Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 22: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION
Stream Ecology Hopscotch
Mosaic

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TAGS: environmental education, stream ecology, hopscotch, children’s games, Bethany Whitehead, education, physical education, art, mosaics, playgrounds, ceramics, Robert Gipe, Southeast Community College, Joyce Ogden, Rose Cohell

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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION Stream Ecology Hopscotch Mosaic

The Stream Ecology Hopscotch mural on the playground at Pine Mountain is the work of “The Tile Mosaic Community Art Project,” part of a $6,870 grant given to Southeast Community College Appalachian Program (Cumberland) to be used county-wide. The project funded by the Kentucky Arts Council, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Pine Mountain Settlement School was under the supervision of Louisville mosaic artist Joyce Ogden. In Harlan County, Rose Coheli and Robert Gipe at Southeast Community College in Cumberland, KY, supervised a group of Harlan County residents and a group of Spalding University students who followed local designs. The idea and design of the Pine Mountain mosaic came from Bethany Whitehead in the Pine Mountain Community.*

*A similar project is now underway for murals in the town of Harlan. To follow that project see Higher Ground and the rich and colorful mural in the town of Harlan.

The Pine Mountain Settlement School project was conceived to support the School’s Environmental Education program offered throughout the school year at Pine Mountain School. Comprised of images of insects, crustaceans, salamanders, and turtles associated with the local stream used in instruction, the game is played much like the standard game of hopscotch. Situated next to the stream called Isaac’s Creeck or Isaa’c’s Run that rambles through the campus, and integrated with the playground, the colorful mosaic tempts every child who has ever played the hopscotch game and intrigues those who have not.

HOPSCOTCH: Rules of the Game

Hopscotch Rules. [hop_scotch001a.jpg]

ABOUT The Animals on the Hopscotch

1. Dragonfly. Nicknamed “mosquito hawks,” some species eat over 100 mosquitoes a day.
2. Caddisfly Larva. many larvae build their own shelters out of twigs leaves, or tiny stones depending on species. In Kentucky, there are over 200 different species of caddisflies!
3. Mayfly Larva. While the larvae may live a year or longer, the adults have no working mouthparts and usually live less than a day, long enough to mate and lay eggs before dying.
4. Crayfish. also known as crawfish and crawdad. Crayfish use their pincers for catching food and to defend themselves. Raccoons, turtles, herons, and other animals like to eat crayfish.
5. Salamander. Salamanders are often found under damp logs, in leaves and underground. They are most active at night.
6. Gilled Snail. Gilled snails have a shell “door” that they can close, protecting them somewhat from animals that would like to eat them such as fish, turtles, some insects, and leeches.
7. Dobsonfly Larva. also called a hellgrammite. The larvae are aggressive predators of small water creatures and large hellgrammites can give a painful bite.
8. Water Penny Larva. The flat bodies of water pennies allow them to live under rocks in fast water. Finding water pennies indicates good water quality as they can only survive in clean streams.
9. Box Turtle. These turtles are more likely to be found in the woods rather than near the water. They can completely close themselves in their shells, protecting then from most predators. Unfortunately, the shell is no protection from automobiles.
10. Riffle Beetle and Larva. Unlike the adults of most of the species here, the tiny adult riffle beetles are aquatic and live in rocky area of streams where the water moves fast.

GALLERY: Brochure

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