics in a way that is very meaningful and exciting. Almost all the kids are interested in something out there, whether it is frogs or butterflies or hawks or flowers."

Maguire said the kids are "ecstatic" about the opportunity to spend time outdoors identifying the various creatures and plant species that call the town-owned Rowe Woods parcel their home. Students do not get recess on outdoor science days but they hardly notice its absence, Maguire added.

The curriculum engages students in age—appropriate natural history skills. The ultimate goal of the partnership is greater "ecological literacy," knowledge of local species, ecosystem types, and connections among living things, including humans. Many studies show that spending time in and connecting with nature can help students to be more engaged in learning and to be generally healthier, Kagle said.

The education adventure's approach to learning about natural history is to allow the students to invent concepts for themselves, by getting muddy and exploring — an educational philosophy known as constructivist teaching.

When studying ecosystems, the kids create original movies about the relationships among the characters (plants and animals) and their setting. When they study how animals prepare for winter, the students explore the forest in pairs collecting different types of nuts as though they were small mammals. When kids study identification under Kestrel's instruction, they design and use their own classification systems.

"The lessons are all about the kids and their own ideas," Kagle said.

Fourth-graders explored the area yesterday, hopeful of spotting many of the same creatures their fellow schoolmates saw earlier this month including, salamanders, snakes, rabbits, hawks and many more.

The partnership with Kestrel piggybacks last year's first annual Science Day event at the school.

Maguire, who added science centers at various locations inside the school almost immediately upon arriving in the district, said Science Day was the first event of a pilot "scientist-in-residence" program, also funded by the Education Foundation.

A new science room, funded by various grants, is "up and running" in the school, Maguire said.

"It's important to not only get students started in science but also excited about it," he added.

Kestrel and school staff look forward to continuing this relationship on an ongoing basis, and perhaps expanding the partnership to include tide pool activities.

It is so fulfilling to be able to work with the school and we have all been learning so much out there with the students every day," Kagle said yesterday. "The surrounding land is so full of life and the kids and teachers are outstanding."

The final two days of fall programs are scheduled for the school's upper multi-age classes on Oct. 15 and the lower multi-age classes Oct. 20. The spring program would commence in late April or early May, depending on weather conditions, Maguire said.

"It's something not many schools in Massachusetts are able to do," Maguire said, "we're incredibly fortunate here in Rockport."

Kestrel Educational Adventures also offers an after-school program open to all local middle school students, on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 6 p.m. To learn more about Kestrel Educational Adventures, visit www.kestreleducation.org.

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.