Waters' Ecology program is the winner of the 2003 Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Educational Leader Award. Waters has a unique field-based ecology and environment program for grades Pre-K - 8. In Fall, Winter, and Spring, students participate in a nature-based field experience that focuses on education, restoration, and exploration. The students are introduced to nature in a way that fosters a personal connection to our natural areas. Volunteer parents and community members are active participants in the field visits, as well. Students keep field journals to write and draw about their experiences. Even the youngest students draw pictures or collect leaves for their journals. Partner Organizations The site visits to natural areas are preceded with readings, from the simplest picture books in PreK to quite-involved descriptions of the Great lakes watershed, geology, and human water uses in 7th grade. All students come armed with some prior knowledge, their journal and pencil. All classes are broken up into small subunits for the explorations. Grade Natural Area Partner Organization PreK-1    Waters Garden    Chicago Botanic Garden 2    Chicago River Riverbank    Friends of the Chicago River 3-5    Sauganash Prairie Grove    Cook County Forest Preserves 6    Chicago River at Ronan Park    Friends of the Chicago River 7    Montrose Point Lake Michigan    Friends of the parks, Nature Along the Lake 8    Waters Garden    Chicago Botanic Garden Integration into the Curriculum The field ecology topics are fully integrated into the academic curriculum. Recent projects have included: Art class - learning to sketch the identifying features of European buckhorn Math class - tabulating and graphing data from a winter survey of woody plants Gym class - creating schoolyard simulations of habitat loss and predator prey games Music class - writing songs incorporating new vocabulary learned on their field trip