The aim of the HHLT Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words Program is to educate, collaborate, and celebrate the natural resources and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands with children throughout the region and instill a sense of the importance of stewardship in our youngest residents.
Find out more about HHLT's Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words Program
Experience the poetry of nature with HHLT and Constitution Marsh Audubon Center & SanctuarY from Monday, Aug. 6th -- Monday, September 3rd
The national River of Words (ROW) program, co-founded
by US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, and affiliated with the
Library of Congress Center for the Book, strives to
incorporate observation-based nature exploration and
the arts into traditional education.
HHLT offers a regional version of ROW to schools in the
Hudson Highlands, using the resources and materials of
the national program while focusing on the Hudson
River watershed. The program trains local teachers to
use nature as a learning laboratory, conducts outdoor
student workshops and ties nature-inspired, outdoorbased
programming to the New York State Core
Curriculum Standards.
The River of Words Poetry Trail is a series of unique,
temporary installations celebrating the nature-inspired
poetry of local students winding through one of the
Hudson Highlands most inspiring natural settings:
Constitution Marsh. The featured works represent
poetry created during HHLT’s River of Words
environmental education workshops throughout the
2011-12 school year.
The Poetry Trail is free and open to the public from dawn to dusk from Monday, Aug. 6th -- Monday, September 3rd. If you are planning to visit, we recommend that you:
- Dress comfortably for a walk at the Marsh
- Please sign in outside the education center for a chance to win a guided canoe trip for six.
- Take only photos, leave only footprints.
Download the Poetry Walk Trail Map.
For Teachers: go directly to some of our workshop descriptions flyers
HUDSON HIGHLANDS REGIONAL RIVER OF WORDS PROGRAM
HHLT launched the Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words Program in 2009, as part of an international poetry and art program created to promote literacy and environmental stewardship. HHLT’s regional version is designed to educate, collaborate, and celebrate the natural resources and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands through Hudson River watershed-inspired poetry created by fourth and fifth grade students at area schools.
River of Words (ROW) is an international poetry and art program created to promote literacy and environmental stewardship. Affiliated with the Library of Congress Center for the Book and co-founded by US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, ROW sponsors a free annual environmental poetry and art contest on the theme of watersheds, open to children ages 5 to 19. Since 1995, River of Words has trained teachers, park naturalists, grassroots groups, state resource agencies, librarians and others to incorporate observation-based nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people. In addition to helping improve children’s literacy—and cognitive skills like investigation and critical thinking—River of Words’ multidisciplinary, hands-on approach to education nurtures students’ creative voices as well, through instruction and practice in art and poetry.
HOW THE HHLT REGIONAL ROW PROGRAM WORKS
The Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words program uses the resources and materials of the national program to focus on our own watershed -- the Hudson River. The program consists of the following components:
- Annual regional program workshop(s) and in-district training sessions for educators, providing a foundation for incorporating this program seamlessly into existing curriculum.
- A variety of in-class student workshops and outdoor field study experiences conducted by our program team in collaboration with class teachers that educate on environmental science, poetry writing and local history and inspire students to participate by creating a body of work inspired by the Hudson River watershed.
- Culminating events including poetry readings and displays in community settings, the publication of a Hudson Highlands Regional River of Words anthology.
- A conduit for students to participate in ROW’s international contest.
GOALS & ELIGIBILITY
By developing and managing a regional River of Words program, HHLT hopes to bring this extraordinary program to the Hudson Highlands region, creating a collaborative connection between area school districts focusing on local environmental study. This program can provide a forum for students to connect with each other thoughtfully and creatively through a common theme: the Hudson River.
Launched as a pilot program beginning in the ’08-09 school year, the HHLT Regional ROW program will expand to a full scale program in the ’09-10 school year. Fourth and fifth grades in the following school districts are eligible to participate:
- Haldane
- Garrison
- Putnam Valley
- Cornwall
- Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery
For information on implementing the HHLT ROW program in your school, or to schedule workshops, please contact Lisa Mechaley, ROW Program Manager, at row@hhlt.org or 845-424-3358.
HHLT ROW Brochure
(154k pdf)
This program is made possible in part through the generous support of the Malcolm Gordon Charitable Trust, which was created to further the Open Space Institute’s environmental education programs and by a Land Trust Alliance New York State Conservation Partnership Community Catalyst Grant.