Last month on the Blog, Beth Stevens shared video showing the announcement of the national grand prize winners of the inaugural Disney’s Planet Challenge. If you remember from the video, there were some very excited kids at Mediapolis Community School from Mediapolis, Iowa.
Today we have a follow-up to Beth’s story.
On Friday, Mrs. Julie Schnedler’s sixth grade class was honored in a ceremony and parade down Main Street, U.S.A. at Disneyland park as the national grand prize winners. They competed in Disney’s Planet Challenge, which promotes project-based learning and provides tailored lesson plans customized to reflect the curriculum standards of each state and grade level (grades 4-6).
What made this class the national grand prize winners? Their project focused on saving the Northern Bobwhite Quail population. The waning quail population – due to harsh weather and decreased prairie land – is a significant environmental issue facing Des Moines County. The class restored acres of existing conservation space in Luckenbill Woods by conducting a controlled burn to prepare the land and replanting native vegetation to benefit local quails, promote diversity of wildlife and help to control soil erosion.
