Commemorating the first anniversary of Wet Lab II, the Pond Lily classroom, that was donated to the City of Bellevue last year by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties, Dave and Barbara Main representing the association joined young campers at story time to read and present two books for the classroom library – one about animals and another about how to build a house.
“The Pond Lily classroom has allowed us to develop a popular nature-based 3-day-a-week ‘Polliwog Preschool’ during the school year where there are only three remaining openings for September enrollment,” said Karen Lennon, Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center Program Manager for the PacificScienceCenter. Follow this link to learn more about the Pollliwog Preschool and to register: http://pacificsciencecenter.org/Mercer-Slough/polliwog-preschool
Since its dedication last year, the builder donated Wet Lab classroom, on the 320-acreMercerSloughEnvironmentalEducationCenter, has served as an early learning nature laboratory of thePacificScienceCenter. The classroom building fulfills a vision by thePacificScienceCenter, City ofBellevueand Master Builders Association for a place where children can experience hands-on learning about nature and the environment. The Pond Lily classroom is serving a multi-purpose role allowing focused programming for ‘Polliwog’ preschoolers during the school year, and camps for K-2nd grade children during the summer months.
The Pond Lily classroom is managed by the Pacific Science Center in an agreement with the City of Bellevue to provide a wide variety of programming at the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center for adults and students from schools throughout the region. The Wet Lab II, Pond Lily classroom building, was constructed by volunteers from the Master Builders Association and donated to the city ofBellevue, as a legacy project of the association’s commitment to perform 100 community service projects during their centennial year.
Students in the Polliwog pre-school program participate in theme-focused hikes and activities where they discover colors, textures, shapes and carefully collect items/creatures for observation in the Pond Lily classroom – then return them to their natural environment. The program is play-based and student-driven with stations to choose from, discovery exploration times and specific activities that relate to a new theme each week. Activities are designed to address each child’s developmental needs while encouraging curiosity, fostering love of nature and developing the whole child.
Master Builders Association past president, Dave Main of Creative Home Partners LLC, led volunteer efforts with Martha Rose of Martha Rose Construction, Grey Lundberg of Grey Lundberg Inc., and Joe Schwab of HCS Construction Services to construct Wet Lab II to a 5-Star Built Green certification.
The building’s environmental features include a high efficiency radiant heating system, heat recovery ventilator, and extra efforts to preserve the site’s surrounding ecology and functions, such as re-planting displaced plants during construction.
Founded in 1909, the Master Builders Association is a trade association is a trade association comprised of nearly 3,000 companies involved in the residential and light commercial construction industry. It is the nation’s oldest and largest local home building association affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders.