Pickering Creek Audubon Center works to raise the environmental literacy of thousands of people annually through outdoor environmental education and activities. We offer programs to school and community groups both on site at Pickering Creek and off-site.

With the help of the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Gateways program, Pickering Creek published the following curriculum guides: Gateways to Conservation: Grades 1-5 (3MB pdf) and Gateways to Conservation II: Grades 6-8 (5MB pdf). These curriculum guides are designed to complement elementary and middle school science education in the classroom and created through a partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network. Each guide provides lessons with hands-on leanring activities and bakcground information to help students and teachers explore the outdoors in conjunction with a nearby nature center, while gaining an understanding of their relationship with the Chesapeake Bay.

Through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) B-Wet program, we are pleased to offer our signature program Audubon Watershed Experience, also known as ‘AWE, for free to biology and environmental science classes. This program is multifaceted – including both in-school and on site activities and a conservation action project. By engaging students in outdoor activities such as hiking, birding, crabbing, fishing,, nature photography,seining and water quality monitoring, students gain an appreciation and understanding of ecosystems and the science behind monitoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay. The best part about this program is that the field portion of the program is in the watershed that students live and go to school, so they can return to those places and further explore on their own to connect with nature.

Our in school and on site programs are tailored to meet the needs of the teachers and students, however, they are also directly tied to Maryland State Voluntary Curriculum Standards of Learning and Talbot County Public Schools curriculum.