Heatherwood Elementary fourth graders recently took a short walk to open space near their school, then went through stations set up by Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks to learn more about the land and wildlife.

At a spot with rocks covered in lichen, Boulder volunteer naturalist Renee Jacobsen started with a geology lesson, then passed out samples of rocks so students could compare them to the rocks at the site.

“Rocks really tell a story,” she said. “They tell a story of how the landscape changed. This was once all underwater.”

To end the lesson, students used magnifying glasses to enthusiastically examine different types of lichen clinging to the rocks, hunting for different colors and textures and exclaiming over their finds.

“Right here looks so cool,” fourth grader Mikko Dorris told his teacher, Cathy Zimmerman, as he examined a lichen patch that resembled a checkerboard up close.

Teachers are planning frequent walking field trips to the open space parcel as the school launches its new environmental STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts and math — focus.“It’s all inspired by nature,” Principal Genna Jaramillo said. “We want to be outside more and make it meaningful. We’re teaching students to be advocates for the environment and nature. To take care of nature, you need to feel connected to nature.”

Heatherwood, which is in Gunbarrel north of Boulder proper, was the first Boulder Valley school to reach a small enough size, in comparison to its capacity, that the district asked the community to participate in developing solutions.

Heatherwood’s enrollment in 2023 was 226 students, which equals enough students for 1½ classes at each grade level. The building, which was designed for about 500 students, was at about 40% of capacity. And projections showed continued declines over five years, with about 200 students projected by 2028. This school year’s most recent enrollment count is 226 students — a victory, Jaramillo said, given the declining enrollment projection. Along with stable enrollment, district officials have said, another victory is that Heatherwood’s neighborhood students choose the school at about the same rate as the district’s average. About 66% of the resident students living in the school’s attendance area enroll at Heatherwood, compared to about 64% districtwide.

Based on last year’s enrollment numbers, 25 families also open enrolled their students into Heatherwood from other areas.

Parent Brianna Garduno grew up in Gunbarrel and loves the area, so when her family moved from Gunbarrel to Longmont, she open enrolled her children to keep them at Heatherwood. This year, she has four children at the school, in first, third, fourth and fifth grades. She said the big draw for her was the school’s caring, close-knit community.

“My kids really get their needs met,” she said. “The teachers really care and love my kids.”

Starting next school year, Heatherwood also is expected to have more resident students in its attendance area. The school board on Tuesday agreed to move forward with boundary changes, including reassigning a small area in Gunbarrel from Crest View Elementary to Heatherwood. A total of 52 elementary students live in that area, with 32 of those students now attending Crest View, five attending Heatherwood and the rest attending other schools.

“People are excited,” Jaramillo said. “We’re seeing more interest in enrolling than we had before. Our school is thriving.”

The community process to create a new focus at Heatherwood included an initial meeting with the larger school community, followed by the district creating a 15-person advisory group that included parents, community members and teachers. The group initially looked at three main options: STEM/eco-science, world language and accelerated learning. STEM and environmental science were the two options most supported in a survey of neighborhood families.

Fifth grade teacher Anna Lyttle, who has taught at Heatherwood for 20 years and was part of the advisory group, said the school’s location in more rural Gunbarrel with lots of open space lends itself to an environmental focus.

“When I get fifth graders who started here in kindergarten, they should be able to think critically and see themselves as part of the solution,” she said. “It is only going to enhance what we already have going on. Truly, the school is the heart of our neighborhood.”

The plan for the new program is to teach STEAM principles through a focus on environmental literacy. The plan incorporates Boulder County Environmental Education Guidelines and is an entry point to Boulder Valley’s Seal of Climate Literacy earned by graduating seniors. Maintaining an almost 10-year effort, teachers also will continue to incorporate project-based learning, which asks students to design hands-on solutions to a problem.

The start-up cost, over three years, is $238,700 and includes curriculum design, materials and a half-time STEAM coordinator. Eventually, district officials said, they would like to extend the focus to the middle- and high-school levels.

Heatherwood teachers will start using the new curriculum in January. Each grade level will have a driving question to use as students develop projects to present to the school community at the end of the school year.

Third grade, for example, will ask, “What are the biggest threats to prairie dogs and their habitats and how can our community support prairie dog conservation?” Fifth grade will ask, “How do human activities affect the natural water cycle in our community and how can citizens take action to conserve water?”

Erin Dunlap, the half-time STEAM program coordinator, is working with teachers this semester as they get ready to teach new lessons. She said one of the goals is for the lessons to build on students’ knowledge as they progress through the grades, as well as to show students how to make a difference in their community.

“The more we can bring it into kids’ daily lives, the more engaged they will be,” she said. Along with professional development for teachers, she’s helping them incorporate more time outdoors. Teachers started the school year by having students choose “sit spots” outside where they can use their senses to observe what’s happening in nature.

“Kids love it,” she said. “You can calm your mind and experience what our neighborhood sounds like and looks like. You can track what’s changing through the seasons. Spending time outside becomes part of the experience at Heatherwood.”