The Teva Learning Center at the Henry Kaufmann Campgrounds

The Teva Learning Center, a partner of HKC since 2008, runs a popular environmental educational program at the Alice N. Proskauer camp site on Long Island. Comprised of the Rose Nature Center and an organic farm located adjacent to the HKC playground, the Teva program teaches ecology and conservation through interactive and experiential activities.

Programs

Each camp group gets to work with the Teva staff almost every week.

The Rose Nature Center
The hands-on exhibits and group activities are inspired by the ecology of the campgrounds and the everyday encounters the campers have with nature. They cover such areas as:
• Electricity production using a bicycle generator
• Dissection of owl pellets
• Microscopic observation of insects and plants
• Building solar ovens
• Beach ecology with a mini-beach
• The air we breathe

The Organic Farm

Established in 2009 adjacent to the HKC playground, the farm embodies the Teva philosophy of environmental education. Using defunct playground equipment as infrastructure, the farm is a living, long-term project for campers to take part in.
• Each camp maintains a small plot that the campers nurture throughout the summer.
• Every camper experiences working the plant beds through planting seeds, watering the beds and weeding the sprouts.
• The campers get to witness how their conservation efforts positively affect the farm.

Recycling

As part of the Jewish Greening Fellowship, in the summer of 2010, Teva launched a campus-wide recycling and composting initiative. This popular program is returning for the 2011 summer:
• Campers are taught the value of recycling waste: organic and inorganic
• Recycling bins for plastic bottles are placed at every JCC and Y camp site.
• Compost buckets are delivered to every camp site each day and collected at the end of the day

Highlights
• Repurposing was demonstrated in a mud wall that was built at the nature center where some of the bottles were used.
• The campers would check to see how well they composted each day!

Jewish Values

The Teva staff embodies HKC’s commitment to enhancing Jewish identity and conveying Jewish values through everyday life by:
• highlighting the ecological wisdom inherent in Judaism.
• immersing participants in the natural world and providing structured activities which sensitize them to nature’s rhythms
• helping children develop a more meaningful relationship with nature and their own Jewish practices

Jewish Teachings

The Teva staff incorporate Judaism’s relationship with the world around us into their teaching through:
• Jewish stories and blessings posted on the walls around the Rose Nature Center
• Jewish songs expressing awe and gratefulness to the world around us that are taught during group time
• The teachings of such spiritualists as Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Rebbe Nachman of Bratlev and the Baal Shem Tov
• Concepts such as Bal Tashchit, the Jewish law against wanton waste or destruction; tithing, or saying a blessing to show our appreciation for the world around us