Maryland

Judy Mansfield, Second Grade Teacher, Mount Harmony Elementary School, Owings, Maryland

Judy Mansfield infuses PLT activities and a hands-on learning style into her everyday curriculum to engage her students both in the classroom and in outdoor projects. She uses PLT’s reading connections to encourage her students’ interest in reading and to improve their writing skills. She includes books on the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and uses a model of a marshland and a river system in class to teach about local environmental issues affecting water quality. Each year, her students grow bay grasses and visit a river site where their grasses are planted. Her students’ understanding of environmental topics is readily reflected in their journal writings, poetry, and artwork. Judy also involves her students and their parents in school yard projects, such as planting trees, creating rain gardens to capture run-off from school buildings, and constructing erosion control measures.

Judy was named National PLT Outstanding Educator Honoree in 2006.