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Green Chimneys

School & Group Programs

Clearpool partners with school districts, educational institutions, and community organizations to provide outdoor education, environmental education and wildlife exploration programs and activities. We serve nearly 10,000 students each year from Putnam, Dutchess and Westchester Counties, and New York City. Scholarships are available for classes and groups of students in New York City public school programs.

Clearpool Partners with Schools and Groups for Outdoor Education and Wildlife Exploration

The outdoor education activities and wildlife exploration programs at Clearpool are designed to support and enrich academic and interpersonal development through engaging, hands-on outdoor experiences. Clearpool specializes in custom-designed, dynamic day or overnight excursions for nature-based learning, experiential education and exciting team building exercises.

  • A group trip to Clearpool challenges each individual to embrace new ways of learning from the environment ... and from one another.

  • Through a series of team-building activities, students break from school cliques and develop ways of working together.

  • Clearpool offers unique experiences in spring, fall and even winter. Discover what the seasons have to teach us about the environment, wildlife and more.

Trip Options

Full-day, half-day, and overnight trips can accommodate up to three programs, depending on the length of the trip and type of outdoor education programming that is desired. Programs include a choice of environmental activities and classes.

Innovation

Clearpool was one of the first organizations in the country to design an outdoor education curriculum consisting of multiple-day, residential retreats conducted in a rural setting and coordinated with students’ classroom studies. This dual campus model is still the cornerstone of our program.

Excellence

We collaborate with teachers in the classroom to ensure that student learning aligns with the curriculum at the school site, as well as with State and National Learning Standards. Pre- and post- trip activities at the schools further reinforce the impact of the Clearpool environmental educational experience.

Experience

Hands-on investigations engage students in projects that encourage inquiry and facilitate discovery. The lessons draw from the local environmental resources. Students are invited to learn through experience.

Meet Our Animals
Green Chimneys guinea pig

Brownie

With the completion of an elaborate new habitat built by Green Chimneys’ woodshop students, the Farm Science classroom was able to welcome Brownie into her new home. Brownie previously lived alone in her cage in the farm and wildlife office, but guinea pigs do best in larger environments. The new habitat allows her to live in a herd as she would in the wild, with many places to hide and ways to practice her skills. Brownie has always been a social creature, and she has taken over the guinea pig herd but is a very peaceful leader.